GPU for 600 dollar budget February 15th

statikstate

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Hi I've inquired many times and everyone at Tom's has been helpful from my initial build to any other questions. I currently have a 5870 1 gb running on a i5 750@3.8 ghz. I have 4 gb of ram and my mobo is an Asus p55pro., monitor @1080p. My wife has agreed to let me use 400$ cash on my gpu budget(in school and work full time, have family, etc) with this year's tax returns. I have been trying(unsuccessfully so far) to sell my Gpu for around 200$ on craigslist. If I do, I would have 600 total to spend on my gpu. If I can't sell it within a month, then I would have to crossfire either with a 5870 or a 5970(which might be under my budget by the time 6990 arrives). I have an offer right now for two 480 gtx's + a 950 watt corsair power supply for 650. My current psu is only 750 watts so it would be a tight fit on certain sli/crossfire combinations so that offer is tantalizing. What do you guys think? This will be my final decision and the last alteration I make to this rig until next gen. Thanks
 
Don't do it. I can't recommend a GTX480 in SLI. They will get very noisy and hot in SLI, unless they are custom cooled models. I used to own a GTX480. The new 500 series cards are just so much better in terms of noise levels, I would recommend one of those. In fact, if you wait until January 25th, the new GTX560's will be out at under $300 each. At that point, AMD will also have released the cheaper 1gb versions of the 6950 and 6970. So, by the end of January, there will be plenty of new models to choose from for a dual card setup under $600 that will also work with your existing 750 watt power supply.
 

statikstate

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Yeah the main issue is selling my 5870. If I cant sell it within a month my options diminish some. So 6950 crossfire(the 2gb version) would trump the value of a 480 gtx sli in your opinion(and be able to run on a 750 watt psu)? I can't go into 570 sli/6970 crossfire as that would go over my budget.
 

statikstate

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I'll actually be able to buy the cards in less than two weeks, probably around Feb 8th. Are the 480 gtx heat issues that prevalent? I mean I don't care too much if they are built to stand the heat. And regarding the noise, I game with a headset so I don't think it we would matter. The guy is local so I could pick up and use the day of. I might be able to talk him down to 600 for the cards and psu as he mentions he has no offers(he upgraded to 580 sli), and I wanted to try Nvidia to see to enable physx in certain games. I have heard nothing concrete on the release date for either the 6990 or the 595 gtx, so I assume they won't be out by then. Another option is to hold out on the 5870 for the next gen cards this fall, but I don't wait to wait till then and a delay occurs. If I go with a 580 gtx I may not be able to sli it next year, as I'm currently in school and have a family so I can't justify another 300 dollars then. I would just go with a single more powerful card if it would a tangible real life performance increase at 1080p.
 

statikstate

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Ok guys dont mean to restart the thread but I sold my psu and 5870.. will have money to buy a card on friday!!! I'm about to bite on the 480 sli + 950 Corsair psu combo. The guys hasnt used the cards for 3 months so they are very gently used. He's willing to come by and set it up together to test them, so I wouldnt have to wait for shipping(my computer isnt working until I get the cards). I'm excited 480 sli!!!