GTX 460 Superclocked or GTX 570?

TorxT3D

Gawd
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Apr 30, 2006
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im looking for a vid card to compliment a sandy bridge build (2600k @4ghz, UD7, SSD, 1600ram, 650w-750w). With the many confusing options out there, im completely lost on the graphics card subject. Im coming from a geforce6600 (dont laugh) lol.

While i would enjoy spending around 150-250 for a card, i can also spend upwards of 350-400.

Im looking for a card that would scream through pc games with ultra/high/enthusiast visual settings. Especially in crysis, since ive yet to play this, i want to enjoy it like its supposed to be and see what all the "visual fuss" is about. Overclocking from factory is okay, but i would prefer some overclocking overhead for future proofing a bit.

Im not looking to SLI either, i want a one card solution.

So im looking at the evga superclocked 460 ftw ee (850/1700/4000) versus a varied 570 model, dunno which is best..

I would be gaming in my lcd's native res 1920x1080 so im guessing i need more than 1GB of ram on the card???

Any help is much appreciated.
 
Save some money and go with a stock 460 and overclock it yourself, maybe a MSI 460 Twin Frozr Edition. Since MSI's Afterburner allows overvoltage, and the Twin Frozr is very effective at cooling the card's critical components, you can easily get above 920 on the core, with voltage increase of course. Otherwise, the superclocked 460 ftw ee is really close to the maximum overclock of a stock 460.
 
I would go with the GTX 570. First of all, the 570 is the full version of the fermi while the 460 is a stripped down version. Secondly, the build quality of the 460 is horribly cheap. I recently helped my buddy install a EVGA GTX 460 EE and I was worried that it was going to come apart just from holding it. No joking. Thirdly the 570 is obviously a much better performer when it comes to gaming and will last a lot longer with it's more memory and shaders.

You get what you pay for.
 
GTX570 or HD6950. Either will completely outclass even the most overclocked 460.
 
any certain brand 570?

im thinking the pny xlr8 or whatever that is...

You can buy the EVGA gtx 570 off their website with free shipping for $349 vs. about +18 dollars shipped from Newegg. EVGA is the only one with lifetime warranty and they have excellent customer service + a trade up program. I can't think of a reason NOT to buy an EVGA at that price.
 
the answer is obvious, go with the 570. and i'll second the recommendation to go with EVGA. if i didn't get such a good deal on my MSI Hawk 460 i would have gone with EVGA.
 
I went from a 470 to a 580 and loved it.

I would not get a 460 for gaming if the 570 is in your range
 
1920x1080 and one card solution? GTX 570 no doubt. I would only recommend 460 if you do SLI with that res.

However, performance in Crysis Warhead will favor GTX 460 SLI over a single GTX 570.
 
GTX570 or 6950. IMO the 460 is a budget card that is nearing the end of it's lifespan. You aren't building a budget build. Don't skimp.
 
GTX570 or 6950. IMO the 460 is a budget card that is nearing the end of it's lifespan. You aren't building a budget build. Don't skimp.

Didn't the GTX 460's come out just 6 months ago? That was some life span, lol.

Also, I wanted to just add that GTX 460 might be a "budget" priced card, its performance is definitely anything but, "budget".
 
I upgraded from an OC 460 to the 570 after buying a new 1920x1080 panel. Benched before and after and found the 570 to be 20%-40% faster depending upon game and settings. Overall the gameplay experience in BFBC2 (for example) is much smoother. If you can afford the card I would vote 570.
 
The big draw of the 460 imho, is cheap and effective SLI. You can afford it, and you have a track record of holding on to cards for a long time, so the 570 is your best bet
 
big thanks for the replies, you all helped to make the decision for the 570 :)

its gonna be otherworldly coming from a 6600, sheesh lol.
 
hdnut: yes, but they were only ever midrange cards, they weren't high-end. Now that there's been a generational update, they now sit lower-midrange. In much the same way the GTX470 was high-end, is now midrange, as the GTX570 is the new high-end, with GTX580 at top-end.
I'd still say consider the HD6950/6970, I've been very impressed with mine so far, they're actually very quiet, and I haven't really encountered any driver issues yet (I know, I'm as surprised as you are) with 10.12a. They're well-priced, and where it really matters, they're pretty competitive with the geforces still.
 
hdnut: yes, but they were only ever midrange cards, they weren't high-end. Now that there's been a generational update, they now sit lower-midrange. In much the same way the GTX470 was high-end, is now midrange, as the GTX570 is the new high-end, with GTX580 at top-end.
I'd still say consider the HD6950/6970, I've been very impressed with mine so far, they're actually very quiet, and I haven't really encountered any driver issues yet (I know, I'm as surprised as you are) with 10.12a. They're well-priced, and where it really matters, they're pretty competitive with the geforces still.

