GTX 580 SLI 1.5 GB or 3GB

[Madmike2010]

I have 3 ( HP 25" LCD's ) which I plan on using for work, but the center screen I play video games on. All screens are 1080P. I was unsure if I should just jump and get the GTX 580's in SLI 1.5 GB or the 3GB variation. Basically a $200 all said and done....

[Arinoth]

IF you are planning on doing nvidia surround, ie 5670 x 1080 AND plan on running the games on the highest settings with AA cranked, then I'd recommend going with the 3GB models. If you are not doing this then you are fine running the standard 1.5GB models. Essentially the higher the resolution you go and the higher you turn up AA, the more video ram is used. 1.5GB+ is a good amount of vRAM for 5670 x 1080 if you don't care for or don't need AA cranked.

I'd recommend reading over Sky's review of 3GB vs 1.5GB for 5670 x 1080 if that is your planned gaming route:
The Effect of GPU Memory on Surround & Stereo 3D Performance

Here's a summary:







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That summary chart really says it all, is the average 5-10% increase in frames in the games Sky tested worth the extra 200$?

[Madmike2010]

I'm not one much for playing BF3 or Crysis in Eyefinity or whatever - but, since I am a Commercial Pilot, I enjoy flight sims tremedously. When Microsoft Flight is released I am really looking forward to that in triple monitor. I really enjoy flight sims, even though there have not been many in recent years....

For that reason alone I am looking at gtx 580 3 gb's.

Is there much of a difference in the 3GB evga standard vs classified editions? I am assuming the base can be clocked higher with another cooler the same as the classified edition....

[Arinoth]

One is going to be factory clocked faster then the standard. That's about it really. You can easily overclock the standard to the factory overclocked one and save some money, most do.

[Madmike2010]

I seem to think GTX 580's were cheaper sometime ago....

[Sagath]

Originally Posted by Madmike2010

I seem to think GTX 580's were cheaper sometime ago....

The price has been stable for a while. They did dip down a bit after release, but a 580 today is the same price as release day again.

I paid 469.99 for my Gigabyte vanilla on release week. I think it retails for ~499 today (not including any MIR's etc)

[Madmike2010]

Yeah, just seems very high price for a single GPU. $600 bones for the 3gb version

[rjbarker]

^^^ Yep...also the Classified versions have there GPU Volts set factory to 1.143v and can overvolt to 1.15v or higher(I think, I'm looking into this as well), obviously the higher Voltage allows for higher OC's....presently all other Evga GTX 580 will over volt to only 1.138v....this has been my "wall" as far as OC'ing....unfortunately with this Max Voltage I can only pull 910 Mhz Core stable

Just beware that these Cards will also expel some of the hot air directly into the Case.

[Madmike2010]

I was planning on using them pretty much stock anyhow - but if I did overclock them I would watercool them.

[MittWaffle]

1.5gb

For sure.