Upgrade gtx 275 to 580?

[Sava]

Hi. The Tom's Hardware community has always been a good resource for me. My last two system builds have been heavily influenced by community recommendations.

I was thinking of upgrading my graphics card. Here are my system specs:

Mobo: ASUS P7P55D PRO LGA 1156
CPU: Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core
Vid Card: GIGABYTE GV-N275UD-896I GeForce GTX 275 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
PSU: CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-750HX 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 PSU;
RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM;
HDD: Western Digital 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s;

Would upgrading the card to a GTX 580 give a worthwhile performance boost?

I play all sorts of games... Minecraft, FPS like BF3

The money isn't that much of an issue. I typically spend around $250 for a card. But I don't mind splurging if it's going to be a significant upgrade.

Eventually, I'll build a new system... but probably not for another year or two.

I appreciate any help you could provide.
Thank you.

 

[Warmacblu]

Those require a water cooled loop. They would not be overkill if you are running two HD monitors.

You first have to make up your mind. Set a budget and pick a card, then you can choose the brand.

 

[gnomio]

might as well go for 2x 6970s then
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/298?vs=308

 

[Sava]

Those require a water cooled loop. They would not be overkill if you are running two HD monitors.

You first have to make up your mind. Set a budget and pick a card, then you can choose the brand.

The budget? I'm willing to spend anything to push my system to its full potential. However, I would prefer to not overspend for minimal gains if the choice is between say, 570s 580s... or 590.

Ideally, I'd like to pair another Samsung T260HD with the one I have right now.

However, if there is a more optimal monitor set up, I would be open to buying 2 brand new monitors specifically for my PC, as I can use my current monitor for console gaming or as an HDTV.

gnomio: My experience is with nVidia. Unless a specific Radeon product can give me better performance at a particular price point (or similar performance at a lower price point), I'm interested in sticking with nVidia. I don't want to disparage Radeon in any way. Perhaps in a newer build, I may go with Radeon.

 

[Warmacblu]

So it sounds like you are looking for the best price/performance ratio. Unfortunately for you, AMD holds that crown. Their cards offer similar performance to nVIDIA's offerings for cheaper. Read Tom's article about the best graphics cards for your money. I think you will get the best performance with a dual GPU solution, something I am not willing to mess around with.

 

[gnomio]

The budget? I'm willing to spend anything to push my system to its full potential. However, I would prefer to not overspend for minimal gains if the choice is between say, 570s 580s... or 590.

Ideally, I'd like to pair another Samsung T260HD with the one I have right now.

However, if there is a more optimal monitor set up, I would be open to buying 2 brand new monitors specifically for my PC, as I can use my current monitor for console gaming or as an HDTV.

gnomio: My experience is with nVidia. Unless a specific Radeon product can give me better performance at a particular price point (or similar performance at a lower price point), I'm interested in sticking with nVidia. I don't want to disparage Radeon in any way. Perhaps in a newer build, I may go with Radeon.

no one gets discount from being a dedicated fan but we all pay the same price.

580 sli vs 6970 cf performance
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/298?vs=308

Is that worth the 400-500usd?
Two Radeon HD 6970 will set you back $700, compared to $920 for two Geforce GTX 580 in SLI.
If you want more performance to play at 5760 x 1080/1200, simply go with the two Radeon HD 6970

580 vs 570
performance
Does the performance increase equal the price difference?

 

[Sava]

Is there a particular 6970 that I should consider?

Does the difference in VRAM 3gb vs 2gb (6 and 4 in SLI/Crossfire) between nvidia and AMD make much difference?

 

[Warmacblu]

The VRAM doesn't stack in dual card configurations. There won't be too much of a difference between the 2GB or 3GB.

 

[megamanx00]

If you want to use 3 monitors you either need two cards in SLI or a Radeon card with eyefinity.

 

[jecho]

Wait until amd and nvidia release their new cards. AMD's new southern islands should be "revealed" in Dec. Nvidia might have a delay. Its not worth $500+ dollars right now. If you need it now I would go with the 570. I have one and the Price/Performance is much greater than the 580.

 

[Warmacblu]

I disagree with Jecho, there's no sense in waiting. No one really knows when these cards will be released, it could just be a paper release. Plus, the higher end cards won't be out for a few months after the initial release, so you are looking at summer by that time. Not worth waiting in my opinion.