2560x1440 gaming card suggestion?

F

Failure

Weaksauce
Joined
Feb 24, 2003
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86
I've currently got a 560 TI 2gb card and it's just not quite cutting it at 2560x1440 in the Guild Wars 2 beta.

Looking for suggestions for upgrading video card. I'm keen to stick with nvidia, but I'm trying to decide between 660TI (or 2x SLI?), 670, or 680. 2gb or 4gb?

I'm a fan of best bang for buck, but I could reasonably spend $500 or so. Also, what's the best way to sell the 560 TI. Forums here, ebay, craigslist?
 
I don't play guild wars 2 but I went from a GTX 580 1.5GB to a 670 2GB FTW and after overclocking the 670 I noticed a big performance difference and I game at 2560x1600. Didn't go for the 680 cause I didn't feel the price difference was worth it this generation. I also think the consensus on 4gb is it isn't worth it unless you mod skyrim like crazy or sli them.
 
I currently game on my HP ZRwhateverwhatever 2560x1440 with a Gigabyte 670. It's slighty overclocked above Gigabyte's factory OC (not a whole lot. I'm at work, so I don't remember what it is off the top of my head, could be in my signature...). Most games I shoot for max in game settings, including 16x AF. AA can vary from game to game, but I'm regularly around 8x to 16x (I know, I know, "RARR, MAX MEANS EVERYTHING INCLUDING AA AT TOP").

I rarely feel like I'm limited by my card. There are some occassions when smoothness isn't amazing, but they're few and far between (and on games I don't play a whole lot of, BF3 and Metro 2033, and I don't think I was at the highest settings with those games either, I'm not really sure. I don't play them).

I don't have hard numbers to give (at work), so maybe someone else can provide those, but with my sig rig, I'm really enjoying the games I play at highest to maximum detail settings.

That said, I wouldn't consider much less than a 670/7950 for 1440p. I'm actually thinking of picking up a second 670 in December just to guarantee that I'm at 60FPS (and in case I decide to go 27x3 and grab a third card as well).

Absolute best bang for your buck (depending on the 660ti, I don't really know a lot about it) is probably picking up 2 580's off of Craigslist or the FS/FT forum. There's one in my area that's at $220. Finding another at $280 wouldn't be difficult and that'd put you at great performance at $500. You may not live in my area but two at $250 shouldn't be hard to find.
 
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Sky15 said:
A 670 is that much better than a 580?
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no as even a gtx670 ftw card, which matches a stock gtx680, is only about 25-30% faster at 2560. and its also funny how people mention overclocking their new card and comparing it to thier previous card at stock. sadly with this generation you basically have to oc them for it to be a worthwhile upgrade.
 
Make sure you get a 4-6 gb Vram card because they are much faster and won't be obsolete in a few years..... ;)

BTW I'm being sarcastic....
 
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cannondale06 said:
no as even a gtx670 ftw card, which matches a stock gtx680, is only about 25-30% faster at 2560. and its also funny how people mention overclocking their new card and comparing it to thier previous card at stock. sadly with this generation you basically have to oc them for it to be a worthwhile upgrade.
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I had my 580 overclocked to 842mhz so at first I didn't notice a big difference between a stock 670ftw and my 580. What I did notice is that by overclocking the memory by +400 made my fps jump up big time in games on the 670ftw. I think the 600 series is seriously bandwidth limited. I put the power and voltage to max but haven't overclocked the gpu since it hits 1165 in game and I am happy with the fps I am getting.
 
@Fosselman, sounds like your card is down clocking because your settings are way to high.

Google GTX 670 overclock guide. That should point you in the right direction.
 
Im runnin' a Dell U2711 and a GTX670 FTW...awesome combo, great frames in BF3 ultra settings. 680 just doesnt seem worth it this time 'round. Will pick up another 670 a year from now
 
Aside from the AMD recommendation (in an nvidia post) it sounds like you guys think GTX670 FTW is the best buy right now. If I think I might SLI them down the road am I really hampered by going 2gb instead of 4gb?

Looks like the GTX670 FTW is around $400 so that's not a problem either.

Thanks!
 
The GTX670 would be a great choice and 2gb memory should be no problem for a long time to come.
 
