Buy another GTX 570 or no?

[Geosurface]

So I built a system back in January or February, and put 8 gb of http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145324 CORSAIR XMS 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) in it.

and one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130620 EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1573-KR GeForce GTX 570

I'm ordering another 8gb of that same RAM now, to bring me up to 16gb, that seems like a no brainer and I'm not sure why I didn't do it a couple of months ago.

But I wonder... should I buy another of those same video cards now? I had initially planned to do a double video card setup (my first ever) but I backed down at that time, wanted to wait and see.

I'm a little bit worried about even fitting it in there, here's my motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131729 ASUS P8Z68-V LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel

It does seem that it should be able to do it... but, I remember when I put the single card in I was sort of scratching my head as to how I could've possibly fit two in.

I'm sure I can make it work.

But I wanted some opinions from people who pay more attention than I do to this stuff. I haven't followed it closely since the days of my Diamond Monster 3D card hehe.

So, get another of that same vid card, or replace it with a single nicer card? I don't think I want to buy two nicer cards... that's more than I want to spend. It works pretty well for me, on it's own, though more power is always nice of course.

 

[Yukmouth]

You probably don't need the extra card. The added 8 gigs of ram is a complete waste of money and won't do you a darn bit of good. If you just want to try out SLi for yourself adding another 570 is a good option considering how cheap they are now.

Where sli is needed, it's awesome, but it's useless for console ports.

 

[Geosurface]

reasons I want the RAM:

1.) It's cheap, and I have 2 more slots... so why not fill them?
2.) I'm hoping it will allow me to play large video files onto my TV from my PC and play CS:GO on my main monitor without it chugging down CS:GO as it does now

 

[chimaxi83]

I have the same board, and it can fit two triple slot cards. Two 570s would be fine. Personally I would go with a faster single card, but that's me. What's your budget?

 

[cmdrdredd]

Honestly I'd wait it out and see what comes next.

 

[RampantAndroid]

I run with 16GB of RAM. It's awesome, being able to turn off the page file. Do it, I recommend it.

 

[lehtv]

reasons I want the RAM:

1.) It's cheap, and I have 2 more slots... so why not fill them?

Cheap is relevant only if buying fulfills a need. Having free slots is irrelevant, it makes no difference to the performance of the PC whether there are free slots or not

2.) I'm hoping it will allow me to play large video files onto my TV from my PC and play CS:GO on my main monitor without it chugging down CS:GO as it does now

Monitor your RAM use with Task Manager while doing this, if you're using less than 8GB the problem is elsewhere (CPU or hard disk)

But I wonder... should I buy another of those same video cards now?

Your CPU, PSU and gaming resolution?

I run with 16GB of RAM. It's awesome, being able to turn off the page file. Do it, I recommend it.

You can safely do that with 8GB RAM

 

[Geosurface]

Your CPU, PSU and gaming resolution?

Intel Core i5-2500k CPU @ 3.30Ghz (4 CPUs)

CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Maybe I should just keep using this 570 until it is blatantly shitty and then get whatever is a good price at that time.

I play everything at 1920x1200 or 1920x1080 depending on whether I'm using my 27" monitor or my 40" TV. Usually no problems...

StarCraft 2 isn't quite as smooth as it could be...

there are some games where I haven't been able to max the graphics settings. It could be cool to maybe get one of these 660's or something, but I probably shouldn't.

 

[lehtv]

Regarding SC2, have you tested for a CPU bottleneck? As I undestand it, SC2 can be quite CPU heavy with a lot of units on the screen and a lot of stuff happening simultaneously. If your framerate doesn't increase when you lower your monitor resolution during a CPU heavy situation, you're CPU bottlenecked. In that case, overclocking your 2500K to 4.5GHz should solve your SC2 problem.

