GTX 580 1.5gb or 3gb for my new build

[kancer526]

Hello everyone, I have been trying to figure out wich one of the graphics cards listed below would be the best buy for the money to use on my new build. Is the an advantage to the MSI with its 3GB + and higher price? Please give me some advice

MSI N580GTX Lightning Xtreme Edition GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 3072MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127589

OR

EVGA SuperClocked 015-P3-1582-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130590

This system will be mainly for gaming on a 23" or 24" 1920x1080 max resolution monitor.
Either card falls with in the budget i had in mind.



system i have in mind:

I5 2500k - processor

Gigabyte GA-68XP-UD4 - mobo

Corsair 2x4gb DDR3 1600 - memory

WD Caviar Black 750GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb - HHD

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX850M 850W 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular - PSU

Corsair Graphite Series 600T CC600TM Mid-Tower - Gaming Case

????????? - graphics card

 

[cgleckman]

Two be honest for gaming either card is going to let you play at max settings. Its entirely up to you. I personally feel as if the 3gb is over kill for gaming but thats just me. If you want to go big or go home, then go for the 3gb and youll know your safe for atleast 3 years.

 

[kancer526]

I like that the 3gb card might be good for the next 3 years. But, do u think i can do with better cooled 1.5gb 580 card and over clock it as i need for a good long while? lol never hurts to save some bucks lol but, i would like to make a 1 time purchase that will last.

 

[jprahman]

Go with the 1.5GB card. 1.5GB is more than enough VRAM for 1080p resolution. The only time you would need more than that (for current games) is if you are running a multi-monitor setup (Eyefinity or the like) or an extremely high resolution monitor.

Use the extra money on a good heat sink or maybe even put it towards an SSD, which would give you a far more a tangible benefit than 1.5GB of extra VRAM.

 

[cgleckman]

I like that the 3gb card might be good for the next 3 years. But, do u think i can do with better cooled 1.5gb 580 card and over clock it as i need for a good long while? lol never hurts to save some bucks lol but, i would like to make a 1 time purchase that will last.

well technology gets better all the time so you have to remember that either card will probably hold out for a good 2-3 years before games catch up to their max ability. I am still using a GTX 275 and it runs everything full settings just fine.

 

[Why_Me]

The 3GB 580 is for a multi monitor set up/high resolution. The extra vRAM for the normal 1920 x 1080 monitor will actually hurt you in FPS due to the extra latency.

 

[Chirality]

Get the evga 580 with the 3gigs of ram, it's the ***

 

[Why_Me]

Get the evga 580 with the 3gigs of ram, it's the ***

I love it when posters put so much effort into post like that one.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/43643-msi-gtx-580-lightning-xtreme-edition-xe-3gb-review-19.html

MSI GTX 580 Lightning Xtreme Edition (XE) 3GB Review

With the GTX 580 maturing like a fine wine, it has been interesting to see what NVIDIA’s board partners had in store for the market. We’ve already looked at Gigbayte’s Super Overclock and MSI’s Lightning and there even more custom cards on the horizon from companies like ASUS and EVGA. With this long list of ultra expensive cards making a splash, one would think that yet another overclocked GTX 580 would fail to make people sit up and take notice. However, the Lightning Xtreme Edition has caused a considerable amount of buzz within enthusiast circles ad with good reason too.

The XE is an extremely ambitious card since it combines the high speeds seen in the previous MSI Lightning with a massive amount of memory. Granted, this combination does come with an ultra high price of some six hundred bucks (or possibly more!) but that’s a price many will likely be willing to pay for what will likely be the highest performing GTX 580 available in North America.

From framerates to thermal numbers to its extremely quiet operation, the Lightning XE is a must have card for enthusiasts with some extra coin burning a hole in their wallets. However, the additional 1.5GB of GDDR5 doesn’t come without some sacrifices. MSI’s flagship card does tend to suffer a bit from the increase latency that comes with higher memory densities. The performance drop-off this caused against the standard Lightning wasn’t noticeable within games but it was notable nonetheless since it showed up in nearly every game. On flip side of this coin, the extra memory did allow the Lightning XE to post a few impressive gains in high resolution, high AA scenarios, particularly in the minimum framerate department.

Another issue we saw was a repeat of our past experiences with cards sporting non-reference memory allotments. Even in the case of the GTX 580, it seems like the underlying GF110 architecture runs out of gas far before the memory bandwidth limits are reached. In both Metro 2033 and Shogun 2 a 3GB framebuffer did allow for the game to run at ultra high detail settings but the experience was still a slideshow since the overclocked core was pushed well past its rendering capabilities. Granted, multi monitor resolutions would have likely seen the 3GB Lightning XE pulling off some impressive wins but we weren’t given a pair to play around with. Plus, spending $1200 or more on two of these cards is more than all but a few upper-crust enthusiasts are willing to spend.

In our opinion, MSI has a winner on its hands that likely won’t be eclipsed for some time. 3GB of memory may be dubious in its usefulness in some scenarios but with DX11 games demanding more and more memory resources, we’d highly recommend this type of layout for upcoming games. If ultra high resolution gaming isn’t your thing, the “vanilla” Lightning is out there but Xtreme Edition still is one hell of a card that’s well worth its asking price…but only to those who can absolutely afford it.

 

[Chirality]

I love it when posters nerdrage over people sharing opinions.

The EVGA one can come with it's own water blocks - I don't see a solution for the MSI other than getting another part. Not to mention if you read the reviews of the MSI - there are a lot of people complaining about the reliability and quality of parts.

