nVIDIA's GTX 580

[VOxPERENOLDE]

I'm just posting this for anyone that is considering purchasing one of these babies for WoW. Everything runs great haven't had one issue with drivers and WoW. I am running Forceware 262.99. Max everything at 1920x1080 the card runs cool and quiet. I run in windowed mode because I multibox on a multi monitor setup.

Currently running 2x GTX 580's unbridged (non SLI) they don't seem to load balance like my older GTX 260s. But this is not an issue because 1 of these cards is more then enough for WoW. In fact when running 2 clients the 2nd card shows ~10% load, so I run folding(at)home off the 2nd card 24-7.

Comparing these to the 480s, they are much quieter, much cooler, and what the 480 should have been on release. At 100% load on my second card temps reach 65c at most, and fans never pass 70%. I barely notice them in my case. In a 25man ICC run with main toon in raid and 2nd sitting in a crowded Dalaran 1 GTX 580 ran at about 85-90% load and around 55c. (This is both clients running off a single card)

With ATI's HD 6970 right around the corner you may want to wait and see what they bring to the table, but if you're looking for a card right now that can handle anything out now or in the upcoming year this card is sweet. The only knock is the price. ★★★★½

[afatgoat]

For half the price of 2x 580's you can pick up 2x 470's. With what you'll pay in shipping and taxes on the 580's you can get 2 waterblocks to cool them through DD. I havnt' seen higher then 50 degrees benchmarking them either. Either way, it's $500+ vs $230 +. They're both excessive if you're just using them to play wow.

[haxartus]

I like to upgrade when a new technology comes out (new fabrication process, new architecture, etc), and there is almost nothing new in the GTX580. Except the new cooler of course.

[Deleted]

Yeah, its a really great card!

[Ezrail]

Just got mine in the other day but haven't had the chance to play with it. Will be adding an additional one in March. Can't wait to play!

[Xuvial]

You...guys....do play something other than WoW right?

[Cantii]

Every review and benchmark that I've seen of the new GTX580 puts it *BARELY* ahead of the GTX480, and that's not a good thing. It's hardly a step up at all. If you're seriously thinking about buying one of these "next gen" cards (really, the only thing it does better than the GTX480 is DX11, and even then the AMD Barts core cards [6850, 6870] do it better, though are obviously slower), I would seriously wait until AMD comes out with their Cayman line of cards (the 6950 and 6970, due out December 13). If rumors prove true (and there have been A LOT), the Cayman cards will be far better bang for buck than the GTX580 is, or even the GTX560 will be.

[VOxPERENOLDE]

For half the price of 2x 580's you can pick up 2x 470's. With what you'll pay in shipping and taxes on the 580's you can get 2 waterblocks to cool them through DD. I havnt' seen higher then 50 degrees benchmarking them either. Either way, it's $500+ vs $230 +. They're both excessive if you're just using them to play wow.

This wasn't posted as a suggestion as a card to only play WoW, merely to state that it is rock solid and to offer a comparison to its predecessor. Personally I use some of my GPU's for folding while playing WoW, and all of them for folding when not using the PC (Cure to Cancer > WoW). This is merely a post for those considering one of these cards, that it is stable for Cataclysm and WoW won't outgrow this card. And as far as the 470s go you'd be better off with 1GB 460s. Also SLI support and optimization for WoW is abysmal, I got much better framerates at the same settings taking my 260s out of SLI.

So if your getting a card for WoW IMHO you'd be better off spending a little more and getting a single card that performs as well or better then 2 cheaper cards in SLI (buying cheaper multiple cards now only limits your upwards mobility). As for more demanding games that's a a different story.

For those interested in FaH, each GTX stock on air pulls 17k PPD, it would take a OC'd 480 on water to best it. 580s use less power, run cooler and will offer much higher overclocks as BIOS updates appear that unlock the voltage cap currently imposed.

[Ezrail]

In my case, I haven't been able to play anything aside from WoW for years due to my PC being very outdated. I do plan on playing more games than WoW, as well as Folding, but also need something that will carry me for a few years. When it came to building my PC, I wanted something by Christmas, if not by Cata release. I was given the option of the gtx580 and I took it. Also, why worry about what other people are spending? It's their money, let them use it as they please.

[Taistelumestari Viiksi]

You...guys....do play something other than WoW right?

I thought I played and ended up buying 2x 460 GTX instead of just one.
Oh well...

[afatgoat]

This wasn't posted as a suggestion as a card to only play WoW, merely to state that it is rock solid and to offer a comparison to its predecessor. Personally I use some of my GPU's for folding while playing WoW, and all of them for folding when not using the PC (Cure to Cancer > WoW). This is merely a post for those considering one of these cards, that it is stable for Cataclysm and WoW won't outgrow this card. And as far as the 470s go you'd be better off with 1GB 460s. Also SLI support and optimization for WoW is abysmal, I got much better framerates at the same settings taking my 260s out of SLI.

So if your getting a card for WoW IMHO you'd be better off spending a little more and getting a single card that performs as well or better then 2 cheaper cards in SLI (buying cheaper multiple cards now only limits your upwards mobility). As for more demanding games that's a a different story.

For those interested in FaH, each GTX stock on air pulls 17k PPD, it would take a OC'd 480 on water to best it. 580s use less power, run cooler and will offer much higher overclocks as BIOS updates appear that unlock the voltage cap currently imposed.

Hey, I'm not calling you out on a crappy purchase. Big & Shiny goes a long way in consideration for upgrades. Check out the reviews on toms hardware about overclocked 470's vs 580's on air and water in SLI. No doubt about it, it's the superior card. If money isn't an option, i'd be in the same boat with you. All i'm saying is, according to reviews, 2x + the cost does not = 2x the performance.

Also, 200fps isn't exactly abysmal SLI performance, maxing out at 550+ in less intense zones. On ultra.

[Xuvial]

I too began to wonder - if you can simply throw two cheaper cards into crossfire/sli and get better performance than 1 super-expensive card, why isn't EVERYBODY doing it? I mean the benchmarks speak for themselves....technically you would be a complete idiot to buy an HD5990 or GTX580 because two GTX460's or HD6870's seem to give FAR more performance while costing less.
Digging a little deeper and seeking people who have had plenty of experience, I got some answers. To put it simply, there are are just far too many issues with multi-GPU setups....there is far too much that can go wrong. People's machines acting funny, games not working, drivers acting up, scaling not happening and the biggest one of all - stuttering / micro-stuttering. It's gone from "does it really exist?" to "how to fix it?" because ALL multi-gpu setups have micro-stuttering whether the player notices it or not. What's more, the problem is several years old and neither NVidia or ATI have been able to come up with a definite solution.
Almost all my "wish-builds" involved crossfire/sli but I have taken a big step back and am once again believing in getting just one GOOD card, because it's sounding like multi-gpu setups are not worth the potential troubles they can cause.
To those not familiar with micro-stuttering, it results in FPS spiking down every couple of seconds due to the way frames are inter-weaved through the graphics cards. Micro-stuttering never shows up in benchmarks (which is why they can be misleading) but from the huge discussions that have popped up around it, people have said it's "smoother" to play a game at 30 FPS than at 60 fps + stuttering. I believe them = /