GeForce GTX 580, will it be worth it in my system?

[masterbunny5]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Somewhere Around Christmas BUDGET RANGE: ~$500 after rebates/sales/etc

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Main importance is gaming of all kinds. I constantly am changing from game to game, based on what is appealing at the time. Anywhere from WoW, League of Legends, Starcraft II, Minecraft, Call of Duty: Black Ops, etc. So a wide variety of games that all use GPUs and CPUs in a different way. Following gaming is high def video in 720/1080p (when available).

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: Funny enough, the provided example by Toms Hardware are my exact components: ATI Radeon HD 4850 and Corsair 750TX 750W PSU

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: CPU - Intel i5-750 2.67 GHz (stock speed, most likely looking to overclock to ~3.6-3.8), Have an aftermarket heatsink/fan (unsure of model at the moment), Mobo - ASUS P7P55D EVO, RAM - G Skill 2x2gb DDR3-1600.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg.com, I'm in the USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: Personally I have no preference, whatever will compliment my current components the best. However, I would obviously take a $500 card over a $1000 which only slightly outperforms the cheaper. (I know my budget doesnt even come close to $1000, it was just an example).

OVERCLOCKING: Yes, but not required.

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe, but not at this time, so it should not be taken into consideration.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920 x 1080

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Main concern is bottlenecking. Not sure if the 580 would even be worth it for my system, or if something would perform the same on my rig, but at a lesser cost.


For a list of currently considered GPUs, I'm very sorry but it is not going to be very helpful, for probably the only item on the list is the GeForce GTX 580, and then every other graphics card on the market to compare it to. For this i'm sorry, but the main reason for this is that I am mainly concerned about the value of the 580 in regards to my computer. If it is not worth the upgrade at this time, I might end up waiting a year and either do a full computer upgrade (which I dont think will be needed, but is a possibility) or just see what the market is like at that time.

Any advice will be much appreciated. I am usually better informed on the current market than i currently am, but having started school these past couple months, I have fallen out of the system (knowledge of market wise, and another reason for why my list of considered GPUs is nonexistent).

 

[wa1]

Yes, it's worth. OCing your i5 to 3.5GHz or more is great, don't worry about that...

 

[55Range]

Totally, will result in nice performance, oc for cpu will be really necessary though-

 

[Nerdbox87]

The GTX 580 is overpriced at the moment, mostly because of lack of single card competition until the 69XX cards are released.

You'd be better off grabbing 2x 6850s or 2x GTX 460s and saving some cash (with performance equal to the 580) or grabbing 2x 6870s for roughly the same price but better performance.

(Obviously depends on which mode your board supports - crossfire or SLI)

i5 750 overclocked to 3.4ghz+ will rocket along next to any of these setups.

*scratch that, read that you're not looking at crossfire/SLI at this stage - shrug, should really be considered*

 

[masterbunny5]

Thanks for the responses. I'll look into it. Main reason I said I wasn't considering crossfire/SLI was...not going to lie I cant remember. I'm not against it, really. And if it's a better value for equal, if not better, performance, then by all means it's an option.

 

[masterbunny5]

After surfing the web a little I've come to see that even though XFire/SLI setups might achieve an overall higher benchmark test, single GPU cards technically perform smoother, and the dual card setups experience some stuttering, lag, and low Min frame rate instances. Also, I hear ATI drivers are a pain, so why not take out all these problems by going with a non ATI Single GPU that performs very well?

 

[55Range]

Thats is the gtx 580-
Which is newer, and more efficient and cooler than others

 

[Nerdbox87]

Everything you've said there is very arguable -

- Stuttering is really a thing of the past
- ATI drivers are fine (haven't had any significant issues in the 3 years since my switch)
- Low minimum frame rates are generally blown of out proportion due to a single low frame recorded very early in a benchmark, and are not regular occurrences during normal gaming.

What you've said is perfectly reasonable though - if a single card is available, of similar performance at the same price than it's the best option. However this isn't the case with the current pricing of the GTX 580 (most likely only until the 69XX cards come out and force it down)

 

[masterbunny5]

Agreed Nerdbox. I believe my best course of action is wait until the 69XX cards come out. This is actually before my desired time of purchase stated in the original post (christmas time). Unless there is another delay that is. But yeah, I guess now it's just time to wait and see the comparisons, and what the competition does to the prices.

 

[Nerdbox87]

Sweet - good idea

Alternatively even a single 6850 @ 180$ will max out any of the games you initially listed @ your resolution and is a big upgrade over a 4850, leaving you a bucket load of cash left over.