GPU upgrade to second 460 HAWK or single 560Ti/6950 for now

[Death_Knight]

Its time to upgrade my GPU, and as I had considered while assembling my rig I went for in search of the second MSI 460 Hawk. Its currently at 11.4k.
Though its depressing to go for an old card at this point of time, a few searches yielded the shocking result:
The performance of stock GTX 460 SLI is at par/better than the GTX 580.
(See here or here)That too at 10k less .

But I might have a chance to sell off my present card, and if I do what will be my present choice @ 15k considering SLI/CFX in mind:
MSI 560Ti Hawk @ 14.9k
or
MSI 6950 2GB Twin Frozr II/OC @ 15k

The 560 seem to have better (?) cooler and the alluring PhysX, while
6950 performs better in most scenarios, have more OC headroom than the HAWK and also the elusive Bios unlocking to 6970.

Guys, which card to choose or shall I stick to 460 SLI? Please help.
[Even Tom's recommended the 6950 single or SLI]

P.S.: Monitor res 1920x1080. PSU Corsair TX750

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

a correction - 6950 TFII cant be unlocked. lacks a dual bios switch. its TFIII or stock cooler one that can be unlocked.

if you get a 6950, will you cf it later or keep a single card?

 

[Death_Knight]

a correction - 6950 TFII cant be unlocked. lacks a dual bios switch. its TFIII or stock cooler one that can be unlocked.

if you get a 6950, will you cf it later or keep a single card?

Oh.. HELL.. I dont think I have seen TFIII anywhere in Indian sites

And yes, whatever I buy, I'll go dual GPU maybe after some months

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

i think you should get another 460.

a 460 sli will allow you to play everything at high at that resolution and is cheaper option.

 

[topgear]

Get a another GTX 460 HAWK

 

[Death_Knight]

Thanks all. 460 may be my obvious choice since the damn buyer haven't contacted me yet.
Actually getting another 460 means hitting the ceiling, end of upgrade for me, which I am reluctant to do at this point.

But if I do get a good price on my existing board, what will be my choice from the 560Ti and 6950 I suggested?

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

^i dont think that single 460 has become insufficient for todays games.
U may oc it too.

And wait for amd hd7000 or nvidia kepler!

 

[Cilus]

Buddy, Consider a case analysis:
suppose you've purchased a GTX 580 @ 30K, the most powerful single GPU solution, now how many days you are gonna use it....I think for 30K it should go for at least 2 Years. Now after 1.5 year, you've felt that you need another GPU as you are lacking the raw power. Now according to your upgrade option, you have to get another GTX 580 to SLI it.
If you look at the Gfx market scenario...the life span of a new high end product is just 8 months, then a more high end product will be available at the same price. But the interesting part is the price of the old component does not decrease that much in Indian Market.
Example: GTX 480 was launched @ 27K and withing 6 months GTX 570 is available @ 20K which delivers the same performance of GTX 480 @ 20K price point. But what is the price of GTX 480 now...still 24K

So the time when you are going for the SLI of GTX 580, say the price of it has been dropped to 20K from 30K. Now tell me are you gonna spend 20K for a card which is 1.5 years old and market is full of other cheaper products offering the same level of performance? Believe me, the upgrade path you are talking about is actually not a viable solution at all.

So get a GTX 460 and SLI it. Total cost will be still around 20-21K and you will get 5% performance over the GTX 580 in 10K less price. In coming days due to driver upgrades, you will get more better scaling in SLI and after 1.5 years or 2 years down the line, selling these two mid range cards won't hurt you that much as in case of GTX 580.

 

[Piyush]

agreed with cilus
OP can sell both the cards after 1.5/2 yrs or so and get a single powerful card if he like

 

[Death_Knight]

ok guys... i've cleared my mind... going for the 460 Hawk. No meaning passing sleepless nights over this. The money saved can be used for the CPU cooler and case fans since the CPU need to be OCed n the overall case cooling to be cranked up.
Will place the order very soon (since not available locally in Kolkata)

 

[topgear]

^^ the cpu you have is OC beast - get it to 4.2 ( or more ) with a good cpu cooler and it would be an perfect match for your SLi setup

@ Cilus - nice explanation

 

[Death_Knight]

^^ the cpu you have is OC beast - get it to 4.2 ( or more ) with a good cpu cooler and it would be an perfect match for your SLi setup

@ Cilus - nice explanation

Can the CPU at stock speed be a bottleneck when matched with the OCed 460 in SLI?
How much should be the optimum CPU OCing in this setup since I don't want to push to the limit considering the local temp here?
[I was hoping to get the N620]

 

[Cilus]

Hey Topgear, 4.2 GHz Overclocking in a i5 760 is a pro job.

Death_Knight, even with the stock cooler you can increase the speed by 0.2 0.3 Ghz and get very good performance. And @ 1080P resolution the chances of bottleneck with a SLI setup is not that much. Buy the cooler if you are not satisfied with the performance.

 

[Piyush]

760 is stocked at 2.6 i guess..........so 600mhz bump is not that easy on stock cooler
but i think OP is experienced enough in this plot

 

[vickybat]

^^ 750 is stocked at 2.66ghz. i5 760 is 2.8 ghz. It can easily go upto 3.2ghz in stock cooler.

 

[thetechfreak]

My suggestion is to get another 460 HAWK, SLI is gonna play most game at high resolutions

 

[rajan1311]

is there really a need for an upgrade? If i were you, i would wait for 22nm HD7xxx....hell i am still happy with my 3 year old 4850, cant imaging a 460 under performing that bad!

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

is there really a need for an upgrade? If i were you, i would wait for 22nm HD7xxx....hell i am still happy with my 3 year old 4850, cant imaging a 460 under performing that bad!

+1. good point..

 

[Death_Knight]

is there really a need for an upgrade? If i were you, i would wait for 22nm HD7xxx....hell i am still happy with my 3 year old 4850, cant imaging a 460 under performing that bad!

Its not "under performing" I am worried about... its the fact that the 460 is going to be vanished from the market soon, and I'm stranded with a single card...
Also selling the card after 2 or 3 yrs is not a viable option for me as nobody will go for some old cards that too with end of warranty! So, this would probably be my last upgrade decision.

 

[rajan1311]

Get a HD7000 series card and use the 460 as a physx card...?
also, the HD7xxx series will be released in less than 6 months from now, so the 460 will still have decent resale value then...