Two cards. One hard choice. Help me choose

The GTX 580 is the fastest single GPU video card on the market. It is about 10%-15% faster than the 6970 while costing $140 more. Whether you think it is worth it in a price/performance area is up to you. If it were me I would pick up a 2gb 6950 and unlock it to a 6970. You can get a 6950 for as low as 239.99 and get nearly the same performance as a 6970.
 
This review explains the difference between the two in gameplay terms. Generally, the 580 will reward you with higher levels of AA than the 6970, or better raw performance. http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/03/14/asus_engtx580_eah6970_directcu_ii_review

Seeing that you are in the market to spend $500, if your motherboard has two capable PCIe slots, I recommend buying two 6950s. A 6950 can reliably overclock and unlock to reach a 6970, and spending $500 on two 6950s, even if both do not clock up to 6970 levels, you still achieved vastly better performance for $500 than anything else currently available.
 
If your not adverse to multi-card configurations you can go with 2 x Radeon 6950 1GB for the price of a GTX580. That combo decimates the GTX580.
 
for 80$ more than the 499$ 580 you can have 2 xfx or HIS 6950s and unlock shaders or unlock to 6970s and get more bang for your buck.


you can get the 2 xfx ones for 20$ more than the 580 if you do the rebates



Prices taken from XFX on newegg and HIS on Tiger Direct
 
I am going to go multi-card, I should have said that in the original post. Which one is easier for multi-monitor setup?
 
Op. Think like this. You buy a gpu to power your monitor. So you got to look what resolution do I play at. What refresh rate can my monitor emulate? do I need a card that can run everything on 60fps plus or do I need one that can run everything on 120fps plus?
 
Most reviews put them the same, both nVidia and AMD have their little quirks, but they try to make things as simple as possible for the user. Personally, I would get two 6950 2gb, unlock them to the 6970, and overclock if possible. You will probably benefit from the 2gb vram if you're running multiple monitors.
 
just get the 6950 2gbs plenty of frame buffer and with unlocked shaders they have great performance
 
well if you're going tri-monitor then you're talking $1K for 2 580GTX's. So if you're talking that much cash, you could go Tri-Fire with either 3 6950's or a 6990 + an unlocked 6950 and come out WAY ahead both in performance and cost. The 6990+6950 may cost slightly more then 2 580GTX's but you didn't specifiy if 3 full sized cards is an option or not.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top