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SPARKLE - A good brand when it comes to video cards?

DanJames93

DanJames93

DanJames93

Associate
Joined
28 Nov 2012
Posts
40
Location
Merseyside
I am looking at picking up a new video card tomorrow, I am 99% sure it will be a 580 as they seem to give amazing performance at a very nice price range, and I may go SLI in the future with another.

I've been looking at some 580's and have found these in my price range;

Sparkle GTX580, here's an image of the model in particular

http://www.techfresh.net/wp-content...orce-GTX-580-Thermal-Guru-Graphics-Card-1.jpg


EVGA GTX 580 DS Superclocked

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A-rQ9kPfb...rce-GTX-580-DS-Superclocked-Graphics-Card.jpg[

I'm not a major hardcore gamer, but I do really enjoy being able to put my games up. I don't care about physx, whatsoever.

Opinions?

** No hotlinking, please rehost before replacing image tags ***
 
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ConnorJoshua said:
Why go last generation?
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III OC V2 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with SIX FREE PC GAMES £239.99
Total : £250.79 (includes shipping : £9.00).




You can pick up a 7950 for around the same price as a sparkle gtx 580 and it's more powerful.

Also, free games!!
Click to expand...

More powerful? I'm not sure, it scores a fair bit lower in Passmark

GeForce GTX 580
4,879

Radeon HD 7950
4,398

Money is also an issue, a massive issue, which is why I looking at going previous generation. Just to clarify, I'm currently using a 450 and I'm fairly happy with it. a 580 is a huge step up from that. I do tend to like Nvidia also, I'm interested in going 3d vision at some point.
 
DanJames93 said:
More powerful? I'm not sure, it scores a fair bit lower in Passmark

GeForce GTX 580
4,879

Radeon HD 7950
4,398

Money is also an issue, a massive issue, which is why I looking at going previous generation. Just to clarify, I'm currently using a 450 and I'm fairly happy with it. a 580 is a huge step up from that. I do tend to like Nvidia also, I'm interested in going 3d vision at some point.
Click to expand...

My old GTS450 was from Sparkle, I never had any problems with it and it was always cool under load.
 
id go 7950 it utilises pci 3.0 and with an overclock would most likely destory the 580.

i think the 580's also run quite hot and are very loud. also 7950 comes with 6 games to play / sell to make some money back not to mention the 7950 in crossfire is something to fear. its sheer awesome in xfire.

7950 also has more dram attached meaning if you every went above 1920 * 1080 the 580 would most likely be crippled and if you wanted to link up to multiple monitors for gaming again the 580s lack of ram would cripple it.

there is 1fps in it mebees 2? really worth it for old tech? as mentioned before with an overclock 7950 would smash the 580.

7950 hands down.
 
dunn2010 said:
id go 7950 it utilises pci 3.0 and with an overclock would most likely destory the 580.

i think the 580's also run quite hot and are very loud. also 7950 comes with 6 games to play / sell to make some money back not to mention the 7950 in crossfire is something to fear. its sheer awesome in xfire.

7950 also has more dram attached meaning if you every went above 1920 * 1080 the 580 would most likely be crippled and if you wanted to link up to multiple monitors for gaming again the 580s lack of ram would cripple it.

there is 1fps in it mebees 2? really worth it for old tech? as mentioned before with an overclock 7950 would smash the 580.

7950 hands down.
Click to expand...


Would the games be full retail copies or digital downloads?
 
dunn2010 said:
dig downloads. via steam code.
Click to expand...


Maybe I will see what extra money I can spare. Times are tough with the festive period and currently waiting on an emergency tax code refund. I have never used ATI, can you recommend some good and most importantly SIMPLE overclocking software for ATI cards that allows me to freely control fan speeds also? I currently use EVGA precision which is just amazing for its simplicity.
 
if your shrap for cash and not in a rush. wait for daily deals at ocuk and ocuk currently have the crimbo calendar on. which has a new product on a deal everyday. also have weekly deals. there will eventually be a 7950 dropped in price that will be worth you grabbing
 
dunn2010 said:
if your shrap for cash and not in a rush. wait for daily deals at ocuk and ocuk currently have the crimbo calendar on. which has a new product on a deal everyday. also have weekly deals. there will eventually be a 7950 dropped in price that will be worth you grabbing
Click to expand...

Tbh, I'm going to sell my GTS450 for £50 (maybe 60) asap and I also have a Xigmatek Asgard with entry level 650W PSU which I will also be selling for £15/20, so I could probably afford it if I budgeted a lot until my next wages.
 
DanJames93 said:
More powerful? I'm not sure, it scores a fair bit lower in Passmark

GeForce GTX 580
4,879

Radeon HD 7950
4,398

Money is also an issue, a massive issue, which is why I looking at going previous generation. Just to clarify, I'm currently using a 450 and I'm fairly happy with it. a 580 is a huge step up from that. I do tend to like Nvidia also, I'm interested in going 3d vision at some point.
Click to expand...

I would not take much notice of passmark

I run GTX 690s in quad sli and the last time I ran passmark on them I did not get anywhere near the scores above lol, I think I scored something like 2,900
 
DanJames93 said:
I am looking at picking up a new video card tomorrow, I am 99% sure it will be a 580 as they seem to give amazing performance at a very nice price range, and I may go SLI in the future with another.

I've been looking at some 580's and have found these in my price range;

Sparkle GTX580, here's an image of the model in particular

http://www.techfresh.net/wp-content...orce-GTX-580-Thermal-Guru-Graphics-Card-1.jpg


EVGA GTX 580 DS Superclocked
Click to expand...

The DS Superclocked cooler is A-W-F-U-L. I bought this model very cheaply just before the current ATI/nvdia gen came out and I was a bit alarmed at the temps. I bought the reference cooler off another OCUK member and when I took the DS Superclocked cooler off I was amazed at how pathetic it actually was. There was no VRM heatsinks. The ref cooler knocked 10c off it !
 
DanJames93 said:
More powerful? I'm not sure, it scores a fair bit lower in Passmark

GeForce GTX 580
4,879

Radeon HD 7950
4,398

Money is also an issue, a massive issue, which is why I looking at going previous generation. Just to clarify, I'm currently using a 450 and I'm fairly happy with it. a 580 is a huge step up from that. I do tend to like Nvidia also, I'm interested in going 3d vision at some point.
Click to expand...

There is a 660TI on special, which is what I paid for a 560TI a couple of years ago and will cope nicely with Nvidia 3DVision.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 660Ti Black Knight OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £212.99
Total : £223.79 (includes shipping : £9.00).



The 7950 is the faster card for sure but the 660TI can hold its own and this isn't a bad price at all. This will cope nicely with 3D games :)

If you wanted to save a few quid, this 660 will also do well with 3D:

YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 660 EX OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £179.99
Total : £190.79 (includes shipping : £9.00).



Here is a comparison between the 450 and the 660 (non TI) http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/609?vs=660

Here is a comparison between the 660 and the 660TI http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/647?vs=660
 
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