My 560 Ti is overclocked to near stock 570 speeds, and I'm sort of on the brink of upgrading to a GTX 670, so I understand where you're coming from. But I'd recommend against SLI for several reasons:

- SLI not working in all titles
- less stable framerates
- limited performance boost; doubling your graphics cards doesn't double your performance
- much higher power, heat and noise
- still only 1.28GB total VRAM, you run the risk of maxing out the VRAM when both GPUs are being well utilized

Selling the existing card and buying a high end current gen single card would not have any of the above problems but all of the benefits and roughly the same cost too. 660 Ti isn't quite fast enough coming from 570, IMO, I'd go at least 670 or heavily OC'd 7950. Or wait.

Whenever you decide to upgrade the graphics, be sure to OC the CPU to minimize bottlenecking.

(4 CPUs)

FYI - four cores, not CPUs. It's a single CPU with four cores

 

[RampantAndroid]

You can safely do that with 8GB RAM

This statement is no good. It depends on what you do. I regularly use up to and exceeding 10GB of RAM. Don't make blanket statements.

 

[Geosurface]

Regarding SC2, have you tested for a CPU bottleneck? As I undestand it, SC2 can be quite CPU heavy with a lot of units on the screen and a lot of stuff happening simultaneously. If your framerate doesn't increase when you lower your monitor resolution during a CPU heavy situation, you're CPU bottlenecked. In that case, overclocking your 2500K to 4.5GHz should solve your SC2 problem.

My 560 Ti is overclocked to near stock 570 speeds, and I'm sort of on the brink of upgrading to a GTX 670, so I understand where you're coming from. But I'd recommend against SLI for several reasons:

- SLI not working in all titles
- less stable framerates
- limited performance boost; doubling your graphics cards doesn't double your performance
- much higher power, heat and noise
- still only 1.28GB total VRAM, you run the risk of maxing out the VRAM when both GPUs are being well utilized

Selling the existing card and buying a high end current gen single card would not have any of the above problems but all of the benefits and roughly the same cost too. 660 Ti isn't quite fast enough coming from 570, IMO, I'd go at least 670 or heavily OC'd 7950. Or wait.

Whenever you decide to upgrade the graphics, be sure to OC the CPU to minimize bottlenecking.

FYI - four cores, not CPUs. It's a single CPU with four cores

Thanks for the info

- SC2 is a bit sluggish (not too bad) even at the start of the match in a 2v2 when it's just my SCVs and base on screen.
- I haven't a clue how to OC a processor. The only OC'd thing I've ever owned is this video card and it came that way. I've always been skittish about it. How would one go about OCing a processor of this type? is it done via software, hardware alteration, or a combination?
- I'll avoid SLI, thanks. I may wait... that seems most reasonable. I shouldn't be upgrading a card in the same year I got it, only the SLI consideration even got me thinking along those lines.
- With the "4 CPU's" thing I was just quoting dxdiag

 

[Vinwiesel]

This statement is no good. It depends on what you do. I regularly use up to and exceeding 10GB of RAM. Don't make blanket statements.

By that logic, you can't say 16GB is enough to turn off the page file, because someone else may use 20GB of ram.

 

[sze5003]

I use a max and min 1gb for the page file on my ssd. Never had memory issues though.

 

[RampantAndroid]

By that logic, you can't say 16GB is enough to turn off the page file, because someone else may use 20GB of ram.

Sure. Except I'm talking to someone who said they want to buy 8GB of RAM for s***s and giggles. From that I can kinda guess that they're not using that much RAM, certainly less than 16GB total between the PF and the physical addresses.

Only downside of no PF is the lack of mdmp files.

 

[lehtv]

This statement is no good. It depends on what you do. I regularly use up to and exceeding 10GB of RAM. Don't make blanket statements.

Of course it's good, for 99% of users. If you regularly use 10GB of RAM you must be using your PC in a way that few users do, even when considering "PC enthusiasts".

 

[aaksheytalwar]

A single 7970 ghz or 680 oc will give fps comparable or not very far from a 570 oc sli but much smoother and much more consistent performance. If you want to upgrade your card, 7970 ghz or 680 oc is the way to go.

