Decisions, decisions

[panzerbase]

Hi, recently I had been running 2 4870 HD's in crossfire and was generally pleased with the performance, and my plan was to wait out until the new GTX line sometime this year and upgrade to a single card as the SLI/crossfire can be buggy at times and a high end video card would surpass my gaming needs.

Now the problem, one of the cards took a nose dive, leaving me with one functional 4870. The card can still cope with the games I am playing but only at low settings and not without frustration, so my question is what would YOU do? My budget can reach up to 500 dollars, but I'm hesitant to buy a 500 series card with the approaching 600 series, I fully understand they will be priced to sell high and will be buggy.

So I came up with 3 approaches:

1) Buy a EVGA GTX 560 Ti super-clocked for around $230, I figure with this approach I'll have a decent card and can wait out the new arrivals, to include letting them work out the bugs, without feeling too bad about the loss.

2) Buy a EVGA GTX 570 super-clocked for around $340, seems like a very capable card, and a good bang for the buck factoring performance and cost. It buys me more time for the 600 series to stabilize in price, but the cost might be a bit too high for something I plan on replacing soon.

3) Buy a EVGA GTX 580 3g, I've seen one for $469, my plan here would be to buy this for the long term and bypass the 600 line and call it a day. Of course this one seems to carry the greatest risk, especially if the 600 cards are fantastic.

I'm not partial to Nvidia, I just wanted a single card, and from my research they simply fill in the price points as I required and truth be told I wanted to get away from the horrible ATI drivers for a bit, perhaps the crossfire setup I had going was more so the problem, who knows. The EVGA step-up program and limited lifetime warranties tilted me in that company's direction.

On the side does anyone know if the 500 series will be eligible for the EVGA step-up program, meaning 500 to 600? That would obviously make my choices much easier, assuming of course the 600's arrive within 90 days of purchase.

Thanks for any thoughts on the subject, my brain is kinda racked right now. Again I am open to any suggestions, any card, just mind my 500 dollar limit.

 

[refillable]

7950. Where kepler is still on the dark and we don't know how well is it.

 

[DM186]

Here are a few Ideas. One buy the 580 wait to see about the Kepler is about and If you like it then sell the 580 and use that money to help cover the cost. Second buy two 560 ti's OC'd and SLI them.

When the 560's are together they will do better than a 580. Then sell them which you would have a better chance to sell them then the 580 because of cost. Then see again how the Kepler is.

Or buy the 7950 or 7970 call it a day and see what the fucture brings. I probley have left you with more questions than answers. Sorry about that just more to think about.

You are the one that has to make the choice for the card that will best meets your needs. Look at it this way Any way you go will be better than what you have now. They will work out in the end. Good luck to ya

 

[kajabla]

7950 or EVGA Step-Up. I don't see why that wouldn't apply; this seems like the kind of situation it's designed for.

 

[xtremegamer2da-max]

u should wait it out but if u cantget 7950 and keep it or get a 6870 and if it wont cf with ur 4870 use JUST the 6870 until the kepler cards come out

 

[myowaiwin]

+1 for 7950

it not only reduce power and heat but also eliminate for CF setup for sometimes

also, u can add another 7950 card anytime u want when price is more settle

 

[panzerbase]

Well thanks for the input, every suggestion made sense and in the end I opted to get a 570 GTX SC from EVGA, I figure at 309 after rebate it's a solid buy and the Step Up program was the deciding factor. The only risk of course is the new cards come out after the 90 days, but hey I guess I'll go SLI and skip the generation and look at AMD as they leap frog around.

 

[DM186]

I am glad to hear that. The 570 in my opinion is a fine card and it will just about handle everything you through at it. Good luck to ya

 

[kajabla]

If you're thinking of Step-Up (and you should be, with Kepler this close), go solidly in that direction instead of going SLI.

 

[sunnk]

gtx will be an better choice but if u think to save some money and getting better performance then go for gtx 560ti 448core which is little bit slower then gtx 570 after overclocking it performs like an gtx 570 in my opinion the gtx 560ti 448 core will be the best bang for buck.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-560-ti-448-core-review/11

 

[DeViLzzz2007]

best value is a 2 GB Powercolor 6950 right now if you don't mind losing physx

you can flash this card to a 6970

 

[panzerbase]

If you're thinking of Step-Up (and you should be, with Kepler this close), go solidly in that direction instead of going SLI.

Oh of course, that is what I meant, but if my Step-Up expires after 90 days I'll just roll with the 570's in SLI. So far working great and killing everything thrown at it.

 

[DM186]

Oh of course, that is what I meant, but if my Step-Up expires after 90 days I'll just roll with the 570's in SLI. So far working great and killing everything thrown at it.

I knew they would. That is great to hear. You might not want to get rid of them. Good luck to yeah.

 

[panzerbase]

Best answer selected by panzerbase.

 

[Maziar]

This topic has been closed by Maziar