I will attempt to use a single post to detail both Nvidia and AMD video cards and then tell you which card I went with. First we will take a look at Nvidia
NVIDIA
NVIDIA is an amazing company with a very impressive portfolio of products. Known primarily for their video cards, Nvidia has also delved in to the world of mobile processors with their TEGRA lineup of Dual-Core and Quad-Core mobile processors. They offer blazing fast graphics card and are always at the cutting edge of Video Card technology.
The lineup that I was most interested in at the time of my build was the Nvidia GeForce GTX 5 Series.
GTX 560
The GTX 560 is a very good card which has 336 Cuda Cores and is capable of running games in DirectX 11 at 1080p resolution and beyond. Some good choices in the range are as follows:
1. EVGA Superclocked 02G-P3-1469-KR which has a core clock of 850Mhz, 2GB of GDDR5 Memory, Max. Resolution of 2560 x 1600 and is SLI Ready. The is 8.25 inches long which is a very important thing to note because if the card is too big for your case you might no be able to fit it easily so always always try to find out what the dimensions are. Currently selling for $209.99.
2. ASUS ENGTX560 DCII TOP/2DI/1GD5
Price : $209.99
Core Clock : 925Mhz
Memory: 1GB GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimesions : 9 in x 4.4 in (L x W)
Another very good card to have. The Ram may look smaller to you but if you plan on gaming on only one monitor you should have no problems with this card. 2GB of memory will give you more stable performance on 2 monitors.
3. MSi N560GTX-M2D1 GD5
Price : $189.99
Core Clock : 810 Mhz
Memory : 1GB GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 9.37 in x 4.41 in
Another very good card but the longest of the three I have mentioned. Space is always at a premium inside your case so always make sure your case can fit said card.
GTX 560 Ti
The 560Ti is an updated 560 with more Cuda Cores then 560. It has two editions the standard one has 384 Cores and a Limited Edition which has 448 Cores. The 560 has been one of the most popular cards NVIDIA has made which is why they came out with two more editions of it featuring more cores.
1. EVGA 012-P3-2078-KR
Price : $299.99
Core Clock : 810 Mhz
Memory : 1.25 GB of GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 10.5in x 4.38in
An awesome card to consider as it can keep up with and even outperform a stock GTX 570. and overclocked can perform like a GTX 580. A worthy one to consider. This is the 448 Core Limited Edition. The rest are the standard 384 Core models.
2. MSi N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5/OC
Price : $269.99
Core Clock : 880Mhz
Memory : 2 GB of GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 9.37 in x 4.37 in
MSi also makes some very good gpus. Their Twin Frozr line has two fans as opposed to the usual one fan which gives a better cooling option.
3. EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR
Price : $249.99
Core Clock : 850 Mhz
Memory : 1GB GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 9 in x 4.38in
So it should be apparent at this point that EVGA makes some of the best NVIDIA video cards out in the market. That is why at least one card is always mentioned in my list.
4. ASUS ENGTX560 TI DCII TOP/2DI/1GD5
Price : $239.99
Core Clock : 900Mhz
Memory : 1GB GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 9in x 4.4 in
One of my favorite companies with one of my favorite cards. DC II stands for DirectCU II which is a dual fan design with three 8mm flatten copper heat pipes directly in contact with the GPU to provide a more cooler operation temperature and as a result, a longer lifespan.
GTX 570
Built to replace the GTX 480, The 570 is an impressive card with 480 CUDA Cores and capable of a maximum digital resolution of 2560x1600 (As per NVIDIA's reference card design.) Built to fill the niche between the 560 and 580.
1. EVGA 025-P3-1579-AR
Price : $339.99
Core Clock : 732Mhz
Memory : 2.5GB 320-bit GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 9 in x 4.38in
As always a very solid design by EVGA, this card is a very strong contender and can play any game at max settings.
2. ASUS ENGTX570 DCII/2DIS/1280MD5
Price : $339.99
Core Clock : 742 Mhz
Memory : 1.2 GB 320-bit GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 11.5in x 5in
One of my favorite cards with the only gripe being the size of the thing. It's pretty big! As always plan accordingly.
3. MSi N570GTX Frozr III PE/OC
Price : $329.99
Core Clock : 770Mhz
Memory : 1.2GB 320-bit GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 9.57in x 4.53in
Another solid effort by MSi, The Frozr III has the higher core clock out of the three and size is also good.
GTX 580
NVIDIA's fastest DirectX 11 GPU with 512 Cuda Cores. The 580 is the very best 5 series card from NVIDIA and if you the money, you can not go wrong with it.
1. EVGA 03G-P3-1591-AR
Price : $659.99
Core Clock : 772 Mhz
Memory : 3GB 384-bit GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 10.5in x 5.5in
The very best effort by EVGA yielded this amazing card. It is a liquid cooled card with no fans running in it and if you have the money, nothing beats it.
2. EVGA Superclocked 015-P3-1582-AR
Price : $429.99
Core Clock : 797 Mhz
Memory : 1.5GB 384-bit GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions 10.5in x 4.38in
Another very solid card by EVGA. Get this and you will be set for a long time playing any game at the highest settings.
3. Gigabyte GV-N580UD-15I
Price $389.99
Core Clock : 795Mhz
Memory : 1.5GB 384-bit GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 11.02in x 5.39in
This card has 3 fans for some very impressive cooling! The only gripe would be of course the size as it is hitting 11 inches. Make room for it! Overall an impressive effort by Gigabyte.
There you have it folks. Those are the cards from Nvidia which I was interested in. If you are on a budget, I would recommend the GTX 560Ti. It's popularity has not waned even a bit after the Nvidia 6 series was launched (Will talk about that in a later post.) If you have the money then I would suggest the GTX580 but all in all any of these cards should keep you happy for a while!
