GTX 580 vs. ATI 6970?

[Heliocon]

As a person who is big on hardware this is what I would say (sorry if its being repeated).
I would currently go for the 580, it has better general DX11 performance while eliminating the heat and noise issues of the 400 series, nvidia also has very good driver support. The 580 also scales very well in SLI, although at high resolutions not using DX11 features, ATI beats out nvidia (but that would be using eyefinity). Normally ATI + is the lower price, but as a 580 owner I strongly recommend it. The only problem is the 1.5gb of ddr5 ram, which is alittle stingy and while I would stick with EVGA other companies are adding more ram now although it wont help unless the game is running in dx10.1 and win7/vista/64bit which will take advantage of the larger Vram.

[T}{OR]

Originally Posted by Flyby

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.

Not true. 590 is a card with two downclocked chips from 580 in SLI. Think of it as "SLI on a stick". The only problem is - 590 comes with such poor power regulation that many of those uber expensive cards have already died. Nvidia blames it on beta drivers, but there is more to it. All dual GPU cards should be avoided IMO. Particularly for CoD.

Even if you do get it, it is SLI. So, no matter that you have 3 GB of VRAM total, you are only effectively using 1.5 GB as this is what is assigned to each GPU chip. And CoD doesn't support SLI/XF yet. Even if it did, you are left with 1.5 GB of total VRAM - just "twice as fast".

This is where 3GB 580 comes is. It is specifically custom built for SLI on higher resolutions.

1.5 GB of VRAM on HD resolutions is more than enough for almost every other game out there. But CoD seems to need more. Thus, since 580 is faster than 6970 - the choice is obvious, provided you have the money.

So far, I've seen 3 OM's offering 3GB versions. The latest and baddest (with factory OC) comes from Zotac:

ZOTAC AMP²! GeForce GTX 580

[Hellman]

That's the bad boy I've been looking at. Even tho SLI support is just around the corner, it's still the better one to get?

[Hellman]

How's this baby?

http://www.ginger6.com/palit-pcie-p-...edium=Shopping

[T}{OR]

Originally Posted by Hellman

That's the bad boy I've been looking at. Even tho SLI support is just around the corner, it's still the better one to get?

Without a doubt - YES. Stay clear from dual GPU solutions like 6990 and 590.

• 6990: runs hot and is loud as a vacuum cleaner from 1950's
• 590: will die a silent death because of a cheap power regulation

Originally Posted by Hellman

How's this baby?

http://www.ginger6.com/palit-pcie-p-...edium=Shopping

I'd go with Zotac if you can get it. But this is more than ok.

[Hellman]

Hmmm. Having trouble finding one for sale

[Flyby]

Originally Posted by T}{OR

Not true. 590 is a card with two downclocked chips from 580 in SLI. [/IMG][/URL]

Yes the 590 has two down-clocked chips on one board, each with 1.5gb of vram. I mis-typed what I meant to say. I am aware that the 3GB-580 has only the one chip on it. My bad? Too bad such a card is not available here, so far as I know. I'd get one for sure.
Flyby out

[O_TaipaN]

I agree the single GPU GTX 580 3GB is the best option, and it offers the future upgrade path to SLI with a second 580 later. Once ROF and COD have finalised their SLI patches that is.. DCS A-10C already has some SLI support it seems.

Do you really think more than 1.5GB VRAM is needed though? Looking at MSI afterburner my 1.5gb Vram doesn't max out in COD unless I turn everything high and use > 2560 resolution or multi monitor. (which you can't do anyway due to performance issues).

[nullack]

NVIDIA has Physx, CUDA, NVision etcetc - yeah I here ya I dont like proprietary apis either but Physx in particular is useful for gaming

Two or three GTX 580s are the go forget the 590

[T}{OR]

Originally Posted by O_TaipaN

Do you really think more than 1.5GB VRAM is needed though? Looking at MSI afterburner my 1.5gb Vram doesn't max out in COD unless I turn everything high and use > 2560 resolution or multi monitor. (which you can't do anyway due to performance issues).

Perhaps it isn't. But it will help with stutters. Both guys I know that are using them with CoD report all is silky smooth. And they run the game on max settings on HD resolution.

Simulations like CoD, RoF and A-10 shouldn't be compared to a modern FPS shooters.