Video card, what direction?

[jpk]

Currently I'm running 2 EVGA GTX260 core 216 superclocked in sli. I am not overclocking them. Would I see much improvement if I went with a GTX 560ti or a Radeon 6950 2gb? There's also a EVGA GTX 295 for sale locally for $230. Is that a card I should consider also? Should I just stick with what I got for a while? Would like to spend some money on computer equipment before the end of the year for taxes. Thanks for your thoughts.
Running games at 1920x1200.

 

[toyota]

coming from that setup a gtx570 would be the very lowest I would go with. it would be a little faster than what you have, has more vram and uses less power. you can get a gtx570 for as low as 260 bucks plus it come with the new Batman game.

you could sell your other cards and easily offset half of that.

 

[bryanW1995]

I'm trying to get a card-equivalence for you, that setup is ~ gtx 295, which is around 10% faster than 5870, so you're currently approximately equivalent to a 6950 1gb without dx11 and with microstutter. So definitely don't buy that gtx 295, and gtx 560ti probably won't be much of an upgrade at all.

I'd even say that gtx 570 won't be a huge jump on your monitor, though the extra ram + no microstutter + dx 11 + ~ 20% faster core should help some. I'd either go 560 ti sli or gtx 580 on the nvidia side, or 6970 on the amd side.

 

[jpk]

So it seems I should stick with what I have until a newer gen of cards come out. I'll spend the cash on a BD when they come out, hopefully before the end of the year. Thanks all.

 

[toyota]

So it seems I should stick with what I have until a newer gen of cards come out. I'll spend the cash on a BD when they come out, hopefully before the end of the year. Thanks all.

um what? so you are going to wait 6 months until we get some decent next gen cards? you could get a gtx570 now and be out only 150 bucks or less once you sell your other cards.

thats a lot more logical than getting BD which is no better than what you have and can even be slower in some cases all while using more power than your X6. surely you have not been living under rock and have seen the reviews and massive BD threads here.

 

[jpk]

No I haven't read any reviews of BD yet. Since it hasn't been released yet I thought I'd wait until more comprehensive tests were done after release. Besides if I get a video card it will be several months before I would even think about BD. But,I will investigate further. Haven't been to the CPU section in a while because I haven't had the need to yet since my x6 is doing fine right now. If BD is going to suck wind then I will definitely revisit the video card issue. From what I've read here on this thread, there's not much upside to the cards I was considering vs what I have now. A previous poster said what I have now is roughly equivilant to the 6950 1gb. I was looking at the 6950 2gb vs the GTX560ti not a plain 560. I was leaning more towards the AMD card than the Nvidia one.

 

[toyota]

BD was released over a week ago so I take it you were living under a rock.

 

[TheAdvocate]

Do not buy a mid range SLI setup from scratch, not at this point in the product cycle. You may be warranted waiting for the AMD 7xxx series cards, or you could get a 6950 2GB or 570 and maybe pick up another when they get dirt cheap in about a year.

 

[lehtv]

GTX 260 SLI is probably about 50-70% faster than GTX 260 (see here), whereas GTX 570 is ~100% faster than GTX 260 (1680x1050): http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/318?vs=306. So using this not-all-that-comprehensive data, GTX 570 would improve your average fps by around 20-30% (probably even more in certain games and with certain settings enabled), but it'd also rid you of any dual-GPU issues such as unstable frame rates, lower your power consumption and give u DX11 and more VRAM.

Given that 6950 2GB offers better price/performance than 570, while still improving average framerate noticeably, I'd recommend that. You wouldn't end up paying much for it after selling the 260's.

 

[jpk]

Well Mr Toyota, I guess I have been under a rock. I'm sorry if I'm not quite as intimately involved as you with all the latest releases. As the poster that followed your post said, it might be better buy one card now and wait till the next cycle and pick up a second one cheap for a SLI or Crossfire setup. Like I said in my previous post, I really haven't paid much attention to BD because my current x6 is jusdt fine. Like I said I will investigate the BD.

 

[jpk]

GTX 260 SLI is probably about 50-70% faster than GTX 260 (see here), whereas GTX 570 is ~100% faster than GTX 260 (1680x1050): http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/318?vs=306. So using this not-all-that-comprehensive data, GTX 570 would improve your average fps by around 20-30% (probably even more in certain games and with certain settings enabled), but it'd also rid you of any dual-GPU issues such as unstable frame rates, lower your power consumption and give u DX11 and more VRAM.

Given that 6950 2GB offers better price/performance than 570, while still improving average framerate noticeably, I'd recommend that. You wouldn't end up paying much for it after selling the 260's.

I've been leaning towards the 6950 2gb. I like that it has the additional 1gb so it just seems a bit more future proof. I'm neither a NV or AMD fanboy. I'll buy what gives me the best for the bucks. I looked at the MSI frozr and almost bought it today.

 

[jpk]

Toyota, I'm looking at the opinions, briefly, on the BD and they don't look good right now. I will read further. Seems to be a general disapointment in the CPU.

 

[toyota]

well at least you can save money now by keeping your current cpu. just wait about 6 months and see how Ivy Bridge looks to you.

 

[crisium]

If anything, BD reviews brought to light that Thuban Phenom II X6 is a pretty decent chip. Stick with it for now, and reevaluate when Ivy Bridge comes out.

