just pulled the trigger on a gtx 580

dunno · 23 May 2011 at 22:14

Just specced myself a system around an i5 2500k and it came to less than the graphics card! Itchy upgrade finger is itching :mad:

dunno · 23 May 2011 at 22:17

teddy3578 said:
You bought it now so its too late. But..
First your rig needs major updating before you graphics but you go and spend a relatively insane amount of graphics creating a needless bottleneck.

Secondly, you should be happy you got to best now but the price difference between a GTX570 and GTX580 is larger than the performance difference. The difference is not worth the extra.

Happy?

I know what you mean but i regretted it when I got a 9700np instead of a pro, a X1800XL instead of a X1800XT and a 8800 GTS 512 instead of a 8800GTX.

I'm not spending silly amounts on a 590 so I bit the bullet

Ezyryder · 23 May 2011 at 22:17

I did a similar thing, got Sandy now but with 2 6950s and this baby flies

synixx · 23 May 2011 at 22:26

What I would do is return the gtx580 and get a gtx480 and use the other £150 to get a second hand q6600/mobo/4gb ram or perhaps a core i5 if you can stretch to that? It will preform better than your current setup with the gtx580 that's for sure.

Marine-RX179 · 23 May 2011 at 22:31

dunno said:
I know what you mean but i regretted it when I got a 9700np instead of a pro, a X1800XL instead of a X1800XT and a 8800 GTS 512 instead of a 8800GTX.

But your problem is you have spent £360 on a card which you would most likely not see improvement (except for gaming in dx11 mode) over your current 8800GTS 512MB with your dated system holding it back.

I think your current system is most likely bottlenecking even your 8800GTS 512MB, let alone a GTX580...which is pretty much more than 4 times the speed of the 8800GTS 512MB.

dunno · 23 May 2011 at 22:41

synixx said:
What I would do is return the gtx580 and get a gtx480 and use the other £150 to get a second hand q6600/mobo/4gb ram or perhaps a core i5 if you can stretch to that? It will preform better than your current setup with the gtx580 that's for sure.

I'm not really wanting to buy older tech, I am going to upgrade properly and not just limp along. If performance isn't improved that much I might just shell out another £350 on a Sandy set up. Just means I have to live on bread an water for a month

Jono8 · 23 May 2011 at 22:49

dunno said:
I'm not really wanting to buy older tech, I am going to upgrade properly and not just limp along. If performance isn't improved that much I might just shell out another £350 on a Sandy set up. Just means I have to live on bread an water for a month

What you have done suggests otherwise.....

Old Wino · 23 May 2011 at 22:53

dunno · 23 May 2011 at 23:01

Jono8 said:
What you have done suggests otherwise.....

I meant with the items I buy, I don't want to buy 2nd hand older tech I want newer stuff

dunno · 23 May 2011 at 23:02

Old Wino said:
I swear, buying the right graphics card every couple of years is more streesful than a randy footballer trying to hold down a super injunction.

Dunno about anyone else but I do waaay too much faffing around researching each one and ending up not knowing what day it is let alone which is the best buy at that time. Do you wait, overclock a previous model or the one before than, crossfire/SLI options, which motherboard is best, will it run my fave games, will it flicker, WTF is VRAM, will it be half the price next week, will it blow up, is it louder than a dive-bombing Stuka, is red better than green.... etc.

In the end we've all stabbed a buy button wondering if it was really the best choice and knowing full well they are going to depreciate faster than a fat bird chasing a dounut down a hill. At least we have the good people contributing to this forum to get some direction before buying, even if it's just by browsing other people's comments.

It's always going to be better than the last one, just don't do it too often as therein lies madness.

Personally I wanted either a 6990 of a 590 but there are showstopper problems with both and I need a new card right now... honest.... I couldn't wait even a liiiitle longer, I couldn't... really

Edit: ... or could I have... dammit

Ha ha what did you buy?

Old Wino · 23 May 2011 at 23:12

dunno · 23 May 2011 at 23:23

Old Wino said:
A twin turbo fuzzy something.

After weeks of research with help from the world's top scientists we came to the conclusion that it was very shiny and had more fans than the Beatles so must absolutely beyond doubt be the best one in the whole wide world.

Wow, the worlds top scientists. Wish I had thought of that. Also the twin turbo fuzzy something sounds awesome. Was thinking of getting it in red because we all know red ones go faster.

