2x GTX 460 OC or 2x GT 520?

[Zhuge]

Would the 2x OC 460's be better for gaming (ME3, SW:TOR, and other FPS/MMOs that came out this year/will come out this year and next) than 2x 520's? I'm just trying to get more bang for my buck. I'd like to buy the 580, but if I do, I can only afford one and I've been reading that 2x 460's that are OC'ed are better than a 580.

I game with a 1680x1050 resolution. No HD. Are dual video cards for two monitors only, or are they good for single monitors as well?

And what watts should I be looking at in a PSU for 2 vid cards?

Any help would be appreciated as I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to video cards and what's better than what.

 

[purple stain]

What are your full system specs?(CPU,Mobo,etc.)

Whats your budget for a new GPU and a new PSU?

What do you mean,GTX520,their are no GTX520's?

 

[spentshells]

If you can afford the 580 I bet you would be happier with it.
less fuss than dealing with SLI which is not that bad mind you but Im pretty sure you won't be disappointed with the performance.

 

[legendkiller]

I think he Meant GTx 570... Get a(1) GTx 590 because it can Max out Crysis 2 with DX11(As it was said for two 580s to max it out)... Also make sure you got a 850 Watts PSU...

 

[Zhuge]

What are your full system specs?(CPU,Mobo,etc.)

Whats your budget for a new GPU and a new PSU?

What do you mean,GTX520,their are no GTX520's?

Sorry. I meant the GT 520. I can afford 2x GTX 460, or x2 GT 520, or 1 580.

I have $2k for a new computer, and maybe a little more. I've been lurking the System Build area of the forums for awhile, specifically the thread "High End Intel Gaming PC" to get an idea of what I want. Though, I don't really trust myself to build my own computer (I've never built a high end one) so I may go with cyberpowerpc because the specs I put in are pretty much the same price as if I build myself, plus a few little extra things and it's still in the 2k budget. I have decided on pretty much everything except video cards.

If you can afford the 580 I bet you would be happier with it.
less fuss than dealing with SLI which is not that bad mind you but Im pretty sure you won't be disappointed with the performance.

Yeah, I can, and I'm sure I wouldn't be disappointed at all. Thanks for the input. I just may go with a 580, instead of 2x 460's.

Still open to suggestions, though!

 

[benski]

I have 2x GTX 465s (similar performance to 460s). I also play at 1680x1050 and I get around 40 FPS in Crysis 2 with DX11 and high res textures and everything else maxed out, which is very playable. The only time you will have to "deal" with SLI is if you want it enabled in a brand new game before a new driver has been released you might have to download and install a profile, I had to do it with Crysis 2 when it first came out but every other game has worked fine without me having to do anything. Dual 460s beat a 580 handily unless you are running like 2560x1600.

 

[benski]

Do 520's even support SLI? That's a basic entry level card and is no good for gaming.

 

[pepe2907]

GT 520 is an entry level card. It's not even close to a GTX460, which is a pretty solid excellent performing low-high to high-middleclas, although little older.

 

[purple stain]

Well the GT520 SLI just doesn't make sense.Even in SLI their not even powerful enough as one GTX460.

What reosultion are you gonna be gaming at?

As for your question I would say if you have the money you might as well go for a 6970 crossfire.That should last you for about 2 years.

I would say with a 2k budget you can easily max it out.Have you thought of anything to get yet for your build?

 

[badtaylorx]

i LOVE my asus gtx460 1gb top ....some times i take out my 2 6970 dcii's just to o/c and bench it

 

[benski]

I looked up a picture of one and it didn't have any pins on the SLI finger, just a bare chunk of silicon, so I'm pretty sure 520's don't SLI.

 

[badtaylorx]

the 460 is kinda like nvidia's dirty lil secret ......any guess as to why they dont let any manufactures make them tri-or quad sli capable???

single sli can keep up or beat a 580 because of its better than great scaling--(applies to ocing as well) just imagine quad!!!

 

[pepe2907]

the 460 is kinda like nvidia's dirty lil secret ......any guess as to why they dont let any manufactures make them tri-or quad sli capable???

single sli can keep up or beat a 580 because of its better than great scaling--(applies to ocing as well) just imagine quad!!!

Because then nobody will buy anything else .
Not any one of their top level offers anyway.

 

[Zhuge]

Do 520's even support SLI? That's a basic entry level card and is no good for gaming.

I had no idea it was an entry level card and no good for gaming. Thanks for that.

Well the GT520 SLI just doesn't make sense.Even in SLI their not even powerful enough as one GTX460.

What reosultion are you gonna be gaming at?

As for your question I would say if you have the money you might as well go for a 6970 crossfire.That should last you for about 2 years.

I would say with a 2k budget you can easily max it out.Have you thought of anything to get yet for your build?

I'll be gaming at 1680x1050 right now.

Do the 6970's support PhysX or will I have to get a dedicated PhysX card? That was kind of why I was sticking to nVidia cards.

I have considered a lot for my build and put one together, but I'm a little weary of posting it because I think I'll get a lot of replies of what I want to not be necessary, when I'm really just looking for a computer that I won't have upgrade for awhile and can use it for quite awhile. For fear of getting off topic, I think I'll post it in the cyberpower build section of the forums if I decide to.

