Which 580 should I get?

[Anders_And]

Which one of the following 580s should I consider? Which one of them will give me the best performance? is the 3gig version alot better or just waste of memory? and why do the DDR5 show show such a diff. in speed? (1ghz vs 4Ghz)

MSI GeForce GTX580 TwinFrozr II aktiv Retail
1,5 GB GDDR5 (1 GHz)
384 Bit
800 MHz

or

Gigabyte GeForce GTX580 aktiv Retail
1,5 GB GDDR5 (4 GHz)
384 Bit
795 MHz

or

ASUS GeForce GTX580 aktiv Retail
1,5 GB GDDR5 (4 GHz)
384 Bit
782 MHz

or

Zotac GeForce GTX580 aktiv Retail
3 GB DDR5 (4 GHz)
772 MHz
DirectX Version: 11

or

Zotac GeForce GTX580 AMP2! Edition aktiv Retail
3 GB DDR5 (1,25 GHz)
: 384 Bit
815 MHz

or

Palit GeForce GTX580 aktiv Retail
1,5 GB DDR5 (4 GHz)
384 Bit
783 MHz

or

MSI GeForce GTX580 Twin Frozer III aktiv Retail
1536 MB GDDR5 (4 GHz)
384 Bit
: 810 MHz

or

Zotac Geforce GTX580 AMP! Edition aktiv Retail
1536 MB GDDR5 SDRAM (4,1 GHz)
384-bit
815 MHz

Thx and best regards

[Ataros]

Go for 3 GB one o save for 680 :)

[Jaws2002]

Any 580 with less then 3GB of ram is waste of money now. EVGA also makes some good cards, and have awesome waranty.

[zapatista]

Any 580 with less then 3GB of ram is waste of money now.

and you think so because ..... ?

a few facts and pointers might be useful there, as many other people here are looking at the next gen cards :)

[Anders_And]

Go for 3 GB one o save for 680 :)

Well is the 680 with two gigs better than the 580 with 3 gigs? I havent seen any game that uses more than 1gig... What about power consumption?!

[Winger]

680 all the way. Believe me the 680 ROCKS!

Memory above 1,5 GB does only matter at higher than 1920x1200 resolutions. If you dont drive higher res dont bother about the ram.
As for the power consumption the 680 is much more efficient than the previous generations since it automatically clocks down and drives power down if in 2D or idle mode.

Winger

[Dr str@nglove]

i have this one http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/43487-gigabyte-gtx-580-super-overclock-review.html (http://http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/43487-gigabyte-gtx-580-super-overclock-review.html)

[ATAG_MajorBorris]

Any 580 with less then 3GB of ram is waste of money now. EVGA also makes some good cards, and have awesome waranty.

Good info Jaws, I'll add a little more.

To the OP

EVGA has a lifetime waranty with overclocking promoted(so dont waste $ on o.c. cards), register your card with in 30 days and add the 3 day cross shipping for $30 (you call on the phone tell them you want a new card, 3 days later viola)and future issues are all but forgotten.

The step up program offered by EVGA means you can purchase a 580 today and "step up" to a 680 within 90 days if you decide to later.(read all faqs so you know how it works).

Many pc games will use more than 1.5 gb today @1080p(last year for that matter), the reason you have not seen any games use more is they cant on your pc or they are console ports or the settings are turned down.

Here are some games that can use more than 1.5gb and up to 2.5gb vram @1920x1080p:

Crysis 2(hd texture pack)
Shogun2
Metro 2033
Civ5
Il2 Cliffs of Dover

See ya in the air!

[Jaws2002]

Well is the 680 with two gigs better than the 580 with 3 gigs? I havent seen any game that uses more than 1gig... What about power consumption?!

Do you play this game? If you do, you'll see it uses more than 1GB. That if you have it.
My game is using close to 1.5GB of video ram, because the game can't see the other 1.5GB on the second GPU in my dual GPU card.

People that have 2GB cards can confirm that their game is using close to two GB of video memory.
I think with 2GB you should be fine, but now, with all this 3GB cards on the market, I wouldn't spend a penny on a card with less then two GB per GPU.

The more you have, for this game, the better.

[Jaws2002]

I forgot. I would get the 2GB 680 over the 3GB 580 any day of the week.:lol: I would get the EVGA version and sign up for step up program and if the next best thing is released within 90 days, I'd just switch to that by paying the difference.

