Upgrade to GTX 580 SLI?

[Arachnotronic]

Hi,

I'm thinking about picking up a 2nd 580 on the used market instead of going with a 7970 or Kepler. Can anybody tell me if microstutter/driver incompatibilities are a deal-breaker for this kind of a setup?

Will 1.5GB VRAM be a limitation @ 1920x1080?

Thanks!

 

[lavaheadache]

How about you go and get one and tell us. Your experience =! my experience. My last venture in Sli was GTX 480 sli and I immediately saw microstutter in Metro 2033. IMO anything that really pushes your system hard is going to make microstutter rear it's ugly head.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

every sli and crossfire set up will result in micro shuttering

 

[lavaheadache]

every sli and crossfire set up will result in micro shuttering

I concur and it is a proven fact yet others insist it is a YMMV situation.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Well, then...I guess I'll hold off.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

I concur and it is a proven fact yet others insist it is a YMMV situation.

it maybe a YMMV situation, for example, the game or the cpu (cpu limited, game not being fully able to use the duel gpu)

 

[blackened23]

every sli and crossfire set up will result in micro shuttering

I disagree completely, i've seen MS in some setups and not others. Yet some still insist that every single dual gpu setup with have MS - that is not true.

 

[Arachnotronic]

blackened23 -- what was your experience with the dual 580s? Positive? worth the upgrade over a single 580?

 

[blackened23]

blackened23 -- what was your experience with the dual 580s? Positive? worth the upgrade over a single 580?

Yeah, positive experience, did not have any MS issues. I'd probably opt for a used 580 though.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Yeah, positive experience, did not have any MS issues. I'd probably opt for a used 580 though.

Yeah, definitely not going to buy a 580 at new prices...

 

[wbynum]

Based on Ebay auctions, seems like the going priced for a used 580 is ~$350. Would it not make more sense to sell your 580 and pick up two of the 480's for $420? Tigerdirect still has them in stock. See Visa coupon to get them down to $210 each. Doing this you are out of pocket ~$110 ($420 - ~$310 net Ebay profit) instead of ~$350. OC the 480's and you are golden.

 

[Gloomy]

Based on Ebay auctions, seems like the going priced for a used 580 is ~$350. Would it not make more sense to sell your 580 and pick up two of the 480's for $420? Tigerdirect still has them in stock. See Visa coupon to get them down to $210 each. Doing this you are out of pocket ~$110 ($420 - ~$310 net Ebay profit) instead of ~$350. OC the 480's and you are golden.

 

[nOOky]

1.5 gigs of ram should be good at that resolution, but although it's going to be blazing fast I wouldn't do it for a couple of reasons.
One is you will be limited to that 1.5 gigs of memory. Two is that a second GTX580 is still rather expensive for older technology. Three is that you'll be maxed out on any future upgrade with both slots filled. Fourth is the possibility of microstutter which may or may not be noticeable to you. Finally there is the extra heat and noise and power consumption.
Me? I'd probably drop the cash on one of the new nvidia cards coming out and sell the GTX580 you have, or perhaps consider going with two future mid range cards in SLI. You'll be a bit more future-proof and have the latest and greatest.

 

[darckhart]

i think you should first be asking yourself why you need another 580.

to answer your questions though, i had gtx580 sli and no, i did not notice microstutter. 1.5gb vram will not normally be a limitation at that res, unless you start using insane amounts of SSAA with all your eyecandy effects, at which point it will come close, especially with hi-res texture packs and tweaks.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Based on Ebay auctions, seems like the going priced for a used 580 is ~$350. Would it not make more sense to sell your 580 and pick up two of the 480's for $420? Tigerdirect still has them in stock. See Visa coupon to get them down to $210 each. Doing this you are out of pocket ~$110 ($420 - ~$310 net Ebay profit) instead of ~$350. OC the 480's and you are golden.

Eh, that sounds like a mess. If I were to sell my 580, I'd just buy a Kepler. I actually sold a 580 before to buy a 7970, but I had so many problems with it, that I returned it and bought an identical 580 on the used market...

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I think ms is different game to game. Might want to ask these people saying they don't have ms with SLI or Xfire. I use to run 2 5870s in Rig2 (sig) with UT3 and it was there but not that bad, to me. Opinions may very.

 

[imaheadcase]

I run SLI GTX 580 @ 1900x1200 1.5gig cards and its runs flawlessly. No microstutter to be seen.

Brother has a crossfire 7970 setup and never seen it as well.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

I run SLI GTX 580 @ 1900x1200 1.5gig cards and its runs flawlessly. No microstutter to be seen.

Brother has a crossfire 7970 setup and never seen it as well.

maybe because 7970 cf hasnt been fully utilized yet.

and its a ymmv type of thing

 

[Puppies04]

OP what makes you think you need another 580 to run a single 1080p screen? Unless you have specific reasons or are moving up to a higher resolution/multi monitor I doubt you need another card especially with the headaches that SLI can cause.

 

[blackened23]

OP what makes you think you need another 580 to run a single 1080p screen? Unless you have specific reasons or are moving up to a higher resolution/multi monitor I doubt you need another card especially with the headaches that SLI can cause.

TBH i wouldn't bother with dual gpu unless I had a 120hz screen and/or 2560 or higher resolution. Its definitely not worth it at 1080p IMO

 

[imaheadcase]

...or if you want to turn on all the eye candy without slowdowns from single GPU. WHich is what lots of people get SLI for.

 

[blackened23]

...or if you want to turn on all the eye candy without slowdowns from single GPU. WHich is what lots of people get SLI for.

Still a waste. There's about 5 games that can't be maxed and those can have a single setting turned down.

Is it worth another 500$ for 1080p? IMO no, i'd save it for a good monitor.

Getting 1000$ worth of GPU with a 100$ cheap trash TN wal mart screen is a complete waste. IMO. If you spend 1k on GPUs, get a good monitor.

 

[MrK6]

Still a waste. There's about 5 games that can't be maxed and those can have a single setting turned down.

Is it worth another 500$ for 1080p? IMO no, i'd save it for a good monitor.

Getting 1000$ worth of GPU with a 100$ cheap trash TN wal mart screen is a complete waste. IMO. If you spend 1k on GPUs, get a good monitor.

Exactly. And I'd go further to say get the good monitor first and THEN decide what GPU's you want to run it. IMO, before you even think of buying a 79xx series card, you should already own a 1080p+ quality IPS panel (or several).

 

[rgallant]

hard one to call
if you need more gpu in a game these new ones will bring you what?
-30fps+10-20 % over 1 580 = 33-36 fps . I'd tough it out until the real 28nm hit the stores at the end of the year.
-my 0.02 ,re MS have never seen it on 3 x sli set ups. but I could see people seeing it when their settings drive the fps down to -40 fps.[sli] in some games OR on a crap monitor.

 

[imaheadcase]

Still a waste. There's about 5 games that can't be maxed and those can have a single setting turned down.

Is it worth another 500$ for 1080p? IMO no, i'd save it for a good monitor.

Getting 1000$ worth of GPU with a 100$ cheap trash TN wal mart screen is a complete waste. IMO. If you spend 1k on GPUs, get a good monitor.

Yah but that was not the issue, it was if he should get SLI GTX 580. You assume to much.

Judging from his setup in sig, he has a pretty good system. So I doubt that is a real issue to him. Especially as you said yourself if he can spend $500 for a 2nd card, he can get a good monitor.

To me it was worth it, it was night and day different in FPS games for me.