GTX 580 3GB or GTX 590??

[paliovouna]

Hi. So i am having some doubts on which one to buy. I have a single monitor, with 1920x1080 resolution. I am not going to buy any other card, just one of those two. I won't overlock. If i buy the GTX 590, the processor will be the i5 2500k. If i buy the GTX 580 3GB, the processor will be the i7 2600k. Always 8GB 1600MHz RAM.

With which of these two will i get better performance? Will i max out games like Crysis 2 and Metro 2033? I saw in GTA IV that we can only use the 1.5GB of the GTX 590. Would the GTX 580 be better due to the 3GB VRAM?

 

[jjb8675309]

gtx 590 and the 2500k, it will be way overkill for most games at 1080p but from the two options that you listed above thats what id do... what are your full system specs?

 

[paliovouna]

Why?

 

[paliovouna]

Full Specs:
with GTX 590:
Intel Core i5 2500k
ASRock P67 EXTREME4 motherboard
Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1600MHz
GTX 590 EVGA Classified
Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower case
CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX850 80 Plus Gold Certified 850w power supply
CPU Cooling: Antec KUHLER H2O 920 Liquid Cooling System

 

[geofelt]

1) For gaming, the 2500K is just as good as the 2600K. It will OC to the same levels, and the added hyperthreads on the 2600K are not going to be used by most, if any games. Save the $100 difference and spend it elsewhere.

2) The amount of Vram on a graphics card is largely irrelevant, particularly for a single 1080P monitor. It will be appropriate to the card, and more than the reference amount will be mostly for marketing purposes. Only if you are looking at triple monitor gaming or a 2560 x 1600 monitor might more be appropriate. Perhaps not even then. I use a GTX580 with two 2560 x 1600 monitors, and have no issues with the reference amount of Vram.

3) From a graphics power point of view, the GTX590 will be superior in average fps. .... If you can find one.
But for your single monitor, I would go with the single good GTX580. Some games do not play well with dual gpu's, and a single card will eliminate microstutter which can be much more annoying than slightly lower FPS.

My suggestion is to go with a 2500K, and a factory overclocked GTX580.
Use the budget you saved for a 80-120gb SSD for the OS and some apps.

 

[paliovouna]

Hard drives, optical drives, ssd's, OS, games, programs are all covered. Would there be any drop in fps if i go with gtx 580 3GB and i7 2600k or not?
Also one more question. So only 1.5GB of the gtx 590 is used. Then the other half is useless?

Hey and what if i buy a not overlocked 580? Would there again be a difference?

 

[geofelt]

Hard drives, optical drives, ssd's, OS, games, programs are all covered. Would there be any drop in fps if i go with gtx 580 3GB and i7 2600k or not?
Also one more question. So only 1.5GB of the gtx 590 is used. Then the other half is useless?

Hey and what if i buy a not overlocked 580? Would there again be a difference?

FPS is mostly determined by the video card/s, and not the difference between a 2500K and 2600K.
A stock GTX580 will have a reference clock of 772. Many overclocked cards will be in the 800 range, perhaps a 5% difference. The most highly overclocked cards might be near 8oo, a 10% difference. On the horizon is the EVGA GTX580 classified, which will, no doubt, be the fastest GTX580 made. http://www.techpowerup.com/148568/EVGA-Ready-with-GeForce-GTX-580-Classified-Graphics-Card.html

As to vram usage, a card will use what it needs. It makes no difference if you have 3gb or 1.5gb if you only need 1gb. Is that a waste?
A GTX590 is two GTX570's sli'ed under the covers. In sli, the vram of the cards is not additive, that is why you see only 1.5 used. To my mind, not anything to base decisions on if there is much of a price premium.

 

[paliovouna]

So what do you suggest? The i5 2500k with the gtx 590 or the i7 2600k with the gtx 580 3GB?

 

[geofelt]

So what do you suggest? The i5 2500k with the gtx 590 or the i7 2600k with the gtx 580 3GB?

Save your money. I suggest an overclocked 1.5gb GTX580 and a 2500K.

 

[Swolern]

Hard drives, optical drives, ssd's, OS, games, programs are all covered. Would there be any drop in fps if i go with gtx 580 3GB and i7 2600k or not?
Also one more question. So only 1.5GB of the gtx 590 is used. Then the other half is useless?

Hey and what if i buy a not overlocked 580? Would there again be a difference?

Yes the max VRAM in real world use will be 1.5gb but it is used in SLI so the frames will be able to be produced twice as fast b/c the GPUs take turns producing frames.

i7 will have no benefit in gaming over the i5. Games don't use hyperthreading.

Only benefit you will see in 3gb 580 is in 3 monitor surround vision setups, but only one 3gb 580 on ur monitor will have same framerate as 1.5bg 580

Go with the i5/ 590 you will have much better framerates. Here are the benchmarks.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-590-sli-review/12

 

[gogetta]

So what do you suggest? The i5 2500k with the gtx 590 or the i7 2600k with the gtx 580 3GB?

What are you going to be playing? The i5 2500k and GTX 590 is a no brainer if you can afford it. As previously mentioned, the benefits of the i7 2600 are irrelevant in most tasks, especially gaming. The 590 is a beast and noticeably better than the 580.

