In a GPU buying mood - suggestions welcome

[WT]

I'm in the midst of piecing together a Z68/SB 2500K build and have most of the parts covered other than the GPU. I had the MSI 560ti Twin Frozr OC on my short list, but it is out of stock currently at the Egg. I looked around some more and found this Zotac 560ti AMP card on a weekend special:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500196

At $210, I'd seriously think about grabbing two and having some SLI fun, but the heat they would put off has me worried about that option. So I then looked at the 570 version of the card which is $90 more. At that price, does it offer any noticeable upgrade over the 560ti ??

Link to the 570 AMP version: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500200

Details on the hardware choices found in this thread:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2184389

I'm going with the Level 10 GT, so the SLI option will at least have a 200mm fan blowing right on it. As for suggestions, I much prefer an exotic cooling setup such as what the Zotac AMP or MSI Twin Frozr offer. I'd go eVGA in a heartbeat but just do not like their reference coolers for this build. Thanks in advance for any helpful suggestions.

 

[Smartazz]

If I were you, I'd wait for 28nm GPUs, but the 6870 Crossfire is a great bang for the buck combination if your motherboard supports crossfire. The heat output of the 6870 is reasonable too.

 

[WT]

I didn't think we were scheduled for any new GPUs until the end of the year at the earliest ? Truthfully, I've been out of the upgrade grind for 3 years now, so it isn't so easy to get up to speed like in the past.
I haven't bought ATI/AMD since the ATI 9800 days, as I've always ben happy with what eVGA offered. Like I said, I just don't go for the reference coolers anymore. *shrug*

 

[Smartazz]

I've gone with eVGA for my 7800GT, 7900GT, 8800GTS, GTX260 and I finally jumped ship for a reference XFX HD 6870. Only complaint I have with the card is that it runs really hot and gets kind of loud, but it's probably the cooler. I've heard that AMD plans their next GPUs for the end of the year and Nvidia likely early next year. There are non-reference 6870's you can buy and the crossfire scaling of these cards is amazing. Whether you want to go multi-GPU or not is up to you. I can't comment on what multi-GPU is like since I've never seen it in action, but I can vouch for the 6870 being a good card.

 

[Fallengod]

AMD 7 series cards are actually Q1 of 2012 as well and will not be out this year.

Anyways, I am more in the budget area looking towards the 6850 or 6770, GTX 550 ti etc and have been trying to decide. The only thing I can say is there are a lot of deals lately on cards that have multiple games that come with and you can end up with a pretty cheap price after selling off the games.

 

[wand3r3r]

I have the GTX 560 TI HAWK (twin frozr III) which is a well overclocked twin frozr III. It's decent. I believe it's near the stock 570 performance or at least I read somewhere that 950-1000 core would be and this is overclocked to 950MHz from the factory (reference 822 iirc). It looks nice anyway imo.

 

[wand3r3r]

Here's a pretty recent roundup of the midrange cards... http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-radeon-graphics,2977.html

 

[3DVagabond]

I would recommend something with 2gig RAM for that much GPU power (assuming 2 GPU). Although, I can't find where you mention the resolution you will be using. I'm assuming at least 1920*1080 for the amt. of GPU you are thinking of purchasing.

Also I notice in your system build thread you are going to use a mobo with the cache SSD built onto it. Some were telling you not to go with that setup. Keep in mind that not all add on SSD's are equal for that job. Here's a review by Techgage that's some very interesting reading. I think the built in SSD might be the safest option.

http://techgage.com/article/intel_z68_ssd_disk_caching_showdown/3

The Intel used in this test performed much better than the Kingston at gaming. Techgage had no explanation for this and had contacted the manufacturers to see if they had an explanation. They plan on retesting when they get some additional info.

 

[happy medium]

Evga "Doubleshot" gtx570 for 304$AR.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130684

OR Gtx560ti twin fan for 220$ AR..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130651

 

[WT]

@ 3D, sorry, I knew I left something out of the thread when I typed it up. Resolution is indeed 1920x1200 on a 24" panel. At this point, I may just stick with my GTX280 until the refresh comes out, altho it seems a shame to build this and not upgrade a key component.

@ happy - I had just started pricing the 570s to see what they offered, and its hard to justify the extra $90 for the 570 over the 560ti at this point, especially the MSI Twin Frozr OC or the Zortac AMP card both running at 950 core speed.

 

[happy medium]

Galaxy gtx560ti twin fan for 171$ AR and promo code.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2185513

Just overclock it yourself, most, if not all will reach 930+ core with a slight voltage bump.

