Which Nvidia DX 11 Card

[raycarmody]

460 or 470 as the 460 can be clocked to 5850 speeds (1gb version that is) if you don't mind the extra heat/power consumption/noise and price. Otherwise hold out for abit and see how the new ATi 6 series cards come out.

Infact i would go for a 460 1gb as it could easily get upto or past 470 speeds if overclocked. Plus they run well in SLI and aren't too expensive right now. It would leave you open to future choices when newer cards are released as you won't lose much money on a 460 since its still new and holds its value well.

Seen some posts on OC about overclocked cards not running in SLI very well?..whilst no imediate plans to SLI...the mobo can run it (apparently)

 

[RavenXXX2]

You got any more info on how to do that....

Airflow through the case looks pretty good..( 5 case fans + 2 ram fans + the water cooling..all running on medium setting) and all harddisks are running between 25 and 34 degrees ( althugh the SSD currently does not report a temperature..)

Fermi cards like to have nice cool air blowing over them and if you can get a fan blowing directly in to the cards intake fan then all the better. The default fan profile on 470/480 is very relaxed, temp get very high before the fan kicks in with a decent RPM and by then it's fighting a losing battle to cool the card, a custom fan profile setup in MSI afterburner will speed the fan up quicker when temps rise keeping the card cooler, it's simple to do.

Regarding the 6870, ATI has not even confirmed it yet, any benchmarks out there could be fake or they could be real, expect to pay a lot more than for a 470, if you feel you are prepared to wait when factoring in all of the above then that's fair enough.

 

[raycarmody]

ps Freakbro whats yer Creative SB X-Fi Titanium Pci-e like?

 

[Jay85]

Seen some posts on OC about overclocked cards not running in SLI very well?..whilst no imediate plans to SLI...the mobo can run it (apparently)

Depends on the mobo and card i guess, but from what i've seen and read they run pretty good!

Fermi cards like to have nice cool air blowing over them and if you can get a fan blowing directly in to the cards intake fan then all the better. The default fan profile on 470/480 is very relaxed, temp get very high before the fan kicks in with a decent RPM and by then it's fight a losing battle to cool the card, a custom fan profile setup in MSI afterburner will speed the fan up quicker when temps rise keeping the card cooler, it's simple to do.

Regarding the 6870, ATI has not even confirmed it yet, any benchmarks out there could be fake or they could be real, expect to pay a lot more than for a 470, if you feel you are prepared to wait when factoring in all of the above then that's fair enough.

Fermi cards like waterblocks tbh.

 

[raycarmody]

RavenXXX2

That champion, was expecting a list of extra hardware and software that I would need to factor in...but does not sound too bad...

I have done with the current 9500 for 3 years so...so will ideally be looking to buy in the next month...(starting to get annoyed that windows marks the system down based on the graphics card..)

 

[CaptainRAVE]

I was looking @ the ATI ones..when they first came out..but a few websites say that the nvidia ones are a touch better..and have the 3D stuff on them.... but I know very little about the differences..(more concerned what I can and can not play on them)

3D is only useful if you have a 3D capable monitor and the performance. I wouldn't base a decision on that given your price range.

Keep in mind as soon as the 6xxx series is released you are going to be able to pick up the current offering from ATI and Nvidia dirt cheap.

And since you have waited this long...

 

[vectisitch]

yeh,i'm deffo waiting for the bargains

 

[RavenXXX2]

Nvidia never felt the need to price match a 5870 or 5850 on release so I doubt you're going to see any major price drops from them, same maybe true of ATI if they just let current stock dry up.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

yeh,i'm deffo waiting for the bargains

Yeah, the prices on the last generation dropped in the same situation. Who knows with this one. OcUK certainly had some great bargains last time. Plus you will get the enthusiasts getting rid of this gen on the bay and sometimes after not having them for very long. Definitely worth considering. Not worth rusing imo.

 

[Freakbro]

ps Freakbro whats yer Creative SB X-Fi Titanium Pci-e like?

Seems ok so far...im not really an audiophile, will just be gaming mostly, and ive spent most of the time on my new rig overclocking and benchmarking the cpu so far

It does seem a better sound than the x-fi gamer in my old rig though.

The only reason i went pci-e is because the 2 470's block both pci slots on the mobo >.< (which would have been solved now if i move the gfx card slot 3 instead)

 

[GJ02]

freakbro
any issues with the sli setup ?
what did you have before the 470's

 

[raycarmody]

Seems ok so far...im not really an audiophile, will just be gaming mostly, and ive spent most of the time on my new rig overclocking and benchmarking the cpu so far

It does seem a better sound than the x-fi gamer in my old rig though.

The only reason i went pci-e is because the 2 470's block both pci slots on the mobo >.< (which would have been solved now if i move the gfx card slot 3 instead)

Cheers..i had a SB audigy with my old machine and it was connected to the creative 6.1 surround sound and worked well..when i upgraded to the current mobo...the realtek seemed as thought it should be better ( as more recent)..but had trouble getting the realtek onboard 7.1 talking to all the speakers..so may need to look at other options

 

[raycarmody]

3D is only useful if you have a 3D capable monitor and the performance. I wouldn't base a decision on that given your price range.

Keep in mind as soon as the 6xxx series is released you are going to be able to pick up the current offering from ATI and Nvidia dirt cheap.

And since you have waited this long...

Cheers Captainrave..

Choices choices...(seems the web chatter recons ATI 6XXX may be out september later this year...so as you say may actually be wise to hang on and see if it does have an impact..)

Would be interested in the 3d stuff...so if i can get components that have flexibility..then just need to worry about the monitor and replacing or adding a few components..would be ok with that..

 

[Freakbro]

freakbro
any issues with the sli setup ?
what did you have before the 470's

My old rig has got a single 8800GTS 512mb (great card tbh just a bit long in the tooth )

This is the first time i've done sli and zero issues so far with setting them up and getting nvidia surround to work on the 3 monitors, really smooth

Not done much gaming yet though, only built this week and spent the last few days getting my system to 4ghz *points to my tortured overclock thread*

@raycarmody - I know the SBlaster series arnt exactly popular....and i've had awful times over the years with drivers from creative with various cards, and getting my x-fi gamer working on the last rig was a nightmare. Thankfully this time the titanium just slotted in and windows 7 did the rest, its working, so i've not upset it by trying to update any drivers or install any creative programs

 

[raycarmody]

@Raycarmody - I know the SBlaster series arnt exactly popular....and i've had awful times over the years with drivers from creative with various cards, and getting my x-fi gamer working on the last rig was a nightmare. Thankfully this time the titanium just slotted in and windows 7 did the rest, its working, so i've not upset it by trying to update any drivers or install any creative programs

Must admit do like windows 7 for that..

 

[raycarmody]

Cheers all who replied...will most likely go for the 470 but will wait till end of september after launch of the ATI ones..slim chance that they may drop in price...