ViRuS2k · 24 May 2011 at 02:53

You should have gotten a 6950 and modded to 6970 and overclocked it to 900/1400.

could have saved yourself £150+ for what same or 5% more performance lol

Marine-RX179 · 24 May 2011 at 08:32

ViRuS2k said:
You should have gotten a 6950 and modded to 6970 and overclocked it to 900/1400.

could have saved yourself £150+ for what same or 5% more performance lol

Yea sure...because flashing is guaranteed success, and only 6970 can overclock, GTX580 can't lol

But the problem here is with OP's current system:
Opteron 170 @ 2.7Ghz
4GB pc3200 running @225Mhz
Asus A8n32-SLI Deluxe
8800 GTS 512

Doesn't matter what card he's getting, it's not really going be any faster than his current 8800GTS 512MB because of the system/CPU bottleneck.

However, I would agree with getting a 6950 instead (or GTX560Ti), if he is spending the rest of his on upgrading his CPU/motherboard/RAM bundle. It will give him FAR better gaming performance than with a GTX580 in his current system.

arc@css · 24 May 2011 at 08:38

Just make sure you upgrade the mobo, ram and cpu / cooler, then you'll get the benefits.

ViRuS2k · 24 May 2011 at 08:40

Marine-RX179 said:
Yea sure...because flashing is guaranteed success, and only 6970 can overclock, GTX580 can't lol

i havent laughed as much in that statment,
so your saying only 6970s can overclock cause i beg to differ, i can easily get 1000core/1450 memory from my 2x asus 6950s in crossfire.

for 24/7 though im @ 950/1400

I think you ment to say not all 6950s can overclock but even then thats the same with all cards as there all different depending on core quality.

still you wont see meny 6970s going that much higher than 1000. unless there liquid cooled
FYI im air cooled and still able to get 1000 easy.

so your statment is totaly false, also rev 1 asus 6950s are about the safest bet to get them unlocked.

Marine-RX179 · 24 May 2011 at 09:18

ViRuS2k said:
i havent laughed as much in that statment,
so your saying only 6970s can overclock cause i beg to differ, i can easily get 1000core/1450 memory from my 2x asus 6950s in crossfire.

for 24/7 though im @ 950/1400

I think you ment to say not all 6950s can overclock but even then thats the same with all cards as there all different depending on core quality.

still you wont see meny 6970s going that much higher than 1000. unless there liquid cooled
FYI im air cooled and still able to get 1000 easy.

so your statment is totaly false, also rev 1 asus 6950s are about the safest bet to get them unlocked.

You clearly FAIL to interpret my sarcasm of you making it out as if only 6950/6970 can overclock, and completely ignoring the fact that GTX580 can overclock by a lot as well. That's almost like saying a Phenom II X4 overclock close to 4.0GHz will match i5/i7/SB at stock speed, and disregarding that fact the i5/i7/SB can overclock by a lot as well.

topdog@OC · 24 May 2011 at 09:46

How does this CPU compare to a ~5 yr old E6850 @ 3.2GHz (dual core)?

If so, I can say moving from an 8800 GTX to a 460 GTX made a big difference. Certainly the age of the system was holding me back, and the outlay was a lot less than the 580 GTX I'm running now (wonderful card it is) in an upgraded system, but if it's the first step in an incremental upgrade over the next few months / year, for a system that might need to last a few, then it's as good a place to start as any.

ViRuS2k · 24 May 2011 at 12:11

Marine-RX179 said:
You clearly FAIL to interpret my sarcasm of you making it out as if only 6950/6970 can overclock, and completely ignoring the fact that GTX580 can overclock by a lot as well. That's almost like saying a Phenom II X4 overclock close to 4.0GHz will match i5/i7/SB at stock speed, and disregarding that fact the i5/i7/SB can overclock by a lot as well.

Yes 580s can overclock to but is there overclock worth £150+ i dont think so.

lurkio · 24 May 2011 at 13:23

Iam in the same boat , I bought a GTX580 frozer nearly 2 weeks ago
went from a GTX280, arma2 av fps went from 35 to a steady 60

And because its a single gpu Iam not waiting for driver writers to make "tweaks"
to make my game run properly on 2 gpu's

All in all I have to say it is a good upgrade, hope you enjoy yours