Looking for a good GPU that will last

[KaRLiToS]

Wanna have fun for a while?

AMD R9 280x. Tahiti drivers are very mature and they will stay updated for a couple of years.

 

[Majcric]

I ran your rez for almost 2 years with a 680 and it never felt like I had too much GPU. At the bare min, I'd get at least a GTX 770/280x. If you find a good deal on the gtx 780 or 290 grab that.

 

[KaRLiToS]

I ran your rez for almost 2 years with a 680 and it never felt like I had too much GPU. At the bare min, I'd get at least a GTX 770/280x. If you find a good deal on the gtx 780 or 290 grab that.

The GTX 680 is exactly the same thing as the GTX 770 except with weaker memory. Both are GK104.

 

[Shmee]

I would go with a 7950/280 or 7970/280x. Also, if you do upgrade your resolution in the future, I would then consider going higher (290 or 290x)

 

[Headfoot]

Future proof is a misnomer. There is no such thing. A card will be a certain speed, X. Your graphical requirements require a certain speed, Y. As long as X is greater than Y your card is sufficient.

There is no card that will make the gap between X and Y reduce more slowly. However, the more powerful the card you buy the larger the gap between X and Y is, thus the longer it will take to exhaust the gap.

This is a very fancy way of saying that if you want a card to be the most future proof, buy the fastest card you can afford to buy right now. If you are willing to switch cards more frequently then buy the best bang for the buck card right now, then sell it and rebuy the best bang for the buck card in the next generation.

The advice you take depends on your budget:
@$400-450: R9 290 or GTX 780
@$300-350: GTX 770 or R9 280x
@$200-250: GTX 760 or R7 270x (280 or HD 7950 is preferable if you can find any in this price range)

 

[topeira]

Future proof is a misnomer. There is no such thing. A card will be a certain speed, X. Your graphical requirements require a certain speed, Y. As long as X is greater than Y your card is sufficient.

There is no card that will make the gap between X and Y reduce more slowly. However, the more powerful the card you buy the larger the gap between X and Y is, thus the longer it will take to exhaust the gap.

This is a very fancy way of saying that if you want a card to be the most future proof, buy the fastest card you can afford to buy right now. If you are willing to switch cards more frequently then buy the best bang for the buck card right now, then sell it and rebuy the best bang for the buck card in the next generation.

The advice you take depends on your budget:
@$400-450: R9 290 or GTX 780
@$300-350: GTX 770 or R9 280x
@$200-250: GTX 760 or R7 270x (280 or HD 7950 is preferable if you can find any in this price range)

1) i agree with your analogy, but you are coming off from the assumption that Y is constantly moving forward, and since X is static i will always need to by the next better card so X is farther ahead from Y, however i think that all games in the next few years (6 years or so?) will try and fit the new consoles so Y will addvance a lot slower sooner than later. just like how system requirements in the past 4 years havent changed very much if at all. crysis 2 and AC4 has roughtly the same requirements. this is why my 6870 1GB can run most games on almost MAX for the past 4 years or so. since Y has stopped moving until the new consoles came out.

my point is - i dont necessarily need the best card possible since i dont think Y is going to move that far ahead. what i wanted to know is if there is a card that is likely to keep me gaming the the way i am playing right now (at that res with these demands from gaphics) that i will remain ahead of Y when Y slows down yet not buy the most expensive GPU avialable.

also, is there a reason most ppl advised on AMD and not Nvidia?

another important question that somehow ppl missed:

2) i have a 650W PSU. what PSU will i need if i upgrade to a 280X or 290 or 770?

3) is there a point in the near future where new hardware is supposed to come out that will cause a price drop?
how long should i wait before a new purchase without "over waiting" during a stagnant time period in prices?

and if there is such a new GPU that should come out that you know of - whose is it- AMD or Nvidia?

right now im probably gonna wait until june to see how watch dogs performs on my 6870... i just wonder how long i best wait after june....

 

[Kenmitch]

2) i have a 650W PSU. what PSU will i need if i upgrade to a 280X or 290 or 770?

What brand is the power supply? How old is it?

I have 1 rig running a XFX DD r9 290 with a Rosewill Capstone 450m power supply. i3-4130 2 ssd's bd burner so not much power requirement other than the 290 I guess.

 

[nurturedhate]

1) most people are recommending AMD atm because the price/performance is better in most cases, albeit by a very small margin, plus the 3gb of vram on the 79xx/280(x) series is nice to have

2) your psu is fine, as long as it isn't 10 years old or some really cheap one to start with

3) the answer to this question is no and never. new cards from either side are most likely not coming out anytime soon. I would expect end of the year at the earliest.

 

[topeira]

thanks for all the info, guys. very very helpful!

i was wrong. my PSU is 550W and its a "TP-550 ANTEC" and i think its about 2 or 3 years old.
looks like it's this:
http://store.antec.com/Product/power_supply-true_power/tp-550/0-761345-23552-5.aspx

what do you think?


another thing - in my country's second hand internet board i can find a lot of 280X and 290 cards. even quit a few 7950 and such, but only a couple of 270GTX. maybe 2 Nvidia cards compared to more than 20 ATIs.... how come?





this question is just for curiousity - how is the Vram used onthe GPU? i used to think that high res textures and more info about NPCs and physics need ram space but i read that higher display resolution and AA requires more ram and more Vram. what is the connection between the resolution i game at and AA and VRAM? why do i need more VRAM if i wanna play on higher resolution? if i stay on lower resolution (1680X1050) can i scale up other VRAM required features?
why is Vram so important? or is it important? is 3GB enough? do i really need 4? etc etc 😛

thanks.... again 🙂

 

[DownTheSky]

Your PSU is enough.

