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2 AMD 6970s and wait for gtx 600 series vs 2 msi gtx 580 lightenings

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aston6

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Joined
Jun 8, 2011
Hey OCF, I am planning to order the components to my brand new(and first) gaming rig/PC Build in the coming days and it hit me. I was originally going to included 2 GTX 580 Lightening Xtreme edition cards from msi in my system but then I found out that the keppler set of cards are coming out in the 4th quarter and it got me wondering. Should I buy a set of 6970s and then purchase the keppler cards for christmas as a gift or something or just stick with 2 high end gtx 580s. Please leave your thoughts below because I will be purchasing my computer soon. By the way if you hadn't already noticed this will be used for gaming and media. Thats why I am aiming for a sli or crossfire setup.
PC Specs:
Intel Core i7 2600k 1155
Asus Maximus IV Extreme P67
Corsair AX1200 PSU
WD Caviar Black 2TB
Intel 510 120 GB SSD
Lite-On Blu Ray Burner
Antec Kuhler H20 920
Corsair Dominator 8GB
HAF X Blue Edition (only on newegg)
2 XFX 6970s and upgrading to GTX 680s or whatever the highest end single card solutions is or 2 MSI GTX 580 Lightening Xtreme Editions now and upgrading in 2 or 3 years depending on how advanced games become and my cards cant handle it.

Thanks for your time and advice,
aston6:comp:
 
Honestly, If you REALLY want to save money, don't bother with p67, buy Z68, use onboard, then buy the 2x 690's(they are the 580 equiv in terms of price.)

768 cores, single GPU nor sure on clocks yet. (speculation)

When they come out, you can buy em, saving $500 or so.


Just a thought. the internal isn't bad at all, great for mid range gaming. I can't see spending $500 on something you are going to replace in a few months. If internal is too much for you to swallow, a single gtx 560 ti will suffice, and be about $100 cheaper than a single 6970

As for your ram, only buy 2x4gb 1600, unless you want better benchmark scores. you won't physically see a difference between 1600 and 2200 for example.

Also, you can buy two 60 gb SSD's and raid em for 120 gigs with double speed. Check OCZ Vertex 3's, would be about +$60 or so, but you transfer at 1 GB/s.

Just a few thoughts for ya XD

Also, Are you going to use more than one monitor? if so, then sli/xfire is your only solution other than a 6990 or 590. a single card can handle every game thrown at it at max on a single monitor with 30-40 fps
 
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I always buy the newest generation cards when they come out, and don't even bother with the refresh (in this case the 500 series)

If you do so you won't get angry after 8 months because a newer card is out.
the gtx580 doesn't trash the 480, but it is most likely that the 690 will trash the 580 =)

here is an example

8800 = 9800 (same architecture)
gtx280 >> 9800 (nearly double performance)
gtx285 = gtx280 (just die shrink)
gtx480 >> gtx285 (nearly double performance
gtx580 > gtx480 (too small performance increase to be worth upgrading)

just wait for the next card as i am doing and you will have top notch hardware for at least 1 and 1/2 year, if you buy now in 4 months you will have an "old" generation gpu.
 
Honestly, If you REALLY want to save money, don't bother with p67, buy Z68, use onboard, then buy the 2x 690's(they are the 580 equiv in terms of price.)

768 cores, single GPU nor sure on clocks yet. (speculation)

When they come out, you can buy em, saving $500 or so.


Just a thought. the internal isn't bad at all, great for mid range gaming. I can't see spending $500 on something you are going to replace in a few months. If internal is too much for you to swallow, a single gtx 560 ti will suffice, and be about $100 cheaper than a single 6970

As for your ram, only buy 2x4gb 1600, unless you want better benchmark scores. you won't physically see a difference between 1600 and 2200 for example.

Also, you can buy two 60 gb SSD's and raid em for 120 gigs with double speed. Check OCZ Vertex 3's, would be about +$60 or so, but you transfer at 1 GB/s.

Just a few thoughts for ya XD

Also, Are you going to use more than one monitor? if so, then sli/xfire is your only solution other than a 6990 or 590. a single card can handle every game thrown at it at max on a single monitor with 30-40 fps
Hey thanks for the advice. I will be running this computer on both my home theater and and a 60in LED LCD TV (Non 3-D). So would a 570 be worth it or just get the z68 because i will want to use this for gaming for the time being otherwise this computer will be useless because i already have a macbook pro that i use for work and video rendering. Also I am not sure if the z68 will overclock the same as a p67. I know that the z68 version of the board i listed above has a uefi bios but other than that i am not sure.
 
