SLI Nvidia GTX 590, still worth it?

[JumBie]

I can get two of them for $400, do you think it would be worth a shot? Would they be able to compete against a titan?

 

[Silverforce11]

Not enough VRAM for maxing out newer games, the GPU has grunt for it but the vram holds it back.

 

[Headfoot]

two of them for $400 is tempting. Would be kinda fun to see

 

[Termie]

That's really not all that cheap, if you consider that one is about as fast as a GTX770, which can be had for around $300 with more VRAM and better compatibility.

And using them in SLI would be a mistake. Even one 590 is VRAM-limited.

 

[JumBie]

Really 3GB is limited? Even at 1440p?

 

[Gloomy]

Really 3GB is limited? Even at 1440p?

No, 3GB is fine I think they expected 1.5GB versions. You're good.

WAIT NO. That's 1.5GB per GPU right? That's not OK, you are not good. Avoid.

 

[Enigmoid]

Really 3GB is limited? Even at 1440p?

Are they 3GB on EACH GPU? Not 1.5 GB x 2 = 3 GB total.

 

[JumBie]

Are they 3GB on EACH GPU? Not 1.5 GB x 2 = 3 GB total.

Its the EVGA 590 3GB....So ...is this card two 580's at 1.5GB each for a total of 3GB? So two of these 590's is 3GB on each 590.

 

[Termie]

That is not enough vram, period. A card with the gpu power of the 590 could push 1440p but will be compromised by 1.5GB vram effective.

 

[JumBie]

That is not enough vram, period. A card with the gpu power of the 590 could push 1440p but will be compromised by 1.5GB vram effective.

How is it 1.5vram...its the 3gb edition.

 

[notty22]

It's only 1.5gb per gpu. Total vram is just listed sometimes at retailers. Your are getting 3gb of ram technically sold to you. But you will only have 1.5gb frame buffer.
Here is a random discussion of this back when the card was current.
http://forums.evga.com/tm.aspx?m=1112874

 

[Termie]

1.5GB is OK for a GTX580, which can easily push 1080p today. It might come up short in a few games.

It is most certainly not OK if you have the power of four GTX580s, all using the same amount of VRAM. All textures must be loaded in each set of VRAM. Try playing any modern game at 1440p and you will have a choppy mess, despite huge amounts of GPU power.

 

[JumBie]

Ahhh okay, I see how it works now. Guess this wasn't as good as a deal as i thought. I was under the impression that I would be able to use all 3GB in the frame buffer.

Man shit changes fast, I remember when the 590 was top dog and it cost around $1000. And that was only 2 1/2 years ago.

 

[rgallant]

love the second post at evga about the request for 6 gb of vram for a sli card
why [you will never need more than 1.5 gb of vram trust me]
-same idiots as when nv had 512 ,1gb and recent questions about buying a 2 gb card this week , love it 2gb is not required


if you don't upgrade your monitor next year
or you need a second card 6 months from now ,
as they point out one card won't max the vram ,but fail to tell peeps they can only play on med.with today's ports ,let alone upcoming next gen. of games. they mean well trying to save peeps $40.00 on a out of date $300.00 card. [gtx 770] but now they have no future options.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Considering the scaling, no.

 

[tweakboy]

Get the 590 and OC the heck out of it. gl

 

[RaistlinZ]

I would avoid it just for the god-awful heat output and power draw. Find a nice aftermarket 780 and call it a day.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If you are interested in doing distributed computing (GPUGrid, F@H, etc.) they are pretty potent cards. VRAM is not generally as much of a limitation.

 

[DigDog]

LOLOL.

buy them.

sell them on ebay.

make more than you paid.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Assuming you have 3gb per card

In 2012, a 590 was 25-50% faster than a gtx 680

By mid 2013 they became about equal.

In 2014 a 590 is going to be 85-95% of the performance of a gtx 770. And considering gtx 770 can overclock a lot more, it may end up even further ahead.

Being quad sli, 590 will get 20-50% gain from the second card while sli 770 will get a 50-100% boost.

So essentially what you have is 760 sli without the overclocking potential.

Stock for stock you should be close to 760 sli or 670 sli. But once oced, and esp in new games, the newer cards will zoom ahead.

All this is considering you have 3+3GB VRAM.

For $400 it is a lame deal. Not even if you are getting it brand new. For brand new I would say $250-300 and for second hand sub $200. I am talking of 590 3gb quad sli!

 

[JumBie]

Assuming you have 3gb per card

In 2012, a 590 was 25-50% faster than a gtx 680

By mid 2013 they became about equal.

In 2014 a 590 is going to be 85-95% of the performance of a gtx 770. And considering gtx 770 can overclock a lot more, it may end up even further ahead.

Being quad sli, 590 will get 20-50% gain from the second card while sli 770 will get a 50-100% boost.

So essentially what you have is 760 sli without the overclocking potential.

Stock for stock you should be close to 760 sli or 670 sli. But once oced, and esp in new games, the newer cards will zoom ahead.

All this is considering you have 3+3GB VRAM.

For $400 it is a lame deal. Not even if you are getting it brand new. For brand new I would say $250-300 and for second hand sub $200. I am talking of 590 3gb quad sli!

Great explanation, that puts things right in perspective. Amazing how this $1000 card ends up being crumbles in comparison to a $330 dollar card, only 2 years later.

The same guy is selling a GIGABYTE 780 OC rev 2 for $470, should I hop on that?

 

[Termie]

Great explanation, that puts things right in perspective. Amazing how this $1000 card ends up being crumbles in comparison to a $330 dollar card, only 2 years later.

The same guy is selling a GIGABYTE 780 OC rev 2 for $470, should I hop on that?

I'd say no, since you can get the 780 OC new for $490:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125471

 

[JumBie]

I'd say no, since you can get the 780 OC new for $490:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125471

On the Canadian Newegg site its $529.99.

 

[RaistlinZ]

For $470 I'd go with that 780.

 

[Termie]

On the Canadian Newegg site its $529.99.

Sorry, I didn't realize you were in Canada.

I'm on the fence about whether it's worth buying used to save 10% or so of the purchase price. Do you get a free game when purchasing in Canada? That would tip it favor of buying new, because you also get peace of mind, which is worth something.