 

[jpk]

I don't know, I've never bought an Intel CPU. They were always much more expensive than AMD. Besides, I like the underdog position of AMD. They're always under alot of pressure to best big blue. They come close but never get the big crown. My 1090T runs like a champ as did my 955 BE before and my games play great at just about all out settings so I'm happy with them for now. Just like before, this is just the initial release it seems. AMD always seems to tweak up their CPUs as time goes along. It's not that I wouldn't ever buy Intel but AMD would have to fall on their asses completely. That would not be good for us then Intel would gouge the crap out of us.

 

[toyota]

Intels are not always much more expensive. the 2400 can be had for the same price as the 1100T and will be faster, especially in gaming, while using much less power. plus the stock cooler is fine on the 2400 where as the 1100T is noisy and would have to be replaced. and you can oc the 2400 a bit by simply raising turbo. for 30 bucks more you can get the fully unlocked 2500k. so if anything Intel offers more bang for buck and WAY more performance per watt.

 

[finbarqs]

would it be worth upgrading to a gtx 580 from a gtx 480?

 

[crisium]

Not really? Not to take this thread even more off course, but on average a 580 is 15% faster than a 480. I'd imagine the 580 has more overclocking headroom, but I'm not certain.

Worth the heavy amounts of cash? No. But if you can afford it and want the best single-GPU performance to date, then why the hell not. Just make sure you can truly afford it, 'cause most people prefer to see at least a 50% performance boost before upgrading.

 

[jpk]

Intels are not always much more expensive. the 2400 can be had for the same price as the 1100T and will be faster, especially in gaming, while using much less power. plus the stock cooler is fine on the 2400 where as the 1100T is noisy and would have to be replaced. and you can oc the 2400 a bit by simply raising turbo. for 30 bucks more you can get the fully unlocked 2500k. so if anything Intel offers more bang for buck and WAY more performance per watt.

Hey Toyota, how do you like the HAF 912? I have the 922 and it is a pretty good case. Was thinking of getting the HAF X but that thing is too huge but the inside has a better layout for hiding cables and it's black inside.The 922 still has lots of room and the large fans make it a very quiet case. It's sitting right next to me on my desk and it hardly makes any noise. I also have the Corsair H50 so I don't have a chip fan running. Still it was pretty quiet before I put the H50 in.

 

[toyota]

I like the 912 much better than the Antec Three Hundred that I had. there is was more room for routing cables and it has better airflow. also the Three Hundred had a poorly shielded front panel so I got a little bit of electrical noise when trying to use front headphone jack even with a sound card. no such problem on the 912.

my only big gripe is for some reason my dvd player has to be removed if I want to take off the very front of the case. its not really a big deal but it just seems odd that the dvd player faceplate is just a little bigger than the cut out.

since you have the 922, is the 200mm fan pretty quiet? I was thinking about adding one to the top of my case and moving the 120mm fan I have there to the side to blow right on the gpu? i have two 120mm in the front too but will not be replacing those.

 

[happy medium]

Currently I'm running 2 EVGA GTX260 core 216 superclocked in sli

2 SUPERCLOCKED gtx260 216's in sli would be as fast (or faster) than a 5870.

The best upgrade for you would be another sli/xfire setup.
2 6870 2gb cards or 2 gtx560 2gb cards would be a good upgrade but you would need to get your cpu over 3.8 ghz.

 

[jpk]

I like the 912 much better than the Antec Three Hundred that I had. there is was more room for routing cables and it has better airflow. also the Three Hundred had a poorly shielded front panel so I got a little bit of electrical noise when trying to use front headphone jack even with a sound card. no such problem on the 912.

my only big gripe is for some reason my dvd player has to be removed if I want to take off the very front of the case. its not really a big deal but it just seems odd that the dvd player faceplate is just a little bigger than the cut out.

since you have the 922, is the 200mm fan pretty quiet? I was thinking about adding one to the top of my case and moving the 120mm fan I have there to the side to blow right on the gpu? i have two 120mm in the front too but will not be replacing those.

I used to have a Lian Li case and it always sounded like a jet aircraft. The largest fan was 80mm in it and it had three, it was an extremely noisy case. I have 3-200mm fans in my 922, I added a third one, two were included. One on top , side panel and the lower front. The larger fans are practicaly silent and that's no BS and they move a LOT of air. I also have two more 120mm fans, one on the bottom of the case and one on the rear for the H50 radiator. Very quiet. One gripe I have with the 922 is you have to remove 6 small screws to pull the front bezel off and clean the filter. Would have been much better and easier if it was a snap on front. The 922 has loads of space to hide cables but I wish they would have put the rubber grommets in the access holes and painted the interior black. I've been kind of jonesin for a Corsair 800D. I love that case but the price is a bit high.

 

[jpk]

2 SUPERCLOCKED gtx260 216's in sli would be as fast (or faster) than a 5870.

The best upgrade for you would be another sli/xfire setup.
2 6870 2gb cards or 2 gtx560 2gb cards would be a good upgrade but you would need to get your cpu over 3.8 ghz.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it........ Seems the twin 260's are not so ancient as I was thinking. Like I mentioned earlier, I really don't have any problems running games like Far Cry 2 and Bad Company Battlefield 2, CoD BO at pretty much very high settings. I just thought with all the newer cards coming out and these cards being a few years old and with newer more graphicly challenging games on the way, I was feeling like it might be time to consider someting newer. I guess I'll sit tight for a while and see what happens down the road.