GTX 560Ti in SLI vs. GTX 570 (pros/cons)

[JDT89]

Hey all, I'm on the fence on wether to go with the SLI or with the better card single solution. These are prebuilt systems and will be used for gaming, however they can be costumized alot. Here they are:

GTX 570 build

Fractal Design Define R3 Black Pearl
Intel® Core i5-2500K Processor
Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz 8GB CL9
Western Digital Caviar® Blue 500GB
Corsair HX 750W PSU
Sony Optiarc DVD±RW Writer, AD-5280S
ASUS P8P67 PRO B3, Socket-1155
Gainward GeForce GTX 570 1280MB PhysX

Price: $1.373

GTX 560Ti SLI build

Fractal Design Define R3 Black Pearl
Intel® Core i5-2500K Processor
Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz 8GB CL9
Western Digital Caviar® Blue 500GB
Corsair HX 750W PSU
Sony Optiarc DVD±RW Writer, AD-5280S
Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3, Socket-1155
MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti 1GB PhysX
MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti 1GB PhysX
+Extra Noctua NF-P12 120mm Fan

Price: $1.515

Price difference: $142

I can however choose to go with the Corsair CX600 V2 PSU on the GTX 570 build instead of the HX750 and save $101 making the price difference $243. The reason I chose to overkill on the first PC is so I don't have to replace the PSU if I choose to upgrade the card or run 570 SLI in ~2 years or whenever I start needing more juice.

So as you can see the only differences are the GPU's, Motherboards and a cooling fan. I was just gonna go with a GTX 570 build with the ability to go SLI/upgrade card in a few years but when I saw how small the price difference was I was tempted to go SLI straight away.
I'm a big PC newb and I only plan to overclock when I feel the systems begin to get too slow. Also since I'm a newbie I'm a bit scared of jumping into the whole SLI thing. These 560Ti's should be some of the best on the market and I've read they perform 30%+ better than a single GTX 580. While the GTX 570 is just a standard version (I think, at least not the "Goes Like Hell edition").

I will be playing games like SC2, Skyrim, Diablo 3, BF3 on 1080p. I don't mind that everything not being totally maxed out - just high graphics with very smooth gameplay (will obviously max the games I can).

So if you were in my position, would you buy the 570-build and save the $142 towards GPU/SLI upgrade in 1,5-2 years OR just get the SLI straight away? I Could also just forget about SLI and go with the ASUS P8Z68-V LX motherboard and a CX600 for a total of $1184 - almost $200 cheaper than the SLI compatible option, so will save around $350 to add on when upgrading my GPU in 2013'ish. Also will the SLI be alot more expensive in electricity? ARGH too many options - NEED HELP

Also, the prices might seem high to you but I'm from Denmark and it's by far the cheapest prebuilt systems available - and not alot more expensive than buying all the parts and building myself. Comments on other parts than GPU/Motherboard is obviously welcome aswell.

Thanks in advanced!

 

[JDT89]

also I've read something about 8x8x speed or something that's good for SLI (???) does these mobo's have that?

And damn, it ended up being quite a wall of text, hope someone actually reads it ^_^

 

[Outlander_04]

of your two builds
one is faster , but costs more

8x/8x is the pci-e slot speeds when using two cards with sandy bridge processors . Its does not affect graphics speed in any noticeable way

 

[tsnor]

"go with the SLI or with the better card single solution."

google 'microstutter' and see if you care. e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_stuttering

from wikipedia:
References

^ Raffael Vötter (2008-02-08). "Video proof: Micro stuttering may destroy the performance gains from current multi GPU technologies". PC Games Hardware Online. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
^ Raffael Vötter (2008-07-28). "PCGH proves micro stuttering on the Radeon HD 4870 X2". PC Games Hardware Online. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
^ Kyle Lunau (2009-05-06). "Micro Stutter: The dark secret of SLI and Crossfire". Overclockers.com. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
^ MrWizard6600 (2008-06-20). "GPU Microstuttering FAQ". Hardforum.com. Retrieved 2010-05-08.
^ Igor Wallossek (2011-08-22). "Micro-Stuttering And GPU Scaling In CrossFire and SLI". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 2011-09-24.

 

[tsnor]

Aside: It would be a shame to have a slow disk drive make a fast system stumble while gaming. Step up to the WD Blacks, or equivalent. Consider RAID 0, it's included on your motherboard (make sure you set up as raid ready even if you don't go raid so you can change your mind later). Consider much more than 500GB if you game and use STEAM.

 

[JDT89]

ah fack, wrote a really long reply and accidently pressed a bookmarked page - oh well will do some lazy cliffs:

Read about microstuttering -> will not do SLI for now
As I understand it, the speed of a hard drive only affects loading time in programs/games - and since I'm not too impatient I'm just gonna start of with a cheap one
Decided to build my self and reuse a few components from my current PC, here are the components I chose so far:

CPU: i5-2500k
MOBO: AsRock Z8 Extreme3 Gen3 (Can potentially run SLI + sound card - right?)
GPU: MSI GTX 570 Twin Frozr
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 (Corsair/Kingston/G.skill - whatever right?)
SOUNDCARD: Asus Xonar DG (Seems like a good choice if you just want nice sound 4 cheap)
PSU: Corsair HX750 (Should be able to pull gtx570 in SLI if necesarry while not being huge overkill)
CASE: Fractal Design Define R3 (improved version with USB3.0 n stuff)
HD: Old 600GB
CD/DVD Drive: Old one from LG

This should only set me back ~$1.243 while prolly being better components than the prebuild ones (GPU, PSU, SOUNDCARD and MOBO)

As this is my first build I really wanna keep it as simple as possible and will wait with more optional stuff like SSD and Custom CPU cooler untill I got this assembled and working. After watching a bunch of youtube vids and reading a bit I'm confident I can assemble this - it's only if everything doesn't go as planned that I will be totally lost and will have to ask u guys (have no PC friends ).

Comments on the parts good/bad would be appriciated

 

[tsnor]

re: "SOUNDCARD: Asus Xonar DG " you may not need a sound card. Integrated sound on MB is pretty good. If you take digital out from PC to receiver then you don't want a sound card -- do the digital to analog work in the expensive audio receiver not in the noisy PC. If you just drive good PC speakers then MB sound is excellent, better then most MP3 players.

Good time to keep the old disk, new disk prices are crzy with the Thailand flood. The WD black 1.5TB i got for $90 is up to $225... should all be back to normal a year from now or cheap[re as the new capacity brought on fights with the old plants coming back online.