 

[toyota]

A single 7970 ghz or 680 oc will give fps comparable or not very far from a 570 oc sli but much smoother and much more consistent performance. If you want to upgrade your card, 7970 ghz or 680 oc is the way to go.

IF a game scaled well, oced gtx570 sli would beat the crap out of an oced gtx680. but yeah I would not want to fool with such a power hungry and inconsistent setup.

 

[lehtv]

Thanks for the info

- SC2 is a bit sluggish (not too bad) even at the start of the match in a 2v2 when it's just my SCVs and base on screen.

OK, sounds more GPU limited then. You could still test for the CPU bottleneck though to be sure.

I haven't a clue how to OC a processor. The only OC'd thing I've ever owned is this video card and it came that way. I've always been skittish about it. How would one go about OCing a processor of this type? is it done via software, hardware alteration, or a combination?

Overclocking an i5-2500K is done in the motherboard BIOS. If you want to get the most out of it, it can involve hours of tuning and stability testing. But for a beginner, I would recommend overclocking on stock voltages first. Basically, what you do is just disable Turbo Boost and increase the core clock speed and leave everything else at default values. 2500K should be able to do 4.0-4.2GHz with stock voltages. A small 15% overclock is a good start. Once you successfully boot into Windows with the new clock speed, you need to stress test it to confirm it's stable, here are some guidelines from our admin (LinX and Prime95).

Don't forget that to overclock you need to also have a decent aftermarket cooler and you need to monitor temperatures (I recommend CPUID HWmonitor) while stress testing.

You can google overclocking guides for 2500K to find out how tuning the different voltages come into play. Overvolting is required to overclock even further. With good cooling, almost any 2500K chip will achieve 4.5GHz irrespective of the motherboard.

 

[moonbogg]

I would not SLI the 570. I used to have SLI 570's and at 1080p I ran out of Vram on BF3. It sucks. You have the GPU power but are gimped on Vram. Go with a single 670 or aMd equivalent.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

I am not too sure about a 680 oc, but with regular scaling a 7970 ccc limits comes within 10-15% of the 590 which is essentially 570 sli which means a 7970 will feel better because fps are just 10-15% lower.

 

[3DVagabond]

Honestly I'd wait it out and see what comes next.

Yes. Hold out for the next generation. Your 570 should carry you until then.

 

[lehtv]

Yes. Hold out for the next generation. Your 570 should carry you until then.

I think that's pretty subjective. 570 can hold you out if you're not too picky about image quality and occasional FPS drops. But it's not a high performance card anymore.

 

[3DVagabond]

I think that's pretty subjective. 570 can hold you out if you're not too picky about image quality and occasional FPS drops. But it's not a high performance card anymore.

Well, it's not like much has really changed since he bought it. We're only talking the purchase being made this year.

And of course, it's subjective. That doesn't make it wrong though.

 

[Plimogz]

In light of your comments about StarCraft2, I say that you could consider getting an SSD, if you don't have one already, instead of a second 570.

Upgrading VGA, CPU, RAM (across socket AM3 and 1155) did less to improve the odd stuttering I would experience in SC2 than installing Windows+SC2 on a Vertex3 (120GB -- 70$ AR; good deal, if you ask me). Just as you describe, I would see hitching every second or so when playing. It was of course most outrageous at the very start of a game when I'd have nothing else to be doing other than staring at my base and workers, and there was nothing much at all (eg. units, explosions, etc.) going on to justify the drop in FPS.

The migration to SSD also completely fixed the annoying stutter that plagued me throughout Diablo3. (just slightly less infuriating than the game itself).

Before running from the SSD I was using a 1TB WD Black Drive which, though it might not be the fastest HDD, isn't the slowest either.

Oh, and have you tried turning down all graphics settings to see if the stutter persists. I would still have it even on lowest settings when my hardware would otherwise sustain decent (30+) FPS on max settings. Hell, I'd have it when playing off line. (both campaign and Vs AI)

I could see this helping with playing video on a second monitor while you're gaming also, maybe. It depends on your particular setup and problem, I guess.