is this a bad time to get a card?

[magomago]

ready to upgrade from sli gtx460s 768MB...gotta run at 720p to get mostly consistent frame rate on Witcher 3 with the level of details I like. I need to stay on par with pc master race.

Ready to invest 400 bucks, and looks like my only option is nvidia at this performance / price point.

but are new cards out/due anytime soon that its a bad idea to plunk this much right now?

 

[Newbian]

Well you can either grab it today with the current sales or wait for christmas sales.

Otherwise as far as we know nothing new really until h1 of 2017, most assuming q2 so a good 6ish months away, when vega is supposed to be released for amd and probably the 1080 ti around that time.

 

[magomago]

i'm assuming AMD's is on the same cadence then.

perfect - 6 months is more than enough; I just didn't want to bite with 30 days left. i'd jump for a 1080 but everything is saying unless i'm gaming 1080p 144Hz and 4K that it just isn't worth it.

 

[Arachnotronic]

i'm assuming AMD's is on the same cadence then.

perfect - 6 months is more than enough; I just didn't want to bite with 30 days left. i'd jump for a 1080 but everything is saying unless i'm gaming 1080p 144Hz and 4K that it just isn't worth it.

Yeah, right now for less than $400 you can get a nice 1070. You are going to see a HUGE improvement over your current setup.

 

[happy medium]

ready to upgrade from sli gtx460s 768MB...gotta run at 720p to get mostly consistent frame rate on Witcher 3 with the level of details I like. I need to stay on par with pc master race.

Ready to invest 400 bucks, and looks like my only option is nvidia at this performance / price point.

but are new cards out/due anytime soon that its a bad idea to plunk this much right now?

What are the specs of your system?
what Cpu, how much ram, what resolution is your monitor and wattage of your power supply.

Most important is whats your cpu model, and your monitor resolution.

 

[guskline]

I agree with Happy Medium. Need to know specs to help with a sound gpu recommendation.

 

[IllogicalGlory]

There is no shortage of great prices out there right now.

Asus GTX 1070 Dual $365 AR

MSI Gaming X RX 480 4GB $180 AR

ASUS ROG STRIX RX 470 4GB $145 AR

This is a great time to get a card, honestly. That GTX 1070 sounds almost perfect for you. There might be a deal on one for $345 again, but you can't go wrong.

 

[happy medium]

There is no shortage of great prices out there right now.

Asus GTX 1070 Dual $365 AR

MSI Gaming X RX 480 4GB $180 AR

ASUS ROG STRIX RX 470 4GB $145 AR

This is a great time to get a card, honestly. That GTX 1070 sounds almost perfect for you. There might be a deal on one for $345 again, but you can't go wrong.

How can it be perfect for him? we don't know his specs?
Did he email them to you?

He might have a core 2 quad and a 1600x900 monitor.

 

[whm1974]

How can it be perfect for him? we don't know his specs?
Did he email them to you?

He might have a core 2 quad and a 1600x900 monitor.

In which case it's time for a new computer and display.

 

[magomago]

2500k @ 4.4 with 16gigs of ram (1600mhz). it is old, but cpu tech has slowed down.
I have 21" ips 1080p monitors, but i have zero plans to upgrade until i get 27" 4K IPS HDR...which will be a long while.

Budget isn't a limit, but I don't want to throw away my money, which is why i shy away from a gtx 1080. AMD just didn't seem to have anything competitive unless I was willing to step down in performance - I see this as the 2nd and last videocard this PC will get. on the same note, a GTX 1060 looks to occasionally dip down below 1080p for some games...whereas the 1070 is consistently above 60fps.

Next one will be a fresh build for sure. PSU is a gold cert 700W, so no issues there even though its 5 years old at this point.

 

[AtenRa]

I would get a RX 480 8GB currently at $229

This will get you 60fps at almost every game at 1080p High/Ultra.

Then you have two choices, wait for Vega or get another RX 480 8GB for CF which is faster than GTX 1070 (CF support for almost every new game in 2016).

 

[whm1974]

At $229 the Rx 480 8GB isn't a bad choice at all.

 

[Newbian]

I would get a RX 480 8GB currently at $229

This will get you 60fps at almost every game at 1080p High/Ultra.

Then you have two choices, wait for Vega or get another RX 480 8GB for CF which is faster than GTX 1070 (CF support for almost every new game in 2016).

Going cf / sli is not a good choice usually.

A 1070 would be the best option for his case for a single gpu.

 

[vissarix]

ready to upgrade from sli gtx460s 768MB...gotta run at 720p to get mostly consistent frame rate on Witcher 3 with the level of details I like. I need to stay on par with pc master race.

Ready to invest 400 bucks, and looks like my only option is nvidia at this performance / price point.

but are new cards out/due anytime soon that its a bad idea to plunk this much right now?

The gtx 1070 is more then enough for 1080p, perhaps a bit overkill so you might just need a gtx 1060
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...906&cm_re=gtx_1060-_-9SIA25V4Y27906-_-Product

is pretty cheap and you still have money left, i would also recommend selling your i5 2500k and get a i7 2600k, you will spend around $50 in the process but you get a nice boost, overclock it to 4.8 or beyond since sandybridge is an overclocking monster and your good to go

 

[OatisCampbell]

I would get a RX 480 8GB currently at $229

This will get you 60fps at almost every game at 1080p High/Ultra.

Then you have two choices, wait for Vega or get another RX 480 8GB for CF which is faster than GTX 1070 (CF support for almost every new game in 2016).

Hard to agree with this, everything I've seen says multi GPU is less supported than ever:

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/RX_480_CrossFire/21.html

RX 480 CrossFire loses out on its overall relative performance big time due to the number of games that don't scale well (6 out of 16).

