Is a GTX 780 a future proof GPU?

[solidsnake1607]

First of all GTX 780 is much better than 7950.
Second i had 7950 and i cannot even max shit out in that card on 1080p.For example games like max payne 3,Metro 2033,Metro LL,Crysis 2 and 3 e.t.c.If even i enable MSAA or even SMAA the performance was an huge disaster.

Great Choice GTX 760 Sli> GTX 780

Nice rig you got in there bro (signature) , congrats! 780 sli, omg!

 

[desprado]

Nice rig you got in there bro (signature) , congrats! 780 sli, omg!

i have 3 but forget to add will do later bro and my bench on haven benchmark thread.

 

[fahl]

I have a similar question. I know that "future proofing" is pretty impossible because nobody knows whats gonna happen but you can still do some predictions. Anyway, i'm buying a new computer soon and thinking about getting the EVGA 780 SC ACX and making the set-up SLI ready so that I can install a new card in 2-3 years or so. Basically what I'm wondering is if this is good (relatively at least) way of future proofing. I'm not expecting to be maxing games in a five years time I guess but I should at least be able to play them, right? The money side is not the biggest issue but I just don't wanna be overkilling it and then the card is "useless" in the same time as a 760 or 770.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Maybe...but the problem is when you are ready to upgrade again the resale value will be too low. By the time you are looking to upgrade, the 780 will be bested by $300 cards. Nobody will give you good value. That's just something to think about. I don't know your budget and whatnot so if $650 isn't a huge sum for you and you want that type of performance then sure.

 

[fahl]

Maybe...but the problem is when you are ready to upgrade again the resale value will be too low. By the time you are looking to upgrade, the 780 will be bested by $300 cards. Nobody will give you good value. That's just something to think about. I don't know your budget and whatnot so if $650 isn't a huge sum for you and you want that type of performance then sure.

Yeah, I meant buying another 780 and going SLI with those two. What would you say about that?

 

[cmdrdredd]

Hard to say. If you have a mind to do that then by all means. At this point I personally think it's better to play a waiting game, if you can wait that is. AMD is set to release something in the next month or two that may shift pricing.

 

[RussianSensation]

Yeah, I meant buying another 780 and going SLI with those two. What would you say about that?

I would take another route entirely. Grab a single 7970 1Ghz for $290 now and then resell that card and upgrade to 20nm GPUs in 15 months. Buying cards that depreciated a lot in value and reselling them and purchasing newly depreciated flagship cards / next gen 20nm mid-range is a sure way to have a very powerful system without spending an arm and a leg. Buying $650 cards is usually the worst possible strategy unless you can easily afford to buy such GPUs every 2 years without even blinking. Think about it since GTX580 came out for $500 just 2.5 years ago, you can now get that level of performance for $200 in the 660Ti. In 2.5 years from now, there will be a card for $270 that will tie a 780, which is why buying in the sweet-spot now and upgrading more often is the best way to future-proof for most PC enthusiasts. Right now an overclocked 7970 delivers 75% of the performance of a 780 overclocked for less than half price.

 

[Black Octagon]

^I agree with RS, and the 3 free 'Gold Reward' games bundle isn't to be sniffed at either

 

[fahl]

Alright, thanks for your input. Sooo much info to take into consideration. AMD probably isn't for me. Partly because I dont want to wait that long and I like EVGA. I feel like I'm torn between two options. Either going all out with the 780 and preparing the rig for SLI so I can buy another 780 in a few years, or just go easy and buy a simple (much cheaper) 760 rig. I guess I just have to decide.

 

[DETERMINOLOGY]

Guys i just made a new decision, i canceled the orden in amazon and bought 2xEVGA GTX 760 ACX 4GB DDR5 to make a 2way SLI, now i think thats is way better and more futureproof than a single gtx780-

You do know that 2x 760s is faster then a stocked titan correct and 1x 780 superclocked ACX/OC is faster then a stock titan just hoping you would know that. So sli 2x 780s would of been faster then a 690 which would of been better then 2x 760s so to sum it up you basically dropped the 1x gpu that is like titan performance to go 2x 760s to get roughly the same peroformance give or take. I would of went with a 780 then sli later on but thats just me everyone has they different views though

 

[solidsnake1607]

You do know that 2x 760s is faster then a stocked titan correct and 1x 780 superclocked acx/OC is faster then a stock titan just hoping you would know that. So sli 2x 780s would of been faster then a 690 which would of been better then 2x 760s.

