Should I hold out?

[Datafiend]

Hey all,

I'm currently using a Amd 5850 black edition and I'm looking to update but I'm wondering if I should hold off and see what Nvidia does with their 800 line. I was looking at getting a superclocked GTX 780 from Evga but that card is over a year at this point. Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[lehtv]

Welcome to the forums.

It's really impossible to recommend anything to you without knowing the rest of your PC's specs (preferably all of them, but most importantly the CPU, motherboard, RAM, PSU and case), your monitor's native resolution, the types of games you want to see better performance in, and you should also mention where you're buying the new card from (i.e. country / store) as well as how much you're willing to spend on the upgrade at most.

 

[Datafiend]

Welcome to the forums.

It's really impossible to recommend anything to you without knowing the rest of your PC's specs (preferably all of them, but most importantly the CPU, motherboard, RAM, PSU and case), your monitor's native resolution, the types of games you want to see better performance in, and you should also mention where you're buying the new card from (i.e. country / store) as well as how much you're willing to spend on the upgrade at most.

Ty .

I'm currently using a Core i7 950 CPU, Intel DX58SO, 6gb of ram, 650watt corsair PSU and a Silverstone FT02 case. I'm looking for something that will allow me play most new and future releases on high settings or near that(Stuff like Watch Dogs etc...). I would be buying from either Amazon or Newegg(US) and I'm willing to spend up to $550. I'm also mainly looking a Nvidia GPU as I want Physx support.

 

[PC_gamer5150]

Dont know if this helps but i just ordered a gtx 780 ftw edition
and like you wanted to be able to play the newer games without being held back by my gpu. I am real into great graphics set as high as possible
all i can say is i am one happy SOB right now that i did this and not waited for a 800 or settled for a 770.

 

[toyota]

5850 is pretty pitiful for modern games so whats the point in continuing to play at crappy settings and or framerates if you have the money to upgrade? get a 770 4gb or 780 and oc your cpu.

 

[RussianSensation]

5850 is pretty pitiful for modern games so whats the point in continuing to play at crappy settings and or framerates if you have the money to upgrade? get a 770 4gb or 780 and oc your cpu.

He needs to overclock his CPU to 3.9-4.0 ghz while at it before buying something like a 780. I personally wouldn't buy either of the cards you mentioned. 780 3GB is a waste of money right now as more and more games will likely use > 3GB of VRAM. If you look at Op's usage pattern, he keeps his GPU for a long time before upgrading.

770 4GB makes no sense at all since cards like XFX DD R9 290 are $400; and it also has lifetime warranty. It will smoke a 770:
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...1-xfx-r9-290-double-dissipation-review-8.html

780 6GB is $550 or $150 extra premium over R9 290! Jokes. R9 290 after market is by far the best value in the market right now and eliminates the 2 cards you mentioned unless one must have PhysX or something.

Datafiend, in the end, if you want an NV card, I would probably wait for 880. Right now virtually every card in NV's lineup above $300 is overpriced. If you are not going to overclock your CPU at all, get something like a $280 R9 280X and then do a full system upgrade with Skylake. Another suggestion is to upgrade more often. For example, buy the R9 280x now and then sell your 5850. Once 20nm GPUs show up, you can resell your 280x and keep reinvesting your resale value into new cards. This minimizes your upgrade costs.

 

[lehtv]

A first gen i7 isn't really fast enough for a $300+ card on 1080p. On 1440p, it might suffice. So what is your monitors native resolution??

I upgraded to 7950 1.5 years ago, and had to also upgrade my CPU (OC'd i7 920) because it was holding the card back so badly on 1080p. A stock GTX 780 is another 20-30% increase in performance on top of an OC'd 7950, which means it's all the more reason to upgrade the CPU or settle for a more midrange card.

I'd suggest:
(a) overclock your CPU (may require a new cooler; you didn't mention what cooler you have) and buy an R9 280 for about $200 - it's a good 100% faster than your 5850, and will still get CPU limited but it's the lowest you should go for because you don't want a 2GB VRAM card in this day and age. Save the rest of your budget for a future system overhaul.

or

(b) sell i7 motherboard + CPU + RAM for a good amount of cash. Buy an i5-4670K + Z87 motherboard combo, 2x4GB of DDR3-1600, and the fastest card you can afford (at least R9 280 3GB, up to R9 290 4GB)

 

[NTMBK]

Meh, from what I've seen Watch_Dogs isn't really a game worth upgrading your PC for...

