Upgrading from a 560ti

[lemon2]

Hello

I am gaming with a 23” 1080p 120Hz monitor and a GTX 560ti.

I have been disappointed with the 560ti's FPS when playing Crysis, Metro and the BF3 alpha on max settings, and this is before turning up the A-A.
I would like to see 60 FPS on all these games with practically all settings maxed. (Possibly whilst playing in 3D vision as well) I love 3D Vision so I am restricted to Nvidea cards.

I am willing to spend £200-400 on a GPU upgrade.
If I sell my 560ti for £150 then my budget will be £350-£550.

So far I have considered SLIing a second 560ti, or buying a single 580 instead.

Could anyone please show me a GPU setup in my price range?


EDIT: My build is below if it helps:
Asus 560 Ti
i5 2500k OC'd to 4.5GHz
4GB DDR3
700W GS700 Corsair PSU
MSI P67-A GD65
23" 1080p 120Hz monitor

 

[Cleeecooo]

I would go for a second 560Ti as you already have one. Better value for money than getting a single 580
Better raw power too

 

[Bolo_Santosi]

Id go for a second 560ti too, otherwise a 570/580, or maybe a 6970.

out of curiousity, what kind of FPS are you getting on metro and crysis? pretty much looking to purchase the same rig

 

[Marine-RX179]

To be honest, even spending £550 on graphic won't deliver you constant 60fps on Crysis and Metro2033 max setting at 1920 res, let alone in 3D vision mode...which double the workload if I'm not mistaken.

 

[lemon2]

I would go for a second 560Ti as you already have one. Better value for money than getting a single 580
Better raw power too

I am surprised, but you are right about the raw power. Benchmarks certainly confirm that the 560ti can be better.

However I have found a forum thread where every single person says the 580 would be better:
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=833563&mpage=1They have stated microstuttering, SLI profile issues and future-proofing as disadvantages of 560ti SLI.

Id go for a second 560ti too, otherwise a 570/580, or maybe a 6970.

I can't go outside of Nvidia or I will lose my 3D Vision. Also, I fear the 570 would not give a big enough performance jump.

out of curiousity, what kind of FPS are you getting on metro and crysis? pretty much looking to purchase the same rig

On max settings? Awful: 10 FPS
If I turn a few settings down, e.g. Depth of Field on Metro, then I can get 30-40 FPS on these games. However it will still dip to 20 FPS sometimes.

To be honest, even spending £550 on graphic won't deliver you constant 60fps on Crysis and Metro2033 max setting at 1920 res, let alone in 3D vision mode...which double the workload if I'm not mistaken.

Okay, then what would you say is the minimum to deliver constant 60 FPS?
Maybe I will stretch to £700 or more, if thats what it takes.

 

[harmony]

If you take a look into these threads, then you should notice that it is a bad idea to SLI/CF 1GB cards as of today:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18284509
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18295737

If you upgrade to a pair of GTX580 3GB in SLI, then you should be able to sustain 60 fps in Crysis at max (including AA). However for Metro 2033 (and many other games) you'll need at least three GTX580s.

I would say wait for the 28nm cards if you cannot spend £1500 on graphics cards (580 3GB x 3 and mobo, PSU as well) but wish to fulfill your dreams.

 

[arc@css]

Yeah, I agree with the above comments about the sort of power you'll need to sustain 60fps, especially for demanding games like Crysis and Metro and with AA. The first thing I thought of was tri-sli 580's (3gb).

 

[lemon2]

If you take a look into these threads, then you should notice that it is a bad idea to SLI/CF 1GB cards as of today:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18284509
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18295737

If you upgrade to a pair of GTX580 3GB in SLI, then you should be able to sustain 60 fps in Crysis at max (including AA). However for Metro 2033 (and many other games) you'll need at least three GTX580s.

I would say wait for the 28nm cards if you cannot spend £1500 on graphics cards (580 3GB x 3 and mobo, PSU as well) but wish to fulfill your dreams.

Yeah, I agree with the above comments about the sort of power you'll need to sustain 60fps, especially for demanding games like Crysis and Metro and with AA. The first thing I thought of was tri-sli 580's (3gb).

I thought that VRAM higher than 1GB was wasted on 1080p and only made a difference on higher resolutions. Is this not true?