GTX 460 can beat out a GTX 470 if overclocked and it doesn't take a whole lot of overclock tweaking to get there either. Obviously you can overclock a 470 as well but my point is that you can grab a 460 and get it to 470 performance or slightly better at lower price point. Also, the 460's have been the easiest card I had the pleasure of OC'ing in the last 4-5 years.

Now I'm not saying that they are not lower-midrange cards, but I think it is unwise to dismiss it as just a "lower" midrange card, thus it cannot hang with its more robust siblings.

The thing that surprised me the most about these 460's is that just how much of an upgrade it has been coming from GTX 280 SLI setup. The performance scaling of the GTX 460's in SLI, and Fermis in general, are phenomenal and completely destroy GTX 280 SLI performance.
 
GTX 460 can beat out a GTX 470 if overclocked and it doesn't take a whole lot of overclock tweaking to get there either. Obviously you can overclock a 470 as well but my point is that you can grab a 460 and get it to 470 performance or slightly better at lower price point. Also, the 460's have been the easiest card I had the pleasure of OC'ing in the last 4-5 years.

Now I'm not saying that they are not lower-midrange cards, but I think it is unwise to dismiss it as just a "lower" midrange card, thus it cannot hang with its more robust siblings.

The thing that surprised me the most about these 460's is that just how much of an upgrade it has been coming from GTX 280 SLI setup. The performance scaling of the GTX 460's in SLI, and Fermis in general, are phenomenal and completely destroy GTX 280 SLI performance.
I'm not dismissing the 460s as bad cards, I just think a 570 is better suited for his build and budget.
 
570s perform the same as a 480. A GTX 470 isn't far off performance-wise from a 570, you can get two for a bit more than a 570 and blow even a 580 away. There was no die-shrink with the 500 series so no serious performance improvement. A single 570 is not going to "scream" through crysis.
 
But the 5xx series run much cooler, and thus are stock clocked quite a bit higher. They'll also overclock much better than the 4xx cards ever did. Think of it as AMD and Intel with their core revisions, each time they went to a new stepping, the processors ran cooler, used less power, and thus were able to overclock higher. There's significant advantages in choosing the 570 over a 480 or 470.
 
Two GTX470s would also be a 95C pair of screamers that use 500 Watts in some games. Meanwhile a GTX570 runs pretty cool and quiet as Fermi cards go.
 
Two GTX470s would also be a 95C pair of screamers that use 500 Watts in some games. Meanwhile a GTX570 runs pretty cool and quiet as Fermi cards go.

If you don't game 10 hours a day the power consumption does not matter, I purchased two scythe fans to blow on my 470s and dropped their max temps from 95 degrees to 85. Yes, this setup is very loud but I game with a headset.
 
It does if you've yet to buy the cards and don't already own an 850W PSU. Though to be fair, I wouldn't use a pair of 570s on anything less than an 850 either due to the power spikes.
 
460. Best bang for the buck. Overclock the damn thing, another plus. Add a second one cheap for SLI and it'll be in line if not slightly better than a single GTX 580 in most cases.

[Edit] noticed you don't want SLI....well....alot of the current sandy boards do support SLI (for instance, my UD4) but if going single card and NEVER plan to do SLI then definitely 570. But one GTX 460 (esp oc'ed) is still pretty damn fast.
 
The GTX 460 has MUCH better bang for the buck than the 570. If you would rather stick to the lower end of your budget, then not only will you spend less now, you won't lose anywhere near as much money due to depreciation. nVIDIA's high end cards have a tendency to hemorrhage in price after the first 9 months(case in point, the GTX 470 started at $350, now goes for $200 shipped used). I also second the recommendation to get a GTX 460 with good aftermarket cooling, like the Twin Frozr, and overclock it. All the 460s I've read about have achieved at least 800/950 speeds, and at that point it will max out just about everything with AA.

If you're the type that upgrades once, then doesn't upgrade for many years, the 570 would be good. It would last longer, but would lose market value considerably faster.

EDIT: In the first paragraph I meant "they hemorrhage in value during the first 9 months." Akin to the value of a new car during the first year of ownership, though this is true of most high end video cards.
 
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The GTX570 is going to be 40-45% faster than a GTX460 1GB at stock, tops. When you overclock a GTX460 (not a fair test as you can overclock the 570 too, but not by as much, and it already uses loads of power, the 460 not so much) you can get it to within 15% of a 570 quite easily.
 
im still reading replies, thanks all ;)

yea, im the type that obviously doesnt upgrade every year, lol.
so i might stick with the 570, then add another when it's price drops. :p
 
Trust me you will not regret getting a 570. I hated nvidia but I had a chance to test a 570 vs a 6950 and the 570 was superior in every way. I tried very hard to find excuses and stay AMD in my main rig but the just 570 blew me away. Dont listen to certain amd owners they seem obsessed with the 570 and like to make things up. My 570 overclock got me almost 1000 more points in 3d11 and its only a moderate overclock on a 650w powersupply. And everytime I go "bang for the buck" I regret not spending more and getting the better card.
 
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