 

[Zardnok]

For the money, you can't beat the used R9 290s out there for $300ish which saves you $250 to put towards future upgrades on the rest of your system! Add another $100 and you have an i5 combo with some RAM to go with that 290 and a monster gamer.

So yeah, come up with another $100, perhaps by selling what you have, and feed the beast!

 

[Datafiend]

Thanks for all the feedback guys, I was planning to upgrade my PC need month anyway(going with i5 4670k,16gb and MSI Z97 Gaming 5 mb). I do think I'm going to with the R9 280x Black Edition from XFX or the R9 290 from XFX as it is only $85 more.

 

[lehtv]

2x4GB should work fine for gaming for a good while, I'd rather get the R9 290 4GB over the 280X, than upgrade the RAM to 16GB. Of course, if you can afford both, then go ahead

 

[Zardnok]

If you are updating your CPU, then absolutely no reason I would do the 280x... Jump straight to the front and pick up a 290 and don't look back. The power for the money is awesome!

You can always buy used if you need to save some cash.

 

[toyota]

Thanks for all the feedback guys, I was planning to upgrade my PC need month anyway(going with i5 4670k,16gb and MSI Z97 Gaming 5 mb). I do think I'm going to with the R9 280x Black Edition from XFX or the R9 290 from XFX as it is only $85 more.

please do NOT go with a 4670k at this point. you already have an i7 and you tend to keep stuff for a while so go 4770k or you will already be gimping yourself from day 1.

 

[Deders]

Just upgraded from a 670 to a 780 myself, really helps push the extra pixels on my new monitor, but If I had stayed with my old monitor then the only thing holding it back would have been the 2GB ram.

Nothing wrong with a 780 on Nehalem although it could benefit from an overclock. The 780 would most benefit you in resolutions over 1080p.

 

[ctk1981]

Do you rush out and buy all the new games when they first come out, or do you wait for them to drop on steam 3-6 months later?

Thats basically what I do....and I'm sitting on a stack of "last gen" games that I need to finish up playing, on a GTX 580. Right now Im chugging threw Metro LL. I know my goal is to see what the 8 series from nvidia brings to the table..and by that point, should have a fairly good idea what the trend of next gen games will really be....if they do indeed need more than 3GB of vram, or if watchdogs and others just have some horrendous bugs in them.

 

[Jacky60]

I say keep waiting. There's no rush if you're under 30 waiting a few months for a sublime gaming experience is no biggie. I am older and at the moment playing Arma 3 multi-player with my rig I get a pretty constant with all the eyecandy on 45-60fps. I constantly marvel at how brilliant it looks. If you think it's best to wait to have fun then maybe you should. Turn those settings down and wait.

 

[2is]

Unless you play on upgrading your entire system real soon, i'd go ahead and get the card now. If you're gaming at 1080p, your CPU will be a bottleneck before a 780 will in the vast majority of todays games. Heck, even at 1440p, your CPU will run out of steam before a 780 in most games.

As far as i5 vs i7, go with the i7. You look like you keep your systems around for a while, that extra $100 won't really mean much.

 

[Jacky60]

Do buy the 290 not the 280. Games looking brilliant sooner is what you need, I know, I'm already there although I do lose focus just staring at how pretty it all looks. Also OC that 950, Nehalem is a very old if veritable CPU. If upgrading get the 4770k, more games will be properly multi-threaded in future, don't get caught out with a sub-par CPU in 18 months.

 

[RussianSensation]

Thanks for all the feedback guys, I was planning to upgrade my PC need month anyway(going with i5 4670k,16gb and MSI Z97 Gaming 5 mb). I do think I'm going to with the R9 280x Black Edition from XFX or the R9 290 from XFX as it is only $85 more.

Given how long you keep your system, I'd consider the i7 4790K with 4.0Ghz base clock. If you get an R9 290, only get an after-market version. If you can't stretch the budget for the i7, get the i5 4690K. 4790K/4690K should be out in the next 4 weeks.