BF3 - new gpu today - HELP!

[hatebreeder]

current specs:
intel i7 940 @ 2.93 ghz
ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
12 gigs of corsair dominator ram
hds: 2 x WD velociraptor 150gb in raid 0
GPU: gtx 295
powersupply: corsair 1kw modular (bluebox)
windows 7 64bit
gaming resolution : 1920 x 1080

i need to upgrade my gpu and have the day off so i was gonna stroll up to frys and get some new parts. need help though.

1.) what is better 1 nvidia 580 or 2X radeon 6970s?

2.) i assume the 6970's but are they going to be that much better than 1 580? is it gonna be worth the cash, to me if im getting a decent amount more FPS than its worth it, but if the increase is minimal or un-noticeable id rather get 1 580 and a new SSD.

3.) i have never run SLI/CF before. do i need to do anything special other than plugging them both in and connecting them together?

4.) any other advice you can give? i think when i bought my mobo it came with the connection peice for both gpus but im not sure if i still have it... is that something that would come with 2 new gpus if i went that route?

thanks in advance. ill be monitoring this thread all morning and will reply with any additional questions quickly, i am wanting to leave in the next couple hours.

 

[ilysaml]

i am right now, seems like a good card, thanks for the help. ill probably order these up next week. now to try and find a good ssd... any suggestiosn? 😀

what's your price range ?

 

[hatebreeder]

well, i want a 120 gb, dont want to spend more than like $250 $300 on it. i dont want to buy a peice of crap, and the more i read on em the more horror stories i read.

 

[ilysaml]

Corsair Force GT SATA III 120GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233191
OCZ Vertex 3 SATA III 120 GB MAX IOPS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227714

i don't have an experience with SSDs and i have been planing for 3 months which one i go with, those 2 particularly are the bests among SSDs, check reviews for each and do some research, and compare between Corsair Force 3 and Force GT...

this website will give you benchmarks for SSDs, and do a little search on it you'll find everything you wanna know about SSDs
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/SSD/65

 

[hatebreeder]

thanks for your help. that corsair one is the one ive been looking at for a while.

 

[ilysaml]

cool then, enjoy gaming without disturbance

 

[hatebreeder]

sorry to keep posting, i keep looking aroudn at benchmarks, one thing i saw that shocked me:

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,847209/Battlefield-3-Beta-18-Radeon-and-Geforce-cards-SLI-und-Crossfire-benchmarked/Practice/

the bottom benchmark shows 2 570's outpreforming 2 6970's by a good margin. i was under impression that 6970's were superior to the 570's.

 

[ilysaml]

chech this link by toms, explains how AMD, nVidia CF/SLI scales in 3-way and 2-way CF/SLI
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/crossfire-sli-3-way-scaling,2865.html
the GTX 570s are compared with HD 6950s in both 2-way and 3-way and even though, the HD 6950 wins in most of all benchmarks? so how will you compare HD 6970s with GTX 570s ?

the Beta of BF3 is not the determinant factor, and it\s more dependent on the game.
AMD has published beta drivers 2 days ago and claims it boosts the performance of the GPUs 3 times faster than normal drivers for the BF3.

you'll find the GTX 570s better than HD 6970s in some games and VICE VERSA
i was talking some minutes ago in other thread that Cysis 2, Metro 2033 runs better in nVidia cards because it has the logo "nVidia the way it's meant to be played"
and the first "AMD Gaming Evolved" Deus Ex human revolution runs better on AMD cards.

 

[hatebreeder]

that is a great read. for sure going with the 6970's. thanks again!

 

[ilysaml]

hehe don't worry, i'll not escape because i got the BA 😀, and always glad to discuss and argue

 

[hatebreeder]

one last final question, more of for my friend than me but it got me curious...

he was looking at the cards i planned on buying ( the 2 6970's in crossfire) and was curious if 1 590 would be better than 2 6970s. he has almost an exact replica of my system specs except i think he is running an antec 900 vs the full size tower.

 

[ilysaml]

read Tom's review about the HD 6990, GTX 590 and you'll find out that they recommend a pair of HD 6950s/70s over the HD 6990 and recommend a pair of GTX 570s over the GTX 590.
2 HD 6970s perform better or close to the HD 6990, depending n the game.
you can google HD 6970d CF VS HD 6990/GTX 590 (both are the same)

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey