alright, so i am upgrading my gtx 260. i thought i was set on the 470 i have now, but am able to return it still so here is my issue. is the 470 worth the extra $40 over the 460 1 gig version? $210 for the 460, $250 for the 470. i may end up in a sli situation later down the road, and will have a better power supply then (corsair 750 i think, maybe 850) and a new motherboard by then as well. wondering since the 460 is a lot cooler than the 470 im wondering if the 470's will get too hot together? and since the 460 in sli is a little more powerful than a 480 and runs cooler, plus cheaper than a 480, i was thinking of doing that. but if 2 470's are alright with good cooling, then that might be the road to take. i just really dont know. i could get the 470 and not have to upgrade anything for a while, but how long to you think a 470 will last before ill want/need to add another? or do you think by then that i will be ready for a newer card again with whatever nvidia has out at that time? i know i seem a little all over the place, but im seriously getting stressed about making the right choice. any and ALL help is greatly appreciated
need help deciding by midnight
- Thread starter kdfresh09
- Start date
CrayonMuncher
Active Member
i am also going to be using sli at some point in the close future and i was also considering the 460s but nvidia is set to release new products very shortly obviously to keep up with amd and there are set to make the current fermi's cheaper and the newer cards will prob be better due to revised architecture and will run cooler and prob be more powerful and efficient, so if you can you may want to wait as i believe these launches from nividia arent to far away.
The current problem will be psu (for sli) and temps what mobo do you have? i assume it is not the one in your sig as that supports neither sli or crossfire. It depends how close the cards which will increase the danger of overheating
The current problem will be psu (for sli) and temps what mobo do you have? i assume it is not the one in your sig as that supports neither sli or crossfire. It depends how close the cards which will increase the danger of overheating
ice
New Member
If you bought an 470 then it's a great purchase. I would say keep it and do SLI with 2 of those later down the road.
But it really depends on what you're going to do with the cards. "Hard-core" gaming? Using programs that require a lot of power through GPU(s)? As I said I would use SLI with two 470's, but demands by some gamers today are really over the top and sometimes I think they're overrated.. Two 470's are great. I saw results in 3D Mark Vantage and I personally thought they were awesome. Somewhere over 30 000.
Also, keep this in mind: You can overclock the cards. Brings out the beasts inside the beasts.
But it really depends on what you're going to do with the cards. "Hard-core" gaming? Using programs that require a lot of power through GPU(s)? As I said I would use SLI with two 470's, but demands by some gamers today are really over the top and sometimes I think they're overrated.. Two 470's are great. I saw results in 3D Mark Vantage and I personally thought they were awesome. Somewhere over 30 000.
Also, keep this in mind: You can overclock the cards. Brings out the beasts inside the beasts.
Aastii
VIP Member
I would take the 460, overclocked it is about the same power as a 470, but uses less power, produces less heat, and is cheaper initially, at stock it will plow through everything ut now and for a good while with ease
For how long it will be before you need an upgrade, it will be at least 1 or 2 generations down the line, especially if you SLI, when you will be able to pick up the second for much, much cheaper. But that goes for the 470 as well, however a 470 wouldn't be worth it for anyone because of the power and heat thing, with 2 you would be about on the edge of your 750-850 PSU because they are so damn inefficient and power hungry
For how long it will be before you need an upgrade, it will be at least 1 or 2 generations down the line, especially if you SLI, when you will be able to pick up the second for much, much cheaper. But that goes for the 470 as well, however a 470 wouldn't be worth it for anyone because of the power and heat thing, with 2 you would be about on the edge of your 750-850 PSU because they are so damn inefficient and power hungry
FuryRosewood
Active Member
^+1
I just purchased a 460 and it replaced both my SLIed 9800s and it outpreforms both of them combined...honestly tho...id say go with one good card vs two lesser cards, but the 460 is no slouch by any means
well guys thanks for all the help.
innercx, i thought about that for a while, and decided not to wait, simply because i find myself waiting and waiting, and then something new comes out, i get it, and shortly after something again new comes out. im sure the 475 would be more powerful when released, but ill probably sli in the future, so i should be fine buying now. as far as the motherboard, i will upgrade that when i want to sli, which will be when the current cards come down a bit in price. ill be sure to look at pci-e slot locations, and i want ti to have usb 3 and sata 6, as i will more than likley get a ssd when i get the motherboard. my current power supply i will sell in a system with a gtx 260 when i get my 2nd card for sli.
