Single monitor overkill

ktryan

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Jul 19, 2011
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Ok, so I'm new to the idea of overkill when it comes to video cards. The last time I built a gaming system crysis 1 had just come out, and you wanted two of the top of the line cards to run it no matter your display setup was. Now it seems there's a line where gains are non existent on smaller format displays and cpu bottle necks to consider.

So single monitor @ 1920x1080, as that's all I can fit on my desk. Also taking cpu bottle necking into account I'll be using a Phenom II X4 980. Are any of the following options simply a waist of money?

2x 6950 2gb @ $530
2x GTX 560 ti @ $460
GTX 570 @ $320

And then there's the GTX 580 for same price as 2 GTX 560 ti, now I know that sli 560 ti are more powerful, but will I ever use that extra power with a single monitor? Single card solutions are quite frankly simpler the SLI and CF and they use a hell of a lot less power, but I don't want to be kicking myself when I can't run 'Game-o-the-year 2012'.

So single monitor @ 1080p, Phenom II X4 980, run anything currently on the market, always staying above 60 fps?

570, 580, 560 ti sli or 6950 cf? any solutions I haven't thought of that would work better for me?

P.s. Max graphics budget is $580.
 
I run my 1920x1080 on an OC 570 with a phenom IIx4 925 Oc to 3.4Ghz, and I dont have trouble playing anything. Im sure i could get better results with either a higher OC on my CPU or a new one, but i dont see any reason in doing so since i dont have any issues running games. The 570 can OC to near stock 580 performance, and the only trouble with SLi is you might run into scaling issues from time to time and only be able to run with one card until patches arrive (Crysis2 and Witcher2). I'm a fan of one Good performing GPU over SLi or Xfire, but thats just my 2 cents. I say go with the 570, unless you plan on multiple screens or higher res later on.If you are wanting to run ANYTHING on the market all max @ 60 fps locked then go with a xfire or SLi config. for the next few years - you will never achieve that with a single card unless you are willing to sacrifice some AA. A system capable of running a well made PC game with all the bells n whistles at max@60fps on a system built now for a game that comes out in a year or 2 is just not possible on a normal gamers budget.
 

ktryan

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Jul 19, 2011
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Let's not think about two years down the road, but a lot of 2012 releases are already being kicked around out there. More important to me then planning for future games are statements that I've read like this, "... at 1080p you wont see gains from more the 1.25 gb of vram..." or "...for single monitor systems a 580 is overkill, all you need is a 570..."

I'm putting together an AM3+ system, with plans to upgrade the cpu when the bulldozers drop into the $200 range. The video card needs to last me until it makes sense to upgrade it. In the past I'd grab what ever was top of the charts at the time, but the game seems to have changed a bit. The fact that 580 are $750 and are getting slapped around by much cheaper two card solution I find just odd.

4 years ago it seemed much easier to predict what the graphics card charts would look like a year down the road.

Anyway I'm currently leaning towards EVGA's gtx570 classified, any specific thoughts on that card?