Yes i do know but i could barely just afford two 760s, i spent 630 on both, two 780 would cost 1300, even if i could afford it thats just too much money i wouldnt spent because thats crazy! And would ve too much GpU power for 1080p 120hz .. i would add a third in the future may be but not anytime soon.

 

[DETERMINOLOGY]

Yes i do know but i could barely just afford two 760s, i spent 630 on both, two 780 would cost 1300, even if i could afford it thats just too much money i wouldnt spent because thats crazy! And would ve too much GpU power for 1080p 120hz .. i would add a third in the future may be but not anytime soon.

I see,

 

[solidsnake1607]

I see,

Thanks for your advices, i appreciate all the replies a lot.

 

[Mastercommander]

It's a sexy beast

Big Kepler

It may be that consoles will continue to stall graphical development. For this generation I'm still very satisfied with my 660 Ti from a year ago.

New consoles were said last year to be, what, six times more powerful than the current consoles? From knowledge of the previous vs new parts and some guesstimates, seems like they could be.

A stock 780 is about 50% more powerful than a stock 660 Ti @ 1080p. Assuming 780 SLI 100% scaling, 150% + 150% = 300% performance of a 660 Ti. You would be about half of where you need to be for 60 frames.

Of course, this is assuming the most demanding games of the future, that the processing of new graphical complexity will scale linearly on these cards, that the graphical complexity is actually added in by future developers in the first place.

Current console games run at 720p @ 30 frames. If developers try to make games run at 1080p on these new consoles, you may need far less power, and with 780 sli you'd be set. Unfortunately that would also mean that the graphical quality of the games may not be as advanced as it otherwise could be if developers don't add PC features and decide to rest on their 1080p laurels

 

[futurefields]

I think what OP means is if he is future proof against the consoles. So that would he be able to play any PS4/XBone games that are multiplatform with a GTX 780.

My opinion is yes because the new consoles aren't even as powerful as a GTX 660. But it depends, later in these new console life, there will probably be new rendering techniques invented, as there always are.

Some kind of new lighting or environment mapping will come out or something. And then the new consoles will probably drop to a lower native resolution in order to incorporate said effects. At that point, hypothetically, is when you might need to consider a new GPU midway through the console lifespan.

I'm banking on my 7950 getting me through the next console gen as long as I stick to 1080p. I don't mind playing games at 30-40 fps since I am an old school gamer anyways, I am pretty easy to please. That's really what it matters, how easy/hard to please are you.

 

[moonbogg]

Tech moves too fast for GPU future proofing. It won't happen regardless of dollars spent. A good CPU can last quite a long time however.

 

[blackened23]

Tech moves too fast for GPU future proofing. It won't happen regardless of dollars spent. A good CPU can last quite a long time however.

Indeed. Think of all those folks who bought 8800 ultras as a future proof GPU!

That being said, he can probably get a ton of mileage out of a GTX 780. Just don't expect anything unrealistic like being able to use it for 3-5 years, that won't happen.

 

[Keysplayr]

Now go have fun and game OP!!

 

[futurefields]

Indeed. Think of all those folks who bought 8800 ultras as a future proof GPU!

That being said, he can probably get a ton of mileage out of a GTX 780. Just don't expect anything unrealistic like being able to use it for 3-5 years, that won't happen.

Even if one sticks to 1080p?

Those would be some crazy looking games if they were unplayable on a 780 @ 1080p.

Imagine how the graphic fidelity of a game would look if you couldn't even run it on Medium with no AA @ 1080p on a GTX 780. Would have to look damn near realistic. Or be horribly unoptimized. I guess I wouldn't put it past Microsoft to say "don't optimize Windows versions of games...were tryin to sell XBone's here"

 

[blackened23]

Even if one sticks to 1080p?

