GTX 460 SLI vs GTX 570 (also, settle an argument!)

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fireaza

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Hi there guys,
This is a two-pronged thread. Firstly, my friend recently brought a GTX 470. He thinks it's better than my SLI'ed GTX 460. I say they're about the same. Who's right?

Also, I've actually been considering getting a GTX 570 myself. Why? The fan on one of my 460s has failed for the second time. Which means it's being repaired by the manufacturer. Which means I'm down to one GTX 460, which, like a dog missing both legs on it's right side, doesn't run very well. Assuming a GTX 570 runs similarly to 2x GTX 460s in SLI, this would at least get me back up to speed.

It would also solve an overheating issue I've been having since I brought the cards. You see, I have a micro-ATX motherboard, so this means any GPUs in SLI will be right next to each other. This wasen't an issue for the GTX 240s I used to have, since they had an exhaust-style cooler, but the 460s's fans blow air in all directions, instead of outside the case. This arrangement also results in one card "cooling" itself with air heated by the other card, since it's fans are almost touching the back of the other card. I've been looking at various 570 cards, and a lot of them have the exhaust-style cooler, so this would (assumingly!) solve this issue, since my case's design favors exhausting style coolers due to a fan positioned to pull air from outside the case and along any GPUs before exiting the case.

If a single GTX 570 performs like 2x 460s, not only would this bring my PC's performance back, but this also gives me the option of upgrading in the future by adding a second 570 in SLI. But can this sometimes cause difficulties? Like, how close do the cards need to be to be usable in SLI? For example, say that back when I got my 2 460s (around October last year) I only brought one. And now I wanted to buy a second one to get my SLI on. Well, the store I brought them from no longer has the 460 (though I guess they might be able to order one in) but a different store does. There's two of them, the same brand as my current 460 (one of them appears to be an over-clocked version, it's $20 more). Would either of them have been able to be SLI'ed with my current 460?

Thanks!
 
SLIed GTX 460s are faster than both the GTX 470 and the 570. Here is a performance chart to give you an idea.
perfrel_1920.gif

That's from before the GTX 570 existed but it is very similar in performance to the GTX 480, a tiny bit faster perhaps.
FYI SLI works with any card of the same type. They do not need to be the same exact brand/model.
 

Helltech

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You're friend is incorrect.

Here is a GTX 570, it is about dead on to a GTX 480.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_570/27.html

And as jyjjy showed, this is about 8 percent faster than a GTX 480 (22 percent faster than your friend's GTX 470 for arguements sake).

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_460_SLI/25.html

It should be noted that with the SE and 768mb verions of the GTX 460 they aren't as powerful as the normal 1GB version, however even the SE version will be faster than your friends GTX 470.

How long till you get the GTX 460 back?

If you are considering a GTX 570 you can even SLI a GTX 570 with a GTX 570HD. Manufacturer doesnt' matter, overclocking doesn't matter (they will auto correct themselves to the lowest of the two cards.)

Personally unless you are going to be out of a GTX 460 for a VERY long time, I would just wait for it to come back, unless your temps are horrible.

What temps do your GTX 460s get to?

 

fireaza

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Ah, sorry guys, typo! I meant my friend has a GTX 570! So I ask again, which is more powerful?

Helltech: I'm not sure how long it will be, last time it was about a month or so. My temps when the card's fan is screwing up and my PCI fan isn't set to "roar", often get up to 100+ degrees Celsius before shutting down. With the PCI fan roaring, I can get that to around 80+ degrees Celsius. At least it's not shutting itself down :p

Thanks for the information on SLI, pretty handy it's somewhat flexible, so it sounds like it would be pretty safe to buy a single now and get a second later. Which makes me think: why go for a 570 if I'm not planning to get a second one any time soon? If I were to get a 580 instead, I'd have a very powerful single card, which would mean I wouldn't need to spend the $500+ to get the second one until much much later.
 

fireaza

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Ah, you're right, I noticed my typo and assumed I had messed everyone up. :p

I'm looking a the 2011 Gaming Graphics Charts (http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2011-gaming-graphics-charts/benchmarks,123.htmll) with a focus on "Enthusist" charts, and you look to be correct, and the 570 and 580 do seem pretty close. For example, 32.70 fps for the 570 vs 36.50 for the 580 in Metro 2033 (difference of 3.8 fps) and a score of 107.28 for the 570 vs 119.29 for the 580 in the Enthusiast Index (difference of 12.01). And there's $169 difference between the two, so it sounds like the 570 would be better value.

I assume the same would hold true in 570 SLI vs 580 SLI? The 580 would only be a a few frames ahead?

Getting back to 460 SLI vs 570, looking at the performance charts, the 480 (which I'm using to represent 2x 460s, since they performed very similarly in an old review I read on Tom's) and the 570 do seem to be pretty evenly matched. The 480 gets 32.10 fps in Metro vs 32.70 for the 570, a difference of 0.6 fps. In the Enthusiast Index, the 480 gets a score of 103.06 vs 107.28 for the 570, a difference of 4.22. So, it sounds like I would get similar performance to 2x 460s if I were to get a 570. This would also fix my over-heating issue, since I'd be able to get a exhaust-style cooler. Plus, this gives me an upgrade option for later in the future by adding a second 570, currently, I'd have to replace both my GPUs if I wanted upgrade. Does this sound right to you guys?
 

Helltech

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Even though you typoed we, still showed benchmarks shwoing the differences between a 470, 480, 460 SLI, and 570.

The GTX 570 is immensily better for the price. And yeah, it will be more then a few frames in SLI, remember the differences between the two is around 10-15 percent.

You shouldn't be using a GTX 460 SLI = GTX 480, we have covered that as well. GTX 460 SLI = higher than GTX 570.

GTX 460 SLI vs GTX 570

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/314?vs=306

GTX 460 SLI vs GTX 580

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/314?vs=305

GTX 570 SLI vs GTX 580 SLI

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/307?vs=308

EDIT -
I'm a little surprised to see the GTX 460 SLI pull out ahead of the the GTX 580 so often on there. Of course this is only at 1920x1200. Well I guess it makes sense, according to techpower up the GTX 460SLI is 13 percent better then GTX 480, and GTX 580 is only 10 percent better then GTX 480, making the GTX 460 SLI about 3 percent better then GTX 580.

 

fireaza

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Wow, some interesting figures there, looks like the 460 can hold it's own pretty well! A shame SLI vs SLI seems to be broken on that page, (the graphs don't load), I'd be interested to see how 460 SLI would stack up against 470 SLI and 480 SLI.
 

briansklein

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I have the zotac 570 amp! edition and all I can tell you is the card for 350 bucks with an in store Microcenter warranty is hands down the best single card I have ever owned in that price range. I had 2 6850s till my kid suckered me out of one and the 2 of those were just slightly better than the single 570 i have. BFBC2 i never have anything lower than 60 fps of max settings.
 

vitornob

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Which solution is better?
What you consider better? More fps? Less Heat? Less problems?

Well, a simple statement, GTX 460 SLI is faster, and supports more than 2 monitors. But generates more heat (a lot more), have more problems with scalability (since not all games are perfectly scalable).

What u prefer the most?
 
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