Msi Gtx560 Ti Hawk Sli vs Gtx 580 lightning

[Daniel21]

Hello,
Im doing a new x79 chipset build and Im on the fence between 2 MSI Gtx560 ti Hawks in sli vs 1 MSI Gtx 580 lightning. the sli outperforms the single 580 lightning but,not as future proof as the possibility of another 580 added later as you cannot triple sli 560ti's . price difference is $8 more for the 1 580 vs 2 560ti's...thoughts?
In addition, would a corsair Hx 1050 PSU future proof this setup for a dual 580 lightning sli down the road. thank you all in advance.

 

[chesteracorgi]

You could try, if you can find them, GTX 470s or 480s instead of the GTX 560 ti's. You can run a triple GPU SLI with the 470/480s.

Putting a GTX 470 in sli (2 cards) scales up to about 185% - 195% over a single GTX 470. I believe that adding a third card will not produce much more than 20% over the dual rig.

A GTX 580 requires approximately 244 watts (see: http://www3.pny.com/support/media/Files%5Ce4d9a796-96c0-48ca-afe9-36f47ccdb504/GeForce%20GTX%20580%20additional%20Power%20requirements_v1.pdf)

You can probably sli dual GTX 580s on a 850W PSU, but 1000 W will be a more comfortable rig (PSUs like to run 50-80% of capacity). I have the PCP&C 950 W running dual GTX 470s, Their requirement is for 225 W apiece. With my other components I draw about 600-700 W and the PSU is not straining. I would feel comforatble with a quality 850 W PSU.