GTX 580 1.5 GB vs. 3GB

[T}{OR]

Having a 3GB card for CloD is definitely an advantage. But, those 3 GB cards are way more expensive than the 1.5 GB versions.

Instead, I am looking into MSI GTX 580 Lightning - which is marginally more expensive than the reference version and offers significant boost in performance, cooling and quietness. Not to mention the completely custom PCB with a 16 phase PWM (and separate power regulation for memory).

Here are a couple of reviews:

No.1 & No.2


Thoughts?

EDIT: Resolution: 1920x1080 / 1920x1200, depends on which monitor I decide later on.

[Flanker35M]

S!

That card will be more than enough as you won't run 16x AF or quadzillion times FSAA on that resolution. Really the maximum FSAA at 1920x1200 would be around 4x and Anisotropic filtering is usually Application controlled. I ran a 580GTX before going AMD and can say it had no problems whatsoever with ANY game at 1920x1200. That 3Gb is only for very high resolution and when using high amount of FSAA/AF.

[T}{OR]

Thanks for the feedback. Especially since you tested both flavors - 580 and 6970. While I do know that 580 1.5 GB can chew up any game out there and then some, we are talking about CloD here. And with its massive textures in huge resolutions (can be turned down with latest patches I know), but still... I've seen reports that CloD eats up to 1.7 GB if VRAM from people that have tested it.

What prompted the change to AMD if I may ask? 580 is generally a faster card, and leaves 6970 way behind when OC-ed.

[janpitor]

I have GTX480 (1.5G) and on original textures I had some problems with performance (bad stutters). On high it is ok. But it is possible this will be resolved in the optimalisation process

[Flanker35M]

S!

I had no particular reason to go AMD, just for the fun of it. I had before 5870HD, 480GTX, 580GTX and now 6970HD. Another one is coming for CrossFire for IL-2:CoD. Really no problems with any of them except the original IL-2 issues in OpenGL that eventually got fixed by AMD.

It is true that CoD might eat up VRAM as snack, but again will Luthier optimize it even more? I am not doing any assumptions on which brand runs CoD better as the code is clearly not yet optimized and after that both brands need driver updates. So we can talk about 2 months or more before we see how it will be.

As of textures. I have not played with High, using Original. But is there any noticeable difference in them unless you really stare at something? Same applies to other options, are the changes subtle at most or really noticeable visually but performance greatly affected? In this case if a notch lower setting produces the same, or minimally different IQ, with better performance then I see no point getting a 3Gb card if the 1.5Gb is enough. Maybe in future when CoD expands and for sure the new cards pour out then taken into consideration.

Just a few thoughts

[Pitti]

I have a GTX 580 with 1.5 GB and CoD runs smooth on maximum settings at 1920x1200 on the last offical patch, didn't tried the beta.