 

[WT]

Strange as this may sound, I NEVER OC a video card, even tho I've been overclocking CPUs since '98 starting with the Celeron 300a. I always buy a factory OC'd card and leave it at that.

This Zotac card is able to run so high a speed due to a very large voltage bump, so it will run hot and need good cooling:

TechpowerUp link -> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_560_Ti_Amp_Edition/27.html

Copy n paste the relevant part:
One reason the ZOTAC AMP! Edition performs so well is the increased GPU voltage of 1.17 V which results in quite a power consumption increase. Together with the higher clocks and the increased operating temperature the GTX 560 AMP! turns into a power sucking beast. In a typical 3D application it consumes 184 W - the reference design needs only 128 W.

I actually looked at that Galaxy card yesterday on that website, and altho its a great deal, I just want something a little more ... exotic. I really do research the crap out of my parts before I buy, so its bugging me that I haven't found a card that I consider a good fit. Honestly, if the MSI 560ti Twin Frozr OC was in stock, I'd probably buy that (or two) and call it a day.

 

[happy medium]

Strange as this may sound, I NEVER OC a video card, even tho I've been overclocking CPUs since '98 starting with the Celeron 300a. I always buy a factory OC'd card and leave it at that.

This Zotac card is able to run so high a speed due to a very large voltage bump, so it will run hot and need good cooling:

TechpowerUp link -> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_560_Ti_Amp_Edition/27.html

Copy n paste the relevant part:
One reason the ZOTAC AMP! Edition performs so well is the increased GPU voltage of 1.17 V which results in quite a power consumption increase. Together with the higher clocks and the increased operating temperature the GTX 560 AMP! turns into a power sucking beast. In a typical 3D application it consumes 184 W - the reference design needs only 128 W.

I actually looked at that Galaxy card yesterday on that website, and altho its a great deal, I just want something a little more ... exotic. I really do research the crap out of my parts before I buy, so its bugging me that I haven't found a card that I consider a good fit. Honestly, if the MSI 560ti Twin Frozr OC was in stock, I'd probably buy that (or two) and call it a day.

If thats what you want then just grab a Gigabyte Super overclock gtx560ti. They are the lowest voltage, highly clocked, coolest running factory overclocked gtx 560ti out there. These chips are binned to be the best.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125369

 

[3DVagabond]

Any reviews of that version? I've only seen reviews of the 1GHz version, which I can't find anymore. Hard to tell exactly what the performance is like. I guess you could just subtract 5%, maybe?

 

[happy medium]

Any reviews of that version? I've only seen reviews of the 1GHz version, which I can't find anymore. Hard to tell exactly what the performance is like. I guess you could just subtract 5%, maybe?

Yea about 2 fps in most games

 

[3DVagabond]

Yea about 2 fps in most games

So most games only run 40fps @ 1200 w/ that card? Doesn't sound right.

 

[badb0y]

Get a GTX 560 Ti or a HD 6950 2GB to hold you over at least.

 

[Smartazz]

AMD 7 series cards are actually Q1 of 2012 as well and will not be out this year.

Anyways, I am more in the budget area looking towards the 6850 or 6770, GTX 550 ti etc and have been trying to decide. The only thing I can say is there are a lot of deals lately on cards that have multiple games that come with and you can end up with a pretty cheap price after selling off the games.

If that's true, then I think the OP should get a GTX 570 or HD 6950 2GB. Both are solid options and he could always add a second one later on for SLI or Crossfire.

 

[Carmen813]

I've been debating the new Toxic Edition Sapphire Cards

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102951

 

[Jhatfie]

I've gone with eVGA for my 7800GT, 7900GT, 8800GTS, GTX260 and I finally jumped ship for a reference XFX HD 6870. Only complaint I have with the card is that it runs really hot and gets kind of loud, but it's probably the cooler. I've heard that AMD plans their next GPUs for the end of the year and Nvidia likely early next year. There are non-reference 6870's you can buy and the crossfire scaling of these cards is amazing. Whether you want to go multi-GPU or not is up to you. I can't comment on what multi-GPU is like since I've never seen it in action, but I can vouch for the 6870 being a good card.

I can witness the gaming goodness that is 6870's in x-fire. I actually had a Asus GTX580 Matrix clocked to 960mhz and my 6870's for half the price ($125/ea after rebate and selling free games) pretty much equaled or beat the 580 in every game I tested at 2560x1600. Actually grabbed another XFX daul fan just because it is quieter than my 6850 in my HTPC that should ring in at sub $90 AR and selling free games. 6870's were OC'd to 990/4640.

Here are my results of some quick tests I performed comparing the 580 with 6870's.

