Which GPU?

[esco1199]

WOW is the only computer game I play and I may try out GW2 when it comes out. Which GPU is better? Sorry for the ignorance.....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150517

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130593

[OnyxRayzor]

On average a 570 will perform better than a 6970. It's better value.

[Dyss]

go with the 570

[esco1199]

How close is the 560ti to the 570? The difference in price is about $100.

[Dyss]

How close is the 560ti to the 570? The difference in price is about $100.

Honestly, if you only play WoW and GW2. A 560ti is enough. You'd save $100 which is very nice

[esco1199]

Will the 560ti put me at high/ultra on 25 mans and bg's?

[Deleted]

i got both cards and tbh i find the 6970 better then the gtx 570....wile in wow the 570 runs a little better in games like BF3 , MW and new titles that came out the 6970 beets the 570. I play BF3 with ultra setings and a few at high and i get around 45-60 fps mostly stable at 60 while on the 570 its around 40-45 with the same setings.

You can play wow on ultra on both cards and in 25 man you will get a solid stable 50-60 fps depending on the fight.

I recomand that you get the 6970 if you wana play something elce then wow + it has 2 gb of vram that helps a lot in heavy loading games.

[DeltrusDisc]

I use a 560 Ti and it performed excellent right out of the box in WoW, since WoW is more CPU dependent. 570s and above are more for slightly bigger resolutions than 1920x1080 and more graphically intensive games, however the 560 Ti is still a GREAT GPU.

[Mr Gnomage]

Yeah absolutely no way you'd need anything above a 560 Ti for WoW at 1920x1080 or lower res, as long as you have a capable CPU.

[esco1199]

the cpu im getting is the i5 2500k

[BicycleMafioso]

Either GPU will work. Both are a fair bit over what you'll be likely to need for either game though.
But between the two, the HD6970 have the edge. It really depends on what features you'd like to get.

Both having the reference-design makes me hesitant to recommend either; It depends on your airflow in the computer you'll build, but if you have good/decent airflow, an aftermarket cooler can be advantageous.

[esco1199]

Either GPU will work. Both are a fair bit over what you'll be likely to need for either game though.
But between the two, the HD6970 have the edge. It really depends on what features you'd like to get.

Both having the reference-design makes me hesitant to recommend either; It depends on your airflow in the computer you'll build, but if you have good/decent airflow, an aftermarket cooler can be advantageous.

What do you mean by "reference-design"?

[BicycleMafioso]

What do you mean by "reference-design"?

The coolers are the ones that AMD and nVidia built for the specific cards, which are meant to be able to be used in any scenario rather than cases where you have good airflow.

The reference coolers for the HD6970 look like this (albeit stickers may differ) for instance.
The GTX 570 one looks like this.

They are not as good in temperatures, and not nearly as good in terms of noise. Their thermal compound application is also questionable, and they are more likely to have GPUs that doesn't overclock as well (although this may not be a concern for you).

[esco1199]

Ok I understand now. Thank you.

[Deatheryn]

If you are gonna drop that kind of money may as well go w/ a new 7950 which, when OC'd out performs the stock 580 and the stock 7990!

[Max Rebo]

If you are gonna drop that kind of money may as well go w/ a new 7950 which, when OC'd out performs the stock 580 and the stock 7990!

The OP may not be looking to spend $100+ over the price of a 570, or nearly $200 over the price of a 560Ti.

More GPU over a 560/570 won't really help WoW gameplay.

To the OP:
The i5 2500K is key... You can easily (and safely) get a 1.0 GHz overclock. Couple that with a 560/570 class GPU and you can run WoW on Ultra and everything will be smooth.

I recently built a setup much like the one the OP is considering. Best build/upgrade I've done in a long time.

[kidsafe]

To the OP:
The i5 2500K is key... You can easily (and safely) get a 1.0 GHz overclock. Couple that with a 560/570 class GPU and you can run WoW on Ultra and everything will be smooth.

The only exception is shadow detail... That seems to be entirely CPU based, and even an overclocked 4.8GHz i5-2500K can drop some frames here and here.

[Max Rebo]

The only exception is shadow detail... That seems to be entirely CPU based, and even an overclocked 4.8GHz i5-2500K can drop some frames here and here.

Understood.

However, with an i5-2500K @ 4.3GHz, 8 GB RAM, and a GTX 570 SC, I'm seeing no less than 40-50fps in 25-man raids with all graphics settings on max, including shadows. Probably more in the low 40fps range. Good enough for me compared to the 10-15 fps with my old setup.
I don't really need to see shadows in WoW, so I could turn them off during 25-man raids for a few extra fps. Overall though, this type of setup works well, and it seems to be what many folks have with minor variations here and there.

Are you running at 4.8GHz with that CPU? Just curious.

[Borfl]

As someone waiting for TERA/GW2 I'd probably wait on nvidia's kepler(600) series.

But if you're deadset between those 2 I'd go with the GTX570.

Also if you're going for MMO's I'd shift budget toward an SSD if you don't have one.

[crawdaddy029]

Go with the radeon and 5 monitor eyefinity :P
better yet, crossfire 2 of them and have 10 monitors and do 10 man raids by yourself.