[ATAG_MajorBorris]

I forgot. I would get the 2GB 680 over the 3GB 580 any day of the week.:lol: I would get the EVGA version and sign up for step up program and if the next best thing is released within 90 days, I'd just switch to that by paying the difference.

Only thing Jaws is I dont think you can "step up" from a 680 to a 680.

[Insuber]

Do you play this game? If you do, you'll see it uses more than 1GB. That if you have it.
My game is using close to 1.5GB of video ram, because the game can't see the other 1.5GB on the second GPU in my dual GPU card.

People that have 2GB cards can confirm that their game is using close to two GB of video memory.
I think with 2GB you should be fine, but now, with all this 3GB cards on the market, I wouldn't spend a penny on a card with less then two GB per GPU.

The more you have, for this game, the better.

I confirm, the game uses nearly all of the 3 GB of VRAM, it tops up at >90% occupancy of the VRAM.

[Jaws2002]

Only thing Jaws is I dont think you can "step up" from a 680 to a 680.

Ah. You are right. I forgot.
Nvidia are such bastards. They won't release the flagship card until August, because the lower power version (680) beats the best Radeon.:evil:

Hopefully sometimes after that one comes out, my old GTX590 dies.:lol:

[addman]

I run the game with a mere EVGA GTX 550ti 1GB DDR5 and I get 34 FPS on average in black death with v-sync turned on at medium to high settings albeit at only 1366x768 resolution though.

[priller26]

Any 580 with less then 3GB of ram is waste of money now. EVGA also makes some good cards, and have awesome waranty.

Would be my choice, have one myself. Lifetime warranty as long as you register the product. Works great, never had a hiccup.

[ATAG_MajorBorris]

Ah. You are right. I forgot.
Nvidia are such bastards. They won't release the flagship card until August, because the lower power version (680) beats the best Radeon.:evil:

Hopefully sometimes after that one comes out, my old GTX590 dies.:lol:

It seems the 680 was the 670 untill it beat new ati, dam them lol,

Dont wish undue harm to your 590, its still good, => 680? and you can sell it later : )

Regarding "step up"

If one were to get a 580 3gb then you could step up to a 680 4gb in the 90days if the timing was good.

*read all EVGA faqs about waranty and step up to be sure!...3 day cross ship rocks!

[ATAG_MajorBorris]

I run the game with a mere EVGA GTX 550ti 1GB DDR5 and I get 34 FPS on average in black death with v-sync turned on at medium to high settings albeit at only 1366x768 resolution though.

Just curious, why would you benchmark with vsync on?

[addman]

Just curious, why would you benchmark with vsync on?

Because if I don't have v-sync on then the average FPS value won't reflect the real performance of the game since I only run the game on a 60Hz monitor, any higher value then 60 FPS will cause tearing and for me 60 FPS max is more then enough for my eyes.:)

[ATAG_MajorBorris]

Because if I don't have v-sync on then the average FPS value won't reflect the real performance of the game since I only run the game on a 60Hz monitor, any higher value then 60 FPS will cause tearing and for me 60 FPS max is more then enough for my eyes.:)

I always though for benchmarks, v-sync gives a skewed result. Or that you cant tell the other tweaks(changes) are as good or bad.

[addman]

I always though for benchmarks v-sync gives a skewed result.

Well, yes it does but the same can be said about running without because if you run a benchmark without v-sync then the average FPS probably will be higher but it might be because the bench suddenly jumps up to high FPS values in short parts of the bench and then raises the average FPS number but it doesn't really reflect the performance of the majority of the length of the bench.

[Chivas]

I have an Asus 580 which is very quiet, but has huge fans that cover 3 pci slots. My system runs COD very well with no CTD's, and has only 1.5 gigs of memory. The upcoming performance patch should allow people with lesser systems to run COD very well. That said if I were buying now I would certainly get the higher performing Nvidia 680, as COD will continue to add features that will tax your system in the future.

[ATAG_MajorBorris]

Let me ask you this Chivas, if you purchased a 680 today, would you have any regrets when the higher vram version of the 680 came out or even a 685?

The reason I ask is that I am not so sure the "patch" will lower vram requirments at max settings as some have sugested(we can do that allready with in game settings no?)

If anything, as the sim matures the requirments would increase if the old il2 is any benchmark.

Thats where a step up program with the 3 day cross ship might be nice imho.

[Jatta Raso]

As for the power consumption the 680 is much more efficient than the previous generations since it automatically clocks down and drives power down if in 2D or idle mode.