Those would be some crazy looking games if they were unplayable on a 780 @ 1080p.

Imagine how the graphic fidelity of a game would look if you couldn't even run it on Medium with no AA @ 1080p on a GTX 780. Would have to look damn near realistic. Or be horribly unoptimized. I guess I wouldn't put it past Microsoft to say "don't optimize Windows versions of games...were tryin to sell XBone's here"

The same thing was said in 2008 when folks were rocking "high end" 768MB cards, and they're obviously not future proofed, not by a long shot. The high end cards had 1GB. Where are those folks now? Left in the dust. They don't even have enough GPU power to hang with the big boys, they probably don't even play modern games. And these were xbox 360 ports. So in 2008 the high end was 768MB or an 8800 to play xbox 360 ports. Now where are they? We're still playing 360 ports, right? (not being facetious here, trying to make a point.)

Games advance and so will hardware. Additionally, don't think that XB1 and PS4 games will be heavily optimized from the start. It's a learning process for developers and it will take them some time, and the graphics will improve measurably over time. If you look at the launch titles on xbox 360 versus some of the newer games like GTA V, the improvements with consoles have been drastic as developers became more familiar with them. Another example is Dead Space 1 vs Dead Space 3. Even on the 360 the graphics are WAY better in DS3. Again, it's a learning process for them as well and it takes them time to improve and optimize, it will improve over the years. And ports will improve over time as well, just as they did with 360/PS3 ports. Don't think for a second that XB1 and PS4 games will be optimized to the max out of the gate, that just won't happen. It will take years to squeeze the most out of the next gen, as developers learn all of the optimization tricks. So since most games will be based off of console multi platform games, this same thing that happened the prior 8 years will happen for the next 5-6 years - PC games will advance and so will GPUs. The rate of advance may be slightly slower, but all the same.

The GPUs we have now? They will be like the 8800s in 4-5 years. You can't future proof.

 

[Mondozei]

If we stay with the Playstation, and compare the PS4 to the PS3, the difference is substantial.
PS3 was a beast when it came out. PS4? Not so much. Of course, Sony has stated that it does not want to be in the red for as long with this generation.

Why do I compare PS4 at launch to PS3? Because we could look at PS3 and equivalent PC graphics cards and see how long they lasted.
The PS3 GPU is slightly lower in performance than a GTX 780, at least according to the articles written about it at launch such as this one:

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1015532/playstation-gpu-slightly-powerful-geforce-7800

Let's just say that the 7800 couldn't have carried you very far. Optimizations is a very big deal. Even if the hardware is inferior you can get a LOT more perfomance out of it over time. Also, the major upgrade this time is primarily in the RAM area for the PS4. You rarely if ever need 8 gigabyte of RAM for PC games even now. Also, even if underclocked, 8 cores would actually be quite good if the developers optimized for it correctly, which is harder to do from an engineering standpoint(most games still rarely optimize for 4 cores even today, let alone 8, which is why Intel's processors are usually deemed better for gaming).

Also, as others have pointed out, there is no such thing as 'future proof', not even in the stagnating CPU world. If games actually start getting optimized for 8 cores, that could be an area where you'd want to upgrade quite heavily in 3-4 years.

I do agree with RussianSensation, however, that it makes more sense to buy a card for 300-350 dollars or so but upgrade more often.

For example, I bought a GTX 560 Ti 2 years ago as a midrange card. It has served me well so far and I'm in no hurry to upgrade. If I were to wait a few months I could get a 7970 for the same price as I paid, which would actually be lower due to inflation(and I'm assuming further price cuts as the new 9000-series gets rolled out). But I would essentially double my performance.

As I pay more than that, however, the return on investment diminishes significantly. Quite simply, you get less performance per dollar. So, it's better to save that extra cash, save some over the next 2 years or so and then upgrade again at the 300-350 dollar price range instead of getting a GTX 780.

 

[futurefields]

The same thing was said in 2008 when folks were rocking "high end" 768MB cards, and they're obviously not future proofed, not by a long shot. The high end cards had 1GB. Where are those folks now? Left in the dust. They don't even have enough GPU power to hang with the big boys, they probably don't even play modern games. And these were xbox 360 ports. So in 2008 the high end was 768MB or an 8800 to play xbox 360 ports. Now where are they? We're still playing 360 ports, right? (not being facetious here, trying to make a point.)