For what it's worth, my friend just installed a 590 into his machine with an i5 2500k (not even overclocked) and he is running Starcraft 2 at 2560 resolution and pulling in 140 FPS.... like I said, beast mode.

Good luck

 

[jjb8675309]

get a gtx 580 1.5 GB and a 2500k end of story I see zero benefit in spending way more money on extra frame buffer that you will basically not use for a while if ever in regards to the lifespan of the gpu

 

[geofelt]

You might want to read this tom's article on microstuttering with multiple gpu's. The conclusion at the end is that they prefer one gpu where it can do the job:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995.html

 

[jjb8675309]

^ yes totally agreed, imo it is impossible not to notice my 6870 crossfire setup suffered from this and it made the overall experience horrible, much happier with a single gpu atm

 

[gogetta]

get a gtx 580 1.5 GB and a 2500k end of story I see zero benefit in spending way more money on extra frame buffer that you will basically not use for a while if ever in regards to the lifespan of the gpu

Pfft... Battlefield 3 will take full advantage of the 590 and it is definitely not a waste if you want to be able to enjoy BF3 or games like it on max settings and still pull playable and enjoyable frame rates.

 

[Swolern]

You might want to read this tom's article on microstuttering with multiple gpu's. The conclusion at the end is that they prefer one gpu where it can do the job:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995.html

Yes where it can do the job. But the OP stated he wanted to play Metro 2033. The 580 with the that game settings maxed with 1920x1080 display you are getting framerates average in the low 30s and sometimes in high 20s during action scenes. Even if you overclock the 580 the most u can get is an extra 10-15% FPS which equals an extra 3-4 FPS. The 590 will perform much better.

 

[STOPOT]

You can wait for EVGA's new OC version of 580 which will be real fast, or even the 3GB version of that OC version, still might be cheaper than stock 590 and performance will be very very close. I think its called EVGA GTX 580 Classified

 

[jjb8675309]

Pfft... Battlefield 3 will take full advantage of the 590 and it is definitely not a waste if you want to be able to enjoy BF3 or games like it on max settings and still pull playable and enjoyable frame rates.

nonsense the game is not even out how can you speculate performance like that?

 

[gogetta]

nonsense the game is not even out how can you speculate performance like that?

Going off of BC2 benchmarks..

GTX 580 will run around 80 frames maxed out at 1920

GTX 590 runs around 110 fps at the same resolution

It is understood that BF3 is epically more advanced graphically than BC2, dropping those averages down considerably. I would think maxing out BF3 on a 590 at 1920 res would put you at around 60-70 fps. It's all speculation, but to say the 590 isn't necessary and won't be for awhile is just wrong.

 

[gunslinger36]

nonsense the game is not even out how can you speculate performance like that?

BF3 is being tested with a 580 gtx all maxed out. I think a 590 would bring you a smoother expereience. I have a 460 gtx SLI and a I can say I´m totally satified with it. Microsttutering is not a real issue, it's less noticeable in nvidia cards. Go for the 590 if you have the money.

 

[paliovouna]

Thank you all people for the advice. I was away sorry for not answering. I currently have a 5750 1GB and it runs lots of new games on high settings, with AA off and get me a 30+fps in most. The games i have purchased and gonna be playing are Crysis 2, Bad Company 2, FEAR 3, Fallout New Vegas, Just Cause 2, and many others.

I have already pre-order Dead Island, Battlefield 3 (which is the main reason im getting a new computer), Skyrim, RAGE and others..

All i ask for is to max out those games and get around 60 fps which im totally happy with. I don't need something like 100 or 200 or whatever frames per second.

So im going with i5 and 590. Are there going to be serious microsttutering problems with it or not?

 

[jjb8675309]

lol why preorder? its not like you wont be able to get a game either digitally or in store like back in the day!

 

[jjb8675309]

Going off of BC2 benchmarks..

GTX 580 will run around 80 frames maxed out at 1920

GTX 590 runs around 110 fps at the same resolution

It is understood that BF3 is epically more advanced graphically than BC2, dropping those averages down considerably. I would think maxing out BF3 on a 590 at 1920 res would put you at around 60-70 fps. It's all speculation, but to say the 590 isn't necessary and won't be for awhile is just wrong.

exactly and anything over 60fps on a 60hz 1080p monitor is worthless imo, yeah it will bring minimums up but with a single 580 they should be decent enough either way the 590 is probably a better value since 580s are basically priced beyond their performance to a certain extent

 

[jjb8675309]

BF3 is being tested with a 580 gtx all maxed out. I think a 590 would bring you a smoother expereience. I have a 460 gtx SLI and a I can say I´m totally satified with it. Microsttutering is not a real issue, it's less noticeable in nvidia cards. Go for the 590 if you have the money.

yes its def less noticeable on nvidia cards, but on 6870s it was unbearable trust me

 

[gunslinger36]

After reading Tom's article which refers to the problems of microsttutering it seems that they are more noticeable in crossfire. As I told you before, I have a 460gtx SLI and microsttutering is not a great issue. Many people say that Microsttutering is not more noticeable in SLI than with a single card.