Graphics card choice

[NerdGoneWild]

So it is finally august and I can add a graphics card to my build, I have been reading reviews and researching and am pretty sure I want to go with EVGA and the 5 series. There are just so many different cards and the 580's are in the 400$ range which I am not sure I want to spend that much for a card. Any input is appreciated as always, the cards I was looking at include

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130595

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130687

 

good choice? or are there better?

[potatochobit]

what do you plan to do with this card?

looking at your current computer...

you should probably go with a 560 ti

it is the best value for max performance

 

edit:

and use the extra money to buy an SSD

Edited July 28, 2011 by potatochobit

[NerdGoneWild]

mainly high end games and minor video editing.

 

And for ssd I read many negative reviews for the price so went with a sata III for now and will do ssd once they drop in price a bit!

[Forb]

So your not considering an AMD card? The 6970 should beat 570 in most games AND it is of similar pricing.

 

If you were going to pick the 2 cards of that list, I would suggest the 1.28Gb version. The 2.5Gb version would hardly have a performance boost unless your playing games at very high resolutions.

Edited July 29, 2011 by Forb

[Guest Goth]

Look.

[Rofltroll]

I wouldn't pay 56 bucks for the extra RAM. It won't make much of a difference really. Crysis 2 maxed out with high res textures uses about 1 GB of VRAM from my card(I could be wrong but that's what MSI Afterburner is telling me). Here's my advice though: since you have eyed a reference card (cards that have the stock nVidia cooler) you won't see any difference from one card to another. So I suggest you buy the cheapest 570 you find and with the leftover money save up and buy the Arctic cooling Accelero Xtreme Plus II VGA cooler. I've seen some insane overclocking with that cooler at stable temps - the overclocked card with the arctic cooling cooler had lower temps than the stock card at stock speeds. Also installing it is really easy. The only real drawback is that it might hinder SLI usage since the cooler is so god damned huge.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186048

 

Only 80$ in America damn. it's 120 here in Romania.

[Shurman292]

mainly high end games and minor video editing.

 

What video editing software are you using? Some programs can utilize the GPU very well and all the extra vram is needed when you start editing multiple videos and pictures. Just something to consider. I am not happy that my 470 only has 1.28 gb of ram because my system slows way down when I run out of vram.

[El_Capitan]

Having both the GTX 570's and HD 6970s, it really depends on the games. They are both good overclockers, but the GTX 570's at stock the Core Clock speed starts pretty low. With an 87mV increase it can get to 880MHz pretty easy (when in SLI, single card overclocks are higher), which is a considerable increase. HD 6970's can get to usually around 920MHz without increasing the voltage. Either way, any one of the two are good choices, imo.

[Nyt]

(when in SLI, single card overclocks are higher)

 

Both of mine drop about 30mhz for a max oc in SLI

 

Honestly both are great cards but I'd edge for the 6970 since it has more VRAM and games DO use VRAM even at a normal 1080p res . Crysis 2 even chows 1.8Gb .

More VRAM is just a nice asset to have

 

If you REALLY want a 570 and have no reason other than fanboyism then get the GTX570 but the EVGA box design cooler with the vapour chamber since the other is a pathetic heatpipe solution