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2016/07/11/amd_radeon_rx_480_8gb_crossfire_review/13#.WD15GfWcFdg

Then there is the support for CrossFire and SLI itself in games, something AMD has not been very good at in recent games. Today we saw Hitman using DX12 crash repeatedly and was not playable using CrossFire, however it was playable in DX11. Multi-GPU support moving forward using DX12 is going to be a new ordeal as mGPU performance is handed off to the game developer rather than the AMD or NVIDIA when it comes to building the driver. OpenGL and Vulkan APIs are a bit shaky too when it comes to mGPU usages going forward. Here is what AMD had to say to us about this recently when we were asking about mGPU support in DOOM.
I don’t believe there are plans to have mGPU enabled in OGL path for DOOM, and the Vulkan guys haven’t figured out what mGPU looks like yet.
Understand please that as games move to the newer APIs, the mGPU work has to be done by the developers, it’s not in the driver anymore…
So while many have seen DX12 and mGPU / EMA (Explicit Multi Adapter) support as being a good thing, it may very well end up being just the opposite as AMD and NVIDIA are losing control of mGPU implementation in games

OP should wait a few months for Vega, and hope it returns GPU pricing to high end cards less than $700 and second tier under $500.. This mid range for $700 phase is depressing for those of us who don't have a lot of disposable income, I didn't pay much more than that for my R290/i5/motherboard.

Now I can get what is soon to be NVIDIAs 3rd best card. :-|

 

[OatisCampbell]

It's a good time to buy some cards though:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150742&cm_re=Fury_x-_-14-150-742-_-Product

$299 for a Fury X is a great upgrade for the OP.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Everyone seems so hung up on whether cards are mid or high end or if something else is coming out that is faster, or in comparing to some hierarchy from previous generations. Bottom line is that the 1070 at 400.00 (cheaper now if you shop carefully) offers similar performance to the 980Ti which was IIRC, 600.00 at launch. And the 250.00 480/1060 offer performance per dollar much better than the previous generation cards as well. So no, maybe we are not seeing the doubling of performance that we used to see with a die shrink, but we still are seeing an increase in performance per dollar with the new generation.

 

[nurturedhate]

While a 1070 is a great card for around $350 (have one) there were a few cases where my old 4670k at 4.7 was bottlenecking the 1070, most notably in BF1. With an older 2500k at 4.4 a 480/1060 6gb might be the better option, especially at 1080p 60hz.

 

[OatisCampbell]

Everyone seems so hung up on whether cards are mid or high end or if something else is coming out that is faster, or in comparing to some hierarchy from previous generations. Bottom line is that the 1070 at 400.00 (cheaper now if you shop carefully) offers similar performance to the 980Ti which was IIRC, 600.00 at launch. And the 250.00 480/1060 offer performance per dollar much better than the previous generation cards as well. So no, maybe we are not seeing the doubling of performance that we used to see with a die shrink, but we still are seeing an increase in performance per dollar with the new generation.

Your point is valid about mid range card offering last gen high end at a good price, but my point was in regard to current gen.

The Fury X and 980Ti launching at $650 is basically no sticker shock. I remember $599 for X850XT PE back in 2005, so high end cards costing $650 in 2015 is the way it's always been. (I think list was $550 but you couldn't buy one for that)

 

[SlickR12345]

I mean Vega could come out either 3 months from now or up till 5 months from now, so its your choice if you want to wait. You can go for a stop-gap GPU like the RX 470 4gb, there are few models for $170, otherwise your best current and basically only option is the GTX 1070. Personally the 1070 is NOT worth it, at $370 to $400 its up to 30% slower than the 1080 in some games, the closes it gets is usually 15% at higher resolutions. On average 1070 is about 25% slower than the 1080.

If I were you I'd wait at least a month, AMD said they would release some more information about Vega in December and even if they don't(which I doubt), you could get some Christmas deal and possibly get a 1070 for $340 or something.

 

[fleshconsumed]

I would get a RX 480 8GB currently at $229

This will get you 60fps at almost every game at 1080p High/Ultra.

Then you have two choices, wait for Vega or get another RX 480 8GB for CF which is faster than GTX 1070 (CF support for almost every new game in 2016).

If you're talking about XFX RS that's currently $210 after rebate, I'd tread cautiously. It's getting some really poor reviews.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/513amg/xfx_480_rs_review_spoiler_not_a_pleasant_review/

 

[Arachnotronic]

I would get a RX 480 8GB currently at $229

This will get you 60fps at almost every game at 1080p High/Ultra.

Then you have two choices, wait for Vega or get another RX 480 8GB for CF which is faster than GTX 1070 (CF support for almost every new game in 2016).

Game requirements only keep going up, so he should get the best GPU that he can afford so that he doesn't have to upgrade as soon and can be assured of being able to max everything out today.

If he has the budget, the GTX 1070 is the best option. Recommending an RX 480 or GTX 1060 in this situation is poor advice, IMO.

Why are you telling the OP to buy a 480 and then either crossfire with another 480 down the line or wait for Vega when he can just buy a 1070 and be done?

 

[ShintaiDK]

Forget the silly advices about Crossfire or SLI for that matter. You end up with an idle card most of the time.

Get the 1070.

 

[Gryz]

Do yourself a favor, and get a gtx1070.

 

[Erithan13]

2500k @ 4.4

Plenty of recommendations for the 1070 coming in but I could see so much of its potential wasted by a cpu bottleneck here. Modern games are really starting to show the limitations of i5s, especially given the IPC disadvantage of Sandy vs Skylake. I'd take an upgrade to a 2600k and a 1060/480 over just slapping in a 1070 and hoping the 2500k doesn't choke it.

If you have $400 to spend I'd seriously consider continuing to save for an entirely new system rather than putting it into an older one.