Winger

actually video boards have been doing that for some time now; my 570 does just that and i don't think it's the first ever..

[Chivas]

Let me ask you this Chivas, if you purchased a 680 today, would you have any regrets when the higher vram version of the 680 came out or even a 685?

The reason I ask is that I am not so sure the "patch" will lower vram requirments at max settings as some have sugested(we can do that allready with in game settings no?)

If anything, as the sim matures the requirments would increase if the old il2 is any benchmark.

Thats where a step up program with the 3 day cross ship might be nice imho.

If I were buying today, I would get the best possible video card possible, although others might buy a generation lower to save money. That said you need a balanced system with a highend cpu and motherboard to take advantage of all the components speed.

I don't know what the sweet spot for vram with COD is and it could possibly change after the performance patch. I always get the best possible system with budget restraints being the deciding factor.

A video card vendor with a step up program would be a great idea, if the new series goes according to plan it will be around for atleast another ten years adding more resource hungry features. I don't want to even think about the monies I've spent on highend video cards for the last fifteen years or so.

I think the best decision I made regarding playing COD was installing it on a separate SSD, with only the Hotas peripherals, and a separate copy of Windows 7 64 bit installed on it. I do have to reboot to that particular copy of Windows when I want to fly COD, but it reboots very quickly, and I've never had any performance or CTD issues.

[ATAG_Snapper]

I just swapped out my EVGA GTX 560Ti 1 gig card for a Gigabyte GTX 680 2 Gig. I was pleased with the 560Ti, but I'm finding the 680 performs very well (higher framerates with some eye candy features turned up) despite my aging cpu and it seems to run considerably cooler, too.

I have no benchmarks to offer, nor do I care to get into that aspect; just that my initial impressions ofthe 680 are very good. I also moved to an Asus 27" monitor which supports 120 hz so the smoothness effect is considerable. Online play still is demanding, I've noticed, with noticeable slowdowns in heavy action/many planes.

[Chivas]

I just swapped out my EVGA GTX 560Ti 1 gig card for a Gigabyte GTX 680 2 Gig. I was pleased with the 560Ti, but I'm finding the 680 performs very well (higher framerates with some eye candy features turned up) despite my aging cpu and it seems to run considerably cooler, too.

I have no benchmarks to offer, nor do I care to get into that aspect; just that my initial impressions ofthe 680 are very good. I also moved to an Asus 27" monitor which supports 120 hz so the smoothness effect is considerable. Online play still is demanding, I've noticed, with noticeable slowdowns in heavy action/many planes.

Off the top of my head I can't remember how, but with a few clicks of your BIO's, should increase your highly overclockable Intel CPU speed up to the 3.6-3.8 range with normal air cooling, with little fear of damaging it. This should give you more balanced speed between your CPU and Graphics card depending on your Memory bandwidth and speed. Others more knowledgeable than I can fill in the blanks.

[ATAG_Snapper]

Oh, don't I wish!!!

Gateway saw fit to lock the bios on my FX6801 PC tighter than than a cow's bum in fly time. I know there are hacks out there to crack this Enigma machine, but I haven't walked that path yet.

[hc_wolf]

I can not fault my card. Gainwood 3 gig gtx580

Live the dream Son!

any of the 3gig 580's will do. I don't OC mine and never will. just no need it is soooo powerful and will not need to be upgraded for about 2-3 years.... Pffftt I know I will go out and buy a 690 anyway... call it impulse buying.

[BMCha]

The speed difference is just a difference in the exact speed that was chosen to display, the first (1 GHz) is the actual clock speed of the VRAM, the second (4GHz) is the effective clocks (effective speed being the usual one used when referring to ram speed), as the chips are QDR, meaning that the effective speed is the actual speed multiplied by four. As 4x1=4, there isn't any difference in VRAM speed between the 4 and 1 GHz ones.

It does look like a few of those have factory-overclocked memory, explaining some of the other speeds reported.

[Anders_And]

thx for your replies everyone... Looks like i will go out an buy myself a Gtx680 then... :)

I have an I5-760 overclocked to 4Ghz
8gig Ram
and win7 64
Nvidia gtx 280

best regards and once again thx!

[Ataros]

4GB Gtx680 are coming if you have unlimited budget and high resolution... May be helpful in 3-4 years.

[senseispcc]

I should say a 580 is good 2 time 580 in sli is better. Perfection should be 2 * 680 in sli but the price is a big but?:rolleyes: