Having a tough time deciding :V

Hey guys, I'm new around here, so hey~
you guys can call me doc, or Joe, I really don't care too much.
Many hours of research and dispute has led me to come here, for some pro info~
I'm buying a custom made PC with these specs:

-Intel i5 2500K processor, 3.4 Ghz
-Asus p8g68 motherboard
-8GB of 2 card slot RAM
-850 Watt power supply
-NZXT switch 810 case
and liquid cooling and all that jazz.

I'm having a very hard time deciding which graphics card to choose, though :C
i have a 1900x1080 monitor resolution, 1080p (of course)

I havent gone into too much research into AMD cards, but from what ive heard, they aren't the best /:V

so yeah, I'm deciding witch nvidia card to buy.

At cheapest, I'll buy a 550ti, but I really don;t want to go that low~

for a bit more, i'll go for a 560 ti, but i heard this and the 550ti don't support 1080p graphic resolution very good.

i'm willing to spend the money for a 580 or 570, but i really don't know what to get.

580's a little pricey, but i heard the preformance is amazing.

570's in my medium-high range, which is good.

what do you guys think i should get? As i siad, i'm having a really tough time~

(plus, if you really think i need i7 for either, tell me. i'm willing to save up a bit more for it, if it's worth it that much.)

Here's some games i'm probably going to play with my New PC:
-Team Fortress 2 (a lot)
-battlefeild 3 (probably a lot)
-crysis (When i get it)
-Half life 2 series
-garrys mod
-modern warfare 3

and this is all at 1080p resolution.

I'd really appreciate the help guys, thanks!~

-Doc~

Hi mate and welcome. Im running a gigabyte 560 ti @ 1920x1080 120 mhz dont have any problems with BF3 but be aware alot of people are having problems with the new 296.10 drivers. If youve got the cash spare get the 570 you wont regret it. HTH

Thanks~
and I was thinking about getting the 570 anyway. heard it pairs up with the 580 damn well.
anyone else got voice in this?

The 570 and 580 don't pair up.. you need two identical cards to get SLI. If you meant "compares" then yes, its a good card.

At 1080p, you can play all these games at high to max settings with the 570, multiplayer mode. If you are planning on saving up to buy you system, in the next few months the new nVidia lineup should come out with the 660/670 cards.

hi Doc Welcome!

I see that you will be playing high end/newer games which are demanding.

It also all depends on what frames you are comfortable with.
Some people play BF3 maxed out on 1080p with a GTX 560Ti and are comfortable with getting 30FPS at times; or even lower. I always look at minimum frames for performance.

Ya you can get 100FPS by looking at a wall or the sky in BF3 but shoot... once things get intense and you have graphics maxed out frames drop significantly. I for one cant stand anything lower than 50.

Also think about VRAM as some of the games you mentioned will use lots of VRAM like BF3 even at 10800. I for one use 1.9GB in BF3. 1GB 560 and you will find yourself limited with stutter and slow downs.

I have had a 6950 2gb, a GTX 570 2.5gb, and now I am running the GTX 580 3gb. I have to say the GTX 580 is super fast and plays BF3 very nicely.

The 570 is also a great card.

You can even get 2 GTX 560 TI 2gb versions for about the same price or a bit more than the GTX 580 and I am sure you will get great performance.

Again all is dependent on the frames you are comfortable with.
With my 6950 2gb BF3 maxed out during high action scenes AVG FPS was 25-30. Def not enough. GTX 570 2.5GB maxed out you get avg 45 FPS in high action scenes.

Now I have gtx 580 3GB and with couple settings on Medium I get solid 60FPS and when things get intense lowest is 52 fps. Nonetheless with 4xAA and PostAA on High. Motion blur and SSAO and all...

EDIT: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130662
Two those will cost you about $450 after rebate and tax and shipping.


Also you don't need an i7 2600k. the 2500k i5 is just as good or even better sometimes in gaming. i7 has hyper threading which is great if you are doing encoding or large Excel Spread Sheets.

