Did i goof getting GTX 560 (non TI)?

[tuffluck]

i just built a computer with a 2500k, 8gb RAM, SSD, and 700w PSU. i have personally always believed the best deals on GPUs are the $150-$175 cards because power per dollar usually rises significantly after that. my 5770 basically lasted me 2 years in the gaming world because i followed the same methodology when i bought that card.

i was torn between the 6870 and 560 but TH guide shows in their charts the 560 outperforms the 6870. their benchmarks show the 560 @ 810mhz (stock), but when you click on a link to the card they used, it shows it is a 560 OCd to 870mhz. so i don't really know what clocks they used on that card, but it looks very likely they used an OC'd card and the 560 i bought really isn't that great or better than a 6870. but i can always OC my EVGA from 810mhz to 870mhz to achieve similar results as their testings.

furthermore my PSU OCZ 700w does not support current graphic SLI because it only has 2 PCI-E connections instead of 4. i didn't know that until after i purchased. is my GPU going to be my bottleneck? i play BF3 and SC2. i guess i have a few options:

1. return the 560 (if i can), get 6870 or better ???
2. RMA the PSU for one that supports SLI and keep the 560
3. don't do either, maybe OC your GPU a little, but otherwise your system is pretty well balanced

 

[wolfram23]

1. 6870 as far as I know is generally a bit faster than a 560, but honestly they are quite close and there shouldn't really be much difference in performance

2. Doesn't really matter, if you go SLI you can use molex-to-PCIe adapters. Just make sure to run them off a different line than all your other components (fans, hdds, dvd, etc)

3. This

As usual, you can always pay more and get better performance, but for the sub $200 range you can't really do better than what you have right now.

And yes, the GPU is going to be a bottleneck. Which is good - better than a CPU bottleneck! Basically this means that you won't be gaming at max settings but that is always the case unless you either play on a tiny little screen or else spend $500 on a GPU.

 

[thespieler]

Your GPU wouldnt bottleneck anything, nothing else relies on it. the 560 non ti can push its weight in the 1080p arena, but if you want to max BF3 I would recommend somthing better than that and the 6870. a single 6950 should do all that you need at 1080p resolution.

 

[DelroyMonjo]

Do you have the 700W modular OCZ? I believe it has 2x12V 18 Amp rails. According to this review, you should be able to use that power supply with another 560 in SLI if that's what you are thinking. That's using the Y-connectors on an unused 12V molex PSU cable.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-560-sli-review/1

 

[tuffluck]

Do you have the 700W modular OCZ? I believe it has 2x12V 18 Amp rails. According to this review, you should be able to use that power supply with another 560 in SLI if that's what you are thinking. That's using the Y-connectors on an unused 12V molex PSU cable.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-560-sli-review/1

that's the one. that's a good article--thank you and wolfram. i would have never known i could do that conversion with the molex adapter had i not asked.

i wasn't thinking sli tomorrow or anything, but i can see in a year the price of that card might be $120 and with sli it could be a strong contender (another reason i generally go for the $150ish cards). also with an OC the 560 seems to do okay.

and yeah i preferred the 6950, but the only place to find is on ebay and some of those are a little iffy.

 

[jjb8675309]

that psu is trash

 

[DelroyMonjo]

jjb. I at least looked at a review of that PSU and it WILL put out 700W at load. It's not the best PSU out there but I wouldn't replace it in this instance.
It gets trash reviews because it won't pass the Certified tests at 45C, a valid point. So they went back and retested it at 40C, about 18C above room temp and probably just a few degrees above case temp when running games. In otherwords, don't press any harder than the OP would by adding another GPU which maxes @ 300W for the cards and throw in another 200W for the rest of the system if he o/ce'd it to the point of melting the heat sink and the PSU should still handle it.
It's not like one of those PSU's you get in a package deal from some places.

 

[Max1s]

I'll share my short story with you to make you feel better.

Grabbed a cheap AMD 6950, the cooler wasnt mounted right, it burned out in a week.
Got it RMAed, the second cooler also isnt mounted very well, and the drivers are crap.

An nvidia with a little less power might be a better deal than a powerful AMD.

 

[jjb8675309]

^I agree with you, the ocz psu is fine for a single GPU

I was more concerned if SLi was being discussed. Ive had many ocz units die on me over the years so that is more of based on personal experience than any particular review. Ive also helped many people that have had problems with that exact model so I was just saying. Not that all are bad but just sayin...

Id say a gtx 560 gives you pretty good performance for your dollar and like the above poster said, I agree, and I too am generally more satisfied by certain aspects of nvidia cards ie. Drivers, and physX, even if it will draw a few less fps compared to a 6870... it depends what game your lookin at too bc when it comes to heavy tesselation the 560 will almost always win, hail cuda!!

 

[DelroyMonjo]

HAIL CUDA!!
I stick with ANTEC.

 

[tuffluck]

so the consensus seems a bit mixed on whether my PSU could handle 2 560s. i guess maybe just try and see (down the road)? newegg's PSU calculator says i need 650w to power the 2 GPUs plus everything else in my system. i would hope the 700w OCZ would be OK...

either way i'm feeling okay about the GTX 560 purchase. honestly i feel like my 5770 looks pretty good on BF3, so i should think the 560 is superb.

 

[jjb8675309]

I have gtx 560Tis in SLi and they run on a 650W PSU no problem, thing is that its a quality unit, ~32 amps is really not gonna be enough imo, my psu pulls 52 amps on a songle 12v rail.... *edit: (lol songle)...single

your psu is fine for a single gpu but if your going sli with your 560s you gonna wanna get a quality 600-650w unit, then you can oc those beasts too

 

[DelroyMonjo]

jjb...What are you still argueing about? Maybe your PSU can handle 52 Amps on a single 12V rail but you aren't using that much for 2x560Ti's even max loaded. That's 16.6A ea. or 33.2 A total. If you're running Furmark all day long I suppose one would have a power problem but that just isn't the case in the real world. The OCZ PSU in question WILL supply the power needed for 2x560 GPU's and still have enough remaining to power the rest of the system provided the OP doesn't use radical o/c'ing.
No...it's not the best 700W PSU out there but it's not a 700W unit that only puts out 450 or 500Watts either.

 

[jjb8675309]

you're right the tis don't use many amps, if it were me I still would get a new psu just to be safe but for the OP it will work if thats what they already have.

 

[wolfram23]

Well, OP isn't looking at 560 Ti's, just regular 560s so that's even less power.

 

[jjb8675309]

yep I'm agreeing, just think that ocz psus are subpar in general for the OPs needs he will be fine SLiign another 560 with the psu hes got