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Need help picking a GTX580

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Right

I was gonna wait for the next series of cards to come out but I really cannot be bothered to play the waiting game. So....I want a GTX580 but can't decide which.

I'm also a bit confused about 1.5Gb cards or 3Gb cards. I will eventually be using 2 monitors of about 24inch sizes. However whenever I game I don't split it across both (hate the bezels interfering). I do play high requirement games, but I also do a lot of 3D modelling and level creation using Unreal's UDK.


I've narrowed it down to..


1.5Gb

Asus GeForce GTX 580 DirectCU II 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-249-AS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1812

Gainward GeForce GTX 580 "Phantom" 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-149-GW&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1812

3Gb

Gainward GeForce GTX 580 "Phantom" 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-144-GW&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1812


Any help is appreciated :)
 
really? £30 more gets me double the memory on the cards, is the 1.5Gb lightning really worth it?
 
I've been toying with the idea of a 580 myself (either that or SLI my 460 Hawk). And from my own investigation so far... the main comment I'd make on the cards you've highlighted... is "size". As they are all HUGE cards. Though I suspect you are aware yourself. Just make sure you have the case to match! None of them would fit in my Lian Li.

As to "waiting". I know what you mean. My gut feeling is that Nvidia's new cards wont make it till next year. But ATI's (or is it AMD these days!?!?!) will appear around Sept / Oct this year and as commented recently on another thread here, the only way Nvidia could respond, is cutting the price of their current cards. Might not be an issue for you, but nothing worse than buying a card and finding it's dropped a sizeable bit in price. Just something to think about.
 
The extra memory doesn't really make a difference unless you are playing at super high resolutions or using nvidia surround.

Here is a review for the Lightning on guru3d: http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-geforce-gtx-580-lightning-review/

They say it's the best 580 that they have ever tested and it's on track to win gpu of the year award. Also all current 3dmark records are held by this card.

It has a custom PCB made my MSI themselves and they are well known to be the best at what they do.
 
I've got a Antec 902 case, but will be upgrading to a FT02-BW in the future (Waiting to redecorate my room). I used to have a GTX295 in there so I assume the 580 will fit.

After what you've said rankftw I'm really thinking of this card. How does MSI's warranty hold up these days?

EDIT: that card is freaking loud mind :/
 
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I got 2 x PNY last week for 335.

All I can say is that they may not OC as far as the lightning but believe it or not they are quieter and im really happy with them. However if they were 360 and asus was 370 I would have gone ASUS, 335 was a bargain though.

If I was choosing from your selection I would get the CU II

If you need the 3gb get the phantom, otherwise the CU II while its on special this week looks the way to go.. It is REALLY quiet and cool and overclocks very well.

TBH though you cant go wrong with any 580 - its a great chip :)
 
It's only loud if you crank the fans up to full, but you can make a custom fan profile using Afterburner so it's not really a problem.

The card is VERY long though, measures in at over 12 inches so you must make sure it will fit in your case first. I have an Antec 900 case and had to change my whole layout to fit it in and also cut a piece of metal away to fit it in correctly.

I debated along time over which card to choose and am very glad that I did decide upon the Lightning.
 
After reading reviews and videos on the MSI card, it seems like it;s designed for OC'ing. I don't plan on OC'ing my GPU at all if I'm honest.

The CU II is really appealing too, I doubt I'll even need the 3Gb memory as I only game on 1 screen.
 
The CUII is ridiculously quiet, I would go as far as saying silent if you dont OC it.

Lightning comes with a bit more of an out of the box OC.

If you are not OC'ing though I would go for the CUII (personally)
 
yeah that's not really an issue as I have no extra cards that i'll need to be adding to my rig any time soon :)

Think I'll sort out order the CU II later thanks for the help all
 
This is also a good looking card but I also can't find any UK stockist!(bar one and it's not in stock)

http://www.inno3d.com/products/graphic_card/gf500/gtx_580hawk.html

In my particular case. As I've tried the Gigabyte 580 OC and had to return it because it would not run 100% stable at stock clocks (a shame ... as it ran even quieter than my 480 HAWK!)... think I shall go back to my original plan and get an MSI 580 GTX Twin Frozr. Just a shame that OCuk don't stock them any more.
 
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I have the Gigabyte GTX 580 and it stays super cool, usually around 56 while gaming and I got it to 900Mhz core for a Heaven run on the normal air cooler :D
 
Dominor said:
I have the Gigabyte GTX 580 and it stays super cool, usually around 56 while gaming and I got it to 900Mhz core for a Heaven run on the normal air cooler :D
Click to expand...

Out of interest... is your card the "triple fan SOC" or the stock exhaust type? and if you don't mind me asking... what was the stock voltage? and what did you need to get it to 900Mhz? :)
 
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