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AMD to Nvidia Upgrade time.

NiteSurfer

NiteSurfer

NiteSurfer

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Joined
20 Feb 2006
Posts
234
Now, I'm not a fanboy of AMD ok, Even though I've never had an Nvidia Card.

But, I've found AMD/ATI to always be better value, Well. After recent events with there dodgy drivers, I've had enough.

Why!. Well for starters, I've had a bug on my system for ages, which causes the Windows Explorer to stop responding many many times inside each hour.

After completely re-installing a fresh windows it was still there, Apparently it was the latest 12.10 Driver. So it was suggested that either A) I roll back to 12.9/12.8 etc. (which I didn't want because of other issues i didn't like) or

B) try the New 12.11 Beta 8 driver, this actually fixed the issue, But a world of issues came with it. namely a Crossfire Performance Disaster across some of my games library.

So...What's the point of this thread.

I want to change to Nvidia, I don't know if there SLI is better then Crossfire for microstutter. etc.. But I would like to know which to go for..

I don't know what my current two cards are worth, but I could spend around £200-£250 on a new setup..

Should I go with

GTX 570
GTX 570 SLI
GTX 580
GTX 580 SLI

Or the new 6 series, Which my mobo doesn't really support properly.
 
NiteSurfer said:
Now, I'm not a fanboy of AMD ok, Even though I've never had an Nvidia Card.

But, I've found AMD/ATI to always be better value, Well. After recent events with there dodgy drivers, I've had enough.

Why!. Well for starters, I've had a bug on my system for ages, which causes the Windows Explorer to stop responding many many times inside each hour.

After completely re-installing a fresh windows it was still there, Apparently it was the latest 12.10 Driver. So it was suggested that either A) I roll back to 12.9/12.8 etc. (which I didn't want because of other issues i didn't like) or

B) try the New 12.11 Beta 8 driver, this actually fixed the issue, But a world of issues came with it. namely a Crossfire Performance Disaster across some of my games library.

So...What's the point of this thread.

I want to change to Nvidia, I don't know if there SLI is better then Crossfire for microstutter. etc.. But I would like to know which to go for..

I don't know what my current two cards are worth, but I could spend around £200-£250 on a new setup..

Should I go with

GTX 570
GTX 570 SLI
GTX 580
GTX 580 SLI

Or the new 6 series, Which my mobo doesn't really support properly.
Click to expand...

Your mobo will be fine with the 6 series or to be precise one of the GTX 670s unfortunately it will set you back around £300 - £330.

Are you sure you want to move from AMD to Nvidia as they are a bit overpriced ?
 
Kaapstad said:
Your mobo will be fine with the 6 series or to be precise one of the GTX 670s unfortunately it will set you back around £300 - £330.

Are you sure you want to move from AMD to Nvidia as they are a bit overpriced ?
Click to expand...

Yes I agree, They are a bit overpriced, Which is the main reason I've been with AMD for so long, But The nagging issues are outweighing the savings.

I'll have to see what my cards are worth before going to a GTX670 then.
 
NiteSurfer said:
Yes I agree, They are a bit overpriced, Which is the main reason I've been with AMD for so long, But The nagging issues are outweighing the savings.

I'll have to see what my cards are worth before going to a GTX670 then.
Click to expand...

You could stick with AMD and try one of the HD 7950s - a lot cheaper than a GTX 670 and a bit quicker too. The lastest drivers work really well with the HD 7950/70s as well.
 
If your looking for a less pricey card with a decent cooler and fan you could do a lot worse than a 660Ti.
They are only about 10 - 15% slower than a reference GTX 670 providing you don't game over 1080p and maybe up to 1200p they perform well.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_660_Ti_Power_Edition/

A decent GTX 670 is £300-£310
It also gives you the option of adding a 2nd one later when prices fall.

Generally GTX 570 SLi is not recommended as you will run out of VRAM.

Your money your choice.
 
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The 7950 is cheaper and a fair chunk faster when overclocked than a 660Ti so this is not really a good option unless you're set on switching to nVidia.

The differing issues depending on the drivers looks like you could do with starting again and doing a non-destructive reformat. Alternatively you could wait until the 12.11 finals come as these may resolve all your issues.

Beta driver stability can be a bit iffy. :)

If you want to swap to nVidia then a custom cooled 670 is nVidia's best price/performance option above £200.

Edit: Or a 670 on the 680 PCB with the 680 cooler.
 
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NiteSurfer said:
This is really what it comes down to..

AMD Bringing out drivers that work really well with there new products, But bring a world of issues for the slightly older cards.
Click to expand...

