Hello, I am going to upgrade my graphics cards soon and I need a little help picking one out. I can afford a gtx 570, however I'm not sure which model I want to get. The two I'm thinking of buying are the EVGA 2.5 GB 570 or the ASUS 570. The ASUS version looks good to me because it seems to be a little quieter and better cooled than the other one. Also, space for it isn't really an issue with my new case. However, the other version, while not as quiet or cool, has more RAM, although I'm not really sure how much of a performance boost that will give me. So I need you guys to help me pick, thanks! Perhaps the MSI 570 could also be something to consider?
The GTX 670 is worth serious consideration before you go for a GTX 570... http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/518?vs=598
I know I'm not being much help, but I'd say go with a 7850. It's not quite as powerful out of the box, but it's great once OCed. However, as for your actual question, I'd say MSI. I've had 2 of their Twin Freezr cards; both have worked superbly
I'd also second the 7850 - lower temps, lower power, lower noise, better performance when OC'd. Otherwise maybe wait for the GTX 660? It's likely to outperform the 570.
Thanks for reminding me I forgot to mention. I have two monitors, only one of them(at 1920x1080) is used for gaming. The second(1600x900) is used for displaying other windows, info, and other small things like that. Also a 7850 might be nice, but I would like to try an Nvidia card, I'v never used one before and I heard Physx was cool. Sorry a want a 670 but it is too far out of my price range.
The trouble with buying a new GTX 570 is that it's very shortly going to be replaced. You'll find that in time nvidia gives better support in drivers to its 600 series (and likewise AMD for its 7000 series). Personally I'd wait for the GTX 660, or get a second hand 570 to save a lot of money. If not, you can find lots of reviews of the various 570 cards here: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviewdb/Graphics-Cards/NVIDIA/GTX-570/
I've seen loads of beta labeled drivers for my GTX460 in between the WHQL ones. In fact, after checking - in the last nine months there have been ten drivers released, four were WHQL.
Just because nvidia's latest drivers support the GTX 460 doesn't mean they've made any effort to optimise them for it. Obviously the 500 series will be supported for a long time, but priority will always be on the latest architecture.
Thanks for all the info guys, at this point, unless I get more money(not likely) I will go with the ASUS model. However, my firend has the 2.5 GB version, and he says that the RAM on his would be more useful. Is that true?
The cheapest 570 you can find basically ( Asus or evga ) 2.5gb is waste of space 570 doesn't have the gpu grunt to drive the settings needed for 2.5gb VRAM
Same as rollo said. The 2.5GB card is wasted at standard HD resolutions. EVGA offer a great warranty if you can scope out a reasonably priced regular GTX 570. Otherwise this range is conspicuous by lack of a 600 series equivalent. It might be wise to hold fire until Nvidia release something along the lines of a GTX 660. As mentioned before the GTX 570 is older tech in todays market and over $300 is lots of money. For the little extra it's worth selling your soul for the 600 series!
Might be worth pointing out that the EVGA 570 comes with a limited lifetime warranty. Not 2, 3 or 10 years. Lifetime. Plus 2.5GB is not wasted at 1080p. It is currently but in a year or 2 years time who knows how much games will use?
Personally I wouldn't spend the extra cache for more VRAM on a 570 - I've got two of them in SLI, gaming at 2560x1600, and don't run into VRAM limitations at all, even Crysis 2 with the high res texture pack is fine. Like noizdaemon666 says this is only on current games, but I don't see the situation changing quickly in terms of VRAM requirements. Time will tell of course, but I'd be surprised if games start coming out that need that much VRAM but are happy with the general performance of a 570. I'd find it more likely that any game needing 2 Gb of more of VRAM would need more performance than a 570 delivers anyway.