Why do people buy a single GTX 580?

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klasik

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Why do people buy a single GTX 580 (~$400) when they can buy two GTX 460s(~$200 for both) for the same performance?

I'm not talking about the people with mITX boards. I'm talking about people with mid-tower cases with good cooling, 750W power supplies, and many available PCI-E slots.

*The price estimates are based on deals I've seen in the past.
 
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Single GPU solutions tend to have less issues.

Some games do not support SLI/Crossfire such as World of Tanks.
 
Because people don't want to deal with multi-GPU issues or want room to add a second card or they would just rather have a single card.
 
I am kinda confused with your argument. I am not up-to-date with the current GPUs, so pardon my ignorance, but if two GTX 460s are about the same performance as a GTX 580 for the same price, why not just go with the single card solution?
 
MiLk said:
what are these multi GPU issues?...iv never head of them :eek:
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Game support. Not all games support multi-GPU configurations and even with ones that do they don't all support it well. It is a lot less hassle to deal with a single card versus two of them.
 
I have 2 gtx460s, I have had zero issues, but i do think all my games support SLI.


I do believe that a single gtx580 uses less power than the gtx460s in sli. which would be another reason to do a single card.
 
noteworthy said:
Single GPU solutions tend to have less issues.

Some games do not support SLI/Crossfire such as World of Tanks.
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Oh...I didn't know there were still games that don't support SLI that a GTX 460 couldn't handle. Thanks for the info.

Derangel said:
Because people don't want to deal with multi-GPU issues or want room to add a second card or they would just rather have a single card.
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What do you mean by "want room to add a second card"? Do you mean a second GTX 580 in the future?

Ihaveworms said:
I am kinda confused with your argument. I am not up-to-date with the current GPUs, so pardon my ignorance, but if two GTX 460s are about the same performance as a GTX 580 for the same price, why not just go with the single card solution?
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Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant to say ~$200 for two GTX 460s, ~$100 each.


MiLk said:
what are these multi GPU issues?...iv never head of them :eek:
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wwischerath said:
Because it simpler and simpler fails less often
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I didn't know there were that many issues with SLI setups. I didn't have any when I had mine.
 
You ever hear the riddle "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

SLI has been N-O-T-O-R-I-O-U-S for creating issues in games. Sure some if not most of the more recent games has no issue. But time and time again the issue does surface, making a lot of people happy that they never jumped on the SLI bandwagon. It might take more than 5 months of observation to see the light.
 
There are quiet a few reasons actually. People like to have the option of adding a second card down the road if they deem it necessary, rather than being stuck with 2 mid/low end cards. With 460s you can only do 2-way SLI where as with 580s you can do 4-way SLI (if you ever need it). Also the extra 512mb of ram on the 580s, as opposed to the $100-$150 460s that come with 1GB, comes in handy when playing games at a higher resolution with all the eyecandy on. Finally, 1 card = less heat, less power consumption and potentially quieter.
 
Plus 2 x 460s are probably louder, hotter, and draw more power than a single 580.

Edit: What Savior said.
 
A single GTX580 has it's benefits:

- Single card, single GPU (don't have to worry about micro-stutter)
- Easier cable management due to less cables to route
- Quieter unless on WC, then moot point
- Lower overall heat dump
- Less power usage
- Option to add a 2nd GTX 580 down the road
 
klasik said:
Why do people buy a single GTX 580 (~$400) when they can buy two GTX 460s(~$200 for both) for the same performance?

I'm not talking about the people with mITX boards. I'm talking about people with mid-tower cases with good cooling, 750W power supplies, and many available PCI-E slots.

*The price estimates are based on deals I've seen in the past.
Click to expand...

why get two 460's and be required to replace your GPU's for an upgrade when you can buy a single 580 with the same processing power, and upgrade your system by adding more 580's later.
the 460's and 560's only support dual sli. Once theyre in sli, thats the max performance you're going to get with that system. The 580's are supported in tri and quad sli, so you can extend the lifetime of your rig MUCH further by adding more 580's later instead of being dead in the water with 460's.
Thats at least how i see it.



just thought of a betetr way to explain it.
How do you upgrade a 460, you go sli. How do you upgrade dual 460's? you replace them.
How do you upgrade dual 580's? you add one or two more. :p

this of course ignores budget.
 