I always buy the newest generation cards when they come out, and don't even bother with the refresh (in this case the 500 series)

If you do so you won't get angry after 8 months because a newer card is out.
the gtx580 doesn't trash the 480, but it is most likely that the 690 will trash the 580 =)

here is an example

8800 = 9800 (same architecture)
gtx280 >> 9800 (nearly double performance)
gtx285 = gtx280 (just die shrink)
gtx480 >> gtx285 (nearly double performance
gtx580 > gtx480 (too small performance increase to be worth upgrading)

just wait for the next card as i am doing and you will have top notch hardware for at least 1 and 1/2 year, if you buy now in 4 months you will have an "old" generation gpu.
So what would you recommend in the mean time? Get a z68 and live with on board video or buy a cheap video card liv with it and then get the 600 series set of cards hen it comes out? I was looking at a gtx 480 (single card) for the time being but the other guy who posted said a 560 ti will do the job. I was also looking at a 570.
 
For anyone who is going to reply, I am looking into a GTX 480 (284.99 from evga), a GTX 570 (Superclocked edition from evga 339.99), a GTX 560 Ti (Maximum Graphics Edition 299.99), 6970 (XFX 339.99), 6870 (XFX 219.99), or just the on board video that the Sandy Bridge Processor comes with on a z68 board (the z68 board is 10 dollars more than the p67).
 
1: edit your posts, not multiple posts XD

2: I was asleep.

3: to answer your first post, If you can deal with settings on low and want to save money, onboard will hold you over. If you can't wait, a GTX 260 is about $80 now, and coming from experience(I own one.) It will STILL run 85% of games at very high-max, And ALL games at at least medium with 25-40 fps.

4: if you are going to use for media center as well as gaming, get Z68, quick sync, and video encoding/decoding is about 250%-400% faster.

5: 60 inch lcd tv? you are going to need at LEAST a GTX 260 for decent frames. onboard can't handle such a big screen I think.

6: Good luck ^_^
 
1: edit your posts, not multiple posts XD

2: I was asleep.

3: to answer your first post, If you can deal with settings on low and want to save money, onboard will hold you over. If you can't wait, a GTX 260 is about $80 now, and coming from experience(I own one.) It will STILL run 85% of games at very high-max, And ALL games at at least medium with 25-40 fps.

4: if you are going to use for media center as well as gaming, get Z68, quick sync, and video encoding/decoding is about 250%-400% faster.

5: 60 inch lcd tv? you are going to need at LEAST a GTX 260 for decent frames. onboard can't handle such a big screen I think.

6: Good luck ^_^

Cheers for the advice I think I will settle for the inboard video then get the 600 cards or pick up a 6870 cause its pretty cheap. If I dO get a cheap card would it make sense to get a nvidia card since I plan to get nvidia cards later so I could use this card as a dedicated physx card?
 
If you want to go with the best card you will have to go with what is on the market right now for about a year because they just release 4 months ago they're 590 and 6990. They release it at the end so they wont release any high end gpu until the 2012 Q1 so if you want to wait for about 8-9 months get something cheap and wait but I would say go for the best right now. I dont know about you but when I make a Media PC or gaming pc for myself I dont want to use a cheap card for a year and after that know that they're is a new chipset with a new cpu etc... and I had to wait a year to finally build another computer.
 
upto you if you feel the need to spend such a crazy amount of money on two expensive graphics cards when theres far cheaper sensible solutions. The one thing no-one has asked you is what is the native resolution supported by your 60 inch screen?
If its 1920x1080 via hdmi then all you need is a 6950 or 560ti for now.
Quick sync is fine for small screen low res' devices, but to use it on a 60 inch screen the picture quality will be unacceptable.

We've been stuck on this 40nm process for too long, save your money for the next generation of cards.
 
upto you if you feel the need to spend such a crazy amount of money on two expensive graphics cards when theres far cheaper sensible solutions. The one thing no-one has asked you is what is the native resolution supported by your 60 inch screen?
If its 1920x1080 via hdmi then all you need is a 6950 or 560ti for now.
Quick sync is fine for small screen low res' devices, but to use it on a 60 inch screen the picture quality will be unacceptable.

