The GeForce GTX 500 series 'mid life kickers' are impressive. Significant performance/watt improvements over both the GTX 480 / 470 for the replacement products are very welcome, especially considering they improve outright performance at the same time. Both AMD and NVIDIA appear to be executing a 'blended' strategy, taking their first generation DirectX 11 hardware and filling in and rounding out with refresh parts as required. With the GTX 570, NVIDIA is discontinuing the GeForce GTX 480 and GTX 465, but adjusting the 470 to fill the gap. The pricing of the GeForce GTX 570 is very aggressive, bringing the performance levels of the GeForce GTX 480 to well under the GTX 470s introductory price point. NVIDIA is deadly serious about this holiday sales season.

Both the GeForce GTX 570 and 580 use more power then current highest performing single GPU cards from AMD, but also provide higher performance. The pricing of the GeForce GTX 580 lends itself to comparisons with the similarly priced Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 OC, but the strong positioning of the GeForce GTX 570 leaves AMD without a really good answer - this week, anyway.

EVGA GeForce GTX 570 SC

We're hesitant to suggest that two AMD Radeon HD 6850s in CrossfireX would give the GeForce GTX 570 a run for it's money, as those considering running two cards are also likely to consider overclocking - and GeForce Fermi cards seem to be quite conservatively clocked. As always, your mileage may vary. Additionally, the HD 6850 isn't selling at it's SEP, instead $20-$40 over it, making HD 6850 CrossFire more expensive than a single GTX 570. There's also the possibility that in the next two weeks, the gaming performance landscape will change considerably; unless you're too impatient to wait, or are upgrading with proprietary features like 3DVision, PhysX or CUDA in mind, play the waiting game.

EVGA GeForce GTX 570 SC

Rage3D awards the EVGA GeForce GTX 570 SC 5 stars! The EVGA GeForce GTX 570 SC is a strong performer with power to spare for modern gaming at high quality settings. EVGA's Lifetime limited warranty applies (when registered in the first 30 days), offering peace of mind and support. You'll also receive a free copy of FutureMark 3DMark11 Advanced edition, receiving the key after registering the card and 3DMark 11 is launched. EVGA's E-Leet and Precision tools are very high quality, and the fan profile update allows the greatest noise/cooling performance adjustments possible. A solid enthusiast gamer product at a respectable price, with great looks to spare.