aastii, although the 460 runs cooler and uses less power and can overclock to the 470 pretty close, ill still be losing 112 shaders compared to the 470, pluse the 470 has 40 rop's, and 320 bit over 256 bit. i think 2 470's would last me longer in the end, over 2 460's
so guys in the end, i decided the pny gtx 470. i came across a local dealer that had to close his shop. he got it from best buy for $400, and sold it to me for $250 with box, accessories and receipt! i went online and registered it and got the warranty as well! i figured why not, if i have a problem with it i can just have pny take care of it. it was only $40 more than a gtx 460, and so far im pretty pleased. it gets pretty warm under load, around 85c when running furmark. compared the the 260 it replaced, its like night and day. i can bump everything up and turn the ambient occlusion thing on in nvidia control panel, and play at 1080p with around 45+ frames on all games with an exception of maybe 2.
i do have a question about sli. my card has 1 gig of ram, 320 bit interface, x amount of shaders and rop's ect. if i sli 2 of them, is it correct to double all those numbers, so the 2 cards combined would be like having one card that is 512 bit interface? how does that work?
so thanks for all the help again, and if someone can provide info on my question, that would be great!
innercx, i thought about that for a while, and decided not to wait, simply because i find myself waiting and waiting, and then something new comes out, i get it, and shortly after something again new comes out. im sure the 475 would be more powerful when released, but ill probably sli in the future, so i should be fine buying now. as far as the motherboard, i will upgrade that when i want to sli, which will be when the current cards come down a bit in price. ill be sure to look at pci-e slot locations, and i want ti to have usb 3 and sata 6, as i will more than likley get a ssd when i get the motherboard. my current power supply i will sell in a system with a gtx 260 when i get my 2nd card for sli.
aastii, although the 460 runs cooler and uses less power and can overclock to the 470 pretty close, ill still be losing 112 shaders compared to the 470, pluse the 470 has 40 rop's, and 320 bit over 256 bit. i think 2 470's would last me longer in the end, over 2 460's
so guys in the end, i decided the pny gtx 470. i came across a local dealer that had to close his shop. he got it from best buy for $400, and sold it to me for $250 with box, accessories and receipt! i went online and registered it and got the warranty as well! i figured why not, if i have a problem with it i can just have pny take care of it. it was only $40 more than a gtx 460, and so far im pretty pleased. it gets pretty warm under load, around 85c when running furmark. compared the the 260 it replaced, its like night and day. i can bump everything up and turn the ambient occlusion thing on in nvidia control panel, and play at 1080p with around 45+ frames on all games with an exception of maybe 2.
i do have a question about sli. my card has 1 gig of ram, 320 bit interface, x amount of shaders and rop's ect. if i sli 2 of them, is it correct to double all those numbers, so the 2 cards combined would be like having one card that is 512 bit interface? how does that work?
so thanks for all the help again, and if someone can provide info on my question, that would be great!
Well no. it isn't like having a bigger single card. True both cards work with all their hardware shaders and memory and so on. In SLI or C/F both cards receive and calculate the same data. But only have to render half the data in either split screen or alternating frames.
i see. so for an example, if i notice my gpu being used at 100%, in sli it should go down to 50% or so? so its like a dual core cpu. one core would represent my 1 card, and adding another card would be like a dual core. so sli isnt really making your graphics any more powerful, because the specs dont change, like from 320bit on one card to 640bit with 2 cards, data is still only being transfered with 320 bit no matter how many cards i have. when adding a 2nd card, its just taking some of the load from the other card, but it all is still ran with single card specs? like a dual core, both cores run at x speed, you cant add them together to have a different speed, it just handle the work load between the 2. am i about right with my understanding?
and thats crazy how some overclocked gtx 460's score higher than my 470 at stock. i wonder what the highest is that i can overclock mine. any ideas. i try to use msi afterburner, but the fan speed will reset to 30% sometimes by itself. im wondering if there is anything else people are using to overclock their gtx470. any suggestions?
and thats crazy how some overclocked gtx 460's score higher than my 470 at stock. i wonder what the highest is that i can overclock mine. any ideas. i try to use msi afterburner, but the fan speed will reset to 30% sometimes by itself. im wondering if there is anything else people are using to overclock their gtx470. any suggestions?
Well, no. LOL First with a multi core CPU. If the program is multi threaded each core gets its own thread. So each core is calculating different data.
In SLI or CF, each cards GPU is getting the same data. But only has to render half of it.