Tests performed with my 2500k @ 4.8Ghz and over an approximate 5 minute test interval (except Dirt 3 which was preset)


*****I also have some test results from a single 2GB 6950 if anyone is interested*****

Results are low/high/avg fps (unless otherwise stated)

3dMark11: default settings
Asus GTX580 - P7288
6870 x-fire - P8510

AvsPredator - 2560x1600 Max details
Asus GTX580 - 19, 73, 48.349
6870 x-fire - 18, 111, 59.926

Battlefield BC2: 2560x1600 Max detail, 4xAA/16AF
Asus GTX580 - 49, 114, 79.865
6870 x-fire - 35, 166, 106.123

Crysis Warhead: 2560x1600 Extreme settings, 2xAA
Asus GTX580 - 20, 35, 28.925
6870 x-fire - 3, 54, 35.527

Crysis 2 : 2560x1600, DX11, Extreme, high rez textures
Asus GTX580 - 28, 61, 30.425
6870 x-fire - 15, 63, 48.206

Dragon Age 2: 2560x1600, Max details, 2xAA
Asus GTX580 - 27, 37, 32.392
6870 x-fire - 25, 67, 41.118

Metro 2033: 2560x1600, High Details, AAA, DX11
Asus GTX580 - 38, 73, 56.713
6870 x-fire - 48, 103, 72.585

Dirt 3: 2560x1600 - Max quality, 4xAA
Asus GTX580 - av_fps="57.632549" min_fps="48.381985
6870 x-fire - av_fps="60.050732" min_fps="47.895084"

Heaven demo: 1920x1200, Extreme tasselation, High details, 4xAA, 16xAF
Asus GTX580 - Avg FPS:31.9 ,Scores:802 ,Min FPS:11.6 ,Max FPS:77.6
6870 x-fire - Avg FPS: 33.3, Scores:838 - Min FPS:9.8 , Max FPS:84.8

Notes: Now there was a point where the ram limitations started to show with the 6870. For instance the 2560x1600 Heaven demo with 8xAA was a complete slide show with the x-fire setup and was no problem on the 580. There was some occassional hitching with the crossfired cards, but it was not generally noticable. Overall though, for 1/2 the cost I am pleased with the 6870's and for 1080p should offer knockout performance.

 

[happy medium]

There was some occassional hitching with the crossfired cards, but it was not generally noticable.

Those minimum framerates are horrible with the 6870 x-fired.

 

[Schmide]

NM im taking the low road.

 

[3DVagabond]

Those minimum framerates are horrible with the 6870 x-fired.

The "horrible" one is likely caused by RAM limitations (Crysis Warhead). Crysis 2 is probably the extreme tessellation. There's multiple reviews and a whole thread about it. Most of them are fine though and Metro is "horrible" on the 580, by comparisonto the 2x 6870's.

The person who owned both setups prefers the 2x 6870's, and, as he said, they were ~1/2 the price. Also, look at the resolution the benches were run at and look at the OP's resolution. I really doubt he'd have any issues.

I find this card interesting for crossfire. I think that 2x 6870 worth of GPU power would be better served by 2Gb RAM (per card).

 

[happy medium]

The "horrible" one is likely caused by RAM limitations (Crysis Warhead). Crysis 2 is probably the extreme tessellation. There's multiple reviews and a whole thread about it. Most of them are fine though and Metro is "horrible" on the 580, by comparisonto the 2x 6870's.

The person who owned both setups prefers the 2x 6870's, and, as he said, they were ~1/2 the price. Also, look at the resolution the benches were run at and look at the OP's resolution. I really doubt he'd have any issues.

I find this card interesting for crossfire. I think that 2x 6870 worth of GPU power would be better served by 2Gb RAM (per card).

I wasn't arguing any other point, just that the minimums were horrible. *shrugs*

If I wanted better than gtx580 performance @ 2500x1600, I would just grab 2 gtx460 2gb cards for 169$AR each and overclock them.
But the whole 2500x1600 thing is off topic.

For a single 1080p resolution (op's res.), I'd jump on that Galaxy gtx560 ti deal for 171$ each.

 

[WT]

Went with the Sapphire Toxic 6950. It came back in stock and I snagged the last one for now it would appear. As I mentioned, I have never had an AMD card in my primary rig, so this is a big deal to me after 20+ years of being into PCs.
My first Nvidia card was a 4mb Riva128 while everyone else was rocking the Voodoo1, so I look forward to seeing what the Sapphire card does.

Factory OC'd, price was reasonable, and its got 2 free games to give me something to play too !! Not a bad deal, I say.