Buy a 780 or wait for 800 series

Hey guys, I bought a 1440p monitor this year and I love it. But my gtx 570 is having trouble keeping up with modern games at 1440p.
I was thinking about getting an EVGA 780 Classified, but i'm not sure it's enough of boost.
Should I wait for the 800 series (or the AMD equivalent)? I would like something that could future proof me for at least a little bit.


Thanks!

Futureproof? LOL

You can future proof yourself until the next gen... That's the only guarantee. And don't buy this bs of needing more vram to futureproof.. It's just nonsense from people justifing spending more for something they don't need.

AMD just released the 290's and the 7XX cards aren't that old. I'd just grab either a 780 or a 290 and be done with it. You made it 2 gens in between upgrades...pretty impressive at 1440p.

I'm in a similar boat (gtx580 though) but I've decided to wait. The current options are appealing but they still can't max everything (out currently) at 1440p. That coupled with the fact that I'm very psyched for Witcher 3 (late 2014 release) means I'll be waiting for the next generation. Get the best performance I can in the game I want to perform the best.

The reason the current options don't seem good enough to me is that I can run games at medium at 1440p comfortably and if I upgrade I can maybe get high (not even max) and maintain 60 fps so it's kind of like what's the point.

orangekiwii said:

I'm in a similar boat (gtx580 though) but I've decided to wait. The current options are appealing but they still can't max everything (out currently) at 1440p. That coupled with the fact that I'm very psyched for Witcher 3 (late 2014 release) means I'll be waiting for the next generation. Get the best performance I can in the game I want to perform the best.

The reason the current options don't seem good enough to me is that I can run games at medium at 1440p comfortably and if I upgrade I can maybe get high (not even max) and maintain 60 fps so it's kind of like what's the point.

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I play at 5760x1200 which is beyond 1440P and that is BF3 in Ultra and Bf4 in Ultra and its pretty fuckin impressive!

edit* On my Air Cooled R9-290X - Bout to waterblock it and add a second card.

Playing the waiting game is a waste of time. Unless you know the exact release date and it's only a few weeks away then I'd say it's ok to wait. Otherwise you spend more time continuously waiting than actually enjoying what would be your new hardware. We don't even have a concrete release window for the GTX 800 series, I've heard anywhere from Q1 to Q3 2014 which is a huge time frame.

Get either a 290 or 780 now and enjoy 1440p the way it's meant to be played. You're using a GTX 570 at 1440p, I say you've waited long enough already.

I too agree that you should pick up a 780 or 290X now. Why wait when you can be enjoying newer games now? Life is short so indulge yourself responsibly when you can!

exlink said:

Playing the waiting game is a waste of time. Unless you know the exact release date and it's only a few weeks away then I'd say it's ok to wait. Otherwise you spend more time continuously waiting than actually enjoying what would be your new hardware. We don't even have a concrete release window for the GTX 800 series, I've heard anywhere from Q1 to Q3 2014 which is a huge time frame.

Get either a 290 or 780 now and enjoy 1440p the way it's meant to be played. You're using a GTX 570 at 1440p, I say you've waited long enough already.

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There are also rumors, that 800 won't launch at first at 20nm. As Nvidia might be back to old tricks of castrating the core like they did with 700 series. Some people say, that we will get first equivalent of 780 in 2014. And late 2014 / early 2015 we will get 880 Ti at 20nm with all cores unlocked.

Had same problem and I just bought reference 780ti. I can wait for new CPU, because difference is non existant between my 2500k at 4,5 ghz and Haswell/IB. But the upgrade of GPU, especially as I'll move soon to 1440p will be noticeable.

Go for the GTX 780 now. It overclocks like a beast and just at stock it'll embarrass the living hell out of the 570 you have now. Don't get too wrapped up in the yearly cycles or you'll end up kicking yourself or even being utterly disappointed. If the rumors are true about the 800 Series (Maxwell) then it'll blow away everything out there by a long shot, but the problem is 20nm.

Last I heard 20nm was back on track, somewhat, being a quarter ahead of there once delayed schedule which puts them back in the Spring '14 time line for mass production. Happens to be around the same time Nvidia likes to release new generations. I'm sure Nvidia is working hand-in-hand with TSMC at this point to at least get there highest-end product on 20nm ASAP. There is just no way of saying. The next nodes (16/14nm) shouldn't have this problem though as they were co-developed simultaneously with 20nm.

Right now you're looking at about a 4-6 month wait at the best of circumstances. Worst come to worst I think Nvidia will probably just re-brand the 780 Ti, 780, and 770's into lower tier 800 series cards and you'll save some money at that time. Make your decision now and don't look back. The 780 is a great upgrade from where you're at, and you always have that option of flipping it right as Nvidia launches the 800 Series. Make back as much as you can before the card further devalues itself, pop back in the 570 temporarily, use funds to go for the what'll probably be $1,000 880 lol. That's just what I'd probably do though.

If you are completely sold on Nvidia, then I'd say go ahead and grab up a 780, they are very good cards.

Right now for the money, you can't really beat AMD though. If you are open to an AMD card, I'd hold off a few weeks to see what kind of new coolers will be brought to the table, and maybe grab up one of them.

Good luck with your decision!

I just went to the 780, from a 680, since I upgraded my screen to 1440p and have to say I love the EVGA SC ACX card. ACX cooler was great and allowed me to hit 1200 on the OC.

Its now on the hybrid, OC's like a beast and temps never go above 52º.

I would have no problem recommending the 780 especially if you are interested in 2 or 3 of the games in the bundle. 8XX series is too far off and who knows how the 1st gen of those will even perform.

The 290's are fast cards which makes it a tough choice. I happen to play games with PhysX and I have a shield so it was green for me.

If you wanted Batman & AC IV then go 780 if not see what is the best deal you can get on a 290 or 780 then go for that. Both should hold you over through the next gen and you could always SLI/CF.

The GTX 780 is a better buy than the R9 290 is right now. The GTX 780's have better cooling, drivers, and features than the R9 290.

If you want something now then get a GTX 780. Otherwise, just wait for the aftermarket R9 290's and to see what Mantle has to offer.

GameHard6 said:

The GTX 780 is a better buy than the R9 290 is right now. The GTX 780's have better cooling, drivers, and features than the R9 290.

If you want something now then get a GTX 780. Otherwise, just wait for the aftermarket R9 290's and to see what Mantle has to offer.

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yes, because the drivers that this summer crashed so many 780 cards were sooooo good

(sorry, i agree on most points that 780 has better cooling, sound profile and overall is a better card, but it's also a much more expensive product. For the price difference, you can put a custom cooler on the 290x and have stellar performance.. and the poster is a 5 day old noobie )

As soon as the GTX 880 is released, you'll then be wondering if you should "buy the GTX 880 now or wait for GTX 980."

Unless we're really only a month or so away from the next big release, I nearly always counsel people to buy what they can afford today rather than wait. Because the waiting game can go on forever.

Megalomaniac said:

yes, because the drivers that this summer crashed so many 780 cards were sooooo good

(sorry, i agree on most points that 780 has better cooling, sound profile and overall is a better card, but it's also a much more expensive product. For the price difference, you can put a custom cooler on the 290x and have stellar performance.. and the poster is a 5 day old noobie )

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Spoken like a true ATI fanboi...