Upgrades to GTX 295

[JoshGuru7]

I'm looking for some opinions about GPU upgrades for a gaming system that is now about 2 years old. I'm running at 2560x1600 and often have to turn quality settings down to medium and reduce draw distances in order to get smooth enough gameplay.

Relevant specs
GPU: GTX 295
CPU: i7 920 @ 3.4 Ghz (Bloomfield)
MB: EVGA E758-A1 X58 (3 way SLI x16/x16/x8)
RAM: 12GB (i do some video work)
PSU: Corsair HX1000

I'm interested in price to performance ratios and so I'm primarily looking at multiple card solutions. 580 SLI at over $1000 seems like a little much.

These seem to be my best options:
460 FTW SLI $450 - Would I see a big enough difference from a GTX 295 to make this worthwhile?
6950 CF $600 - Possibly better for future games?
570 SLI $700 - Worth $100 over the 6950 CF?

I could also wait of course. I generally upgrade every 2 years or so, and the launch of the 6900 makes this seem like as good a time as any to do so.

 

[OCGuy]

570 SLI is a monster rig.....

 

[MentalIlness]

Are you partial to one company/brand ? If not, you could consider 6870 Crossfire for $480 ....$440 after rebates.

But I just noticed your motherboard, does it support Crossfire ? If not, the 6950 Crossfire is out as well. Unless it can be hacked like some others.

I just had to make a choice between 6870 Crossfire / GTX570.

However, you'll be tickled pink with whatever you choose.

 

[nyker96]

I'd say you'd need a 580 to really feel this upgrade. or a cheaper alternative, 2x460GTX 1GB if you can get them cheap.

 

[Elfear]

6950 CF will perform about as well as 570 SLI at 2560x1600 and for $100 less. Plus, those cards have a good chance of unlocking to full 6970's which will be about as fast as 580 SLI. I'd stay away from the 460's even though they are excellent cards, they just lack sufficient memory.

Seems like an easy choice right now unless there are games you play which heavily favor Nvidia cards.

 

[badb0y]

6950 Xfire'd. Then try to unlock them to a 6970, not 100% but it's damn close!

 

[Termie]

These seem to be my best options:
460 FTW SLI $450 - Would I see a big enough difference from a GTX 295 to make this worthwhile? - 50-60% faster
6950 CF $600 - Possibly better for future games? - 75%-85% faster
570 SLI $700 - Worth $100 over the 6950 CF? - 80-90% faster

The ballpark performance figures above might help provide a starting point for the discussion. But for your resolution, going forward, the 1GB buffer on the GTX460 is not enough. I'd go with the 6950 CF hand down...the 570 memory buffer is also a bottleneck at your resolution.

 

[JoshGuru7]

Motherboard does support CF.

One thing that I'm not thrilled about in regards to my current setup is the power and heat generated by the 295. Any of these SLI/CF configurations look to be a slightly worse in terms of power but better in terms of heat.

Are you partial to one company/brand ? If not, you could consider 6870 Crossfire for $480 ....$440 after rebates.

I've had good luck with EVGA but would consider anything. The 6870 CF looks like a killer value, but I'm concerned that it wouldn't be a big enough improvement from my 295 to last me another 2 years before I upgraded again.

The 6950 CF seems like my best option so far. I guess another question is whether I would miss PhysX. I'm inclined to say I wouldn't miss it.

 

[MentalIlness]

Motherboard does support CF.

One thing that I'm not thrilled about in regards to my current setup is the power and heat generated by the 295. Any of these SLI/CF configurations look to be a slightly worse in terms of power but better in terms of heat.


I've had good luck with EVGA but would consider anything. The 6870 CF looks like a killer value, but I'm concerned that it wouldn't be a big enough improvement from my 295 to last me another 2 years before I upgraded again.

The 6950 CF seems like my best option so far. I guess another question is whether I would miss PhysX. I'm inclined to say I wouldn't miss it.

It is a pretty big jump in performance. See this review...

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/Radeon_HD_6870_CrossFire/6.html

 

[JoshGuru7]

It is a pretty big jump in performance. See this review...

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/Radeon_HD_6870_CrossFire/6.html

Thanks for the link, that is a big increase especially in Crysis (88%+).

Benchmarks from that site give the 6950 CF setup a 24% edge over the 6870 CF setup across all their games at my desired resolution (my math). This is pretty consistent with the price difference of 25% ($600 vs. $480) so it looks like both are pretty good values.

 

[Dark Shroud]

Keep in mind the HD 6950 also has a newer architecture than the HD 6800s; that combined with double the memory will give it a longer performance life than the 6800 cards. As the drivers mature the HD 6900 series will get even better and will share some of the same architecture as the HD 7000 series.

The GTX 570 is a very good card. If Nvidia had given it the same amount of memory as the GTX 580 it would be a great card. That was a poor call on Nvidia's part.

 

[MentalIlness]

I also agree with Dark Shroud.

The 69xx Series will probably last longer...but how much longer ? Noone knows.

They both would be great setups and get you through a few years probably.

Just buy on impulse and be happy.