Graphic Card to select : Need Advice

[sparksue]

Hi guys,

 

I have almost finish selecting most of the spec.

Here's the final spec :

 

MOBO + CPU : Asrock Z77 Extreme4 + i5 3570K [Going to OC]

HDD : Toshiba 1TB 7200PRM

Memory DDR3 Kit : 16GB Kingston HyperX 2133MHz CL11 [Consider of getting 1866MHz CL9 but it's a additional of US$4 to get 2133MHz..so i choose 2133MHz]

PSU : Corsair TX650 650W Bronze PSU

CPU Cooler : C.Master Hyper 212 EVO

ATX Casing : CM Elite 430 Black

 

What I am lacking now is the choice of the graphic card. I have actually round down a few selection. However I need some advice on this - Whether should I get a higher RAM memory or get a better series.

 

Here's the graphic cards that I am looking at:

 

1. ASUS GTX570 Directcu II 1280MB DDR5 OC - US$305

2. ASUS GTX560 Ti DC II 1GB DDR5 (Top) - US$270

3. ASUS GTX560 Ti DC II 2GB DDR5 - US$330

Understand that having a good graphic cards doesn't really affect much in renderings - it's the Memory RAM and the mobo + CPU i am using. That extra RAM is for what usages?

 

My main usage is only a standard vray rendering with 3ds max / sketchup for modeling + PS for editing.

 

Should I just save a few extra cash and get GTX570 instead of GTX560 2GB?? Or based on my requirement - I can just get GTX560 1GB is more than enough?

 

Hope anyone can advice me on this. Thanks!

[Dimitris Tolios]

The GTX560 1GB will be more than enough if you won't be dealing with multiple monitors and GPU rendering.

For pure viewport acceleration + 3D apps - unless you have a reason to stick with nVidia - I would also suggest you looking into AMD Radeons. In the 200-300 range, Radeons are pretty fast and people report better OpenGL viewport performance than GTX 4xx/5xx/6xx series.

 

Is the 2133 kit you are talking about 4x4 or 2x8? If you are doing 4x4 and your are ok with O/C, consider http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147096. These consistently O/C well to 1866 on stock voltage and 2133 if you pump it a bit with better timings than most 2133 kits.

[sparksue]

Hi Dimitris,

 

Thanks for your advice. In that case maybe I will look into AMD instead of the GTX card.

 

As for the memory kit - It's 2x8 GB, I was also told that actually there's no much different for the MHz, I should save more by getting 1666Mhz instead. If there's the case, I will just go for the 1666MHz.

[Dimitris Tolios]

There is a performance advantage with PC 1866 over 1600, no doubt.

2133 is even better, but at current prices the 1866 upgrade (% improvement / extra cost) is much much more desirable than the 2000-2133 one, as extra cost for the faster than 1866 kits is significant.

 

AMD chips gain more benefits with faster RAM than Intel. As long as you don't go below 1600, your i5 will be happy.

[sparksue]

Noted on this, If let's say in future i intend to upgrade to i7. Does 1666MHz possible to run it smoothly or should I get 1866MHz instead?

[Dimitris Tolios]

Even 1333 will run smoothly. 1600 is becoming the mainstream now, you should not get lower than that, and 1866 becomes more and more affordable, so the price difference over the "basic" 1333 surely makes it more desirable. No need to go for fancy kits with big heatsinks etc, those add almost nothing in reliability, performance or overclockability.

 

Edit: DDR3 is becoming cheaper and cheaper. Factories got huge stock and need to push it out. Chances are that prices will continue to drop, as the next generation of intel processors is rumored to move away from DDR3 - perhaps memory manufacturers will push hard on this, as the profit margins with DDR3 are diminishing hugely.

 

Unless they come up with a natural disaster that will cripple production (as it happened with SD-RAM, DDR2 and HDDs more than once in the past, can it be such a coincidence that natural disasters happen to cripple production every time the price reaches are record low? - lol conspiracy theories are on!), prices are likely to continue to drop.

Edited August 16, 2012 by dtolios