Graphics Card Advice

[gorfias]

Black Friday approaches and wife has green lighted the purchase of a GTX 580 to put into my I7-2600K build (been using it as a media center w/ integrated HD 3000 graphics. Plays Battlefield 20 FPS on low settings, near worthless, but will stream 720P.

1) Do I care about 1.5 Gig vs. 3 Gig DDR5 ? I've read that no game utilizes the extra RAM. Seems unlikely, and in the future, maybe that extra RAM will be needed. In the future, I may need a new build altogher.
2) Super Clocking. Anyone see a difference with this?
3) Z68 motherboard can do either this card or integrated. When I add the card, should the bios automatically see it, or will I need to change a setting in the bios? I know, I can look it up, but as long as I'm here, easier to ask y'all.
4) Thinking either Zotak (relatively inexpensive and looks like EVGA) or EVGA itself (high reviews). Recommend other brand?
5) Best place to buy it? I'm thinking either www.microcenter.com or www.newegg.com

Thanks for your advice.

 

[])rStrangelove]

1) go 1.5Gig, well enough
2) Yes, if you go for a superclocked GTX570. No for GTX580.
3) Go in BIOS and disable internal first. Then put it new card.
4) Go for best price, not brand.
5) see 4

Personally i'd go for an overclocked 570. 580 can be a bit on the loud side (bad for streaming when in the same room), depending on the brand and which cooler they use. Read some reviews beforehand after you know which you can get.

 

[gorfias]

)rStrangelove]1) go 1.5Gig, well enough
2) Yes, if you go for a superclocked GTX570. No for GTX580.
3) Go in BIOS and disable internal first. Then put it new card.
4) Go for best price, not brand.
5) see 4

Personally i'd go for an overclocked 570. 580 can be a bit on the loud side (bad for streaming when in the same room), depending on the brand and which cooler they use. Read some reviews beforehand after you know which you can get.

Thank you for your good advice. Got to go play with the 2600 and ensure I don't have a problem getting to the video setting. Sounds easy enough.

 

[Sn1P3r M98]

I doubt you'll need an extra 1.5GB of VRAM. I max out BF3 in 1920X1080 with my GTX 570, and can reach a steady ~50FPS with a bit of overclocking (I get 35-40 otherwise).

 

[Vonnis]

1) Only if you're gaming in very high res on multiple monitors.
2) Overclocking a card can make a noticeable difference, but you can get better results yourself for free with literally 4 mouse clicks. Paying for factory overclocked cards is rather silly.
3) You'll need to disable integrated graphics in the BIOS.
4) MSI, Palit, Gigabyte are all decent brands as well, plus others. Just stay away if something is suspiciously much cheaper than the same card from other brands.
5) Those are both fine, just see which has the better deal.