GTX 580 vs. ATI 6970?

mattag08 · #1 04-09-2011, 07:29 AM

I'm looking to upgrade my graphics card and these are the two cards that are in the running. The GTX 580 benchmarks better in almost every way, but I know the 6970 has 512MB more VRAM. I've read that CloD only uses about 1.5GB of VRAM, but I was curious if having that extra headroom makes any difference. Obviously none of the benchmarks include performance in IL-2:CloD yet.

Could people that play the game and run on a single card setup with one of the above two cards please post their system specs and performance in CloD? I know of many other people waiting to upgrade based on what you guys are finding in your games and you'd be doing us all a great service.

Triggaaar · #2 04-09-2011, 07:37 AM

580 is the faster card in every game where resolution is below 2560 or so, except CoD. It's going to be close in CoD and you're going to struggle to get a definitive answer as we're all experiensing different results due to how new the game is and the current issues.

If I select the bomber intercept mission over London, 6 spits vs 9 HE111s, details set to max (v high), I get 40 fps for most of it (drops now and then, goes up to 60 when we head out to sea. Specs below.

If money is no object to you, and you play a lot of other games, maybe treat yourself to the 580. If you mostly play CoD, I'm not sure you'll notice much difference, so save money and get the 6970. Maybe you'll be able to CF in a couple of years.

Flyby · #3 04-09-2011, 10:48 AM

An interesting dilemma to have. But I wonder which are the most important parameters for video bliss when comparing the two cards. I like this site "GPU-Review", and put the two cards up for comparison (looking at the bold type in the specs for each card, which one would CoD favor?): http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards....=637&card2=638

Each card has two standout advantages over the other. Which would you choose now?
Flyby out

Hellman1966 · #4 04-09-2011, 06:01 PM

I'm looking at the 580 3gb. However, I seem to keep finding different builds of supposedly the same card!
The Palit looks like the best value. Link here http://www.ginger6.com/palit-pcie-p-...edium=Shopping

Anyone steer me in the right direction of the 580 of choice?

~S~

85FG_Wolf.

GOZR · #5 04-09-2011, 06:11 PM

The answer is easy get the one with teh most Vram 1.5 GB is not enough alas.. 2 GB or 3 GB is a must now..

Flanker35M · #6 04-09-2011, 06:15 PM

S!

At the moment AMD scales better than nVidia when using XFire/SLI. I had a Palit 580GTX 1.5Gb before PowerColor 6970HD 2Gb and can say both cards are good. Really boils down to own preference and how much you want to shell out.

Hellman1966 · #7 04-09-2011, 07:02 PM

Well, I'm looking at the one in the link. I'm going for 3gb regardless so it'll be smokin on high settings. My question is, which 580 3gb to get?

Flyby · #8 04-09-2011, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hellman1966

I'm looking at the 580 3gb. However, I seem to keep finding different builds of supposedly the same card!
The Palit looks like the best value. Link here http://www.ginger6.com/palit-pcie-p-...edium=Shopping

Anyone steer me in the right direction of the 580 of choice?

~S~

85FG_Wolf.

Oh! I see now. Here in the yard (U.S.) the 3gb GTX580 is known as the GTX 590, and it has two GPUs on it. It costs around $700.00 USD and is out of stock. I didn't know such name variations existed, but your 3gb 580 with a single GPU (?) seems to cost as much as the 2-GPU 590 sold here. At least I didn't see a dual GPU listed in the specs of that Palit card. Seems sort of a rip, if so. Here's a link to the 590. It shows dual 512-stream processing GPUs. Probably sucks enough power to dim a city: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-630-_-Product
BTW, I guess no one has an answer to my question about the comparison in the link; which bold-type specs better suit CoD? I wonder if, at those performance levels, it makes a difference? Anyone? ANYONE!!!

Flyby out

Hellman1966 · #9 04-09-2011, 07:18 PM

Yeah, I can get one here for £600
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...-U0UAY0YZ.html

Will it really make that much difference having a dual core?

Meusli · #10 04-09-2011, 07:46 PM

If you can hold off till the end of the year, that is when the new generation of GPU's will be released. These ATI6900s and Nvidia500s are just remodels of the old GPUs and aren't massively more powerful than the 5900s and 400s. These next generation of cards are going to be immense.