+1 the importance of Vram is becoming more and more apparent, I would recommend a card with at LEAST 1.5gb whereas 2gb is definitely preferred.

Also I was about to link that same 560, it is an excellent deal for a powerful card. 2 of those will blow any single card out of the water.

I can't stress enough how important VRAM is nowadays. At least 1.5GB, as pwnmachine said.

I think the best price/performance cards out right now are the Radeon 7870 and 7850, you need the vRAM ESPECIALLY for BF3.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=702655

That's the VRAM thread I started. I have also been trying to get this info out to people as much as I can. BF3 is one of few games that utilize so much VRAM but remember that new games that are coming out will be utilizing new graphics engines and tech that will be just as demanding in 2012. So better to stay safe with 2gb or very least 1.5gb. You don't want to find yourself wanting to upgrade soon again.

The 560's I linked are not the Ti versions however they will still do very well.
The Ti versions also are not much more expensive and have more CUDAS.

My recommendations for a $450 budget

Two regular 560's 2gbs. Initially spend more than $450 but you get $30 back for each card.

GTX 570 2.5 GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130687
currently at $339 after rebate. Excluding tax and shipping

GTX 580 1.5 GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130704
$379.00

Microcenter has the GTX 580 3gb Zotac for $420 after rebate I need another one so bad.

Just a quick guide. Sorry for talking so much. I cant help myself.
Also I got off the AMD train once I realized how much better Intel processors are and how much BETTER Nvidia drivers are. personal experience of course.

Cheezewhiz said:

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=702655

That's the VRAM thread I started. I have also been trying to get this info out to people as much as I can. BF3 is one of few games that utilize so much VRAM but remember that new games that are coming out will be utilizing new graphics engines and tech that will be just as demanding in 2012. So better to stay safe with 2gb or very least 1.5gb. You don't want to find yourself wanting to upgrade soon again.

The 560's I linked are not the Ti versions however they will still do very well.
The Ti versions also are not much more expensive and have more CUDAS.

My recommendations for a $450 budget

Two regular 560's 2gbs. Initially spend more than $450 but you get $30 back for each card.

GTX 570 2.5 GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130687
currently at $339 after rebate. Excluding tax and shipping

GTX 580 1.5 GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130704
$379.00

Microcenter has the GTX 580 3gb Zotac for $420 after rebate I need another one so bad.

Just a quick guide. Sorry for talking so much. I cant help myself.
Also I got off the AMD train once I realized how much better Intel processors are and how much BETTER Nvidia drivers are. personal experience of course.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help, guys.
and yeah, my price range for the PC its self is from 1100$ to around 1500$.

An FPS that I'm comfortable with would probably be anything above 40, but i would personally love anything above 60.

@diaz: yes, i know they can't go SLI. i was talking about their stats.

Thanks for help guys, from a bit more research i can obviously tell that the gtx 560ti SLI kind of, well, kicks the 570 and 580 right in the ***.

yup dual 560ti's will beat single 570 or 580.

Personally if you have a decent budget to work with...

i would go with the dual GTX 570 2.5GB versions. Those two in SLI would destroy anything for a while to come.

Good luck

Cheezewhiz said:

yup dual 560ti's will beat single 570 or 580.

Personally if you have a decent budget to work with...

i would go with the dual GTX 570 2.5GB versions. Those two in SLI would destroy anything for a while to come.

Good luck

Click to expand...

What about dual gtx 580's :V
but yeah, even the dual 560ti is bumping up my budget a lot~
so yeah, thanks for the help~
if you guys have any more info o throw out there, that would be great.

Wait, guys
if i get two 1.2 GB VRAM cards, will that mean i have 2.4 GB of ram total?

1DocMaster1 said:

Wait, guys
if i get two 1.2 GB VRAM cards, will that mean i have 2.4 GB of ram total?

Click to expand...

Unfortunately no. in dual GPU configuration they dont add up.
Memory has to be the same or if you have same cards but different memory sizes then the configuration will use the lowest of the two and make them equal. Best to use the same exact cards as always.

Kinda of like how RAID for HDD works.