Gigabyte 1070 FE - pull trigger?

[VirtualLarry]

Plus you get Nvidia's excellent drivers and support unlike the competition.

The driver releases I've had for the 1070 have been a bug ridden roller-coaster ride while my R9 290 has had excellent stability and support despite living in multiple PC's throughout its life.

I just know that NVidia "broke" Folding@Home on GPU with their recent drivers, and people participating in the December F@H race, had to choose between playing the newest games, and doing Folding. Whereas, AMD users had no such dilemma.

 

[easye-at]

I really feel buying gpus is for staying on a gpu cycle. In that case, if you aren't dying to upgrade and are on a 7950 and don't want to spend much I can't recommend going up to the 1070 cycle for a person who doesn't seem to be dying for that level of performance. He looks frugal. I know people making quite a bit of money who won't buy a 1070 because they don't need that level of performance. I feel that's the op.

This is why I'm waiting for the 1080ti to come out and the amd competition so that I can be on the cycle that fits my desired level of performance. After that, you just buy and sell and it's paying the same amount in the long run as you used to when you just used a gpu for a long time, but you get better overall performance. Hard to beat.

This is correct. I can easily afford to buy the top tier GPUs however the buying and selling every so often is painful. I just like snagging really good deal on mid range GPUs.

Honestly, I think I am about one generation of GPUs away from the new gen mid-range making a huge jump for me. But I don't mind making small incremental jumps either hence originally wanting RX480 8GB. If I could snag one for $200, I could sell my 7950 for $50 and have a solid upgrade for $150.

I have decided just to wait at least until January 4th and see if something shakes out of CES.

 

[tential]

This is correct. I can easily afford to buy the top tier GPUs however the buying and selling every so often is painful. I just like snagging really good deal on mid range GPUs.

Honestly, I think I am about one generation of GPUs away from the new gen mid-range making a huge jump for me. But I don't mind making small incremental jumps either hence originally wanting RX480 8GB. If I could snag one for $200, I could sell my 7950 for $50 and have a solid upgrade for $150.

I have decided just to wait at least until January 4th and see if something shakes out of CES.

Buying and selling works for every price range. So I'm not saying don't get a very good deal on a midrange do this. That's what makes this strategy work so well.

The reason the 480 isn't a huge jump is that it's a gpu tier lower than the 7950 is. That said, I still recommend it for 1080p if you want an upgrade. I found it to be a decent upgrade if you can wait though do it.

Like I've said though, your main consideration right now is just getting onto the appropriate gpu and then buying into that upgrade cycle. From all you've posted my recommendation is the 1060/480 cycle.

Any cycle above this has vastly diminishing returns and from all you've posted you're too price conscious for me to recommend any higher tier gpu cycle.

If you really don't like to buy and sell, well, I still recommend a midrange gpu class you won't get enough longevity out of a faster gpu to warrant the massive price increase. You won't get 50%+ longevity out of a 1070 over a good deal on a 1060/480 to warrant it so no, still can't recommend it. I just don't think you'll find any worthwhile value without actually playing the market and buying and selling.

Only looking at the buy side of the equation without the sell side is what most consumers do, but not the ones savvy with their money.

 

[Thinker_145]

What on earth are you guys talking about? With a free game the 1070 is flat out better value for money than a 1060 and 480. All this talk of not spending too much on GPU only applies when the price performance gets worse.

And what's with this GPU cycle thing? I have switched tiers before as it's all about what is the right upgrade for your money at a given point in time. Just because you have a top tier card today doesn't mean you will always have to buy a top tier card. Once a lower tier provides an appreciable upgrade what's the problem with it?

 

[zinfamous]

What on earth are you guys talking about? With a free game the 1070 is flat out better value for money than a 1060 and 480. All this talk of not spending too much on GPU only applies when the price performance gets worse.

And what's with this GPU cycle thing? I have switched tiers before as it's all about what is the right upgrade for your money at a given point in time. Just because you have a top tier card today doesn't mean you will always have to buy a top tier card. Once a lower tier provides an appreciable upgrade what's the problem with it?

Maybe the OP has different priorities than you do?

 

[happy medium]

Maybe the OP has different priorities than you do?

Or mabe he has the same priorities as we do.

 

[zinfamous]

Or mabe he has the same priorities as we do.

