Hardware Choices

BrianStephan

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Hi guys not sure which is going to be better to get for purely gaming 2 X GTX 570's in SLI or a single Radeon 6990 or a GTX 590?
Is it better to get a overclocked machine for exapmle from Evetech?
 
I'd take the 6990.

What power supply do you have?

What processor do you have?
 
Build it yourself... get an i5 2500K(the best CPU for gaming), 1 x 580 and a corsair AX850W PSU... then if you are unhappy (which you wont be) you can SLI the 580... the only reason you might want more GPU power is to run the witcher 2, which is so far the only game my 580 struggles with.

Buidling it yourself and going i5 2500K will save you enough to go 580 instead of 570.
 
GTX570 SLI get higher FPS than the rest, and is cheaper. I'd go for that if you want a top end config
 
I have enough money to go for the Radeon 6990 or the GTX 580/590 but want to know which will give me the best performance rather get 2 low end cards that will out perform the 3 on top
 
I have enough money to go for the Radeon 6990 or the GTX 580/590 but want to know which will give me the best performance rather get 2 low end cards that will out perform the 3 on top

As I said. I'd take the 6990.
 
A 6990 is just two underclocked 6970s in crossfire. So 2x 6970 crossfire is faster than a 6990 and cost the same. Even better: a 6950 can be unlocked to a 6970.

Do you game at 1080p? If so I consider all of the above overkill!
 
Total overkill. At 1080p you won't notice the difference between a single 6950/6970 and a 6990 for basically any game out there. You need a 27" screen at 1440p to appreciate a 6990.

Why not get a single 6950/6970 to start with and if it isnt enough - get another one and crossfire it?
 
Spoke to a friend of mine isnt it a mistake to get 2 lower end cards then to get a single higher end card 2 many factors to consider then?
Would getting the overclocked system make any diffrence to a none overclocked system for gaming?
 
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Well generally, yes. But the 6990 is effectively two cards anyway - just on one die. The advantage to having a single card is that you can add another one. But the 6990 is total overkill already - two is just silly!

Seriously, what game out there can't hit smooth fps on full settings at 1080p on a 6970?
 
Just makes my choice more confusing lol :D. Now the other question Geforce 590 over the 6990 told u it gets confusing
 
Well generally, yes. But the 6990 is effectively two cards anyway - just on one die. The advantage to having a single card is that you can add another one. But the 6990 is total overkill already - two is just silly!

Seriously, what game out there can't hit smooth fps on full settings at 1080p on a 6970?

The witcher2 only manages 20FPS on max settings on a GTX 580, you need sli GTX 580's to get playable FPS... at 1920x1080... no one mentioned 2 x 6990.
 
I dont have enough money at this stage to get 2 X 6990's or 590. Want this machine to be able to play any games comfortably for the next year/year and half. Had a look with some games the Radeon outperforms the Geforce and then you have it the other way around aswell think it comes down to now which 1 gives the best picture quality.
 
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I thought you'd get more for a PC that price?

Maybe I didn't read it properly but maybe an SSD, a blu-ray player (if not a writer) and a bit more than 1TB (there's a 2TB Caviar Black isn't there?)

but what I really wanna know is why your name is made of two first names:)
 
I have decided rather to go for the asus maximus extreme IV motherboard with a I7 2600K OC and a Geforce GTX 580 3G can put in another 580 later and they will both run at 16X as for the name couldnt think of anything else lol
 
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Let me rather try this approach if u had R20000 to spend on a purely gaming machine what would u get?
 
Let me rather try this approach if u had R20000 to spend on a purely gaming machine what would u get?

Water cooling :D If only it was easier to get in SA. Anyway, here is what I'd get

2600k - R3000
Top end mobo - R2500
120GB SSD - R2500
8GB RAM - R1200
Large HDD - R750
A proper case - R2000
Decent PSU - R1250
GPU - GTX580 - this will be enough for a single screen setup, if you really want bragging rights go for a GTX590 or HD6990 rather.

And you still have lots of change

disclaimer - this build is total overkill for single screen gaming, could easily cut it down by R4000 more
 
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