570 - Worth the extra cash?

[Peaks]

So I have just finished reading the latest Nvidia 560 round up on toms.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-560-ti-roundup-asus-engtx560-graphics-card-overclocking,2858.html

I already knew (and this review confirmed) that the 560 is a crazy good card and can oc like stink (Gigabyte SC FTW in my opinion), but I have my eye on a 570.

So was just wondering what you guys thought, do you think the 570 is worth the extra money or should I just get a 560 and oc the hell outta it?

 

[Wampbit]

If you get a 570, likewise you can OC the hell out of it. With video cards the question "Is it worth it?" largely depends on how much you are comfortable spending on hardware. The frames-cost ratio diminishes quickly as you move towards the best cards, and the extra power isn't necessary unless you are a hardware nut. What do you want from your games/cuda-applications? At the end of the day it's more powerful than the 560, but the ratio of cash-power isn't nearly as good as the baseline set by the 560 or 6950.

 

[Peaks]

Good answer.

I have heard the 570 is not that great an ocer, but tbh I need to read a few more reviews.

My general thinking is that, yea a 560 can be oced to a 570 standard, but a 570 can be oced higher still.

I know the power is more, (comparably they are about right but nonetheless the 570 is more). But now Nvidia have tamed it a bit and there are some good 3rd party coolers, the 570 is appealing you have to agree.

 

[Wampbit]

Not at all, I absolutely ignored the 570 and bought 2 580s .

But more seriously just buy what you need. Spend less on a GPU now, and you can upgrade much sooner. Spend a fortune now and you'll have to stick with it for a few years. With one method you have more frequent upgrades, lower power consumption and consistent good performance. With the other you are endowed with a temporary epeen of incredible size, some fantastic immediate performance, high power consumption, and irritation a year and a half from now when things are slowing down but you can't justify getting rid of such an expensive card already. The two approaches probably even out.

 

[Wampbit]

Psycho makes a good point, hadn't considered that. Although the 480's cooling is nothing great, and it takes a lot of power.

 

[Peaks]

570 has been blowing VRM's because Nvidia only gave it 1 phase power compared to the 480's 2.

Get a 480 over a 570. They'll perform identical but the 480 will overclock better.

Really....didn't know that.

I know the MSI lighting is a really good 480 (prolly the best) but tbh the power draw is a little too high for me. Its atleast another 50 watts more than the 570 and that will get even worse when overclocked. When the 580 came out I thought the 480 was a good bet, but imo, the 570 has put an end to that, especially as they are the same price.

@Wampbit: I absolutely see your point, lol - seems like you went for option one tho...the expensive route.

 

[Peaks]

lol fair enough, is this just your personal experience tho or a known problem?

I am very attracted by the Gainward GTX570 Phantom (looks and cooling) and the Gigabyte SC (price to performance).

 

[17seconds]

A factory overclocked GTX 560, like the Zotac AMP! at 950 mhz is still a bit slower than a reference GTX 570 and as fast as a 6970:

Then there are custom GTX 570's that are even faster, and some with improved power management (although the issue with GTX 570's blowing their VRAM is exaggerated and the result of people pushing too much on the O.C.).

The Asus DirectCU for example has this:
"ASUS rebranded the voltage regulator chip to their own "Super Hybrid Engine" technology, which involved scraping the paint off and putting the new markings there. Under the hood the chip seems to look identical to a UPI uP6225 which is used on some GTX 480 cards, for example."
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_570_Direct_Cu_II/4.html

 

[andrern2000]

imho 570 is only worth extra cash if you use its benefit over 560: high resolution gaming. if you plan to game most at 2560 resolution,then go for 570. If you only game at 1920 resolution, (like me) then 560Ti seems to be better bang-for-buck,. you can also oc the 560 to near 570. 570, can be overclocked to near 580, these two are the domains of high 2560 resolution gaming.

 

[Peaks]

I was actually under the impression that the 570's were not that great at overclocking, yet I seem to be wrong. 900Mhz from that Asus card and they say that was limited by a max volt tweek. Well, there's clearly gonna be other 570's out there that can go higher.

tbh that settles it for me. If I have similar overclocking potential on the 570 compared to the 560, then I think I will go with that. You are effectively getting the same as what you would would with a 560 which is a card that can be overclocked to perform like the model above it. Only difference is you pay the price to start that one level higher. Despite the fact that what andrern2000 says is correct, @1920 the 560 probably is the best bang for buck, I think the extra cash for the extra step in performance is worth it.

Lets face it. The question is do I want a 570 for £200 (560 and oc) or a 580 for £300 (570 and oc). I'll take the 580 for £300. Now just to decide which is the best

 

[ubercake]

I say get as much card as you have budgeted for or can afford. This way you won't have to OC as much or at all. Call me a sissy, but the downsides to the OC (stability issues, upredictability of overclockability from card to card, shortened component lifespan, etc...) aren't worth it if you don't want to drop the cash on a hardcore liquid cooling setup to equalize them.

 

[17seconds]

Ubercake is right, get the most card you can afford. For me, I used a credit card, so getting a GTX580, was just a couple more monthly payments. At least that's one way to look at it.