He posted more than once that he is a $200-250 price bracket buyer. He considers various options, but seems to always land there regardless of waffling.

What else should you or I take from that?

 

[happy medium]

All,

I see Gigabyte has a very nice rebate ($40) on this card until 12/31. Couple that with Discover Cash back 5% off (need to verify that Discover would consider it). I could get Gigabyte 1070 FE out the door at $319 ($379 - $40 MIR - 5% Cash Back = $319).

Seems he was in the $350 bracket.

 

[Thinker_145]

Maybe the OP has different priorities than you do?

I am not talking about the OP but the arguments of going for mid range GPUs and upgrading more frequently something that clearly doesn't apply if the upper tier card offers similar or better value.

And contrary to what some people think it does not matter what "tier" your card is.

 

[magomago]

honestly i don't know why this is a dilemma for you. There is no competition at the 1070/1080 price points. If you want a card ***now*** to last 3-4 years, it is one of these - a GTX1060 will not have that kind of staying power, and neither will an RX480; obviously a GTX1080 will last longer no question.

If you are not willing to pay those prices (and remember, there is a big gap here) then many more options (nvidia and AMD) come into play. Just don't expect them to last 3-4 years at max settings.

You can play the waiting game; will AMD hold at nvidia's prices, or will it force nvidia to drop? Will it take a commanding lead, or will it be an equal performance response? It is speculative, but if you can wait, you will always get better tech. If you wait, just expect the same dilemma to arise again (i.e. you COULLLD wait even more for...)

I recently went through a similar episode but I was willing to buy at any price-point providing it wasn't stupid (a gtx1080 didn't make sense for me as I'm capped at 1080 for the next several years).
I was about to buy a 1070, but then saw a good deal on a 4gb rx480 (~165 dollars) and just jumped on that. I've been getting the performance I want, and since it was cheap enough, I'll upgrade again in the future w/o worries.

So write down a list of what really matters and decide what compromises make sense (especially if you aren't willing to put down 400 for a GTX1070) - for me, there was a single game i wanted to play at 60fps (which happens to be a demanding title anyways), and I found out I didn't like the hairworks aesthetic, so the RX480 became a terribly easy sell because I achieved the performance and quality I wanted.

 

[easye-at]

Or mabe he has the same priorities as we do.

He posted more than once that he is a $200-250 price bracket buyer. He considers various options, but seems to always land there regardless of waffling.

What else should you or I take from that?

Pretty much, I like upgrading on crazy deals, so I always find those to be in the $200-$250 range. In this case, I would like a RX480 8GB for sub $200, but probably won't happen, missed out during BF.

I am not talking about the OP but the arguments of going for mid range GPUs and upgrading more frequently something that clearly doesn't apply if the upper tier card offers similar or better value.

And contrary to what some people think it does not matter what "tier" your card is.

honestly i don't know why this is a dilemma for you. There is no competition at the 1070/1080 price points. If you want a card ***now*** to last 3-4 years, it is one of these - a GTX1060 will not have that kind of staying power, and neither will an RX480; obviously a GTX1080 will last longer no question.

If you are not willing to pay those prices (and remember, there is a big gap here) then many more options (nvidia and AMD) come into play. Just don't expect them to last 3-4 years at max settings.

You can play the waiting game; will AMD hold at nvidia's prices, or will it force nvidia to drop? Will it take a commanding lead, or will it be an equal performance response? It is speculative, but if you can wait, you will always get better tech. If you wait, just expect the same dilemma to arise again (i.e. you COULLLD wait even more for...)

I recently went through a similar episode but I was willing to buy at any price-point providing it wasn't stupid (a gtx1080 didn't make sense for me as I'm capped at 1080 for the next several years).
I was about to buy a 1070, but then saw a good deal on a 4gb rx480 (~165 dollars) and just jumped on that. I've been getting the performance I want, and since it was cheap enough, I'll upgrade again in the future w/o worries.

So write down a list of what really matters and decide what compromises make sense (especially if you aren't willing to put down 400 for a GTX1070) - for me, there was a single game i wanted to play at 60fps (which happens to be a demanding title anyways), and I found out I didn't like the hairworks aesthetic, so the RX480 became a terribly easy sell because I achieved the performance and quality I wanted.

Good point, I could just upgrade to RX480 or 1060 and then upgrade in 1-2 years. I could also pick up a 980Ti for around $300ish.