Games advance and so will hardware. Additionally, don't think that XB1 and PS4 games will be heavily optimized from the start. It's a learning process for developers and it will take them some time, and the graphics will improve measurably over time. If you look at the launch titles on xbox 360 versus some of the newer games like GTA V, the improvements with consoles have been drastic as developers became more familiar with them. Another example is Dead Space 1 vs Dead Space 3. Even on the 360 the graphics are WAY better in DS3. Again, it's a learning process for them as well and it takes them time to improve and optimize, it will improve over the years. And ports will improve over time as well, just as they did with 360/PS3 ports. Don't think for a second that XB1 and PS4 games will be optimized to the max out of the gate, that just won't happen. It will take years to squeeze the most out of the next gen, as developers learn all of the optimization tricks. So since most games will be based off of console multi platform games, this same thing that happened the prior 8 years will happen for the next 5-6 years - PC games will advance and so will GPUs. The rate of advance may be slightly slower, but all the same.

The GPUs we have now? They will be like the 8800s in 4-5 years. You can't future proof.

There is a difference though in that prior to this generation, consoles weren't being required to push nearly as many pixels as their PC counterparts. If you try to push 1080p with a 8800GT you are screwed.

PS4/XBone are supposedly going to be running 1080p native. I am planning on sticking to 1080p for the next 5 years. So, with that in mind, I think a GPU on the level of a 780, if it weren't able to keep parity with what the consoles are doing, I would think something is seriously amiss with the PC port side of things. Because the 780 has several times the power of a console GPU and is rendering the same resolution image now, unlike before where the PC was rendering a much higher resolution image than consoles.

 

[cmdrdredd]

There is a difference though in that prior to this generation, consoles weren't being required to push nearly as many pixels as their PC counterparts. If you try to push 1080p with a 8800GT you are screwed.

PS4/XBone are supposedly going to be running 1080p native. I am planning on sticking to 1080p for the next 5 years. So, with that in mind, I think a GPU on the level of a 780, if it weren't able to keep parity with what the consoles are doing, I would think something is seriously amiss with the PC port side of things. Because the 780 has several times the power of a console GPU and is rendering the same resolution image now, unlike before where the PC was rendering a much higher resolution image than consoles.

And Battlefield 4 is 720p. So there is no 1080p native. It's whatever the developer wants.

 

[blackened23]

And Battlefield 4 is 720p. So there is no 1080p native. It's whatever the developer wants.

BF4 wasn't actually designed for the next-gen, the primary platforms are still 360 / PS3 with a PC port with additional features. I don't think the XB1/PS4 versions have a confirmed resolution though, do they?

 

[blackened23]

There is a difference though in that prior to this generation, consoles weren't being required to push nearly as many pixels as their PC counterparts. If you try to push 1080p with a 8800GT you are screwed.

PS4/XBone are supposedly going to be running 1080p native. I am planning on sticking to 1080p for the next 5 years. So, with that in mind, I think a GPU on the level of a 780, if it weren't able to keep parity with what the consoles are doing, I would think something is seriously amiss with the PC port side of things. Because the 780 has several times the power of a console GPU and is rendering the same resolution image now, unlike before where the PC was rendering a much higher resolution image than consoles.

Well you can't do an apples to apples comparison because consoles will be using libGCN for direct access to hardware whereas PC's cannot do that because they're not closed boxes. We're stuck with the clunky D3D, but that is a necessary evil because every PC configuration is different. The performance with the given hardware (in consoles) will be substantially higher than what it would be in a comparable PC box due to libGCN APIs.

Much like the 360 has something akin to a x1900 ATI range GPU with unified shaders. Good luck running something like Metro last light even at 720p on an x1900. I actually had one of those and I can't think of a single game that would be playable even at 720p, it would choke on everything. Again, can't do an apples to apples comparison. And yes, games and hardware will still advance, a GTX 780 is a beast now but will not last 3-5 years.