I'd say if you find good deals on 2nd hand market go for it. Just be sure the card has 2yr+ of warranty. Gigabyte, Sapphire and MSI brands are the best. The Ati cards come from ppl selling their mining rigs.

 

[topeira]

Your PSU is enough.

I'd say if you find good deals on 2nd hand market go for it. Just be sure the card has 2yr+ of warranty. Gigabyte, Sapphire and MSI brands are the best. The Ati cards come from ppl selling their mining rigs.

thanks 🙂

"mining rigs"? for bitcoins? i didnt know you need a strong GPU for bitcoins.
and how come no nvidia and only ATI?
and why so many ppl sell it? why not keep mining?


OK, after searching for 2nd hand cards (with warranty) which would you recommend considering the prices as well (i have converted my local coin to dollars)-
which is a good bang for the buck? which is too slow?

SAPPHIRE 7950 3GB - 215$
GTX760 4GB ram OC - 260$
sapphire R9 280x vapor-x - 285$
SAPPHIRE DUAL-X R9 280X 3GB GDDR5 OC - 285$
R9 290 sapphire - 371$
EVGA GTX 770 4GB Superclocked ACX cooler - 485$

these prices might seem expensive for americans which makes it hard to judge, but these are the prices in my country (israel).
look at the comparison between them and try and judge the difference between the strength of the card compared to other cards and if the prices seem fair. are the cheaper cards really are as weaker as they are cheaper? (for example - is the 770gtx 4gb really worth almost twice as the 760gtx 4gb?)

and maybe the biggest question - if these cards where used for mining than it means they are fucked, arent they? is it worth the risk?

 

[DownTheSky]

use google.

 

[topeira]

i AM using google. im using this chart
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
and it seems like the 760gtx is kinda the same as the 280x.
the 760gtx is sold for about half the price it is sold 1st hand and it's said to be just 2 months old.
in fact almost all 2nd hand cards are said to be 2 months old.

someone warned me about GPUs that were used for farming and i should be careful with these and since it looks like there are a lot of GPUs that are just about 2 or 3 months old and are sold for about 60% of the price i wonder if it's worth it. are these cards used for farming? are they gonna die on me quick because of that? should i go for a 2nd hand GPU if these are the options i got?

 

[UaVaj]

Your PSU is enough.

I'd say if you find good deals on 2nd hand market go for it. Just be sure the card has 2yr+ of warranty. Gigabyte, Sapphire and MSI brands are the best. The Ati cards come from ppl selling their mining rigs.

if you care about warranty stay clear of sapphire.
you do not have to take my word for it.

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/support/support_index.aspx?cid=3&lid=1

 

[UaVaj]

farming does reduce the life of the gpu. after all it is silicon. heat is degrade silicon.

truth is. farming or not. chances are you will upgrade before it ever dies. no need to worry about it.

if you are asking these question to be better educated. then find a good use gpu with remaining warranty. (asus, gigabyte, msi etc)

if you are asking these question cause you are worry. go new instead, you will sleep better at night.

 

[topeira]

thanks to whomever contributed. since the subject of the thread was to help me understand what GPU i should look for, and that subject was answered - i will call thid thread "done".

i had more questions so i actually derailed the thread myself, so im gonna open a new thread dedicated to these questions so things will be more organized.

thanks again, everyone.

 

[dangerman1337]

If you want to go until late 2019 on 1680x1050 then a non-Ti 780 or non-x 290 should be good if you can stretch it.

 

[topeira]

If you want to go until late 2019 on 1680x1050 then a non-Ti 780 or non-x 290 should be good if you can stretch it.

what does the X and TI mean in these cards?

 

[UaVaj]

If you want to go until late 2019 on 1680x1050 then a non-Ti 780 or non-x 290 should be good if you can stretch it.

you got any stock predictions. :biggrin::biggrin:

thanks for the laugh.

 

[Makaveli]

you got any stock predictions. :biggrin::biggrin:

thanks for the laugh.

lol that was pretty funny

 

[SlickR12345]

How much is your budget? For $250 you can grab the GTX 760 that will last easily the next 3 years, if you want a card to last 5 years though I'd go with the R290x or GTX 780 TI if you have the money for it, it will easily last you 5 years, especially now since the consoles operate on basically a 270x gpu type level.

 

[Makaveli]

How much is your budget? For $250 you can grab the GTX 760 that will last easily the next 3 years, if you want a card to last 5 years though I'd go with the R290x or GTX 780 TI if you have the money for it, it will easily last you 5 years, especially now since the consoles operate on basically a 270x gpu type level.

I highly doubt a R290x or GTX 780 TI will give you playable fps in 5 years unless your on a 1680x1050 monitor.

lets go back to 2009 roughly 5 years ago. Does the highest end single gpu from that year still give you playable fps today??

And we had consoles back then also holding back gaming!

I would say 3 years is more realistic.