@The guys who are asking me: I am using a 22" monitor 1680x1050. My table is tiny.Getting a new one, but have to first design.
The 30k price tag isnt justified because in USA you can get it for 510$.
But given indian pricing it is justified, as in USA a 570 costs 350$.
A GTX 570 costs 22-24k and not 20k (unless bargain/special offer).Including taxes so dont point me here and there.
The main reason any one would get a 580 over 570 is VRAM requirements.
If you could get a 480 and 570 for same price, and power draw was not a concern you would be better off with a 480 really. not for OCing but for the VRAM.
I got 580 3GB SLI not because I like to burn cash. I was even pondering over 570 3-way but that has poor scaling and 6970 CFX 2-GPUs, but eventually settled for GTX 580 because I like to crank up to extreme settings as high as possible in-game. AA has always been poor scaling in Crysis(+warhead) and you can really notice the performance increase against single GPU with 16xQ CSAA in SLI.I even report 1.6-1.8GB VRAM usage at times!
Even metro 2033 benefits with SLI at 1680x1050 maxed out advanced DOF turned on.
I think once you start playing high quality you really cant go back.
I expect this setup to last 5 years.I know it is overkill atm, but given the sorry state of PC gaming with lots of unoptimized crapsole ports, and more just keep coming, the VRAM will become a factor because more space will be used for average graphics quality in future in many unoptimized ports.
Even Modern Warfare 2, which is very CPU intensive, uses 1100MB of VRAM maxed out in-game (4xMSAA is highest, no CSAA option and 4xMSAA is as good as 16x CSAA non-Q).This is almost 80% memory increase for minor facelift vs MW1 and COD5.
Even Black Ops had performance issues at launch, and that was in GTX 480 3-Way SLI (some guys at nvidia forums uses it, most of the guys who were at SLI Zone forums before the merger with Nzone, making it nvidia forums are full-time enthusiasts, and the community coming from nzone is also full of them).
The Witcher II, is a game that came with a new AA method called ubersampling. I do not know exactly how it is done but it is not a conventional form of AA.The whole frame is rendered at a much higher resolution and then mapped to your resolution, taking a huge hit in performance.SLI definitely helps even at 1050p and 1080/1200p.
If you dont need extreme levels of AA (upto 8x CSAA non-Q) , then get a Lightning GTX 580 and OC to 1Ghz core and be happy at even 1200p.
At 1050/1200p a single GTX 580/6950 CF is a worthwhile expense for a period of three years.More than DX level itself, it is the performance of the card at its respective DX level for the latest games that count with as high detail as you can get it to.
I like my games to run minimum at 45fps, so for me it has been a very satisfatory and justified expenditure.I will play Red Faction Armageddon today and get back to you guys on how it performs in my cards.AFAIK a GTX400 is recommended for the game and 8 series is minimum requirement(dont remember exact).
@Cilus: I read one of your posts that states
6850 CF beats GTX 580.Can you link me to an article proving this? I think it should be 6950 2GB.
@Sarath: lol. Even an EA live tech support guy told me this for a graphics glitch in crysis 2- "It seems you are cross firing your cards in SLI. It is not supported. You can always try running 1 GPU and see if that helps."
Yeah right. Nice try moron (not you but support guy)but SLI/CF Support was added since patch 1.1 and new nvidia/amd drivers.not to mention your total misinformation on CF and SLI.
Fact of the day is that its an unreported bug. Unfortunately that jackass cant send it to Crytek because "he has no communication with them" and sent me to the mycrysis support page where it clearly states that EA is supposed to handle tech support.
As if I was expecting
him to have communication. He is supposed to give it to his seniors and eventually to department head who is suposed to get it transferred to crytek
Anyhow I already finished the game twice (once on leaked beta and other time my retail copy) so I'm not bothered.
The biggest problem that is actually here is higher cost due to:
1)Poor tax structure
2)Ultra high marked price (i.e. MRP)
3)Customs morons
4)Companies looking for equal or higher profit margin
Otherwise, in their US prices they are totally worth it.
We have lower per capita income than a US citizen.But those companies think we can pay more although we cant.
Only the PC Video Games industry has an advantage here AFAIK. We pay 50% of what they pay due to local manufacture and distribution, but this often results in lesser games available in retail (Activision pulled out with MW2 even because they dont want local manufacture and have become money milking machine-saw their new COD Elite? Let crapsole users have it.).
EDIT:Took me 20 minutes to write this.
. Let others comment.
It ultimately boils down how full your pocket is. 
