Ugrading Graphics Card for Skyrim and BF3

[davidryanpaul]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for a new graphics card for my system that will allow me to play Skyrim (primarily) and BF3 at 1900x1200 with most of the bells and whistles. I'm not overly concerned about anti-alias levels.

My current system is:

CPU: Intel(R) CoreT i7-940 2.93 GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX285 2GB 16X PCIe
MOTHERBOARD: (3-Way SLI Support) GigaByte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 Chipset
MEMORY: 12GB
POWERSUPPLY: 1000 Watts
CASE: Thermaltake Element-S Mid-Tower Case
COOLING: CoolerMaster Thermal Fusion 400 Extreme Performance CPU

I'd prefer to stick with Nvidia products. I've been eyeing the GTX 570 and 580, but I don't know if that's overkill for those games and resolutions. This card will be a single card set up, as I like to have my second monitor active (email, etc). Unless there is some way to do SLI and still have your second monitor on and doing something else. The last time I SLI'd anything was six years ago.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

-DRP

 

[kajabla]

I'm not certain about SLI and multitasking screens, but a 580 will max (60fps) BF3 at 1920 in most situations. Not all, but that's probably ok. Just go 2xAA. 2x570 will give you a constant max with all the eye candy.
I'm not certain about Skyrim, and I don't think anyone is, but a 580 should be tolerable unless we get another Crysis on our hands.

 

[inzone]

If you can catch one of these when Newegg gets them in this is an ausome card;

EVGA 03G-P3-1588-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) Classified 3072MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card $599.99


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130732

If not then you can grab one of these;

EVGA 03G-P3-1584-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 3072MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card $589.99


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130655

If you check out the Evga site you can choose from an assortment of cards like these;

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=02G-P3-1569-KR&family=GeForce 500 Series Family&sw=

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=015-P3-1586-AR&family=GeForce 500 Series Family&sw=

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=015-P3-1582-AR&family=GeForce 500 Series Family&sw=

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=015-P3-1580-AR&family=GeForce 500 Series Family&sw=

Idid list all GTX 580 cards because that is what I would buy and unless you have a limited budget then you could as well.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Two of these will out perform a single 580 by 40%

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121425

And yes, you can run other things on 2nd monitor, SLI can be turned on and off.

Another thing I like to do is run games at 1920 x 1080 on a 1920 x 1200 screen using the bottom 120 pixels to access other programs.

 

[Warmacblu]

Check out this review of the GTX 570 and take note of its performance against the MSI GTX 580 Lightning Xtreme edition:

http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/msi_gtx570_1280mb_power_edition_oc_review,1.html

The GTX 580 is not worth it in my opinion unless you have unlimited funds.

 

[davidryanpaul]

Thanks so much for all the links and recommendations everyone!

I have a quick question concerning SLI. It's been forever (5+ years, on XP) since I've run two cards in SLI. I remember having to reboot afterwards if I wanted my other monitor to function properly. Perhaps I wasn't doing it right. I'm assuming things are much easier these days and you can just switch from SLI back to dual monitors with ease now? I'm hoping.

Anyway, thanks again!

 

[gnomio]

Just get a single Gtx 570 it will do. You can always add down the line but you'll have problems with the 570 really. Don't forget the waterblock for it.

 

[gnomio]

Here's a 2gb 560ti
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127608

 

[gmcizzle]

Two of these will out perform a single 580 by 40%

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121425

And yes, you can run other things on 2nd monitor, SLI can be turned on and off.

Another thing I like to do is run games at 1920 x 1080 on a 1920 x 1200 screen using the bottom 120 pixels to access other programs.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/305?vs=441

More like 25-30%

Plus 560 Ti's are not stable anything past stock clocks in BF3 from what I've heard, so a standard 15% OC on a 580 brings the gap down to 10-15%. Not to mention you don't have to worry about the SLI/CF driver issues still present in BF3, plus microstuttering when FPS dips low.

Since you are playing 1920x1200 a GTX 580 is not at all overkill, and in fact is perfect IMO. BF3 loves eating a 4 course meal of VRAM so you don't want less than 1.5gb at your resolution. If you plan on SLI in the future, I would even get the 3gb version if you don't mind the extra premium now.

 

[kajabla]

^If you plan on multi-monitor gaming, not SLI*. SLI doesn't need extra VRAM, but multi-monitor stuff does.

 

[davidryanpaul]

Not mulit-monitor gaming, but multi monitor use while gaming (email, web browser, etc on second monitor)