Failure said:
. If I think I might SLI them down the road am I really hampered by going 2gb instead of 4gb?
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As long as you intend to stay with a single monitor, 2GB is fine even with SLI. If you knew you were going to go with a triple 27" setup in addition to SLI then it might be something to consider (but still not a slam dunk).
 
Forceman said:
As long as you intend to stay with a single monitor, 2GB is fine even with SLI. If you knew you were going to go with a triple 27" setup in addition to SLI then it might be something to consider (but still not a slam dunk).
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The only thing I could maybe possibly see myself doing in the future is a PLP configuration if I could work it out, but definitely not something crazy like 3x LLL 27" 2560x1440.

I'm sure that if I go to those lengths I'll probably have no problem reselling the 2gb card if I had to (if it would even be worth it.)
 
Failure said:
I've currently got a 560 TI 2gb card and it's just not quite cutting it at 2560x1440 in the Guild Wars 2 beta.

Looking for suggestions for upgrading video card. I'm keen to stick with nvidia, but I'm trying to decide between 660TI (or 2x SLI?), 670, or 680. 2gb or 4gb?

I'm a fan of best bang for buck, but I could reasonably spend $500 or so. Also, what's the best way to sell the 560 TI. Forums here, ebay, craigslist?
Click to expand...

Guild Wars 2 has been CPU bound until just recently. So it hasn't been using your video card.
In todays stress test I noticed for the first time that it is using the video card. I played on a 27" imac at 2560x1440 with the AMD 6970m and it was smooth as silk. I was getting FPS in the 50's running around divinities reach. I don't know how your 560ti compares to my 6970m but I think mine is similar to a desktop Radeon 6850.
 
I would just buy another 560ti off the forums and SLI them. Prices will surely be low on here as people are letting them go to buy the new 660ti
 
Archer75 said:
Guild Wars 2 has been CPU bound until just recently. So it hasn't been using your video card.
In todays stress test I noticed for the first time that it is using the video card. I played on a 27" imac at 2560x1440 with the AMD 6970m and it was smooth as silk. I was getting FPS in the 50's running around divinities reach. I don't know how your 560ti compares to my 6970m but I think mine is similar to a desktop Radeon 6850.
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I played in the stress last Friday and I think that the GPU usage had been sorted out by then. With a 560 TI @ 2560x1440 I was hovering in the 40s for FPS. I went ahead and snagged the 670 either way, so I doubt I'll have problems with the release version.

Now I just need the game to come out. :)
 
Have you seen this: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/bill-freist-talks-optimization-and-performance/

What drivers are you using? Apparently 301.42 hinders nvidia cards a good bit.

I have a 670 and I game at 2560x1440. I get ~50fps usually (with 301.42). I think optimization has some more to go. Supposedly there are some new drivers headed this way that are optimized for GW2. I would wait till these hit to upgrade.

with a 580 I would wait. 7xx is only another 4-6 months out and that will be a real upgrade from the 580.
 
Failure said:
I've currently got a 560 TI 2gb card and it's just not quite cutting it at 2560x1440 in the Guild Wars 2 beta.

Looking for suggestions for upgrading video card. I'm keen to stick with nvidia, but I'm trying to decide between 660TI (or 2x SLI?), 670, or 680. 2gb or 4gb?

I'm a fan of best bang for buck, but I could reasonably spend $500 or so. Also, what's the best way to sell the 560 TI. Forums here, ebay, craigslist?
Click to expand...

I am not sure howmuch video memory the retail version will consume. I didn't have any major options to select in detail in the hardware option menu. I am not sure if DX11 is even being supported in the future. But the game ran great for me at 2560x1600 in non-crowded areas. It got really bad at the end of beta with the PvP area. There were like maybe 50-60 people on my screen and it started to stutter. Also during the beta there was no crossfire/sli support. So I was basically playing on a single 7970 :(

If you're going to spend max of $500, get the GTX 680 2GB. Just letting you know 2GB is just passing now for 2560x1600. MMOs are RAM and CPU hogs, I am not sure if guildwars 2 will be VRAM hog at the later levels. People keep saying the 256-bit GTX 680 won't benefit from the 4GB videocard becaues of bandwith. There arn't many games that even max out a 3GB card unless you play some heavy texture modified games like Skyrim.
 
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