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!
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!