Replacing GTX 560 Ti in the near future - Should I hold out for 660Ti

itomeshi

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Update 8/16/2012 5pm:

So I went with the 670 - specifically the MSI 670 PE. Here's why:

- The 660Ti is bandwidth constrained at 2560x1600 (and presumably 2560x1440). Looking at the Tom's review, many of the games see significant drops at that point. I have a display that can push that resolution, and I want to take advantage of it. The 670 doesn't suffer from this problem.
- The EVGA cards look OK and seem to be popular, but I just can't get past that blower style cooler. Everything I've read says it tends to run hotter and louder; I can't see myself being happy with that level of noise. It's part of what I'm trying to escape.
- The MSI PE is pre-overclocked. This means that I'll have no warranty concerns yet get the advantage of the higher speeds. I can still push the memory clock if I want.

Many thanks to TheBigTroll, geofelt, seyalan, wildpluckings, verbalizer, timbo1130 (if only I didn't hate TD!), and mace200200.

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Looking to replace my Gigabyte GTX 560 Ti in the near future - has an annoying failed ball bearing in a fan, as well as slightly poor performance at 2560x1440 and can only support 2 monitors at once.

A big part of the question is my primary app - dualboxing WoW at decent settings (one at 2560x1440, ideally; both with high or ultra). Is NVidia or ATI better here? I think Nvidia is usually better for WoW - but ATI has more RAM on some models, and ATI does better at the 2560x1440 resolution in some cases, from what I've read).

I like NVidia generally due to better drivers (though this may be an old perception), NVidia 3DTVPlay (I have a 3D TV, but seldom if ever use 3D), and PhysX (Borderlands 2 has enhanced PhysX support from what I've heard, and it was awesome in Arkham Asylum).

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: This week - ideally thursday or friday so I have it this weekend.

BUDGET RANGE: $280 - $450 after rebates (might be able to go slightly higher for good reason)

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: WoW (dualboxing or single WoW and web video or web surfing on the other screen), CS:GO, Borderlands 2, Torchlight 2, Diablo III. I'd like support for 3 or 4 monitors. NVidia 3DTVPlay for my TV is a nice to have.

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: Gigabyte Geforce GTX 560 Ti (with annoying fan issue - it's under warranty, but I'd like to upgrade and pass the fixed card to a family member). Thermaltake 750W modular power supply with up to 4 PCI-E cords (can get exact specs later)

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: i7-2600K - watercooled with minor overclock, Gigabyte Z68 MicroATX MoBo, 16 GB RAM. Video card will use it's own cooling solution.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Amazon drastically preferred, but I'm not against switching to Newegg if there is a very good reason

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: I want support for 3 or 4 monitors. NVidia 3DTVPlay for my TV is a nice to have. Enhanced PhysX would be nice, too. Still, if I can get substantially better performance with ATI for what I use it for, the nice-to-haves can be ignored.

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Not now, maybe in the future

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1x Auria EW276W at 2560x1440, 1x Samsung at 1920x1080 (might upgrade to a second Auria)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Would prefer longer warranties and non-reference cooling; WoW dualboxing should be with reasonably high settings; I like Gigabyte but haven't had great luck with them as of late, so I'm open to suggestions. Fans can be a bit louder, but can't have ball bearings that get shot a week after purchase. I like factory overclocks as I'm a bit lazy.

CONSIDERING THE FOLLOWING:
Geforce GTX 660 Ti - ~$300
(Comes out tomorrow supposedly, estimated $300 price point is nice, but I'm concerned how big the drop between the 670 and it will be).
No idea on brands/models.

Geforce GTX 670 - ~$410
Examples:
GIGABYTE GV-N670OC-2GD GeForce GTX 670 Windforce OC 2048MB GDDR5 256-bit
http://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-GV-N670OC-2GD-GeForce-Windforce-Graphics/dp/B0080I06WQ/ref=sr_1_2

MSI N670 PE 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 670 2GB - $430 amazon, $404AR newegg - 3/2yr warranty, nice factory OC, twin frozr IV cooler - theBigTroll recommended MSI
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-DisplayPort-PCI-Express-N670-2GD5/dp/B008BGXYAS/ref=sr_1_2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127685

