I have had a GTX580 1.5gb since feburary, bloody great card, best I've had, if I were buying now I would get the same but the 3gb version no question mate!

Craig

Depends which PSU hehe...I have Corsair 550VXEU (550W) which is more than enough for my GTX470 twin frozr 2 OCed to 750mhz on core and for my i7920 OCed to 3.5GHz on default voltage. No probs at all...

3 GB GTX 580 is worse than normal/overclocked GTX 580, as the clock of the graphic/shader processor is lower.

You'll have to chose between them considering other factors, mainly the resolution at which you'll run the games:
- if you plan to use normal resolution (like 1980x1080), and most of/the most important of the game you're playing won't exceed 1.5 GB of VRAM (and I don't know of any atm) -> it's better to go with normal/overclocked 580s. For 1680x and lower ones, even a 560 Ti [super][overclocked] or a 570 would be enough
- if you plan to play on surround resolutions (3x1, etc) then you'll need as much of extra VRAM as you can get -> it's better to go with 3GB 580s

And of course the performance of a videocard is greatly depending on how your system can provide and make use of it:
- processor
- motherboard
- PSU
- drivers
- RAM
- OS

3 times gtx 580 they did say money is no problem did they not? :-)

That really depends. Of course a good branded PSU might work with lower watts but it's not recommended because the PSU will be heavy loaded most of the time. Shortens lifetime on several components and in worst case scenario blow the PSU and start a fire. 750w+, 42A on +12 is recommended and i will stick by that any day.

You might wanna throw in another harddisc or two someday or other components drawing extra power, even USB units. There is really no point running a system on the edge.

Personally i'm using the Corsair HX850 Modular unit.

ASUS Mars II
 

I am wondering, why this little peace of "reasonably priced" hardware is not on the list...

http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/N...RS_II2DIS3GD5/

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphic...cs-Card-Review

Price in Europe is around 1.300€ :rolleyes:

because that card is dual GPU, which is same as a SLI on the same card, and therefore has the same problems as the SLI setup.

Then just get a factory OC 580 3GB like MSI's N580GTX Lightning Xtreme Edition.

Very true. Without a proper CPU, you won't use your GPU to its fullest.

agreed
The GTX580 is excellent

Wait till Q1 of 2012. Nvidia and ATI are coming out with next-gen stuff then. For Nvidia, It's to be a BIG increase in performance(well we'll see). I want a new card bad too but there's nothing worst than buyers remorse.