Graphics 2x EVGA GTX 580 Classified 3GB arrived this morning

LOL, we may well have to meet up, for some extreme testing.

 

All this time you've been living in Devon Simon?! Dammit! I would've like to have popped in to see your watercooling build. Ah well, I'm in Coventry now.

Glad to see you're happy with your new cards. When they first came out I was tempted but now that I'm an official tax payer with a car to look after, I'm finding I can't be so frivolous (you carry on though!).

I think I'll be waiting for the 780 to come out as it is rumoured that the green team are launching the 680 merely to counter the 7970 and will not offer any additional oerformance. The 780 should be full fat Kepler.

In regards to CPU advances, I think I'll be sticking with the 4GHz 920 for quite a while. At large resolutions, CPUs really don't seem to matter. Having said that, I haven't seen results for tri SLI systems, so it may help.

 

Hey Pete, I didn't realise you were down this neck of the woods?! Would have been great if you did pop in.

Sorry for the late reply, but trying to link all this on my phone is a nightmare, so I have done it on my laptop now, as I'm parked up...Gotta love my job, and the freedom.

Anyway, I did do some Tri SLI GTX580's on X78 3960X vs X58 990X.

Here you go,

My 990X @ 5Ghz and GPUS @ 940/1880/2203



My 3960X @ 5GHz and GPUS @ 940/1880/2203



So I think the extra x8 lanes makes a differences over x58 which does x16 x8 x8 in Tri SLI and x79 does x16 x8 x16 in Tri SLI.

3DMark06 990X vs 3960X


3960X
http://3dmark.com/3dm06/16329715



990X
http://3dmark.com/3dm06/16274742



3DMark Vantage 990x vs 3960x

3960X


990X


3DMark 11 990x vs 3960X

3960X @ 5Ghz
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2405971



990X @ 4Ghz


It's not a fair comparison, but I would imagine about a 2.5k gap between the two @ 5Ghz.

The extra 8x lanes had made a big differences in these benchmarks.

What happened to your 2500K setup? As I remember you saying it was like a side grade to your original 920?

Cheers,

Simon.

 

Cheers for the info Simon!

It'd be nice to upgrade to get that little bit more but I need to start saving for a house (though some 780s will be mine!).

The 2500K set up is currently sat around doing nothing. I did intend to make a media centre out of it but it turned out buying a PS3 was cheaper and allowed me access to some games not available on the PC. If anything, it was a downgrade as I couldn't fit my sound card in and seemed to have plenty of driver issues. The 920 is still going strong.

 

thought i would contribute something useful:

http://www.boston.co.uk/products/pws-2k01-br.aspx?utm_source=googleproducts&utm_medium=comparison

 

If rumor is to be believed then these GTX580's are going to look pretty mid range in just a couple months once Kepler arrives.

 

I think Simon has the means to get round this lol

 

true gamer how do your cards stack up against the msi 580 lightning 3gb edition? i was considering getting said card

 

or copper hydro , or better still just bite the bullet and send both back and grab a 590, pretty sure you'll be only guy on here with one, thats a nice record.

 

They already do to me

Yeah, alright, I'll shut up

 

Well the rumors are that the mid end Kepler cards (gtx 560Ti replacement part) rival the HD 79** cards for performance.
So you might find yourself looking on those HD7970's as mid level too once the high end Kepler cards drop.

Interesting times ahead.

 

When you see the charts http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/21/nvidia-reveals-fermis-successor-kepler-at-28nm-in-2011-maxwel/ showing Nvidia performance expectations for the next iterations, it kinda makes you wonder how much performance they're simply sat on. I mean even on Kepler quote:

 

Article date September 2010?

If Kepler turns out 2.5 times as fast as Fermi, then I'll believe that graph.

 

Yeah I noticed the date, it's moreabout the performance chart with it being an Nvidia presentation. What really seems interesting are the developments involving the Maxwell part http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/di...ave_Integrated_ARM_General_Purpose_Cores.html

 

Sort of goes along nicely with this eh? http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2011/11/10/arm-unveils-next-gen-gpu/1

 

Ye it's certainly interesting, especially with Windows 8 being "- the first mainstream operating system from Microsoft to support ARM chips" .

 

Ouch at that price, these 3GB Classified versions @ 900Mhz factory overclock have been going for about $520 in Canada (NCIX) or $1040 for the pair, or about 650GBP. At your currency conversion that's about $1500 CAD (50% more).

Hmm, I make 2-3 trips regularly now to Canada/USA <-> UK on an annual basis. Maybe I should offer a courier service

But with nVidia's 6xx series cards not too far off- I'm surprised you jumped for the 580's so late in the game.

 

He had 3 580's sold them because he was tempted by the 7970's and then realised he would have been better waiting till Nvidia's card's are released, and/or AMD sort there driver's out

 

people people people...this is just a stop gap for simon (read first post) he will ditch these once something more powerful arrives. Its simon for christ sake he sold 3 gtx 580's and bought 2 3gb gtx 580 so you dont think he will be able to afford the latest batch of nvidia cheesecake when it comes around.

Im just hoping seeing he is a good friend of mine those EVGA cards turn up on my doorstep

edit: ninj'd by the batman trashcan!

 

The switch to 3GB does make sense then . With games using up to 1.4GB at 1920x1080 - BF3 . I guess we're at the point where 3 or 4GB vram will be the new expected norm for the higher end cards.