Upgrade or wait until next gen?

[TheNefariousOne]

Hey everyone,

I am just looking for some opinions with regards to upgrading my video card. I am kind of on the fence right now, wondering if I should wait until the new generation of cards get released? It is quite late into the generation, and I know that the new cards will begin to get released in the first quarter of 2013, so I'm wondering if it is worth waiting it out for another 3-4 months in order to get the latest and greatest?

As of right now I am leaning towards a GTX 680 (either the Asus DCII Top, or the EVGA signature 2.) I do enjoy the PhysX in Borderlands 2, so I have decided to stay with NVIDIA and am prepared to pay a little bit more money as well.

Since I can't create a signature yet, here are my computer components:

Asus Sabertooth P67
Intel i5-2500k @ 4.5ghz
Coolermaster Hyper 212+
8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600mhz
EVGA NVIDIA GTX 570 HD 2560mb @ 825mhz
OCZ 1000w Z-Series Gold

I am running a single 24" 1080p monitor at the moment. I do have plans to jump to a 30" Dell Ultrasharp U3011 1600p monitor within the next year or so. I will SLI whatever video card I decide to upgrade to along with my monitor upgrade.

The games I primarily play are:

Guild Wars 2
Borderlands 2
Natural Selection 2
Battlefield 3
Skyrim
and DayZ

Thanks in advance!

[moonbogg]

Noone knows whats coming later. You have to make a choice. It you want a 680, i'd get a 670 instead. Almost no difference and the price is too high for 680. But watever you think.
You can always sell it later as well. If i were in your position i'd probly buy now and then sell and buy again later. But thats just me.

[VulgarDisplay]

Originally Posted by TheNefariousOne

Hey everyone,

I am just looking for some opinions with regards to upgrading my video card. I am kind of on the fence right now, wondering if I should wait until the new generation of cards get released? It is quite late into the generation, and I know that the new cards will begin to get released in the first quarter of 2013, so I'm wondering if it is worth waiting it out for another 3-4 months in order to get the latest and greatest?

As of right now I am leaning towards a GTX 680 (either the Asus DCII Top, or the EVGA signature 2.) I do enjoy the PhysX in Borderlands 2, so I have decided to stay with NVIDIA and am prepared to pay a little bit more money as well.

Since I can't create a signature yet, here are my computer components:

Asus Sabertooth P67
Intel i5-2500k @ 4.5ghz
Coolermaster Hyper 212+
8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600mhz
EVGA NVIDIA GTX 570 HD 2560mb @ 825mhz
OCZ 1000w Z-Series Gold

I am running a single 24" 1080p monitor at the moment. I do have plans to jump to a 30" Dell Ultrasharp U3011 1600p monitor within the next year or so. I will SLI whatever video card I decide to upgrade to along with my monitor upgrade.

The games I primarily play are:

Guild Wars 2
Borderlands 2
Natural Selection 2
Battlefield 3
Skyrim
and DayZ

Thanks in advance!

I would wait.

[TheNefariousOne]

@moonbogg - I originally was going to get a GTX 670, but they discontinued the DCII top, and I've heard that the MSI Power Edition cannot be overvolted (I am not sure if this is correct or not.) I had my eye on those two cards, but now that one is discontinued and one cannot be overvolted I decided to go the 680 route.

@tweakboy - It was my understanding that an overclocked 2500k was more than enough processing power for gaming and general computing tasks. I can't say for sure, but I'm fairly confident that my 2500k will be good for at least a couple more generations. I have an Intel 320 series 160GB SSD and a 2TB Caviar Black - just didn't mention them in my specs.

@VulgarDisplay - Thanks for your opinion.

[96Firebird]

I would wait, 680 isn't enough of an upgrade for a new card in my opinion. I'd at least wait until you get your new monitor, then see what cards are out and how much power you need for your favorite games at that time.

[skipsneeky2]

Just grab like a pair of 7950s or something,at least they are more fun to oc.

Love my gtx670 but locked voltage overclocking will make this series from nvidia one of the more forgettable ones in the years to come.

Be much more fun to grab two 7950s,oc them and hope for 7970+ performance for a bit less then a pair of 7970s would cost,while fat chances of little to no oc on a 600 series nvidia card.

[aaksheytalwar]

A 7970 ghz at 1200 MHz is 60-100% faster than a 570.

[tigersty1e]

If you are going to buy from this gen, it would only be worth it to grab a 7950/7970. The free games in combination with the awesome overclocks and new drivers make it worth it.

If you want Nvidia, then I would wait.

[aaksheytalwar]

And no single card is powerful enough for physx to be enjoyable.

[biostud]

Originally Posted by aaksheytalwar

And no single card is powerful enough for physx to be enjoyable.

works fine in BL2

[moonbogg]

Originally Posted by TheNefariousOne

@moonbogg - I originally was going to get a GTX 670, but they discontinued the DCII top, and I've heard that the MSI Power Edition cannot be overvolted (I am not sure if this is correct or not.) I had my eye on those two cards, but now that one is discontinued and one cannot be overvolted I decided to go the 680 route.

