GTX 460 vs GTX 550 Ti?

[Mike029]

Both around the same price. Which has a longer shelf life? Which will produce more stones on PG? Thanks for the help.

[DrPop]

The 550 might tempt you, but I wouldn't do it. ;) It has only 192 shaders vs the GTX 460 with 336. I can even see a difference in "crunching power" between my GTX 465 with 352 shaders, and the GTX 460 with 336. It takes an O/C up to 900MHz on the GTX 460 to match what the GTX 465 can do at 775MHz. The difference is the shader count.

Now, the GTX 460 is using less watts, and generating considerably less heat in the case - not trivial things at all when we're talking 24/7 crunching for a couple years on the cards. So in many instances, it is probably the better buy over the 465. Now, if one could luck out like Joker and get a 465 that modded to 470; or better yet, afford a 470 outright, there would be no comparison - they are better cards than the 460. But, when you can score a 460 @ $110, I don't think you can beat it "crunching / $" and in power used and heat output.

To recap: with the 550 having only 192 cores, you'd never get an O/C high enough to even come close to what the 460 can do for CUDA crunching. Now games and stuff might be a little different, because they tweak some stuff in each revision, so you could *maybe* get higher FPS in some game with a 550Ti than a GTX 460...but I *seriously* doubt it. ;)
Hope that helps a little.

[Mike029]

Thanks for the help and the explanation...

[joker]

Why are my ears always burning!

[Mike029]

Why are my ears always burning!

Found it. The thread that DrPop Schooled me on Cuda value. :-$

So, if I got this right it's all about the Cuda Cores when crunching. Well, that and how high your can OC the card.

GTX 460*2 672 Cores , 320 Watts, Price $280.00

GTX 570 480 Cores , 219 Watts, Price $330.00

So, two GTX 460 will out crunch one GTX 570

This look right?

[DrPop]

Yes, Sir, you are correct. In fact, two GTX 460's will out-crunch a single GTX 580 even. And the 580 is way out of my $ league at the moment, so I went with the two GTX 460's. Now, if one could score two GTX 570's or 580's...that would be insane.:cool: But also insane $$$$-).
The best info is the Nvidia Comparison Wiki here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units). Scroll down to the 400 and 500 series and look at the GFLOPs rating for each card.

Two GTX 460's would be (2*) 907.2 GFLOPS @ (2*) 150W power draw for 1,814 GFLOPS @ 300W draw. This = 6.05 GFLOPS / Watt.

One GTX 570 = 1,405.4 GFLOPS @ 219W draw. This = 6.41 GFLOPS/Watt. So, clearly if you could afford two 570's in the long run, they are roughly 6% more efficient or "economical" to run.

The best NVIDIA CUDA card to date for economy (GFLOPS / Watt) is by far the GTX 560 Ti. It produces 1,263.4 GFLOPS @ 170W draw for a ratio of 7.43 GFLOPS/Watt. However, if you can afford a GTX 570, it will smoke it for sure. :D

All this being said, the best bang for the buck would surely be the GTX 590 "Dual GPU" solution. By populating only 1 PCI-e slot, you get 2,488.3 GFLOPS @ 365W draw, for a ratio of 6.82 GFLOPS/Watt. This is second only to the GTX 560 Ti, and considerably more economical in the long run because you don't need another rig build when you're ready to get a second card (i.e. upgrade to 4 GPUs).
The clincher here, of course...is who's got $700+ laying around to pony upfront? I don't right now...:p

[c303a]

Just for something to compare the card to...I am running 2 Evga overclocked GTX465's in SLI mode on GPU Grid and my RAC is 97,113. The cards are in SLI mode but both run separate wu's and are not overclocked by me. They are running at 625 core clock, 1250 shader clock and 1620 memory clock. This is the way they came from Evga. I've had the cards for about 4 or 5 months and they are running smoothly.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130571

Here is a link to the Evga Superclocked GTX 460's at the Egg.

[DAD]

Look at the wiki and look closely at the 580 and 590. Same gpus in both, same shaders, etc

590 just has less ram and clocked slower than the 580. Correct me if wrong, but with proper liquid cooling, 2 590 cards should be able to b OCed and perform close to 4 580s?

4 580=$2000
2 590 hyper clocked to 580 speeds = $1400

(gflops/watt, power etc doesn't factor into to my decisions as electricity in NC is DIRT cheap compared to what I used to pay in CA. I look for the most bang for my bucks w/o needing more rigs)

[DrPop]

Look at the wiki and look closely at the 580 and 590...with proper liquid cooling, 2 590 cards should be able to b OCed and perform close to 4 580s?

4 580=$2000
2 590 hyper clocked to 580 speeds = $1400

@D.A.D. - yes, I agree with you. I would not buy (2) GTX 580s...for the money, I would buy (1) GTX 590. Especially if using an aftermarket or liquid cooling! The difference in RAM won't matter much at all for crunching purposes, so it's just a matter of getting the clock speed up. We have it on good authority from the review sites, that the best of the best chips are being put in the 590's so they can get the volts down, to reduce heat. So with good cooling and O/Cing, you could easily match a pair of 580s. :D
Ahhhh....someday. I would love to have two rigs: one with (2) GTX 590s, and one with (2) HD 5970s. :D Someday...hopefully sooner rather than later, while I'm wishing on a star, right? 8-} :">

[Mike029]

@D.A.D. - yes, I agree with you. I would not buy (2) GTX 580s...for the money, I would buy (1) GTX 590. Especially if using an aftermarket or liquid cooling! The difference in RAM won't matter much at all for crunching purposes, so it's just a matter of getting the clock speed up. We have it on good authority from the review sites, that the best of the best chips are being put in the 590's so they can get the volts down, to reduce heat. So with good cooling and O/Cing, you could easily match a pair of 580s. :D
Ahhhh....someday. I would love to have two rigs: one with (2) GTX 590s, and one with (2) HD 5970s. :D Someday...hopefully sooner rather than later, while I'm wishing on a star, right? 8-} :">

Wow, that monster would need it's own AC unit and 20A breaker at to itself.

[DrPop]

Wow, that monster would need it's own AC unit and 20A breaker at to itself.

Heh. Yeah, that's why I edited my post there and decided on "two rigs". Not only would it be a lot easier on the PSU(s) and mobo, it would allow me to have some good CPU output as well. One rig is pretty low for oomph in a CPU project raid! Two high end CPUs would be better. ;)

[DAD]

nah..the room my computers in are all on a 15A breaker.... and thats on the same circuit as the hallway.... a personal computer.. doesn't draw a lot of amps... now a vacuum cleaner, AC, dehumidifier... those draw mega amps (1-4A)

I only pop the breaker if all 4 PCs are running, the Window AC is running, the de humidifier in the hall is running, the lights are on... and here's the cherry...if I plug in and turn on the vacuum cleaner.. that will pop it :)

If I moved the dehumidifier, I could easily put another 3 or 4 PCs in here.. maybe more.. but I wouldn't have a lot of space lol

We never use our dining room so I may start putting rigs down there