EVGA GeForce GTX670 FTW 2048MB - $399 newegg, $410 amazon - 3yr warranty (thanks Timbo!), nice factory OC, single fan non-ref cooler - geofelt recommends
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Dual-Link-DisplayPort-Graphics-02G-P4-2678-KR/dp/B0083Y6MV6/ref=sr_1_1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130787

Geforce GTX 570 - ~$270
Examples:
MSI N570GTX TWIN FROZR II NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1280MB
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-N570GTX-TWIN-FROZR-PCI-Express/dp/B008809SUM/ref=sr_1_12

EVGA GeForce GTX 570 Superclocked 1280 MB GDDR5
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Superclocked-Mini-HDMI-Lifetime-012-P3-1572-AR/dp/B004EYSMGW/ref=sr_1_2

XFX FX797ATDBC Double D HD 7970 Black Edition 3GB DDR5 1000M
http://www.amazon.com/XFX-FX797ATDBC-Double-Black-Graphics/dp/B006W3ZU4U/ref=sr_1_2

AMD Radeon HD 7970 - ~$430
Example:
Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD 7970 OC 3GB GDDR5
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Radeon-Mini-Displayport-Graphics-GV-R797OC-3GD/dp/B00752QYLK/ref=sr_1_4

AMD Radeon HD 7950 - ~$350
Examples:
Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB GDDR5
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Mini-Displayport-PCI-Express-Graphic-GV-R795WF3-3GD/dp/B007581QHG/ref=sr_1_1

MSI AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB GDDR5
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-R7950-TWIN-FROZR-3GD5/dp/B007NG3WR2/ref=sr_1_3

AMD Radeon HD 7870 Ghz Edition - ~$280
Example:
Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHZ OC 2 GB
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-GDDR5-Graphics-11199-03-20G/dp/B007JCNOY6/ref=sr_1_1
 

mace200200

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Blizzards games greatly prefer Nvidia GPU's, however, I don't think upgrading to the new 660Ti is going to give you much of an increase in performance it's suppose to perform somewhere between a 560Ti, and a 580, so around 570 levels which is only one step up over your 560Ti according to the GPU hierarchy chart.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

If you want to upgrade mostly just because of that bearing, I think you'd be better off buying an after market cooler for it, or upgrading to a 670 or higher if your want to get a noticeable performance increase.
 
If you will upgrade for more performance, make it a good sized jump, or you may be disappointed.
A GTX670 would be appropriate.

If you are satisfied with GTX560ti performance, then waiting for the GTX660 would likely be rewarded.

In general, unless you play just one game exclusively, there is not much differentiation between Nvidia and AMD at any price point.
For just one game, look at the benchmarks.
Since you have and like Nvidia, I would stick with that.

The GTX670 will handle 3 monitors.
I suggest the EVGA GTX670 FTW:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130787

But, there are some other options for handling 4.

1) I think your motherboard can attach 2 monitors. For movie playback or other non gaming uses, they should be ok.
2) Add an inexpensive graphics card. This could attach two monitors, and also provide physx capability. It need not be very strong for this purpose.

sli is not a good option, even if it is possible.
A M-ATX motherboard will have a hard time with cooling of two adjacent dual slot graphics cards.
 

itomeshi

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I do like NVidia, and I'm somewhat bought into their ecosystem (I like PhysX and own a license for 3DTVPlay.) I would like a decent performance jump. My big deciding factors are how decent the 660Ti is, if 2GB and a 192-bit memory bus are enough for dual-boxing WoW at high settings or if I should bump those up. 3GB+ I've only seen on AMD unless I go really high-end; 256-bit+ just knocks out the 660Ti.


I've been tossing around the FTW, too. I've heard that the FTWs have better cooling due to a longer PCB, and the factory OC looks good. The Amazon link is http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Dual-Link-DisplayPort-Graphics-02G-P4-2678-KR/dp/B0083Y6MV6/ref=sr_1_1, and it's a -KR model, which is lifetime warranty. I'll be adding it to the list.


Both of these are decent options, but one thing I like is the flexibility to kick WoW from my desk to my TV without major performance loss or switching cables.


