GTX570 or GTX260Ti

[7Coolhand]

I´m choosing between these cards (costs exactly the same) for an I5-2500K rig:

 

Gainward GeForce GTX 570 1280MB PhysX

 

or

 

MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti 2GB PhysX (N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5/OC)

 

Which one is best for DCS-A10?

 

I have heard that the game likes alot of VRAM, so maybe the 560Ti is the best...

[EtherealN]

It's not only about vRAM count though - it certainly helps, but you might want to compare memory clock speeds as well. I'd personally suspect that the 570 ends up being better, but I haven't tested this myself.

[PeterP]

Welcome aboard 7Coolhand!

 

Like EtherealN already said - V-ram helps.

Especialy when you want to run DCS beyond 1920x1080 and want to add more than 1 monitor (Helios for instance).

Even if you only want to use 1 monitor - a good a mount of v-ram will prevent you to run in some stutters you will have on lower setups if you quickly change the view - and because of this textures have to be loaded in to your card first.

- or think about utilising 3D some day...

 

In any case I wouldn't recommend a card not under 1GB ram for DCS

but to be on the save side I would recommend 2GB!

So you don't have to worry you will run into big issues when you think about adding a 2nd screen some day.

 

Edit:

And up to now I can't say that DCS is exorbitant graphical limiting program - most of the times the people ran out of processing power when you see them arguing about FPS issues on this Forum. Most of the times is the GPU long ready calculating the next frame but is waiting for the CPU for new data what to render next!

 

DCS is not Crytek! ;)

 

So you have to check the pros and contras carefully.

-my 2cent

Edited October 12, 2011 by PeterP

[159th_Viper]

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=640&card2=641

[PeterP]

and may I ask....

why nvidia and not a AMD/ATI ?!

 

Please don't get me wrong-I don't want to sell you something...:P

 

But up to now AMD offers more for your money - and a has better memory management (on same clocks AMD is much faster than NVIDIA)

- and please stay awa by any means from a dual GPU if you want to use a NVIDIA brand : SLI don't work with DCS , means a singel GPU renders faster - the community is waiting since years for a working SLI profile from NVIDIA.

 

- my 2cents -oh!- now you have 4cent from me ! :)

Edit: BTW - yes!- you are right: I use a AMD/ATI...

 

but please don't nail me on the SLI/Dual-card issues I have mentioned - I didn't tracked this subject for the last couple of month...

Edited October 12, 2011 by PeterP

[EtherealN]

Someone needs to give me a 2GB 560Ti so I can make a direct comparison between the utility of memory speed and memory amount. :D

 

It's a complex question: higher memory speed on the graphics adapter can help in a lot of things that it does, but a higher-amount but slightly lower frequency memory can also help ensure there is reduced IO reliance through the PCI bus.

 

The big advantage of the 570 though is that it will offer a higher calculation throughput, which might for example give you a bigger headroom for AA and AF in a lot of games. The 560Ti is, at stock, good enough to crank up pretty much anything on the market with 1920x1080 resoultion as long as you aren't going totally overboard with AA, AF and so on. On the other hand, as PeterP mentions, added vRAM is a great asset for higher resolutions and multimonitor setups, but I don't feel that this is a big issue so far even with "only" a 1GB 560. (I've tested this through running DCS:A-10C and FC2 on the main screen while simultaneously playing HD video content on the second screen, with Aero active. It does come at a small performance cost, but not a big one. In part this might be due to my processor though, since it will take care of most of the decoding work in this case.)

[EtherealN]

and may I ask....

why nvidia and not a AMD/ATI ?!

 

"The beast you know", I suspect. I personally am not a great fan of the AMD GPU's, though I did almost purchase a 5850 when they were new - they were awesome value at that point. But there's so much driver shenanigans going on with the AMD cards I feel put off - but I freely admit that this might be a case of confirmation bias on my part.

[PeterP]

I've tested this through running DCS:A-10C and FC2 on the main screen while simultaneously playing HD video content on the second screen, with Aero active.

Very OT:

:lol::D Haha - Now I know how the every day of a ED-Tester looks like!

[EtherealN]

Whoops. :D

[Eddie]

I can't offer any opinon on the 560 over what is already on and net and has been said here already, but I will say the 570 is a truly fantastic card.

 

The 570 is more than capable of running any current or near future game maxed out at standard resolutions (upto 1920x1200), and it hardly breaks a sweat running A-10C with settings maxed out and 16xAF/8XAA (even 16XAA is fine). I've also installed quite a few hi-res texture mods in my 1.1.0.9 install there is no hint of running out of vRAM.

 

I'd say go for the GPU grunt of the 570 rather than the extra vRAM of the 560 every time.

 

And PeterP:

 

We don't all do that, EtherealN is just a lunatic.

[PeterP]

Thanks Eddie! ...I know - ....so am I...

[Bolt-1]

@ 7Coolhand

 

or you could just save a few more pennies and get this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130687

[Eddie]

@ 7Coolhand

 

or you could just save a few more pennies and get this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130687

 

If only stuff was that cheap here. Thats £20 cheaper than I paid for my 1.2Gb 570.

[7Coolhand]

Tnx guys for all replys. What I didn't mention was that I will run the game on 100" projector screen, in 1920x1200. Does this setup require more vram? I will go to Florida in a couple of weeeks. Is newegg the best place to buy a GPU from?

[PeterP]

projector or monitor- this will not make any change to the processing behind it.

[cichlidfan]

Tnx guys for all replys. What I didn't mention was that I will run the game on 100" projector screen, in 1920x1200. Does this setup require more vram? I will go to Florida in a couple of weeeks. Is newegg the best place to buy a GPU from?

 

As Peter said, and to be more specific; 1920x1200 is what it is, it matters not what you do with it.

 

As for NewEgg, they have good prices but you should still shop around. Even Tiger Direct has a decent price on a rare day. Sometimes Amazon is better, sometimes not...keep shipping costs in mind as well. Some vendors have good prices until you do all math.

[7Coolhand]

I never considered AMD for DCS. I thought it was broken for AMD. Maybee this is the best choice if AMD still is ok: PowerColor Radeon HD 6950 2GB GDDR5

I Will get this for the same money as the gtx 570.