Hi,
I know there is a similar thread from a guy running a Q6600, my situation is a bit different. I've been running a GTX280 in my Q6700 @ 3.3GHz since August 2008 and am contemplating an upgrade, rest of specs are in signature. I'm waiting on a total re-build until next year. I can get a GTX 570 for $300CAD and likely get $100ish selling my GTX280 so that means $200 net cost to upgrade, not that bad. The 6970 is about $360 and the 6950 is $250-275 depending on the SKU. I want to buy locally (Vancouver Canada - from NCIX or Memory Express) to test DOA and avoid return fees if there are problems, plus instant gratification
.
This card would be for gaming only, at 1920x1200 on a single LCD. The current games I am playing are Bad Company 2 (medium settings no AA), Portal 2, Dragon Age: Origins (DA2 after I complete it), NFS Shift 2. Games I anticipate playing: Battlefield 3, TES5: Skyrim, Brink, Mass Effect 3.
Performance:
I was initially considering a GTX 460 or 470, but am not sure if it will be a significant performance increase over my GTX280. I used AT's bench to compare (not ideal since I think these are done with a Core i7 platform).
GTX 460 vs GTX 285 (close enough to 280) - roughly the same
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/317?vs=313
GTX 470 vs GTX 285 - some large increases, some not so much, Bad Company 2 not showing up for some reason
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/317?vs=311
GTX 570 vs GTX 285 - huge increases across the board
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/317?vs=311
GTX 570 vs ATI 6950 - close, other than BC2 (which is important to me) and a few others
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/293?vs=306
GTX 570 vs ATI 6970 - ATI wins most
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/292?vs=306
Power considerations:
I have a Corsair HX 520 PSU which has a 6+8 pin PCI connector, and triple 12V rails at 18A each, so power should be ok. The idle and load power consumption isn't much different from the GTX 285 to the 570 and 6970. The 570 and 6970 are close enough in power consumption and noise to me for it not to be an issue.
CPU bottleneck:
From the Q6600 thread, people are talking about anything over a 460/470 being a waste due to CPU bottleneck. I'm having trouble verifying if this is the case, especially with an overclocked CPU. I know some games like Starcraft 2 and Civ5 are heavily CPU bound, but I do not play either of this.
http://techreport.com/articles.x/20486/5
From that analysis, there is obviously a huge hit on using a Q6600 at stock versus the new CPUs. Any idea what my CPU @ 3.3GHz is approximate to? Maybe i5-655k?
ATI vs. Nvidia:
The last ATI card I owned was a 9700 Pro (which was awesome). I have nothing against ATI, but have been very satisfied with my last few NV cards. A big consideration here is my loyalty with eVGA as their customer service has been stellar, and their build quality has never let me down. The step-up program is also great.
I also like NV's drivers and am familiar with profile tweaking etc.
I would consider going to ATI however the 6950 price difference is not enough ($20-50) to change my mind, especially as the 570 is faster in BC2, and the 6970 is $60 more than the 570 here without a huge performance increase.
Overclocking GPU:
This is an area I haven't done much research in, I like to run a mild 10-12% OC on my video cards, I assume both the 570 and 6950/6970 can handle that with stock cooling?
I realize this has turned into a huge text wall, writing it was helpful for me to get my thoughts down even if no one reads it.
Thanks for any comments.
I know there is a similar thread from a guy running a Q6600, my situation is a bit different. I've been running a GTX280 in my Q6700 @ 3.3GHz since August 2008 and am contemplating an upgrade, rest of specs are in signature. I'm waiting on a total re-build until next year. I can get a GTX 570 for $300CAD and likely get $100ish selling my GTX280 so that means $200 net cost to upgrade, not that bad. The 6970 is about $360 and the 6950 is $250-275 depending on the SKU. I want to buy locally (Vancouver Canada - from NCIX or Memory Express) to test DOA and avoid return fees if there are problems, plus instant gratification
This card would be for gaming only, at 1920x1200 on a single LCD. The current games I am playing are Bad Company 2 (medium settings no AA), Portal 2, Dragon Age: Origins (DA2 after I complete it), NFS Shift 2. Games I anticipate playing: Battlefield 3, TES5: Skyrim, Brink, Mass Effect 3.
Performance:
I was initially considering a GTX 460 or 470, but am not sure if it will be a significant performance increase over my GTX280. I used AT's bench to compare (not ideal since I think these are done with a Core i7 platform).
GTX 460 vs GTX 285 (close enough to 280) - roughly the same
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/317?vs=313
GTX 470 vs GTX 285 - some large increases, some not so much, Bad Company 2 not showing up for some reason
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/317?vs=311
GTX 570 vs GTX 285 - huge increases across the board
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/317?vs=311
GTX 570 vs ATI 6950 - close, other than BC2 (which is important to me) and a few others
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/293?vs=306
GTX 570 vs ATI 6970 - ATI wins most
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/292?vs=306
Power considerations:
I have a Corsair HX 520 PSU which has a 6+8 pin PCI connector, and triple 12V rails at 18A each, so power should be ok. The idle and load power consumption isn't much different from the GTX 285 to the 570 and 6970. The 570 and 6970 are close enough in power consumption and noise to me for it not to be an issue.
CPU bottleneck:
From the Q6600 thread, people are talking about anything over a 460/470 being a waste due to CPU bottleneck. I'm having trouble verifying if this is the case, especially with an overclocked CPU. I know some games like Starcraft 2 and Civ5 are heavily CPU bound, but I do not play either of this.
http://techreport.com/articles.x/20486/5
From that analysis, there is obviously a huge hit on using a Q6600 at stock versus the new CPUs. Any idea what my CPU @ 3.3GHz is approximate to? Maybe i5-655k?
ATI vs. Nvidia:
The last ATI card I owned was a 9700 Pro (which was awesome). I have nothing against ATI, but have been very satisfied with my last few NV cards. A big consideration here is my loyalty with eVGA as their customer service has been stellar, and their build quality has never let me down. The step-up program is also great.
I also like NV's drivers and am familiar with profile tweaking etc.
I would consider going to ATI however the 6950 price difference is not enough ($20-50) to change my mind, especially as the 570 is faster in BC2, and the 6970 is $60 more than the 570 here without a huge performance increase.
Overclocking GPU:
This is an area I haven't done much research in, I like to run a mild 10-12% OC on my video cards, I assume both the 570 and 6950/6970 can handle that with stock cooling?
I realize this has turned into a huge text wall, writing it was helpful for me to get my thoughts down even if no one reads it.
Thanks for any comments.