Agreed. I would only be doing that after a MB upgrade, and that's a ways off. I just don't want to inadvertantly rule it out somehow
 

itomeshi

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Yes, that's my concern. I've seen the chart, and as for the 660Ti, I don't know where it sits. TweakTown's preview has it beating the GTX 580 in some benchmarks, I'm not sure how reliable their unauthorized preview is. The news embargo just needs to end. :)
 

itomeshi

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So you would be recommending something like the following?
MSI N670 PE 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 670 2GB - $430 amazon, $404AR newegg
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-DisplayPort-PCI-Express-N670-2GD5/dp/B008BGXYAS/ref=sr_1_2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127685
 

itomeshi

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Eh, other than the $25 difference ($20 of which is a rebate I have a high chance of forgetting) is there a good reason? I have some Amazon GCs (over $100) and Amazon Prime, so it'd be $3.99 for 1-day shipping.
 

Ironslice

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I would get the GTX 660 ti, honestly, it can be overclocked to nearly 680 levels as shown by: http://wccftech.com/galaxy-geforce-gtx-660-ti-sc-unveiled-faster-gtx-670-benchmarks/

Also, it comes at a much cheaper price so it would be easier to SLI in the near future for extra performance.
 

timbo1130

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itomeshi

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If that's a 7970, that's a pretty good deal. I already own 3 of the 4 games, but that price alone isn't bad. I'm not a big fan of TD though, and though I can order TD through Amazon I can't order that bundle / coupon code. Also bothering me a bit is how the description starts talking about the 7770. According to VisionTek's website, they do make a 7770, but the packaging is drastically different. TD also ships it a bit slower.

I'll keep it in mind, but I'd really prefer to go Amazon, or at least Newegg.
 

timbo1130

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Be sure to let us know what you end up getting. I would not blame you getting a gtx 670 or 660ti assuming the performance is where you are expecting it to be. I have 2 gtx 680's myself that i got before the 670's were released and before the hd 7970 price drops. If I had not already got these cards I would be in the market for gtx 670's or hd 7970's so really i dont think you can go wrong and i play at 2560x1600 so i deal with the same video ram concerns you do.

Again best of luck on finding the perfect fit for your wants and needs. There is nothing like getting a new video card its just so much fun to me.
 

itomeshi

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I'm leaning towards seeing what happens tomorrow. I'm not interested in another 560 Ti though - I want some sort of performance or capability boost, and the 560 Ti won't even give me 3 monitor support.
 

pennywise

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I am hoping (maybe a fool's hope) for a drop on 670s or even some sort of rebate offering on them.
 

selayan

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Same here I really want to buy a 670 but I game at 1920x1080 one monitor and for my games I can pretty much max everything and its smooth, but I would like the 670 as it is more future proof. I hope the price or rebates on 670's change as it would probably make it easier for me to just buy one without worrying about selling my 560Ti.

If I buy one now and still have my card, I would feel like it was money wasted.
 

wildpluckings

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hi, I upgraded from 2x gigabyte 560ti SLI to a single gigabyte GTX 670 and wrote up a quick summary in another post a few months ago, and I think it could help you out :) so here it is:

"I have had my gigabyte GTX 670 for a few days and I've been really happy with it.

The difference between the GTX 670 and my 560ti SLI combo is night and day. I can run highest quality textures in Crysis 2 and Battlefield 3 without slowdown at 2560x1440. 2GB of video memory has made a massive difference.

Framerates are a little higher than the 560ti SLI in every application I've tried. But more importantly everything "feels" significantly smoother. Maybe it's the higher minimum FPS. It dropped to an average of 25-30fps in Battlefield 3 single player with every setting maxed (including anti aliasing and ambient occlusion) @ 2560x1440. Without AA it will rise comfortably above 60fps. The 560ti Combo would struggle with 10fps at this setting due to it's 1GB of video memory.

Temperatures - in the most intensive applications have not yet exceeded 65C. Idle temperature is 32-36C. Worth the upgrade alone compared to 80C/90C load temps on the 560ti SLI setup.

Noise - as quiet as it needs to be. Don't recall one time where I have noticed it.

Multi-display - works perfectly. TV and two monitors connected to one card.

= Good upgrade"
 

selayan

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Ah ok now I see, thanks. So the max he got on Bf3 was 79 and avg 56 or so. Single player I can run ultra on my 560Ti. Not sure about my frames but it plays smooth.
 

itomeshi

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That is pretty good to know. The fact that it's a notable update over two of my current card in SLI is impressive. Mind you, a lot of that could be the microstuttering mentioned in recent articles.

I'm leaning towards the MSI so far. The EVGA model has a better RAM OC and lifetime warranty. However, the single-fan design concerns me a bit.