BurntToast said:
You ever hear the riddle "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

SLI has been N-O-T-O-R-I-O-U-S for creating issues in games. Sure some if not most of the more recent games has no issue. But time and time again the issue does surface, making a lot of people happy that they never jumped on the SLI bandwagon. It might take more than 5 months of observation to see the light.
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I guess, I have been really lucky to be SLI issue free for the whole year I had it :)


SaViOr- said:
There are quiet a few reasons actually. People like to have the option of adding a second card down the road if they deem it necessary, rather than being stuck with 2 mid/low end cards. With 460s you can only do 2-way SLI where as with 580s you can do 4-way SLI (if you ever need it). Also the extra 512mb of ram on the 580s, as opposed to the $100-$150 460s that come with 1GB, comes in handy when playing games at a higher resolution with all the eyecandy on. Finally, 1 card = less heat, less power consumption and potentially quieter.
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Forceman said:
Plus 2 x 460s are probably louder, hotter, and draw more power than a single 580.

Edit: What Savior said.
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I found that 460 SLI setups were quieter than a single card setup for most games that I play. The dual cards don't need to work as hard b/c the work is split between the two cards. This obviously isn't true for games like Metro 2033. I never used a GTX 580 so I can't compare. But GTX 460s run quiet and very cool.



thesecond said:
the 460's and 560's only support dual sli. Once theyre in sli, thats the max performance you're going to get with that system. The 580's are supported in tri and quad sli, so you can extend the lifetime of your rig MUCH further by adding more 580's later instead of being dead in the water with 460's.
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That just made me think of why people buy a GTX 580 instead. Two waterblocks cost more than one :)

amoeba1126 said:
A single GTX580 has it's benefits:

- Single card, single GPU (don't have to worry about micro-stutter)
- Easier cable management due to less cables to route
- Quieter unless on WC, then moot point
- Lower overall heat dump
- Less power usage
- Option to add a 2nd GTX 580 down the road
Click to expand...

Cable management isn't too bad. It's just two wires which isn't a big deal in a midtower case.

If you add a 2nd GTX 580, then you're going to have to deal with micro-stutter =P
 
A single GPU setup:

* Doesn't suffer from micro-stuttering (however miniscule it may be it IS there in dual setups due to the way frames are being rendered/balanced)
* Runs cooler
* Runs quieter
* Uses less electricity
* Will ALWAYS be more compatible with games

This is why I will never (I'm saying never) go dual GPUs
 
Derangel said:
Game support. Not all games support multi-GPU configurations and even with ones that do they don't all support it well. It is a lot less hassle to deal with a single card versus two of them.
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Really? The most thinly veiled sarcasm and you didn't get it? Yikes! :eek:

As for the debate, how about RAM? Two lesser cards do not combine their RAM amounts. I have yet to see a 1GB 580.
 
Optimization for single card graphics for games. not many games support SLI the way not many games are optimized for quadcore. you can see a core i3 outpeform a core i5/i7 in some benchmarks. plus, if you buy a 580 now, you can buy another 580 later,
 
emerpus said:
Optimization for single card graphics for games. not many games support SLI the way not many games are optimized for quadcore. you can see a core i3 outpeform a core i5/i7 in some benchmarks. plus, if you buy a 580 now, you can buy another 580 later,
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please show me a core i3 outperforming an i5/i7...
 
2 GTX460's and 2 Radeon 5850's here and no problems with either in every single game I play. Not saying that there may be some that don't take advantage of the configuration or have problems, I just have not come across any issues. Though, I am debating with the Radeon 7 Series is out whether to go with a Single 7970 (I'd assume better than 6990 performance) or dual 7870's (each likely equivalent to a 6950/6970) of coarse that is if history is anything to go by. Considering the 6xxx did better in CFX than the 5xxx did, It seem safe to assume that the 7 series should be amazing.
 
1. SLI does not work in every game, just most games. There can be cases where a game will actually run worse with SLI enabled. This is less so now than it used to be, but still happens from time to time.
2. Some systems will not fit SLI, either for absolute power (350W for two 460 1GBs, 250W for one 580), or for power connector (6+8 for a GTX580, 6+6+6+6 for two 460 1GBs) reasons, or simply because they don't run a board or case that can take two cards - thinking micro systems here. (and yes, there are several cases out there that won't fit two cards but will fit a card as long as a 580)
3. Some people just don't want SLI, they may have had prior issues with drivers, and simply refuse to use it to save themselves the hassle.
4. Memory and high res performance - when you really turn up the dials, the 460 1GB cards suffer quite badly for only having 1GB of memory, and only being quite small GPUs. Their performance drops off far faster than that of a GTX580 in such scenarios, and it's very possible to get scenarios where a single GTX580 is far faster than two 460s as a result.
 
klasik said:
Why do people buy a single GTX 580 (~$400) when they can buy two GTX 460s(~$200 for both) for the same performance?

I'm not talking about the people with mITX boards. I'm talking about people with mid-tower cases with good cooling, 750W power supplies, and many available PCI-E slots.

