Another help me choose thread

[lardacus]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within 2 weeks

BUDGET RANGE: $150-$300 usd

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: World of Warcraft (4-8hrs a day)

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: Palit GTX 460 1 gb, Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750w 80+ certified

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS:
i5 2500k overclocked to 4.5ghz 24/7 stable @ 1.28v
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 CPU cooler
ASUS P8P67 Pro B3
G. Skill Phoenix Pro 120gb SSD
G. Skill Ripjaw Series 8gb DDR3 1600mhz @ 9 9 9 24
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
2 x ASUS VH238H 23" Full HD HDMI LED backlit LCD monitors @ 1920 x 1080p

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg, Tigerdirect

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: n/a

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 2x 1920 x 1080p HDMI

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Just recently put this build together and the GPU was the only thing I didn't completely replace yet. Prior to my current setup, I was running my main display @ 1680 x 1050 and a secondary monitor at 1280 x 800, the GTX 460 had no issues whatsoever with that setup.

With my current upgrades it is very clear that the 460 is struggling with the dual 1080p resolutions. I do not game on both but I am still able to notice the huge performance loss even with the 460 powering one of 1080p displays. I generally play WoW windowed mode, maximized not full-screened, on display 1 with display 2 having a few tabs of Firefox, Ventrilo, Pandora/Grooveshark, Trillian, CPU-Z/GPU-Z/Core temp running.

I have ambient occlusion, AA, AF and VSync disabled.

Here is a direct link to my current GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261076

Seems as if Palit wasn't the smartest brand to go with.

Feel free to express any thoughts, concerns or questions and I will try to respond as quickly as possible, thanks.

 

[lardacus]

Have narrowed it down to:

Gigabye 560 Ti SOC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125369&cm_re=560_ti_soc-_-14-125-369-_-Product

and

Sapphire 6950 2 gb w/flash to 6970
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102914&cm_re=6950_2-_-14-102-914-_-Product

 

[17seconds]

The Gigabyte GTX 560 SOC has one of the quietest coolers on any recent generation video card. This Guru3d.com review shows the SOC with a noise level of 38 Dba vs. the 6950 at 41 Dba. When flashed to a 6970, that card will then get even louder.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigabyte-gtx-560-ti-soc-review/9

But if you are looking for performance, please do not compare benchmarks for a stock GTX 560 to a 6950 or 6970. Instead, you need to compare benchmarks for a GTX 560 with a factory overclock that matches the Gigabyte SOC. In this case the Zotac AMP! card is clocked at 950 mhz, just like this new edition of the Gigabyte SOC:

So, the Gigabyte SOC will give you equal performance to a 6970 (even more at lower resolutions), while being cooler and quieter. The SOC will also come with PhysX, CUDA, and dependable drivers. Oh, and it's cheaper and you don't have to fiddle around with flashing the BIOS.

 

[lardacus]

Yeah the overclocked 560 Ti's look like a pretty good deal at the moment. Have you heard much about the latest Catalyst drivers? I was told by a buddy of mine that they were pretty spectacular and it netted him about a 20% increase in all of the games that plays. If this is truly the case wouldn't these new drivers become a factor in deciding on a new purchase? Can we expect nVidia to roll out drivers that improve their entire 5 series by the same amount?

 

[17seconds]

Yeah the overclocked 560 Ti's look like a pretty good deal at the moment. Have you heard much about the latest Catalyst drivers? I was told by a buddy of mine that they were pretty spectacular and it netted him about a 20% increase in all of the games that plays. If this is truly the case wouldn't these new drivers become a factor in deciding on a new purchase? Can we expect nVidia to roll out drivers that improve their entire 5 series by the same amount?

The evidence regarding the latest 11.2 Catalyst drivers can be found all over these forums. Several people have rolled back to earlier versions, some people like them. Anyone saying they got a 20% boost is likely being disingenuous, particularly due to the fact that the 11.2 Direct3D driver is exactly the same as the 11.1 driver. If that is true, to me, that is an indication of how bad the driver was to begin with, rather than how well the driver team squeezed out some hidden performance.

My own reading of these forums leads me to believe that Nvidia drivers are better than AMD drivers. Nvidia also has more frequent driver releases, so there are more options in the event that you do run into compatibility problems. My own experience with Nvidia drivers is that they install, I play games, I have no problems.

Here is one of the forum discussions of the latest 11.2 drivers. There are zero discussions specifically devoted to the performance/issues with the latest Nvidia drivers:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/309630-33-post-results

 

[17seconds]

It's kind of funny, right after I post that there are no forum threads discussion Nvidia drivers, this one pops up:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/311939-33-dragon-improvements

 

[lardacus]

Heh, at least it was a positive post!