In the market for new video card(s).....

I had a thread a while back similar to this, but now I have the money to buy a new graphics set-up.... I'm looking at either a pair of 1gb Nvidia GTX460 cards in SLI, or a single GTX470. I'm currently running two GTX260s in SLI, and the performance is EXCELLENT!! However, the lack of DirectX11 support is a bummer. While it's true that not a whole lot of games currently support DX11, more and more will in the coming months. So.... how's about some thoughts from the fine folks here at MajorGeeks? What do you guys think: two 1gb GTX460s in SLI? -OR- a single GTX470?

(BTW - my motherboard will NOT support Crossfire; so lets not turn this in to an AMD/ATI vs Nvidia debate . . . there is no debate here: it's ONLY going to be Nvidia; even if I go with a single GTX470, I'd have the option of adding a 2nd one in the future, or adding a lower-end card for PhysX processing; so AMD video cards are NOT an option)

 

As far as shader processing goes a 470 is about equal to a pair of 260's(I have both running). However price/performance wise people like the 460. Let's see what the uber gamers think.

EDIT: Heck, you can OC a 460 to near 470 performance if you're so inclined.

 

Without knowing much about SLI, all I can offer is a 470 will definitely give you future upgrade options, whereas 2 460s won't. I would just go with the 470, myself.

 

The performance from the SLI'ed GTX260s is great, but they don't scale as well as a pair of GTX460s (the 460s scale to 1.8 or 1.9, where the 260s scale to maybe 1.5 or 1.6 at best), plus the 260s don't support DX11. If they did, I wouldn't even be considering the upgrade. The thing about the 470 is that if you want good cooling on it, figure adding $50 and over an inch in length. I'm sure it would fit in my case, and fan noise isn't an issue (I have so many loud fans already that I don't care), but I don't want a card running at 90c or higher, and from what I've read about the stock cooling, well, it sucks. I'm leaning towards the pair of GTX460s, but I'm not sold on 'em just yet.... that's why I'm looking for informed input.

 

To be honest I would wait until they have the dual gpu cards before thinking about upgrading. GTX 495 or something.

DX11 is really overrated IMo. Not many games are going to support it. Many games still use DX9

I don't think the upgrade would be worth the money.

 

DX11 overrated? Hmmm.... interesting.... if you've seen DX11 running side-by-side to DX10 on higher end hardware, the difference is ASTOUNDING!!! The textures, lighting, shadows... it truly is different. Yes, just about EVERY game uses DX9 and DX10, but that doesn't mean that DX11 is not the norm, or that it won't become the norm. Windows7 has DX11 built-in, and as Win7 gains momentum (which it has, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down), and as WinXP starts to lose a lot of its user base, and with Windows 8 looming in the future (scheduled for 2012 release), DX11 (DX12?) will become the standard. After all DX9c is, what, at least 5-6 years old? That's a lifetime in the PC world. Besides, when you run a DX11 game on old hardware, it will automatically "scale back" to DX9 or DX10 as needed, but the gamer will be missing out on a lot of the gaming experience by running DX11 capable games on DX9/10 hardware.

.... but this isn't meant to be a DX9/10 vs DX11 discussion LOL

 

That's a good point. How many games are you going to be playing that support DX11?

What I mean by overrated is that not many games are going to be using it.

At the moment I have many games but only two support DX11

I think DX9 is going to be around for another few years due to the consoles.

 

What's your definition of good cooling? When I originally built my i7 eVGA 3X SLI rig, I put the 470 in slot 1 and my 260 in slot 2 and got a real shock! The 470 hit nearly 100C and %92 fan(loud) so I then put my 260 in slot 1 and the 470 in slot 3, see the attachment.(470=GPU2).

I looked at a waterblock for the 470 as I wanted to put 3 in my rig and the WB would not take extra slot width but at $160/ea plus the supporting equipment was just too much for my pocket!:cry BTW, I have excellent airflow with my CM Sniper case, a pair of 200mm fans pushing air in and one pushing out on the top.

 

I was just about to post and point this out. Games are better when it comes to SLI support, so you'll be able to take advantage of SLI a lot more with your games than DX11.

Matter of fact, even if games run with DX11, they often run better with DX10 or even DX9, depending on the engine used. The latest and greatest of cutting-edge hardware is unfortunately rarely the most optimal set-up for a gaming PC.

 

Here I sit thinking that games are/were the major drivers/users of hardware innovation. Is this no longer true Mims or have I been living under a rock?:-D

 

Yes, and no. The developers of games want to sell as many copies as possible. In order to do that, they can't optimize for the latest and greatest, and leave everyone else behind. They optimize for what the majority of their market is using, and despite what some PC gamers might try to tell you, most of us actually do not upgrade our video cards every four months.

Throw in the multi-platform market (for the same reason, they can sell more), and now you have a situation where the game has to be able to run, and run well, on the considerably weaker hardware in a 360 or PS3, and you're left with a game that really doesn't need either DX11 or a GTX 460 to run smoothly with everything on max.

Assuming of course that the game developers did their job and coded the thing well... which unfortunately isn't always the case.

 

Ya Mimsy, porting stuff cross-platform will do it and of course they only want to code on one platform to keep the costs down. It makes sense. However, the samples that I've seen between DX9 and DX11 was amazing! One could actually see the water rippling and not just flat.

 

Yeah - DX11 is truly impressive. Rocks actually look like rocks and not just jumbled masses of grey and black; ropes look like ropes, not beige cylinders with darker beige stripes on 'em, you get 'god rays' coming through the clouds, true reflections, and actual glare like if you looked at a real pond in real life- you get real glare coming from the ripples in the water.. DX11 is crazy awesome, and will be the standard as DX9 was a few years ago.... so - wuddayalthink? two 460s SLI? single 470? wait until after Xmas?

 

At least definitely wait a bit longer. We're about 1.5-2 months away from the really crazy holiday sales.

 

I play 'Metro2033' and 'Battlefield:Bad Company 2' (these are two games I thought of off the top of my head) and both take advantage of DX11 when available. I've seen 'em both played in DX10 vs DX11 and the DX11 version is amazing!

Yeah - I'm thinking after Thanksgiving we'll see some price drops, and after Xmas there's always some craziness.... the prices right now are definitely agreeable, but I'm sure they'll be more agreeable in about 2 months or so.... but I still want to make an informed intelligent decision when the time comes.
:cool

 

With the launch of NVidia's new GTX580, I have learned that a GTX560 (and 570) is due shortly after the New Year, my guess is probably mid-Feb 2011. The 560 is aimed at taking the place of the 460, so I will probably be waiting until the launch of the 560, but this really depends on the price of the 560 (which hasn't yet been revealed). The price of the 460, however, has dropped quite a bit recently.... after rebates, some models of the 1gb version are hovering around $180. If they drop to $150-$160 by Xmas, I'll grab a pair.

 

I have heard some outrageous rumors on 560 pricing, but since they are only rumors I'm not going to quote them. I just really hope they're wrong...

 

For those interested, here's a quick blurb about the GTX560: http://www.bjorn3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35030

Mimsy: feel free to PM me with those rumored GTX560 prices! I'd be interested whether they're crazy high or crazy low (my guess is crazy high at $270US or so)....