Also there's something I don't understand about SLI:
If I SLI a pair of 1GB cards then do I effectively have 1GB or 2GB worth?


Two 3GB cards totals 6GB of VRAM! Is that not overkill?

I really, really can't stretch to tri-580s. I am considering dual 580s.

How much of an impact will the 28nm cards make?
Will they be much, much faster? Also, will the prices of 580s drop when they come out?

 

[MAXIBOY]

your not allowed to link competitors site...

 

[JediFragger]

OOOOOOOOOF!

 

[Surveyor]

Also there's something I don't understand about SLI: If I SLI a pair of 1GB cards then do I effectively have 1GB or 2GB worth?

Effectively 1GB.

Two 3GB cards totals 6GB of VRAM! Is that not overkill?

It's effectively 3GB.


And delete the competitor link.

 

[FoxEye]

Effectively 1GB.

Can understand this if the cards render alternate frames.

But isn't there another option where one card does 1/2 screen and the other card does the other 1/2? Or did I imagine that? In that case, why wouldn't you have 2gb effective?

 

[harmony]

I thought that VRAM higher than 1GB was wasted on 1080p and only made a difference on higher resolutions. Is this not true?

1GB is getting out-of-date. There is a long list of games to benefit from more than 1GB vram at 1200p. I've just finished another game made in China, with the Gamebryo engine in DX9 mode and it surprisingly eats 1.5GB vram.

Also there's something I don't understand about SLI:
If I SLI a pair of 1GB cards then do I effectively have 1GB or 2GB worth?

In short words, effectively 1GB. This is because most games use alternative-frame-rendering instead of split-frame-rendering.

Is this a good deal for SLI 580s?
2 X http://www.**********/products/3gb-palit-gtx-580-40nm-4020mhz-gddr5-gpu-783mhz-shader-1566mhz-512-cores-dl-dvi-i-dp-hdmi
Two 3GB cards totals 6GB of VRAM! Is that not overkill?

I really, really can't stretch to tri-580s. I am considering dual 580s.

How much of an impact will the 28nm cards make?
Will they be much, much faster? Also, will the prices of 580s drop when they come out?

I would say, think twice before you burn your money into this, because we are all approaching the 28nm process in around 3 months. I purchased a pair of GTX580 3GB in SLI a while ago, and they have served me well. But you could expect around 100% performance increase from the upcoming 28nm cards, and you'll lose pretty much by selling GTX580s at that time.

Buying a pair of 3GB 580s merely for one single game is an extreme action. You still wouldn't be able to play Metro 2033 at max without falling from 60 fps down to 30 fps in some scenes.

 

[Bilbocard]

In my opinion overkill is always better than under kill (as long as your PSU can handle it)

 

[lemon2]

I would say, think twice before you burn your money into this, because we are all approaching the 28nm process in around 3 months. I purchased a pair of GTX580 3GB in SLI a while ago, and they have served me well. But you could expect around 100% performance increase from the upcoming 28nm cards, and you'll lose pretty much by selling GTX580s at that time.

Buying a pair of 3GB 580s merely for one single game is an extreme action. You still wouldn't be able to play Metro 2033 at max without falling from 60 fps down to 30 fps in some scenes.

Okay your post seems pretty conclusive to me, I will wait for 600 series cards.

The only thing is, by the time they come out I will have a larger budget (~£1000) for upgrades, and will be considering 3D Surround.
I hope there will be a 600-series setup for under £1000 that will perform well with 3D Surround on these games. Especially BF3.

Thanks for your help everyone.

 

[Cleeecooo]

Btw, the reason people were recommending the 580 in that EVGA thread is because that op needed a completely new setup. You already have a 560 meaning that it's better value for money.

1gb is fine for 1080p. Harmony, we've already had this argument today

 

[lemon2]

Btw, the reason people were recommending the 580 in that EVGA thread is because that op needed a completely new setup. You already have a 560 meaning that it's better value for money.

Ok that makes sense.
I think that at my resolution the only value of 1GB+ is future proofing.

Since I will have months to save for 28nm, my plan is this:

• spend £400-500 on a 680
• or spend £1000-1200 on twin 680s and 2 extra monitors for 3D surround

BF3 3D surround with a good subwoofer will be mindblowing!

 

[Cleeecooo]

Sounds great. Really envy you mate