upgrade or wait?

[jlo82585]

hey guys im thinking about upgrading my GPU but first things first. my current PC is as follows
CPU- 4790k
mobo- rog maximus hero VII
GPU- msi GTX 970 gaming 4g
ram- 24gb ddr3 ( I was going to use the ram as a small HDD but that didnt work so well).
2tb WD black HDD
250gb SSD for O.S.
500 gb SSD for frequently played games
PS- 750w corsair bronze

I am not very happy with the 970. back when I did my first build I used the gtx 470 and that gave me at least 3-4 years with being able to play new games at max. the 970 is 2 years old and already it fails to play new games like the division or forza horizon 3 on max at 60fps, and that only at 1080p. So it seems 1440p while possible is not going to have the high graphics settings potential on the 970 unless I go back to 30fps. However, upon looking at the gtx 1070 it still cannot maintain 60fps on those same games at 1440p. So should I spend the cash and get a 1080 or just wait till the next generation of GPU (1100 series?) and get the 70 in that series? the 1080 is a lot of money and while it will 1440 just fine its hard to justify the extra money since it cant really even do 4k on its own very well. Just looking for some input. by the way im not locked to nvidia, it just seems AMD doesnt have anything as powerful as nvidia anymore.

 

[Newbian]

Unless you want to wait 5-6 months for vega and see if the 1080 ti is released around then you will need to pick either of those as the best deals until then will be now because of christmas probably.

You also need to choose a resolution as you go for 1080p to 1440p to 4k and 4k is not an option right now other then for the new titan and only 60hz versions.

 

[thesmokingman]

I would wait for vega. Oc the hell out of the 970 and hold out a few more months. If the leaks look bad in two months, buy something then. If they look good, you will 1080s are cheaper having waited.

 

[jlo82585]

I would wait for vega. Oc the hell out of the 970 and hold out a few more months. If the leaks look bad in two months, buy something then. If they look good, you will 1080s are cheaper having waited.

I will have to look up this vega you speak of, as of OC'ing i have only fiddled with it a bit and didn't have much luck but i was probably being a bit overzealous at the speeds I was pushing it to. I know the msi 970 i have is pretty good for overclocking but im not sure what a good overclock is as I have never done it before. any tips on what a good memory speed and clock speed would be considered good? as a reference the base clock/ boost clock is 1140/1279mhz and the memory clock is 1366mhz. I know every card is different so im sure I wont get what some people get but im not sure what I should aim for.

 

[thesmokingman]

I will have to look up this vega you speak of, as of OC'ing i have only fiddled with it a bit and didn't have much luck but i was probably being a bit overzealous at the speeds I was pushing it to. I know the msi 970 i have is pretty good for overclocking but im not sure what a good overclock is as I have never done it before. any tips on what a good memory speed and clock speed would be considered good? as a reference the base clock/ boost clock is 1140/1279mhz and the memory clock is 1366mhz. I know every card is different so im sure I wont get what some people get but im not sure what I should aim for.

A lot of maxwell gpus, 970 included can clock pretty well if provided enough cooling. In your case that means running the fan high enough to keep it around 70c at load. On the high side you can most likely hit 1500mhz core. I've owned a couple 970s in the past and they clocked to over 1500mhz. That said it's not a sure thing but likely imo.

https://www.reddit.com/r/overclocking/comments/2q1wtj/first_time_overclocking_howd_i_do_msi_gtx_970/

 

[Arachnotronic]

hey guys im thinking about upgrading my GPU but first things first. my current PC is as follows
CPU- 4790k
mobo- rog maximus hero VII
GPU- msi GTX 970 gaming 4g
ram- 24gb ddr3 ( I was going to use the ram as a small HDD but that didnt work so well).
2tb WD black HDD
250gb SSD for O.S.
500 gb SSD for frequently played games
PS- 750w corsair bronze

I am not very happy with the 970. back when I did my first build I used the gtx 470 and that gave me at least 3-4 years with being able to play new games at max. the 970 is 2 years old and already it fails to play new games like the division or forza horizon 3 on max at 60fps, and that only at 1080p. So it seems 1440p while possible is not going to have the high graphics settings potential on the 970 unless I go back to 30fps. However, upon looking at the gtx 1070 it still cannot maintain 60fps on those same games at 1440p. So should I spend the cash and get a 1080 or just wait till the next generation of GPU (1100 series?) and get the 70 in that series? the 1080 is a lot of money and while it will 1440 just fine its hard to justify the extra money since it cant really even do 4k on its own very well. Just looking for some input. by the way im not locked to nvidia, it just seems AMD doesnt have anything as powerful as nvidia anymore.

Just pick up a 1080. Once Vega arrives, you may be tempted to wait for Volta, and the cycle is never ending. There's always something better coming soon.

Find a good deal on an aftermarket 1080 and just go for it. Resell that 970 to offset some of the costs.

You can get decent aftermarket cooled versions of the 1080 for like $620.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...4125869&cm_re=gtx_1080-_-14-125-869-_-Product

 

[jlo82585]

well ill try overclocking this weekend and if that doesn't give me what im looking for ill pick up a 1080 next week after I get paid. Im just dreading looking at benchmarks for hours... wish there was a faster way to overclock. My main mistake I am seeing is that I built my rig in the year in between gpu releases so by the time I got my 970 it was already giving way to the 10 series so unless my 970 can overclock enough to make it acceptable till 2018 when the new gpu's should be out (provided nvidia continues the every other year model) ill just wait.

 

[Ketchup]

So what is your res right now? The 1070 and 1080 were a huge leap on the Nvidia side, which only sorta justifies their late arrival (Which I am only calling late.It was a long wait for these guys). But it does make one thing pretty clear - if you want a card noticeably better - get one of those cards now. It will be a while before something significantly better comes along. If you already have games that are showing unsatisfactory performance, I don't see the point in waiting for something that may be no better than what has already been out for several months.

 

[jlo82585]

So what is your res right now? The 1070 and 1080 were a huge leap on the Nvidia side, which only sorta justifies their late arrival (Which I am only calling late.It was a long wait for these guys). But it does make one thing pretty clear - if you want a card noticeably better - get one of those cards now. It will be a while before something significantly better comes along. If you already have games that are showing unsatisfactory performance, I don't see the point in waiting for something that may be no better than what has already been out for several months.

well I keep the desktop at 1080 only because some of the games I play don't scale correctly when I have it on 4k with the DPI increased, games like the division don't like adjusted DPI settings and 4k is very tiny on my 28" monitor, that said I play my games in the highest resolutions possible where I can hit 60fps. So on simple games like world of warships and MGS I have that set to 1440 where as in the division or forza horizon 3 its set at 1080p. I also saw that I can just pick up another 970 for less than 200 bucks on ebay and go the SLI route.. Its just hard justifying an upgrade when I built the rig just last year......

 

[jlo82585]

well, doesn't matter. apparently 6 beers loosened up my wallet and I bought a 1080.... FML.........

 

[Ketchup]

Lol

 

[Headfoot]

GPU gnomes raided your bank account but left you a fresh new 1080 for your trouble