GTX580 or HD 6970??

[MercuryDoun]

Soooo... based on ther performance i was pretty much sold on using the HD 6970... its only alittle slower then the 580, and its WAAAAY Cheaper. I have a Full tower case which will fit the 6970 no problem. But the problem lies in that, Apparently 6970 is Stupidly loud...

 

Im ok with a card thats noisy, but so loud that people 2 rooms away come running in and ask "WTF is going on in here?" Man thats crazy loud. I dont really want to put up with that. And knowing me, im definitely gonna overclock it, wait for voltage mods and blah blah, and ill require the 100% fan speed. Thats very upsetting IMO.

 

Im not exactly worried about price that much, but seeing the performance of the 6970 and its price. I was pretty much sold on it, Almost as good as the GTX 580, but significantly cheaper... But with the noise? And of course the higher performance of the 580 to consider as well... Im not so sure anymore.

 

Any suggestions? Im looking to invest into a new Video card very soon. But i could probably wait to see what the 6990/GTX595(or whatever the dual-gpu fermi will be) has to offer first.

[mattyamdfanboi]

lol @ almost

 

i wouldnt be going a 6970.. and im glad i didnt wait to see the out come.. id be pisssed i didnt get the 580 sooner..

[El_Capitan]

The GTX 580 dominates, but it has a higher price tag. Video playback looks better with Nvidia cards (doesn't matter if I change CCC settings on my HD 5870), and if you're not going to buy an after market graphics card cooler, I'd stick with the quieter of the two.

 

There's not going to be any new single GPU cards that will top the GTX 580 or HD 6970 for another year. There's a good chance the GTX 595 will cost around $1k, and probably won't come out until Q2 2011 (I have a feeling there will be delays). The HD 6990 will most likely beat Nvidia to the market, and will probably cost around $700.

 

What about having two GTX 460 1GB's in SLI? You can find deals for a single GTX 460 1GB for around $160 after MIR, or $170 with instant coupons. That's $320 - $340 for slightly worse or slightly better performance, depending on the game and settings, of a $500 GTX 580 - AND they overclock like the dickens.

 

Otherwise, I'd wait to see what the GTX 560's end up being. They might have the performance of a GTX 570 when overclocked, and who knows, they might allow for triple SLI instead of dual SLI at around a $250 price range.

[sticknstone]

I agree that the 100% fan speed noise is crazy loud. I would guess a aftermarket fan cooling solution would be the best for oc'ing, but with none out presently what is there that will garantee some manufacturer will produce any. I ordered the sapphire 6970 card, but I am presently running integrated graphics. The card purchase was a no brainer.

[Shadowtroop]

i would say 6970, 200 bucks isnt worth the gains in performance for the 580

[TheHippi]

I'd wait for a 6970 with an aftermarket heatsink. I've never been a fan of reference cards anyway.

[Joe Wassup]

i would say 6970, 200 bucks isnt worth the gains in performance for the 580

 

 

If money is a concern, I'd get a GTX570. They have the same performance, and don't lock you out of PhysX and 3d like AMD cards.

(and the 570s are cheaper)

 

Otherwise, 580. The 6970s fail to excite with their next gen/last gen performance. AMD screwed up here, there's never been a next gen part with so little gain over last gen.

 

BTW- if this was a refresh part like the 570s/580s I'd be OK with the level of increase, it would be common. You don't re-design your whole chip to get 15-20% though.

 

NVIDIA Focus Group Member

NVIDIA Focus Group Members receive free software and/or hardware from NVIDIA from time to time to

facilitate the evaluation of NVIDIA products. However, the opinions expressed are solely those of the Members.

Edited December 15, 2010 by Joe Wassup

[The Smith]

I'd wait for a 6970 with an aftermarket heatsink. I've never been a fan of reference cards anyway.

My thoughts exactly.

[El_Capitan]

Advantages of reference vs non-reference:

 

Reference:

1. Cheaper

2. Full cover waterblocks

3. Since it's cheaper, use the savings to buy a better and quieter Arctic Cooling Accelero graphics card cooler

 

Non-Reference:

1. Better cooling than the reference cards

2. Universal GPU waterblocks (cheaper than Full cover waterblocks, and you can always transfer it to a new graphics card later on down the road) - Just need to invest in an extra fan and ramsinks.

3. Usually overclocks better with additional design changes

[Boinker]

Go with the 580, better performance, not as loud and if it oc'ed anything like my 480 then I'd be getting that one.

[Speedway]

i would say 6970, 200 bucks isnt worth the gains in performance for the 580

 

+Infinity

IMO $200 more is rediculous for a minimal gain in performance! Take the $200, save another $150 and you have 2 6970's in Crossfire What is the arguement here again? But, I'm just going to wait for the 6990 next month and see what that looks like

[MercuryDoun]

+Infinity

IMO $200 more is rediculous for a minimal gain in performance! Take the $200, save another $150 and you have 2 6970's in Crossfire What is the arguement here again? But, I'm just going to wait for the 6990 next month and see what that looks like

 

This is exactly what im thinking price/performance...

 

but the noise really concerns me. I mean the 8 fans i have on my Antec DF-85 are loud enough as it, and then the 2000rpm 90 CFM fans on my Megahalems add another world of trouble... and my 5770 at 100% fan speed can really make alot of noise, what kind of noise is this 6970 @ 100% fan speed really producing??? My computer is loud enough as it is. Its almost at the perfect volume so that its partly drowned out by room noise. I cant imagine how much louder the 6970 would really be.

 

Am i worrying too much about noise??

 

As Capi mentioned. 460's in SLI would be great, and cheaper. But i really want to leave myself room to expand. 460's in SLI are a dead end upgrade. Sure they are super powerful and probably can play any game at max settings for atleast a year, but i really want the option to just toss in another(and hopefully cheaper after so many months) high end video card, and enjoy my SLI/XFire goodness for another year or so.