We've been stuck on this 40nm process for too long, save your money for the next generation of cards.
it is 1920x1080 but i plan to move up to tripple screens soon thats why i wanted two cards. Especially 3d vision. And i forgot but you can flash a 6950 right to become a 6970 right?
 
it is 1920x1080 but i plan to move up to tripple screens soon thats why i wanted two cards. Especially 3d vision. And i forgot but you can flash a 6950 right to become a 6970 right?

Yes you can flash a 6950 to a 6970. But if you're looking for a holdover card for the time being, I'd recommend a GTX560 Ti. It will trash most games (you might have some sub-30 FPS in Crysis 2 maxed out with DX11 and Metro 2033) but other than that you should kill just about any game.

I know how you feel though. My GTX570 is just a placeholder right now, when BF3 comes out I'm probably going to get a GTX590 or AMD 6990. I'm leaning on the fence because I like Nvidia's added features of PhysX and CUDA but the 6990 is faster than the GTX590 and consumes less power. But for me if I get one of those I won't need to upgrade for a long time because I play at 1680x1050 on one monitor and those cards will kill games for the next two years or so at that res.
 
I was simply trying to save you $1000 on your build. Yeah, i assumed you were on a normal 22 inch lcd monitor running 1920x1080 when i suggested that, with a 60 inch tv as your screen, going to be a bit too much for your onboard to handle.

The only reason I say wait, is because you can use christmas as an excuse to buy the new cards if they DO come out Q4 2011.

That's what I'm doing. XD

and zitnik, if i had your 570, i would be satisfied with it. try having a gtx 260 and be limited in the number of games you can run on max. its disheartening.
 
it is 1920x1080 but i plan to move up to tripple screens soon thats why i wanted two cards. Especially 3d vision. And i forgot but you can flash a 6950 right to become a 6970 right?

rev 1 6950's were flashable with the bios switch on pcb, rev2 were hit and miss without a bios switch on the pcb (risky). rev3 6950's i believe are not flashable at all but may depend on the manufacturer.

You don't need 2 cards for a 3 screen setup with Ati's Eye infinity.
 
But you DO need two cards for good fps across 3 screens.

A 6990 will drive 3 monitors 5760x1200. The op's intentions is for a 3 screen setup, but at the moment he doesn't have 3 screens so its a ''situation'', buy a 6950/70 now and use it on the 1 screen, then in the future when hes ready with more screens, (performance might not be good enough), then buy another 6950/70 and crossfire them, or await for the refresh of cards.
 
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Honestly if your willing to waste the money then do it. Personally I would get a GTX460. Its a great card and will play just about anything on Med High at 1080p..

I wouldnt hold your breath for 6990's or 590's ever being on sale anywhere unless you get from ebay.

Whether your playing on a 22inch or a 60 inch onboard will be trash so if you go with that you may need to get into a game like DiabloII to tide you over :D

Now if I were you... I would get 2 or 3 3GB GTX580s and chill for 3 years... Those will kill any current game on 3 monitors.

What Im doing is waiting for the new GPUs to come out and sweep up 3 of those bad boys when price goes down (if it does)
 
Honestly if your willing to waste the money then do it. Personally I would get a GTX460. Its a great card and will play just about anything on Med High at 1080p..

I wouldnt hold your breath for 6990's or 590's ever being on sale anywhere unless you get from ebay.

Whether your playing on a 22inch or a 60 inch onboard will be trash so if you go with that you may need to get into a game like DiabloII to tide you over :D

Now if I were you... I would get 2 or 3 3GB GTX580s and chill for 3 years... Those will kill any current game on 3 monitors.

What Im doing is waiting for the new GPUs to come out and sweep up 3 of those bad boys when price goes down (if it does)

U think a gtx570 would b a good option until Christmas or my bday in feb?
 
I think a GTX 560 ti would be plenty "for now" it will handle most every game at max without so much as a hiccup. saves you $100 too.

unless you have $330 to spend, over the $221 of the 560 ti.

:p
 
Now if I were you... I would get 2 or 3 3GB GTX580s and chill for 3 years... Those will kill any current game on 3 monitors.


3 years? Try 5-7 years. My GTX 260 has lasted(and still going) 4 years, All games are playable with 25+ fps(only the newest games dip below 30, so 25+) Newer games have to be brought down to "Mostly max" settings. But it all works well.

Please merge this post with top, total accident.
 
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