 

[badtaylorx]

amd cards offload the physx to the cpu because nvidia owns physx...with a high end intel system this is not a problem tho

and nothing is ever completely un necessary when upgrading.......at least imho

 

[szbxa]

I had no idea it was an entry level card and no good for gaming. Thanks for that.




I'll be gaming at 1680x1050 right now.

Do the 6970's support PhysX or will I have to get a dedicated PhysX card? That was kind of why I was sticking to nVidia cards.

I have considered a lot for my build and put one together, but I'm a little weary of posting it because I think I'll get a lot of replies of what I want to not be necessary, when I'm really just looking for a computer that I won't have upgrade for awhile and can use it for quite awhile. For fear of getting off topic, I think I'll post it in the cyberpower build section of the forums if I decide to.

Why PhysX? There aren't many games that support PhysX, and pathetically few actually looks better with PhysX. PhysX is not a reason to get Nvidia cards.
You are holding yourself back way too much. $2000? it's a GTX570 SLI or a 6970 crossfire. Why are you even looking at 460s at all?
Building a PC isn't hard. It's kinda like lego, and even easier than some complicated legos. Trust your IQ, watch a few tutorials and you will be good to build your own. There are very rarely anyone who bought parts and ended up not knowing how to build, it's surprisingly easy for most people. Even if you do experience difficulties, you have a whole Tom's behind you and ready to help!
There is little that feels better than the moment when you take over that box of parts from the delivery guy and tear up all the fancy packages, or the moment when you press the power button and the computer built by yourself boots up and shows the BIOS screen, and you can tell your friends that you built that beast-looking computer. Buying custom and get ripped off? pfffft

 

[purple stain]

We are here to help.If you give us your list of the items you've got so far we can make suggestions and corrections.First of all I just don't want you to make the mistake of spending the extra $100 for a 2600k if all your gonna be doing is gaming.

AMD cards do not support PhysX but their are very little use's for PhysX because the game has to support it.A game may support both Crossfire and SLI but Physx is something enitrely different.

The 6970 is around $370 for each card while the GTX580 is around $500 per card.Although the GTX580 as a single card performs better than the 6970 but when the 6970 is crossfired it beats a pair of GTX580's.Just something to think about money to performance wise.

If you want Physx and don't want to remain loyal to Nvidia then I would suggest a pair of GTX560ti's.Those are some really great cards and scale very well in SLI.

I also gotta know your full specs so I can suggest a PSU to fit oyur needs.

 

[spentshells]

I have 2x GTX 465s (similar performance to 460s). I also play at 1680x1050 and I get around 40 FPS in Crysis 2 with DX11 and high res textures and everything else maxed out, which is very playable. The only time you will have to "deal" with SLI is if you want it enabled in a brand new game before a new driver has been released you might have to download and install a profile, I had to do it with Crysis 2 when it first came out but every other game has worked fine without me having to do anything. Dual 460s beat a 580 handily unless you are running like 2560x1600.

SLI 465's apparent perform better than 460's SLI ONLY and are getting very cheap.
I missed a super sale 117 free shipping I wanted to pick up 2 but missed it by 1 day, so sad

 

[benski]

You can also Tri and Quad SLI the 465s unlike the 460s, and they overclock like crazy. I run mine at 820/1640/1780 all day with no problems and I've had them at 860/1820 for some benchmarking but they get HOTHOTHOT. Even right here just sitting on a web page one card is at 51° and the other is at 44°. My HTPC/backup rig has a GTX 460 that idles at 28° and never gotten over 60.

 

[purple stain]

I'd go with the GTX560ti over the GTX460/465.The GTX560ti's runs much much cooler and isn't as power hungry.

 

[pepe2907]

I'd go with the GTX560ti over the GTX460/465.The GTX560ti's runs much much cooler and isn't as power hungry.

GTX 465 is something completely different from GTX 460, GTX 465 is a very inefficient crippled version of GTX 470, while GTX 460 is a nice, very efficient, but little older and less powerfull as GTX560 /560 is just the newer, more elaborated, but also more expensive, variant of 460/.

 

[badtaylorx]

or if the 460 keeps popin up in your mind you could give this a try,,,,,i just installed one in my brothers computer and it rips!!!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130626

 

[purple stain]

Does that mean you can do quad crossfire with those ?

 

[spentshells]

The 465 has more shaders thus when overclocked to the same speeds surpasses the 460 but as mentioned above it's a power hog and hot as ...well its really hot... I would get the 460 since the prices are getting really good

 

[purple stain]

Mobo $210 + Free Shipping

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131730

Case $160=$140 after MIR + Free Shipping

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160

RAM $70 + Free Shipping

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233180&cm_re=1600mhz-_-20-233-180-_-Product

CPU Cooler $50 + Free Shipping

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106150&cm_re=frio-_-35-106-150-_-Product

SSD $230 + Free Shipping

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148348

PSU $165=$145 after MIR + Free Shipping

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011

GPU(x2) $386=$366 after MIR + $8 Shipping

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121430&cm_re=6970-_-14-121-430-_-Product

In total before the rebates your looking at 1650.That setup is double the performance of your orgingal Cyberpower rig and has a ton of more high quality componets.