 

[Why_Me]

I love it when posters nerdrage over people sharing opinions.

The EVGA one can come with it's own water blocks - I don't see a solution for the MSI other than getting another part. Not to mention if you read the reviews of the MSI - there are a lot of people complaining about the reliability and quality of parts.

It has nothing to do with nerd rage, and all to do with why the OP should spend more money just so he can screw himself on FPS. I mean if this is a gaming build and he already stated his resolution as 1920 x 1080, then why should he spend more to get less?

 

[kancer526]

I appreciate the info u shared on the MSI XE 3gb card Why_Me, and u sure saved me from spending money on minimal or no gain in performance for the resolution i will be at for a good while.

Now the question is this. Is the EVGA sc 580 a more reliable card than the 1.5gb MSI lighting?
Is the MSI card better because of its seemingly better for OCing due to its better cooling system?

 

[Why_Me]

I appreciate the info u shared on the MSI XE 3gb card Why_Me, and u sure saved me from spending money on minimal or no gain in performance for the resolution i will be at for a good while.

Now the question is this. Is the EVGA sc 580 a more reliable card than the 1.5gb MSI lighting?
Is the MSI card better because of its seemingly better for OCing due to its better cooling system?

It's a trade off. The MSI card can be o/c higher, but it vents hot air into the case. The EVGA vents it out the back of the case. If you have a case with great air flow then the MSI won't be a problem.

 

[kancer526]

I will be using the Corsair 600t case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139007

I will use the corsair H80 so the back exhaust will not be as efficient. i will be left with the 200mm top exhaust and the front 200mm intake.

Wich of the 2 cards would be best for this case and configuration?

 

[008Rohit]

@ jprahman, @ Why_Me

+1

 

[Why_Me]

I will be using the Corsair 600t case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139007

I will use the corsair H80 so the back exhaust will not be as efficient. i will be left with the 200mm top exhaust and the front 200mm intake.

Wich of the 2 cards would be best for this case and configuration?

That case has a grill on it where it will hold up to 4x120mm fans...although you may get away with a single 200mm fan in place of the 4 separate fans...not sure though I haven't seen that case up close. On what card to get...tbh I have no idea. Both cards are good. I mean you can't go wrong imo with either card. It's tough call on that one.

 

[kancer526]

Well thanks for the suggestions. I guess at this point i am leaning more towards the EVGA sc 580 for its rear exhaust. i would like to try to keep the mesh unobstructed to show off the interior a bit lol . Worse case i can add 1 120mm fan on the mesh right on the card and have plenty of some what viewable area.

 

[Why_Me]

Well thanks for the suggestions. I guess at this point i am leaning more towards the EVGA sc 580 for its rear exhaust. i would like to try to keep the mesh unobstructed to show off the interior a bit lol . Worse case i can add 1 120mm fan on the mesh right on the card and have plenty of some what viewable area.

how much does that Gigabyte board and corsair psu go for...the ones in ur first post ? and are they from newegg ?

Just asking cuz I think I can work u into a better board for the same budget.

 

[kancer526]

i am getting them in 2 combos for some savings

Case/PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.728905

MoBo/Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.719842

 

[Why_Me]

This board came out less than a week ago and it's set up with the new PCI-E 3.0 slots not to mention it has the NF200 Bridge allowing dual cards to run @ x16 & x16 instead of most boards that run dual cards @ x8. It doubles the bandwidth and reduces micro stutter with dual cards in SLI.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157269 $279.99
ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z68%20Extreme7%20Gen3 <---- A better look at that board

http://www.asrock.com/microsite/PCIe3/index.html <---- PCI-E 3.0 for Intel Ivy Bridge due out next spring.

http://www.asrock.com/microsite/IntelZ68/index.asp <----- Z68 features

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995.html <---- Toms showed with this review here last week that those boards (NF200 bridge x16 & x16) help to reduce micro stutter

 

[Why_Me]

Match that board and case with this RAM down below and it's a match made in heaven looks wise. That and those tall heat sinks on that RAM tend to get in the way of a decent size cpu h/s.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233186 $52.99 FREE SHIPPING
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory Model CML8GX3M2A1600C9

 

[kancer526]

Nice specs but i am not planning on running cards in sli for quite some time if at all. I was going to hold out for the new GTX 600 cards and the Ivy Bridge but then i figured what is out now would do for me for playing a single monitor. Do u think it is worth the price for me ? If it is i can look into it some more or even wait till next year for the new stuff lol.

 

[Why_Me]

Nice specs but i am not planning on running cards in sli for quite some time if at all. I was going to hold out for the new GTX 600 cards and the Ivy Bridge but then i figured what is out now would do for me for playing a single monitor. Do u think it is worth the price for me ? If it is i can look into it some more or even wait till next year for the new stuff lol.

That board is set up for Ivy Bridge. It's spendy though... $280 ...but man does it look nice

 

[kancer526]

It does look awsome lol

 

[denny927]

Nice specs but i am not planning on running cards in sli for quite some time if at all. I was going to hold out for the new GTX 600 cards and the Ivy Bridge but then i figured what is out now would do for me for playing a single monitor. Do u think it is worth the price for me ? If it is i can look into it some more or even wait till next year for the new stuff lol.

nice thinking way....i was in your same problems, 1.5 or 3 gb, but after read this, 3 gb are useless if you not using a very huge resolutions...after all, 1920x1024 is a great wall.no reason for wanting more and more.better save money to spend maybe in a good cooler, or why not, in a "sweet company" with your gf.

thanx