From what I gather, no Nvidia cards can be overvolted this gen. So if OCing is what you want, then go AMD this gen. The 7970ghz edition is the fastest single card out and can be OCed more I think. If you need Nvidia then you can go 670 now, or wait. A 680 is truly not worth the extra money in any case. I love my EVGA 670 FTW cards. They are great.

[aaksheytalwar]

When I say fine I mean max settings (everything max, AA optional) and minimum fps around 50-60+ and an higher avg.

[MrK6]

As stated there's really been no news on new cards, which generally means we're still many months out. I would upgrade if you aren't getting the performance you want, otherwise wait until you get your 30". If you do want to upgrade now, a GTX 680 in SLI is a tremendous waste of money. GTX 670 SLI is a better value with absolute performance within 5% compared to the GTX 680 SLI once both are overclocked.

[aaksheytalwar]

There are benchmarks here and there when a 680 is 10-15% faster especially with minimum fps, sometimes 15%+ (not in the majority of the benchmarks though) and that is close to the price difference as well.

I would prefer a 7970 ghz though.

[Rezist]

The 570 was a fast card is there any games currently giving you trouble? I never recommend dual card set ups. The 7950 seems like the best performance per dollar but oc'ing is never a guarentee I'd wait in your shoes. I bet that AMD refreshes there line up first so you may have a bit of a wait on your hands but nvidia will release a 28nm card with a 384 bit bus at some point and that would be a nice upgrade. Although you may pay 6-700

[Subyman]

I'd wait. 1080p isn't very taxing on the 570.

[Jacky60]

If I had your rig and an upgrade bug I'd go 7950 crossfire and oc them to the max. Got to be best performance (proper max 4/8xMSAA most/all games) at 1920/1200 plus you can get for the money. They are the sweet spot afaik at the mo and piss all over a 670 which will be a 'bit' quicker not well over twice as fast. With Borderlands 2 you'll lose physx but you'll do a lot better in Dayz and Skyrim should be fine without xfire which is borked (still about as fast as 670) You can probs sell old card and do the upgrade which should see you well into next generation.

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Makes sense to upgrade to a 7970 now.
Rebate + free games + cash from Bitcoin mining = WIN

[RaistlinZ]

7970 is pure candy. I'd upgrade and sell your 570 to make up some of the difference.

[OmegaSupreme]

I'd just get another 570 and call it a day.

[aaksheytalwar]

Originally Posted by OmegaSupreme

I'd just get another 570 and call it a day.

The mot insane advice in this thread.

[BD231]

Originally Posted by aaksheytalwar

The mot insane advice in this thread.

Getting way more performance at a fourth of the price it would cost to get a single recent card is crazy?

[OmegaSupreme]

Originally Posted by aaksheytalwar

The mot insane advice in this thread.

Hardly.

Just because you may not like running multiple cards doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it.

I've ran dual card systems since 2005 with my Nvidia 6800's.
Since then, I've ran probably more than 10 different combinations of dual card setups. Never once did I have an issue.

Some of the setups I've ran,
Nvidia:
6800's
8800GT's
9600GSO's
560Ti's
and currently running GTX 480's in SLI
ATi:
4870's
5850's (multiple sets)
5870's (multiple sets)
6950's
6970's
and currently have 2 unlocked 6950's that run at 6970 clocks and 6870's.

I can honestly say, with one exception, EVERY time I added another card, my video performance improved considerably.
When the 7970 launched, I happened to be running my old x58 rig with dual 560Ti's. Even with my 920 at stock, my rig beat out a 7970 by approximately 400 points in 3Dm11. Those cards scaled almost 100% in everything.
Granted the drivers have improved 7970 a lot.

As I metioned earlier the only game that there was a noticeable decrease in performance was Skyrim using Crossfire. However, it's a known issue with ATi and that buggy game. And yes, it's very buggy.

Now people may talk some bullshit about microstutter and screen tearing, but that's what it usually is.

Microstutter hasn't been an issue with Nvidia for quite a while. Most notably the 9800GX2 and the dual PCB GTX 295.

The last time microstutter was an issue with ATi was with the 38xx series. And that was usually more to do with the dual GPU cards (3870x2).

So if you try to use that lame arguement, don't, it's bullshit. And if you get microstutter, your OC is unstable.

As for screen tearing, that happens with single card solutions as well. Screen tearing happens when the FPS output exceeds screen refresh rate.


Regardless, the OP's best solution, in my opinion, is going with another 570. It's also the most cost effective.

So yea, try again.

[SickBeast]

Why not sell the GTX 570, get a 7950, then overclock it?

[brandon888]

570 in sli is a bad idea .... ram bottleneck .... 1280 mb is not enough for games ......

go for 670 EVGA , MSI or any decent brand .... but 570 is still nice card and you can wait for 700 series .....