Microsoft announce pricing structure for Windows 8

[Kin Hell]

Wasn't the Creative X-Fi issue due to a complete redesign of how Windows handled audio since Vista? and Creative cards had a big issue with that change and having to make new drivers for them. but still not that stable.

So what are you replacing the 580s with?

Probably Creative being as creative as they were with DMA issues back in the early days. Tbh Dave, I'm sure things will behave better once I can get into either of the two 2x PCIe slots that are currently blocked off with the stock Gigabyte UD7 NB Cooler. The rig needs a spring clean & the supplied UD7 NB Water Block putting into the loop. So, now the GTX580 replacements have arrived, I need to rebuild the whole rig for some really cool running, & the new cards are staying on Air for a while.

I replaced them with a couple of Gigabyte Windforce 3 GTX 670's. Amazing cards & I really do mean amazing!! - I've only run one of them for a "look-see" and am seriously impressed. I only show Vantage benchies for the moment, because the program scales very well with SLI cards, so have a squiz below:

Dual GTX 580's




Single GTX 670



The real plus about the 670's over the 580's (forgetting the FPS thing for a moment) is the heat. The dual 580's on air came out of the Vantage Benchmark @ nearly 90 DegC. The single 670 came out @ 35 DegC.

It's also about power consumption too. It would have cost £500 for GTX 580 Water blocks, Radiator upgrade & a PSU upgrade. For selling the 580's @ £450 clear, it was only £186 to go & buy 2 x GTX 670's & I can still run them both on air with decent temps & the PSU I already have. - Ker-Ching!