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Two GTX 570s or one GTX580?

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Hello, I'm not a huge Comp. Hardware buff, but I want to upgrade my current PC (Stats Below) to add either one GTX 580 to my current GT 530, or Switch up to just two 570s. I want to play BF 3 on the highest settings (Just revealed to be Ultra) and I want to do this on my 40" 1080p HDTV. Unfortunately, with the current Stock Card I have (Bought Factory PC @ Best Buy) I can't run Bad Company 2 on full @ 1080p. Any answers you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Specs:

Processor Family Intel Core i7
Processor Speed 3.4 GHz
Processor Name Intel Core i7-2600
RAM 8 GB
Storage Capacity (as Tested) 1000 GB
Graphics Card nVidia GeForce GT 530
Primary Optical Drive Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW

More about : gtx 570s gtx580

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Well from your specs, graphics are definitely what is holding back BFBC2. I use two cards in sli, so I know of the headaches and such that come with them and also the performance. Obviously 2 570's are more powerful than 1 580, technically. If you play a game that does not have good SLI support or none at all, you will only be using the 1 570. If you play a game that has poor SLI support it may scale, but not well. I can't play BFBC2 in SLI myself, but other people can. I have tried every trick in the book to make it work (may just be the 260's). Anyways, I say buy the one 580, which is what BF3 is being shown off with at the game conventions. You can always SLI the 580 later as well.
Few things to make sure of first. Make sure your board supports SLI at dual x 8 or better (if you choose to SLI). Make sure your power supply is adequate. 1000 watts at least for SLI 570's and probably 750 watts for the 580. make sure it is a good PSU too. Make sure it will fit in your case. 570 and 580 are pretty long cards. Being that long make sure it will not interfere with your inputs on the board like s-ata. Make sure it will be able to cool well. you don't want it in a small case with inadequate cooling. Also if you do have a 2 pci-e slot board, the 580 is so powerful you probably wouldn't need to dedicate the 530 to phys-x.

I am kinda in the same situation as you. I am going to get my computer ready for BF3 at the end of September. I am waiting to hear more about AMD FX series before buying a new cpu and am trying to decide whether to buy 1 570 and then another one a month later with a psu or just 1 580. My ability is budget and don't really have one for a 580 plus the other things I want to buy. Thats why the 570 would be a good choice for me, but if you have the money to buy two 570's at once, buy the 580.

For a lot more info on your question read this Toms article on sli and its problems

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stut...

mightymaxio said:
Two GTX 570's to be honest because its cheaper to upgrade when the 670's come out, your paying 300$ a card vs 450$ for a 580. That and its also quicker than a 580.


2 570's or 1 580 are so powerful you won't need to upgrade again for a while and can probably skip a generation and go to the 770's or 780. Also when the gtx 600 series comes out, the price will drop on the 580's and can snag a second one for a nice discount.
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For now I would buy the one 580 because you could use the 530 as a dedicated physix card and it would help out the 580 by taking the physix load from it. You do not want to sli the 580 with the 530 because it would bring the 580 down to the level of the 530. Thats why I would dedicate the 530 to physix. you would still use the sli bridge but in the nvidia control panel you choose the 530 as the dedicated physix card and you will see that the cards will not be in sli.

BFBC2 works with sli great, just gotta make sure you enable force alternate frame rendering either 1 or 2, you can actually go into test mode in the options in the nvidia control panel and it will actually show you which graphics card and the percentages of each card you are using during a game its pretty cool.

Two 570's are more powerful than 1 580, but 1 580 would be easier to worth with because you just have to install it any play, not worrying about compatibility or other issues associated with SLI. If you are afraid that one 580 might not be enough, all I can say is that I bought a GTX 480 when it first came out and haven't looked back since, still playing GTA 4, Crysis, and other less intensive games at 1920x1080 with no problems at all.

mightymaxio said:
BFBC2 works with sli great, just gotta make sure you enable force alternate frame rendering either 1 or 2, you can actually go into test mode in the options in the nvidia control panel and it will actually show you which graphics card and the percentages of each card you are using during a game its pretty cool.

I am pretty sure I have tried that. Like I said I have tried everything and scoured forums all over the place. Every now and then I try again. I usually just play it with one card. I will try the alternate frame rendering thing again and if it works, you get all the respect in the world, from me at least.

Not trying to hijack this post or anything..... :p 

Wow, wasn't expecting so many helpful answers so quickly! I am kinda leaning towards snagging the one 580 for now as the guy up there said it's what BF3 is currently running on. And since the 600 series should be coming up pretty soon, I should be able to keep my rig on top with a second at a much cheaper price at that point. Unless the 570 drops soon, I think that's what I'll do.

another thing to take into account is vid memory. 2 570's in SLI you are still limited to about 1.25Gb of ram. With a 580 you have access to 1.5Gb. If BF3 has higher res textures for PC, and then to add 8xAA and 16xAF, memory usage might get above 1.25Gb, even if your only running at 1080p.

Crysis 1 & 2 i have seen take use as much as 1.4Gb of vid memory on my system. I use a 580 with a 1080p monitor.

True but you can always use more than 1.25 gb memory if you have at least windows vista or higher because of the shared video memory that windows vista and 7 can take advantage of. The only game i know of that doesn't allow that is GTA 4 without some modifications to the games .exe file.

Hey guys, thanks again for the help. One more question though. The Asus I bought comes with a 300W Powersupply Std. I am getting the 580 GTX which needs a min. of 600W. Any reccommendations on a cheap, reliable fuel sourse for this bad boy? Thanks

Make sure you get at least 750 watts, never go with minimum. make sure it has at least one 6-pin and one 8-pin PCI-e connector, as that is what one GTX580 needs. I really can't recommend anything, I use an Ultra LSP750 and I don't think they make this model anymore. Has a lifetime warranty and only paid 77 bucks with shipping!. It has worked fine so far. If you live near a tiger direct store you can grab one of these. You may have to pay a little more than you want, but get one that has good reviews. You may find some really cheap ones, but they are probably garbage. You will probably pay anywhere between 70-110 for a decent PSU that will run your rig. Check out NEWEGG.com and TIGERDIRECT.com. It doesn't HAVE to be 80+ certified, just read around and see what people are running on the specific PSU you would like to get.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/ite...

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