My next post will be about AMD Cards and of course which card I ended up going with.
Till then,
Kiyoshi out!
NVIDIA
NVIDIA is an amazing company with a very impressive portfolio of products. Known primarily for their video cards, Nvidia has also delved in to the world of mobile processors with their TEGRA lineup of Dual-Core and Quad-Core mobile processors. They offer blazing fast graphics card and are always at the cutting edge of Video Card technology.
The lineup that I was most interested in at the time of my build was the Nvidia GeForce GTX 5 Series.
GTX 560
1. EVGA Superclocked 02G-P3-1469-KR which has a core clock of 850Mhz, 2GB of GDDR5 Memory, Max. Resolution of 2560 x 1600 and is SLI Ready. The is 8.25 inches long which is a very important thing to note because if the card is too big for your case you might no be able to fit it easily so always always try to find out what the dimensions are. Currently selling for $209.99.
2. ASUS ENGTX560 DCII TOP/2DI/1GD5
Price : $209.99
Core Clock : 925Mhz
Memory: 1GB GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimesions : 9 in x 4.4 in (L x W)
Another very good card to have. The Ram may look smaller to you but if you plan on gaming on only one monitor you should have no problems with this card. 2GB of memory will give you more stable performance on 2 monitors.
3. MSi N560GTX-M2D1 GD5
Price : $189.99
Core Clock : 810 Mhz
Memory : 1GB GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 9.37 in x 4.41 in
Another very good card but the longest of the three I have mentioned. Space is always at a premium inside your case so always make sure your case can fit said card.
GTX 560 Ti
The 560Ti is an updated 560 with more Cuda Cores then 560. It has two editions the standard one has 384 Cores and a Limited Edition which has 448 Cores. The 560 has been one of the most popular cards NVIDIA has made which is why they came out with two more editions of it featuring more cores.
1. EVGA 012-P3-2078-KR
Price : $299.99
Core Clock : 810 Mhz
Memory : 1.25 GB of GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 10.5in x 4.38in
An awesome card to consider as it can keep up with and even outperform a stock GTX 570. and overclocked can perform like a GTX 580. A worthy one to consider. This is the 448 Core Limited Edition. The rest are the standard 384 Core models.
2. MSi N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5/OC
Price : $269.99
Core Clock : 880Mhz
Memory : 2 GB of GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 9.37 in x 4.37 in
MSi also makes some very good gpus. Their Twin Frozr line has two fans as opposed to the usual one fan which gives a better cooling option.
3. EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR
Price : $249.99
Core Clock : 850 Mhz
Memory : 1GB GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 9 in x 4.38in
So it should be apparent at this point that EVGA makes some of the best NVIDIA video cards out in the market. That is why at least one card is always mentioned in my list.
4. ASUS ENGTX560 TI DCII TOP/2DI/1GD5
Price : $239.99
Core Clock : 900Mhz
Memory : 1GB GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 9in x 4.4 in
One of my favorite companies with one of my favorite cards. DC II stands for DirectCU II which is a dual fan design with three 8mm flatten copper heat pipes directly in contact with the GPU to provide a more cooler operation temperature and as a result, a longer lifespan.
GTX 570
Built to replace the GTX 480, The 570 is an impressive card with 480 CUDA Cores and capable of a maximum digital resolution of 2560x1600 (As per NVIDIA's reference card design.) Built to fill the niche between the 560 and 580.
1. EVGA 025-P3-1579-AR
Price : $339.99
Core Clock : 732Mhz
Memory : 2.5GB 320-bit GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 9 in x 4.38in
As always a very solid design by EVGA, this card is a very strong contender and can play any game at max settings.
2. ASUS ENGTX570 DCII/2DIS/1280MD5
Price : $339.99
Core Clock : 742 Mhz
Memory : 1.2 GB 320-bit GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 11.5in x 5in
One of my favorite cards with the only gripe being the size of the thing. It's pretty big! As always plan accordingly.
3. MSi N570GTX Frozr III PE/OC
Price : $329.99
Core Clock : 770Mhz
Memory : 1.2GB 320-bit GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 9.57in x 4.53in
Another solid effort by MSi, The Frozr III has the higher core clock out of the three and size is also good.
GTX 580
NVIDIA's fastest DirectX 11 GPU with 512 Cuda Cores. The 580 is the very best 5 series card from NVIDIA and if you the money, you can not go wrong with it.
1. EVGA 03G-P3-1591-AR
Price : $659.99
Core Clock : 772 Mhz
Memory : 3GB 384-bit GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 10.5in x 5.5in
The very best effort by EVGA yielded this amazing card. It is a liquid cooled card with no fans running in it and if you have the money, nothing beats it.
2. EVGA Superclocked 015-P3-1582-AR
Price : $429.99
Core Clock : 797 Mhz
Memory : 1.5GB 384-bit GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions 10.5in x 4.38in
Another very solid card by EVGA. Get this and you will be set for a long time playing any game at the highest settings.
3. Gigabyte GV-N580UD-15I
Price $389.99
Core Clock : 795Mhz
Memory : 1.5GB 384-bit GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 11.02in x 5.39in
This card has 3 fans for some very impressive cooling! The only gripe would be of course the size as it is hitting 11 inches. Make room for it! Overall an impressive effort by Gigabyte.
There you have it folks. Those are the cards from Nvidia which I was interested in. If you are on a budget, I would recommend the GTX 560Ti. It's popularity has not waned even a bit after the Nvidia 6 series was launched (Will talk about that in a later post.) If you have the money then I would suggest the GTX580 but all in all any of these cards should keep you happy for a while!
My next post will be about AMD Cards and of course which card I ended up going with.
Till then,
Kiyoshi out!
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