That's what I was worried about. Having to spend more than $350 to get a noticeable uptick in performance, especially considering I game at 1080p60. But with more performance I could do VSR or massive supersampling.
I've never seen that G12 plate, thanks! I'll have to do some research on that. I was thinking about strapping an aio to the card using a custom made bracket like I used to do to my older CPUs, but a GPU cooler with poor contact is more likely to let out the magic smoke.
Edit: quick google search shows its compatible the MSI ARMOR cards. Now the only question is, could a 120mm AIO handle an OCed 580? I could do a 240mm, but not sure if I want such a big rad in my case.
It was new to me too until a few weeks ago. For reference I'm going to be attaching a 240mm CLC to a 1080Ti, which is apparently overkill. Caught the 240 in a sale for the same price as a 120, so no loss to me. Have the parts, don't have the time until the new year.
Look into whether your 580's VRMs or other board components are likely to need extra cooling/heatsinks - the included fan seems to do well enough for a 1080 (non Ti), at least going on a Jayz video.
I'm honestly happy with the performance of the card, and the only reason I wanted to upgrade was for a quieter card - and I'm not spending more than $250, and it doesnt look like anything in that price bracket is worth paying for.
To me, $80 is worth it. It's better than selling the card for, what $100? and buying a 1660Super for $240. Which isn't a significant amount faster.
Being fair, you're looking at closer to $100 for new parts. $25 for the bracket, and $75 maybe for something like a Corsair H55? The value proposition is a lot better on my card than yours. Shop around for coolers from the compatibility list if you still fancy this.
Going used, a very quick look found
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Corsair-CW...m-Hydro-Series-H55-Quiet-Edition/174069686879 which could get you a setup for $70.
Mods, I forget the rules on stuff like this, but I'm not affiliated with this listing, nor Corsair. Remove if needed and I'll put up a summary.
Going on Leo's green hued analysis, 580s are apparently worth dogshit, so maybe get another 580 with a decent cooler & 8GB in the Polaris firesale that some AMD inclined GAFers think is coming?
You've got options. If you're going to find it fun to set up or really value the low noise: CLC & G12. If you want your 30% average boost, 1660Super or whatever "5600" card AMD slot into that price segment early next year. If you've got time: Wait for a steal of a deal on the CLC components or hope that the 7nm Nvidia GPUs will bring better bang for buck sometime next year. Or maybe they'll bring just RTX to the low-mid end and keep general price points for raster performance about the same
www.pcworld.com
