Palit GeForce GTX 570 Sonic Platinum 1280MB, Palit GeForce GTX 580 3072MB Graphics Cards
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Performance tests
Testbed:
- Intel Core i7-975 3340 MHz CPU
- ASUS P6T Deluxe motherboard on the Intel X58 chipset
- 6GB of 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM from Corsair
- WD Caviar SE WD1600JD 160GB SATA HDD
- Tagan TG900-BZ 900W PSU
- Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, DirectX 11
- 30" Dell 3007WFP monitor
- VSync disabled
- NVIDIA Drivers 285.27, AMD Catalyst 11.8
Benchmarks:
- Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft) — DirectX 10.0, Shaders 4.0 (HDR), built-in benchmarking utility (the Middle level), maximum settings.
- Crysis Warhead (Crytek/EA) — Cargo, DirectX 10.0, Shaders 4.0, Very High settings, batch file, timedemo available by e-mail request.
- Colin McRae: DiRT 2 (Codemasters) — DirectX 11, Ultra High settings, run as follows: "dirt2.exe -benchmark example_benchmark.xml".
- Metro 2033 (4A Games/THQ) — DirectX 11, Super High settings, PhysX disabled, run from in game.
- Just Cause 2 (Avalanche Studios/Eidos Interactive) — DirectX 10.0, Super High settings, run from in game.
- Aliens vs. Predator (Rebellion/SEGA) — DirectX 11, Shaders 5.0, Very High settings, run from in game.
- F1 2010 (Codemasters) — DirectX 11, Ultra High settings, run as follows: "formulaone.exe -benchmark example_benchmark.xml". Game provided by NVIDIA.
- Tropics Benchmark 1.3 (Unigine) — DirectX 10.0, High settings.
- Heaven Benchmark 2.5 Pro (Unigine) — DirectX 11, High settings.
- 3DMark 11 (FutureMark) — DirectX 11, Performance settings.
We'd like to thank Unigine for helping us set up their benchmarks.
Please have in mind that we've already tested a similar overclocked GeForce GTX 570 in this review, so there's no sense in repeating those. Instead, let's see if 3GB of video memory is a game changer.
Far Cry 2
Crysis Warhead, Cargo
Colin McRae: DiRT 2
Metro 2033
Just Cause 2
Aliens vs. Predator DirectX 11.0
F1 2010
Unigine Tropics Benchmark
Unigine Heaven Benchmark DirectX 11.0
3DMark 11 Graphics Marks
Final thoughts
We've recently switched to a simpler rating system and now we only have two of those: capability and usability. The capability rating compares each graphics card with GeForce GT 430 which is considered a baseline, or 100%. The rating is based on both synthetic and gaming results and shows, as the name implies, what a product is capable of.
The usability rating is obtained by dividing each card's capability rating by its price. It basically shows whether a given product is over or underpriced, considering what it can do, and thus how reasonable it is to buy it.
The complete ratings can be found in our i3Dspeed. Below are just the parts relevant to today's review.
Sorted by capability (high to low)
| # |
Card |
Capability rating |
Usability rating |
Approx. price, USD |
| 01 |
HD 6990 2x2048 MB, 880/880/5000 |
900 |
102 |
879 |
| 02 |
HD 6990 2x2048 MB, 830/830/5000 |
870 |
99 |
879 |
| 03 |
GTX 590 2x1536 MB, 607/1215/3414 |
830 |
96 |
862 |
| 04 |
GTX 580 3072 MB, 783/1566/4040 |
610 |
95 |
550 |
| 05 |
GTX 580 1536 MB, 775/1550/4000 |
610 |
117 |
523 |
| 06 |
HD 6970 2048 MB, 880/880/5500 |
540 |
133 |
406 |
| 07 |
GTX 570 1280 MB, 732/1464/3800 |
530 |
144 |
369 |
| 08 |
HD 6950 2048 MB, 880/880/5000 |
520 |
160 |
325 |
| 09 |
HD 6950 2048 MB, 800/800/5000 |
480 |
155 |
309 |
| 10 |
HD 6950 1024 MB, 800/800/5000 |
480 |
173 |
277 |
Sorted by usability (high to low)
| # |
Card |
Usability rating |
Capability rating |
Approx. price, USD |
| 14 |
HD 6950 2048 MB, 880/880/5000 |
160 |
520 |
325 |
| 15 |
HD 6950 2048 MB, 800/800/5000 |
155 |
480 |
309 |
| 20 |
GTX 570 1280 MB, 732/1464/3800 |
144 |
530 |
369 |
| 21 |
HD 6970 2048 MB, 880/880/5500 |
133 |
540 |
406 |
| 22 |
GTX 580 1536 MB, 775/1550/4000 |
117 |
610 |
523 |
| 23 |
HD 6990 2x2048 MB, 880/880/5000 |
102 |
900 |
879 |
| 24 |
HD 6990 2x2048 MB, 830/830/5000 |
99 |
870 |
879 |
| 25 |
GTX 590 2x1536 MB, 607/1215/3414 |
96 |
830 |
862 |
| 26 |
GTX 580 3072 MB, 783/1566/4040 |
95 |
610 |
550 |
As you can see, the usability rating cannot really be applied to high-end products. Such cards are intended for enthusiasts who buy cards no matter the cost. Next, these days it doesn't really matter if your GeForce GTX 580 has 1.5GB or 3GB of video memory. The extra memory doesn't improve anything, apparently because 1.5GB is enough for games. Finally, GeForce GTX 570 fits between Radeon HD 6970 and Radeon HD 6950 in the ratings; although overclocked versions nearly catch up Radeon HD 6970.
Speaking of the cards we reviewed today, Palit GeForce GTX 580 3072MB GDDR5 is a sort of unique version with twice as much memory. However, games just do not need this much memory yet (well, except for Battlefield 3 maybe). Overall, the card works stable and doesn't produce much noise.
Palit GeForce GTX 570 Sonic Platinum 1280MB GDDR5 is a very nice card. Being factory-overclocked, it catches up with Radeon HD 6970. The cooler is quiet, but can spin up during long sessions under heavy load.
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