The time has come. OP Updated.

[iGas]

Screw that OP, if you want something that last for 2~3 years then nothing less than tri-sli GTX 580. Better yet at the very least get a Quatro Plex 7000, or go for the gusto and hit it up with a Tesla system (the only catch is that the OP have to develop his own driver for gaming).

 

[MentalIlness]

Oh yea, not sure if it is relevant or not. But right now I am on XP still. I skipped Vista all together. I have never even played a game in DX10.

I do however have a copy of Win 7 here waiting to be used.

 

[MentalIlness]

Screw that OP, if you want something that last for 2~3 years then nothing less than tri-sli GTX 580. Better yet at the very least get a tri-sli Quatro Plex 7000, or go for the gusto and hit it up with a Tesla system.

Your crazy.

Tri-SLI GTX580 ? Or an entire new rig ?

Easy decision on that one. Entire new rig.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Oh yea, not sure if it is relevant or not. But right now I am on XP still. I skipped Vista all together. I have never even played a game in DX10.

I do however have a copy of Win 7 here waiting to be used.

Oh yea, you're gonna need W7 if you wanna even use Tess.

 

[MentalIlness]

Found some games that use/might use Tess:

http://www.digitalbattle.com/2009/10/27/top-10-upcoming-directx-11-games/

Out of that list of games, I only ones I would play would be .....

* Alien Vs. Predator "Do not own currently"
* Alan Wake "Will buy if released"
* STALKER: Call of Pripyat "Currently own all S.T.A.L.K.E.R games"
* Supreme Commander 2 "I own the first one, never installed yet"
* Crysis 2 "Will buy"
* Battlefield 3 "Will buy"


The others on that list to me, nope. Dont want'em.

EDIT: I will also probably sell off most of my current hardware to recoup some costs as well. Which is the hardware inside of Ashley :awe:

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Id go with the 570, its a safe bet... Very stable performance all around, and future proof when tesselation becomes big, which is important to you because the card will have to last another 3 years or so

 

[MentalIlness]

This is the power supply I have for the build. So I am assuming it is plenty for whichever I decide on.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139009

And I am deciding between

this ....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130593

or two of these ....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150506

or two of these ....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125347

I have dealt with EVGA alot in the past. But how is Customer Support for Gigabyte ?

 

[RavenSEAL]

This is the power supply I have for the build. So I am assuming it is plenty for whichever I decide on.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139009

And I am deciding between

this ....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130593

or two of these ....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150506

or two of these ....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125347

I have dealt with EVGA alot in the past. But how is Customer Support for Gigabyte ?

The PSU you chose is perfect. As far as performance/price ratio, I think my opinion is clear

Gigabyte is alright, but i myself prefer sapphire for ATi/AMD cards and eVGA for nVidia cards.

 

[MentalIlness]

Id go with the 570, its a safe bet... Very stable performance all around, and future proof when tessellation becomes big, which is important to you because the card will have to last another 3 years or so

In your opinion, do you believe Tess will "become" big ? Or simply fade away and something else replace it ?

I agree though, The 570 would be better if in the future Tess becomes big, but if it doesn't, The 6870's will provide better performance.

But then again, wouldn't 2x6870 be just as good as a GTX570 in Tess ? Or what would it be equal to ?

Fixed your spelling

 

[MentalIlness]

The PSU you chose is perfect. As far as performance/price ratio, I think my opinion is clear

Gigabyte is alright, but i myself prefer sapphire for ATi/AMD cards and eVGA for nVidia cards.

Well, for ATI cards, I have only owned Connect3D/HIS. For Nvidia cards I have owned BFG / EVGA.

I have heard some horror stories about Sapphire though. But that was around two years ago. Don't know if things had gotten better or not.

I remember reading Apoppin had alot of trouble with Sapphire.

 

[RavenSEAL]

In your opinion, do you believe Tess will "become" big ? Or simply fade away and something else replace it ?

I agree though, The 570 would be better if in the future Tess becomes big, but if it doesn't, The 6870's will provide better performance.

But then again, wouldn't 2x6870 be just as good as a GTX570 in Tess ? Or what would it be equal to ?

Fixed your spelling

Check out these links:

http://andrefarinon.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/amd-radeon-hd-6850-and-6870-crossfire/

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1445/14/

Use your browser's search function and look for tessellation.

 

[SickBeast]

OP, why is the GTX 460 not listed? A single 460 is a better card than a 470 IMO, and a pair of them will beat the 570 by ~25% across the board for way less money.

 

[RavenSEAL]

OP, why is the GTX 460 not listed? A single 460 is a better card than a 470 IMO, and a pair of them will beat the 570 by ~25% across the board for way less money.

