GTX 580 choice. Good deal this week.

I had made up my mind that I was going to upgrade to an MSI GTX580 Lightning Xtreme Edition. Unfortunately I couldn't get a time scale for overclockers.co.uk to have stock in.

Had a look today and for this week only they have the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 SOC 1536MB GDDR5 reduced from £499 down to £419. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-082-GI&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1812

With the reviews showing this card only marginally behind and sometimes even better than the Lightning Xtreme, I wanted to ask the folks on here if they thought this would be a better way to go?

I don't know if it's a reference card though as I am thinking of water cooling in the future.

personally, I wouldnt buy anything factory overclocked unless it had a far superior cooler. That said, go for the SOC if you are looking for something better than stock.

EarthDog said:

personally, I wouldnt buy anything factory overclocked unless it had a far superior cooler. That said, go for the SOC if you are looking for something better than stock.

Click to expand...

Do you have reasons for this?

It is fitted with an upgraded cooler. "WindForce 3X - Vapor chamber-Outward Inclined"

Don't know how much of the heat is exhausted in the case though.

Yes. You can save $XX.xx and overclock it yourself in minutes. Like I said, only if it has a better cooler would I do this. BUT, thats just me.

Looking at the reviews with my pre-requisites (Good to go now, Cool, Quiet, headroom for future OC)

I think it fits the bill for me.

The WC question - I have sent a request in to EK to see if their HF blocks will fit. If so I'm sorted.