SLI GTX 460's or a single better card?

[sponge14]

I am looking to upgrade my old 8800GTX to a new card. I primarily play FPS games (Call of Duty, Brink, etc). It seems I can get a pair of EVGA GTX460's with 1gig memory for about $280. I also see there is this new card the 560ti for about the same price. My question is, would I be better of with a pair of 460's or a single newer card in the $280 price range? I did see that the 560ti was using many of the same parts as the 460 so I am worried I would be outdated in a 560 series card rather quickly. If I need to spend a couple more dollars to better future proof myself, I could do that, but I am not going up to a 580 series card.

I am up for any suggestions on anything else too.

Thanks!

 

[jyjjy]

Why can you get two GTX 460s for about $60-80 less then they usually go for but the GTX 560 Ti costs you $50 more than the usual price?
For the kind of money you are talking about spending I would probably get an HD6950 2gb and unlock the shaders.

 

[sponge14]

The 560ti: ($292 after Rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130628

The 460's: ($280 after Rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130571

I do not know much about ATI cards. My motherbaord only supports SLI so that's why I was looking NVidia. I do not know what you mean by unlocking shaders? I am not into overclocking or anything like that, but if the shaders are a one time deal and I'm done, then I will look into that too.

 

[sponge14]

Would this be a good card if I went with ATI again?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150530&cm_re=HD6950-_-14-150-530-_-Product

 

[wolfram23]

SLI 460s are great cards, it'll be a huge step up for you. A 560 Ti is also quite good though, but even overclocked to the max won't be as fast as SLI 460s.

 

[mjsharma]

SLI 460s are great cards, it'll be a huge step up for you. A 560 Ti is also quite good though, but even overclocked to the max won't be as fast as SLI 460s.

but i think if he go with 560 now and SLI in future this will be a great option for him.. won't it be?

 

[nforce4max]

GTX 560 TI and save your self potential problems in the future. The GTX 460 was cheap for a reason as they cut corners on quality while learning the lesson later with a higher than normal failure rate. Nvidia made sure that the more expensive gtx 560 ti didn't have the same problems to the extent that the gtx 460 does. They made them cheap and people bought them up, I did. A few months later repairs became mandatory.

 

[wolfram23]

but i think if he go with 560 now and SLI in future this will be a great option for him.. won't it be?

560 SLI is very fast, certainly. But when is "in the future?" In a year? Two? By then, if the card can still be found, there's going to be something much better available - especially since we KNOW they're releasing new cards with a die shrink. If the die shrinking on CPUs is any indication, next gen cards are going to be faster, cooler, and better overclockers than anything we've seen before.

SLI 460s is going to power any game at 1080p with max (or very close to) details. It's a similar performance to my CF 5850s and I'm playing all the demanding games full out (Metro, Crysis, DA2, Cryostasis...). The single 560 Ti will do well, but it's more expensive and will be slower.

I don't bank on "in the future" unless it's a month away

 

[jyjjy]

The 560ti: ($292 after Rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130628

The 460's: ($280 after Rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130571

That GTX 560 Ti is $245 after rebate, not $292. It is also one of the most expensive models you can buy. They are currently available for as low as $190 after rebate on newegg right now or $220 for a factory OCed EVGA model if that is what you want.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162074
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130651
FYI the rebate on the GTX 460s are restricted to one per address/person. If you have two mailing address you can get around that perhaps but it's something you should be aware of.

 

[mjsharma]

the "in the future" will depend on the OP, after how many years or months or days or hours he can buy one more
i just came up with a suggestion thats all
but not all games will be able to take the advantage of SLI and we all know that
also as nforce4max said 460 has problems he is not the only guy with problems
so in short a single 560 will be better than sli 460 if you ignore the performance gains of sli in those games where its utilized
also the OP is willing to spend on 580, i will say go for it if money is not an issue btw which is your CPU and PSU?

 

[sponge14]

Thank you for a lot of good things to think of. I can see that the dual 460's may not be the best way to go. As for the 560ti, I looked at the different brands and I really love EVGA which is why I chose that one. I like the idea of the HD6950 as many of the reviews I am reading are putting it not that far behind the 580's which are almost double the price. What is this about unlocking the HD 6950? I understand the broad concept of unlocking parts of a video card, but if you do that, are you getting yourself the equivalent of a 6970 or another better card?

The 580 is more then I want to spend now.

I found this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150530&cm_re=hd6950-_-14-150-530-_-Product

My CPU is the Intel Core i5 750 Processor 2.66 GHz 8 MB LGA1156 and I currently have 4gigs of RAM

 

[swifty_morgan]

Thank you for a lot of good things to think of. I can see that the dual 460's may not be the best way to go. As for the 560ti, I looked at the different brands and I really love EVGA which is why I chose that one. I like the idea of the HD6950 as many of the reviews I am reading are putting it not that far behind the 580's which are almost double the price. What is this about unlocking the HD 6950? I understand the broad concept of unlocking parts of a video card, but if you do that, are you getting yourself the equivalent of a 6970 or another better card?

The 580 is more then I want to spend now.

I found this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150530&cm_re=hd6950-_-14-150-530-_-Product

My CPU is the Intel Core i5 750 Processor 2.66 GHz 8 MB LGA1156 and I currently have 4gigs of RAM

that's the latest card I bought. Nothing stops it maxed out 1920x1200........... forget the "unlocking" BS. Not needed.

 

[jyjjy]

Here is an article on unlocking the HD6950 if you are interested.
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/159
The discussion thread for the article is also huge and full of good info.