Replacing GTX 580 SLI to....

[Claudius-07]

Hi folks,
So I am currently running 2 580 GTX 3GB in SLI and have been pretty much from the day they were released. I have NO need for more performance for the games I play or stuff I do, and have loved these cards immensely but I am tired of the extra noise, the ridiculous power and extra heat. I have even gone as far as pulling one of the 580's but that kinda defeats the whole purpose of my SLI setup. I was thinking of trying to find an aftermarket cooling kit for each, but that involves work and most if any that I can find cost quite a bit.

At my local comp store I noted a Zotac 780 Ti for $340 Canadian after a massive price drop and I have a gift card still from my wife from a while ago. The guy that works there is a friend and put it aside for me. I am pretty confident I could maybe sell my 2 580's locally for a few $$... though prices i just checked on Kijiji locally are going from $120 all the way up to $350 like WTF!! Anyhow... the question... :

For NOISE and HEAT and POWER usage, is it at all worth it for me to grab this one 780 ti? Or is the answer now: 970 GTX period! That is if I can find one in stock.

I want quiet.. quiet.. quiet and low power. it's not like I game 5 hours a day like I used to, I might do that 1 hour if that, and then 3 hours of actual work at home where I doubt any of my cards are used for what I do.
Heck I might just get a 750 Ti and call it a day LOL. I am getting old.

Edit: I am having issues trying to find an apple to apple comparison, power noise heat etc, of the newer 780's, TI's and 970's and 980's vs OLDER cards like mine.. sigh.

 

[lavaheadache]

970.... you said it yourself with low power consumption being a priority, but you also said you don't game much. Go get a cheap 750ti and see if it does what you need. If not return it and get that 970.

After you are all squared away sell those 580's. I'll take one while we're at it... =P

 

[Claudius-07]

Man you think after all these years I actually search on Anand and find the Bench section. Duhh. I plugged in the 780 ti vs 580 and yah the 780 Ti is a world ahead in performance but power wise etc, I am not getting a better solution.

Ok Lava, yup gona try the 750 Ti, I might be shocked and it's on sale as well. If that does not work out for me, the 970 it is. Cheers.

 

[Mondozei]

Get a 970 Asus STRIX card, semi-passively cooled GPU. Should give you the performance you need for many years as well as the quiet. Sell your 580s if you can, but it'll be tough. Count yourself lucky if you can.

 

[fixbsod]

970

 

[el etro]

GTX 970 Sli, or you will not get that improvement.

 

[f1sherman]

750 Ti

in some games it will even beat 580, but overall it's like 20% slower

beware you can't SLI those

 

[Rvenger]

970.... you said it yourself with low power consumption being a priority, but you also said you don't game much. Go get a cheap 750ti and see if it does what you need. If not return it and get that 970.

After you are all squared away sell those 580's. I'll take one while we're at it... =P

This... and I will kindly take the other 580

 

[WT]

Shoot, too bad he wasn't doing Tri-SLI ... I'd take the third card !!! 970, like everyone else is recommending.

 

[Rezist]

No one here is paying attention to CDN prices that 780Ti at 340$ is 90$ cheaper then the 970 and faster then it.

 

[toyota]

I would not spend over 300 bucks for a gpu with less than 4gb at this point though.

 

[RockinZ28]

I went 580 SLI to 970 SLI.

Noise difference is remarkable. I'm using the MSI 4G GTX 970s. I've never heard them over my case fans at full load, even at high oc's running benchmarks. Only heard them when manually setting to 100% fan, and even then they are nothing compared to reference cooler 580s.

With the 580s, at stock clocks it would be like a jet engine within a few seconds of running a 3d app.

 

[Claudius-07]

Yah my two 3GB 580's were not "too" bad when just sitting idle, but playing any game that taxed them and as Rockin said, jet engine for sure. I hate wearing headsets as I have things I need to pay attention to at home, so that was out of the question.

I like the idea of that Asus Strix!
Anyhow for now, looks like I have my 2 580's sold, albeit it hurt to sell them at that price but I know they are going to a good home (friend's son).

750 Ti running in system and loving it for what it's made for. Have not played any of my games as of yet, will give it a whirl this weekend. If that sucks balls, then I will finally move the 750 Ti to my HTPC that is running an older nvidia card, as the 750 Ti I got requires no external power and it's dead silent, and I will see what 970 I can find.
Thank you all!