I have seen something similar

I have a pair of old HD 5970s which I run in quadfire

If I use drivers 10.4 something like 3dmark11 runs fine, if I use the up to date drivers it does not.
 
Rusty0611 said:
Nope above £200.

There's no decent nVidia price/performance cards other than the 660 and the 670.
Click to expand...

I disagree.

The MSi GTX 660 Ti is currently overpriced. With this I agree 100%.

However the sweet spot in nVidia's line up is the £220-£280 mark, at this price point you will get a card that will play modern games on high - max settings at 1080p.

If you are looking for a 'high end' SLi setup I would say go with the GTX 670 not the GTX 660 Ti.

In this price range we have custom cooled GTX 660Ti's or reference GTX 670's

The GTX 670 is obviously the faster choice but a reference cooler isn't to everybody's liking as they can be noisey (a point that you brought to my attention).

If you are going to spend over £300 on a nVidia card you may as well try to stretch to a GTX 680.

Mr. May said:
670'S Have been going £200inc second hand if you dont mind used parts
Click to expand...

This is probably the best choice ^^
 
SkodaMart said:
I disagree.

The MSi GTX 660 Ti is currently overpriced. With this I agree 100%.

However the sweet spot in nVidia's line up is the £220-£280 mark, at this price point you will get a card that will play modern games on high - max settings at 1080p.

If you are looking for a 'high end' SLi setup I would say go with the GTX 670 not the GTX 660 Ti.

In this price range we have custom cooled GTX 660Ti's or reference GTX 670's

The GTX 670 is obviously the faster choice but a reference cooler isn't to everybody's liking as they can be noisey (a point that you brought to my attention).

If you are going to spend over £300 on a nVidia card you may as well try to stretch to a GTX 680.
Click to expand...

All this completely ignores the price/performance ratio.

You've picked a price point which is your own price range which you're happy with and based on this.

But a price/performance ratio is generic not based on your own acceptable price band.
 
@Rusty you place too high a value on overclocking.

I have noticed many times that and overclocked setup will bench far faster than a stock setup, however you seem to get more little stutters etc with an overclocked rig.

A 'stock' system can feel far smoother than an overclocked one, especially the sort of overclocks you are referring to.
 
SkodaMart said:
@Rusty you place too high a value on overclocking.

I have noticed many times that and overclocked setup will bench far faster than a stock setup, however you seem to get more little stutters etc with an overclocked rig.

A 'stock' system can feel far smoother than an overclocked one, especially the sort of overclocks you are referring to.
Click to expand...

I think you're in the wrong forum to make that kind of point :D.

And you'll only run into issues if your overclock is unstable so it's kind of a moot point anyway.

My faulty MSI 7950 cards would bench/game at 1150 MHz even with heat issues. No 'stutters'.

Additionally from the nVidia side my WF 680 would game at 1300 MHz and the reference one at 1280 MHz. Together I ran them at 1270 MHz without any issues or 'stuttering'.

As above the issues only come from unstable overclocks so I'm not sure that's a valid point to make.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_660_Ti_Power_Edition/

Looks like it gives the GTX 670 a fair run for it's money to me? :confused:[/QUOTE]

It barely gives a stock 670 a run for it's money. In BF3 - according to your own link - it's 8% slower than a stock 670. Hardly what I'd call good performance for the price considering it costs almost the same as a stock 670 and a stock 670 will overclock further than the card you've linked as that one is also overclocked out the box.

Have you not considered that even on nVidia recommendation threads you're the only person on this forum recommending a 660Ti? 660/670 just better options overall above and below and with the prices as they are the 660Ti just doesn't fit in anywhere.

Shame as the 560Ti was such a great card.
 
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SkodaMart said:
@Rusty you place too high a value on overclocking.

I have noticed many times that and overclocked setup will bench far faster than a stock setup, however you seem to get more little stutters etc with an overclocked rig.

A 'stock' system can feel far smoother than an overclocked one, especially the sort of overclocks you are referring to.
Click to expand...

Sorry but I have to disagree with this. Any card I have overclocked has never felt 'less smoother', unless it wasn't a stable overclock.

As for the OP, I can understand his reasonings with a continuous bad experience and understand enough is enough at times. If there is no way of persisting with the problems to try and get a fix, the best advice I could give is to do an upgrade. By that I mean go for something like 2*670. These cards will see you well. This way it isn't a side grade to SLI 570's for instance.

If funds are tight, get one 670 for now and the other when funds are available and I feel anything under a 670 would be wasted in SLI.
 
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