GTX460 will offer no further improvement from what is out today. HD6870 and GTX570 will both offer future improvements through driver updates.

 

[MentalIlness]

Check out these links:

http://andrefarinon.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/amd-radeon-hd-6850-and-6870-crossfire/

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1445/14/

Use your browser's search function and look for tessellation.

You do know that those are the same review right ?

 

[MentalIlness]

OP, why is the GTX 460 not listed? A single 460 is a better card than a 470 IMO, and a pair of them will beat the 570 by ~25% across the board for way less money.

The reason is because, The motherboard is a Crossfire board. SLI is not supported. At least I don't think.

EDIT: And I don't plan on overclocking the GPU or GPU's. Only CPU's.

 

[SickBeast]

The reason is because, The motherboard is a Crossfire board. SLI is not supported. At least I don't think.

EDIT: And I don't plan on overclocking the GPU or GPU's. Only CPU's.

You can very easily patch the latest Nvidia drivers so that you can use SLI on a Crossfire motherboard. Whether this will continue to work in the future is uncertain, however it's worth considering.

TBH a single 460 is enough for me in current games at 1920x1200. Every game I have tried runs between 45 and 60FPS. Most games stay pegged at 60FPS, even with 4XAA. The card barely touches 60C when overclocked as well.

 

[RavenSEAL]

You can very easily patch the latest Nvidia drivers so that you can use SLI on a Crossfire motherboard. Whether this will continue to work in the future is uncertain, however it's worth considering.

TBH a single 460 is enough for me in current games at 1920x1200. Every game I have tried runs between 45 and 60FPS. Most games stay pegged at 60FPS, even with 4XAA. The card barely touches 60C when overclocked as well.

I would love to know which games would those happen to be...

 

[Nintendesert]

I had the same questions for my brother, he didn't really want to go CF/SLI again so I ended up getting a 570SC for the price of a 6970. The performance is up there close to a 580 for about $140 cheaper at the time. And you still get the warranty with the card and the benefits of overclocking.

 

[nOOky]

I would probably recommend the GTX570 or HD6970 as good enough for the next couple of years... the ATI has more memory, the nvidia has other features. I'd browse around for benchmarks using the games you currently play and go from there. I usually avoid Xfire or SLI as many do for obvious reasons, but it may be a consideration also.

 

[MentalIlness]

I doubt it, but can any of these combo's be ran in Crossfire ?

6970 + 6870
6950 + 6850
6870 + 6850
6970 + 6950

I do know the 68xx series only has one Crossfire connector.

 

[SickBeast]

I would love to know which games would those happen to be...

Bad Company 2 is probably the most demanding of them, and it runs fantastic with all settings maxed out, including HBAO. I even have the drivers set to maximum quality, 16X AF, and 2XAA. 4XX works well too, but I prefer to keep things pegged to 60FPS as much as I can.

I actually tried Crysis Warhead and it runs like a dog. Apparently even 2 years after its release, there is still not a single GPU that can run it on maximum settings at 1900x1200. I managed to get it going at 30FPS at that resolution with a combination of "gamer" and "enthusiast" settings.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Bad Company 2 is probably the most demanding of them, and it runs fantastic with all settings maxed out, including HBAO. I even have the drivers set to maximum quality, 16X AF, and 2XAA. 4XX works well too, but I prefer to keep things pegged to 60FPS as much as I can.

I actually tried Crysis Warhead and it runs like a dog. Apparently even 2 years after its release, there is still not a single GPU that can run it on maximum settings at 1900x1200. I managed to get it going at 30FPS at that resolution with a combination of "gamer" and "enthusiast" settings.

Define "Fantastic"

 

[SickBeast]

Define "Fantastic"

Pretty much pegged constantly at 60FPS with all settings maxed out as I described. The lowest it will ever dip is into the mid-30's, and that's only happening when entire buildings are blowing up and such.

 

[MentalIlness]

To be honest, I dont think I would want to hack drivers to get SLI running on a AMD board. If I were to decide on Nvidia, Would probably just get the GTX570.

I seen a few unboxing video's on Youtube for the 570 and the AMD cards. Damn these cards are huge nowadays.

However, I do have 11 3/4 inch of clearance in my case. So whatever I choose, should fit with no problems.

I remember when I first received my old X1800XL. I thought that thing was huge..and for its time, it was. But now, that thing is just dinky.

 

[RussianSensation]

2-3 years down the line - 2GBs of ram might start to come into play much more so. Since BF3 and Crysis 2 are not out yet, why not pick up a single HD6950 for $280 and then when those games come out, pick up a 2nd HD6950 at reduced prices. Since your MB only supports CF and you plan to keep this card(s) for 2-3 years, I'd be leaning towards AMD HD69xx series.