*The price estimates are based on deals I've seen in the past.
Click to expand...

While that makes perfect sense in saving money. The real bread and butter is, single GPUs don't have as many issues as with dual GPU systems. Granted I have crossfire in a single card, I really didn't have anything gamebreaking issues happen to me YET. So I am a happy camper in the dual GPU area.
 
Having went through both sli & cf systems. When they work, everything is good, great even. Yes they run hotter & pull more power, but you know what? When they work you generally don't care about that.

When for some reason they stop working, it can be a giant pain to get your rig back to working condition, and then the (seemingly) never ending driver issues on new releases.

Having said that I use a single card now for gaming. I have a multi-card non-cf system, but that is just for additional monitors & work desktop space.
 
Honestly, I haven't really had any driver issues I'd attribute to crossfire for a good couple of years. They're all driver bugs that affect everyone, including GPU users. I'd still only ever recommend crossfire/SLI for those who can't get a single card to offer that much performance (i.e. no CF/SLI using low-end cards)
 
Two GTX 460's are not upgradable, Down the road they may buy a second GTX 580. Also SLI doesnt work in a lot of games =P
 
kingdom9214 said:
Two GTX 460's are not upgradable, Down the road they may buy a second GTX 580. Also SLI doesnt work in a lot of games =P
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unless you solder them to the motherboard they are. last time I looked it was just as easy to remove two cards and sale them, and buy something faster as it was to remove one and do the same thing. and you guys cant have it both ways. you cant say spend more to get the best single gpu and then say you can add another one of those down the road. that makes no sense because if SLI is not an issue down the road then its not now so why not spend less now for the gtx460 SLI setup? plus down the road, it will likely make more sense to just sale whatever gpu that you have and buy a faster next gen part with better features.

to be clear I am all for getting the fastest single gpu but some of you are just not making sense. :D
 
The equivalent single gpu will almost always have higher lows in the framerate giving an overall smoother gameplay experience.
 
cannondale06 said:
unless you solder them to the motherboard they are. last time I looked it was just as easy to remove two cards and sale them, and buy something faster as it was to remove one and do the same thing. and you guys cant have it both ways. you cant say spend more to get the best single gpu and then say you can add another one of those down the road. that makes no sense because if SLI is not an issue down the road then its not now so why not spend less now for the gtx460 SLI setup? plus down the road, it will likely make more sense to just sale whatever gpu that you have and buy a faster next gen part with better features.

to be clear I am all for getting the fastest single gpu but some of you are just not making sense. :D
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Of corse removing one card is easyer than removing two. Time it yourself and see.
 
ZodaEX said:
Of corse removing one card is easyer than removing two. Time it yourself and see.
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lol, its still just as easy. if you find it to be noticeably harder to remove two cards than one then you have bigger problems. :p
 
cannondale06 said:
lol, its still just as easy. if you find it to be noticeably harder to remove two cards than one then you have bigger problems. :p
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You wrong its not as easy. Removing two expansion cards is more work than removing one card is. Just because its not a tremendously larger sum of work makes no difference, more work is more work period. You fail cannondale lol it rymes.
 
Wow looks like everyone in this thread got trolled [H]ard...

OP needs to take stupid questions like these to Yahoo Answers where they belong...
 
ZodaEX said:
You wrong its not as easy. Removing two expansion cards is more work than removing one card is. Just because its not a tremendously larger sum of work makes no difference, more work is more work period. You fail cannondale lol it rymes.
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I seriously hope you are joking. "just as easy" is an expression and the fact that it is not much more work is the whole freaking point. if you are really going to nit pick something so trivial then there is another expression I have for you..."get a life". :p
 
Wow.. nitpicking is probably the reason for most of the flamewars that occur here on [H]. There must be some serious OCD happening :p

And why are we nitpicking the challenge of removing 2 video cards? This is [H]! Aren't we all seasoned veterans when it comes to installing/removing computer hardware?
 
believe it or not there are still some games that like a single card better.

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For me the more important thing is minimum FPS and how a game feels rather than maximum FPS. Two GTX 460s probably get the same max FPS in good conditions, but the GTX 580 should have much better minimum FPS and smoother feel.

I usually SLI or Crossfire high end or near high end cards because of my 30 inch monitor. And I've pretty much tuned it out, but I do realize micro stuttering is there. There are times I've disabled or removed one of my cards, had a big FPS drop, and yet the game felt more smooth and responsive.
 
I got one GTX 580 because it fits my needs mostly for eye candy settings, other than that I don't play much games like i used to. Daily job and a family to take care of takes a lot of time away from gaming.

But iIm a gamer for life!
 
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