Two 460s in SLI, or One 570?

[stahlhart]

...and why?

 

[Nintendesert]

:|


Sorry but there's much more involved in making that determination than just that.

 

[Elfear]

What resolution do you play at and what does the rest of your system look like?

 

[stahlhart]

:|


Sorry but there's much more involved in making that determination than just that.

Okay, sorry about that...

I'm building a new (scratch, from the ground up) gaming focused system next year. I was going to put together an X58-based rig about a year ago, but things sort of conspired against that, and the project got shelved... taking a second, more committed shot at it now, but given the changes in the landscape since then, I'm leaning more towards -- actually, have pretty much decided SB now, probably a 2500K in a P67 board, and 8Gb to start.

I guess in the more general sense, the question was: if I had a GPU budget of X dollars, would it be better invested in a single card solution than an equivalently-priced SLI (or CrossfireX) pair, or vice versa?

I think that I've got about $400 to work with here, which was why I chose what I did. But the amount is somewhat flexible, as I'm still in the planning stages.

I have not built/upgraded for several years now, and have some catching up to do. Research answers some questions, but not others...

 

[stahlhart]

What resolution do you play at and what does the rest of your system look like?

For now, 1920x1080, and probably at this one for a while unless the current monitor dies a quick death like my last one did -- the rest of the system doesn't exist; this is a ground-up build...

 

[RavenSEAL]

Are you limited to nVidia or is AMD an option?

 

[SickBeast]

I have yet to see the need for more than a single GTX 460. I game at 1920x1200 on mine. I suggest you go with one of them, and add a second if you feel the need for more power.

The main advantage the 570 holds is its memory. I've found that 768mb is plenty for current games at that resolution, though.

 

[stahlhart]

Are you limited to nVidia or is AMD an option?

I'm still pretty much agnostic about it at this point -- I've been running an ATI for about seven years now, and it's been working quite well. Was just thinking of switching sides for a while, but no firm committment yet.

 

[stahlhart]

I have yet to see the need for more than a single GTX 460. I game at 1920x1200 on mine. I suggest you go with one of them, and add a second if you feel the need for more power.

The main advantage the 570 holds is its memory. I've found that 768mb is plenty for current games at that resolution, though.

I was thinking of SLI for some futureproofing, if I go to a higher native resolution monitor down the road, or if something like tesselation in games starts to take off. I'm not really all that frequent a hardware updater -- but there's an opportunity to do a major one now, and I wanted to see if I could lock it in for a while.

 

[toyota]

I was thinking of SLI for some futureproofing, if I go to a higher native resolution monitor down the road, or if something like tesselation in games starts to take off. I'm not really all that frequent a hardware updater -- but there's an opportunity to do a major one now, and I wanted to see if I could lock it in for a while.

you dont SLI now for "future proofing". when the future gets here there will be a single card that will perform the same, cost less, use less power and have newer features. get what you need now and upgrade when it no longer meets your needs.

 

[Mistwalker]

I was thinking of SLI for some futureproofing, if I go to a higher native resolution monitor down the road, or if something like tesselation in games starts to take off. I'm not really all that frequent a hardware updater -- but there's an opportunity to do a major one now, and I wanted to see if I could lock it in for a while.

The SLI 460s will give you greater performance for less money now. The 570 should be plenty of power at that resolution, plus offers the option SLI down the road, making it the better "future-proof" choice at a modest price premium.

If you can wait a bit SLI'd 560s might be the perfect compromise...

 

[jacktesterson]

Go with best single card you can afford first.

If you need more later add a 2nd card.

How I usually do things. The 6950's is first time I've bought two at same time I'll admit, I probably wouldn't do again but I just happened to have the funds so I got it over with now

 

[Lonyo]

you dont SLI now for "future proofing". when the future gets here there will be a single card that will perform the same, cost less, use less power and have newer features. get what you need now and upgrade when it no longer meets your needs.

Going single card is more future proof, because then you can SLI in the future if you feel a need to.

 

[jacktesterson]

Also, I'd look at 6950 or 570 if it was me.

The 6970 and 580 are not worth the premium compared to extra performance in my opinion.

 

[SickBeast]

I was thinking of SLI for some futureproofing, if I go to a higher native resolution monitor down the road, or if something like tesselation in games starts to take off. I'm not really all that frequent a hardware updater -- but there's an opportunity to do a major one now, and I wanted to see if I could lock it in for a while.

Well, if you're able to grab a pair of those Galaxy 460's for ~$85 each, then it's a no-brainer to do it now and be done.

I don't see the need to future proof when it's going to be easy to find a card used down the line if you have to, plus NV is not showing signs of discontinuing the 460 for the next little while. There are rumors of the 560, but people are saying that NV will not release it until AMD comes out with a card to compete with the 460.

 

[stahlhart]

Thanks very much for the responses, everyone -- looks like I'll start off with a single card for now. I'll take a second, closer look at the 6950, too.

 

[rgallant]

+ for the 570 ,
-I couldn't play a lot of games [maxed] last year with two gtx 285's ,so not sure how one 460 could do it, look at the stalker or metro 2033 benches or play the games.,not saying you have to play the all games maxed @1920x1200 - arma II[any res] can,t be maxed.,
-but we don't know whats coming in the next 18 months if that's your upgrade cycle.so 570 min.