Buy Graphics card now on BF/CM or wait?

pc1x1

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 1, 2008
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So like many others I am sure, I am contemplating pulling the trigger on graphics cards this Black Friday / Cyber Money, 2 of them in SLI. Thinking of picking up 2 GeForce 970's and calling it a day until Pascal +, where we should have a huge jump. I really wish 20nm was here, it would make things easier, but alas.

I game on 2560x1600, since 2007 and am waiting for high end monitors to blow me away. The 4k ones are either too slow on refresh or IQ, or too expensive for now if they have both, so waiting on that tech to mature for another year. I early adopted into 2560x1600, which was awesome, but it still is good for most things anyhow, I am in no rush into 4k until we see 60-120 FPS on everything easily.

My upgrade cycle is max 2 years. I think I should be fine with the 970's in SLI form, but I am concerned on VRAM, and wonder if I should wait when the 8 GB cards debut. But I can't find any solid information on them, or real release day. Whatever I buy must last at least 1 year with no regrets. Thats the goal. I don't game much, but Witcher 3, etc looks interesting, I want to make sure I can max out 2560 if I feel like playing a recent tittle.

So wondering what everyone is thinking or doing or if anyone has any info thats could sway one's opinion.

I been on Radeon's for the most part for 18 years, but I want to go green team this year. Heat, and Drivers are swaying me, I want as plug and play as possible, and less headaches.

Thanks!
 
I wait for a better single card, sli/crossfire is never free of hassle or headaches.
 
I need sli due to 6 monitors, also the 780 ti kingpin is heavily discounted but seems like a waste at 3gb and slightly more expensive. Any opinions guys if I do buy anything better than the 970s atm?
 
GTX 970 is a great card. SLi and CrossfireX will always have issues. Nothing wrong with GTX 970 SLi as I'm sure you'll love it. I'd say go for it!
 
I need sli due to 6 monitors, also the 780 ti kingpin is heavily discounted but seems like a waste at 3gb and slightly more expensive. Any opinions guys if I do buy anything better than the 970s atm?
You have to go with Maxwell cards if you're running that many monitors. Kepler only support 3+1 Surround, while Maxwell can do 5+1 with the latest drivers. Be sure to buy a card with the NVIDIA-suggested output layout of 3x DP, 1x DVI-D and 1x HDMI to avoid any headaches.

I am running 970 SLI at 1440p (PG278Q "ROG Swift") and it's currently enough to play most games at very high detail without AA at 80+ FPS. Surround resolutions in-game like 7680x1440 will pose a problem, though, as it's 33% more pixels than 4k. The only game I ran into VRAM issues with at 1440p was Shadow of Mordor with the Ultra texture pack, but it really didn't add anything to the experience so I'm fine with High textures in that case.
 
I'm in a similar situation. Been using my trusty Dell U3011 for the last 2-3 years and I'd like to switch to something a little better soon. With 4k60 tech looking like a real option now (the new 32" Acer model is only $880, is IPS, and supports 60hz without multiple cables) and the 21:9 34" models getting a lot of rave reviews, I'll probably jump on one of them soon. Having been burned a few times (the days of the ATI 9800 Pro are gone, it seems) by AMD with driver issues and the like, I'm gun shy on anything but Nvidia for now. I was set on a pair of 980s to set me up for the new monitor, but I'm reading the same things about memory requirements of new games. I haven't seen anything really conclusive proving that they really NEED that memory though, so I'm uncertain on whether it would be better to wait.

If you do decide to go with the SLI 970s, I think you'll be very happy with the performance on your current monitor. From my understanding, they are about the same or slightly faster than my 780s at stock clocks, and OC better too. I can say that I can run most everything on my 1600p display at a pretty steady 60fps with my 780s (including Crysis 3 and The Witcher 2 with ubersampling). The only game that's giving me issues at all right now is DA: Inquisition, but that's clearly just bad coding in a new game, and will likely be fixed with patches.

TL;DR: If you're upgrading now and keeping your monitor, SLI 970s will be more than adequate for anything out right now.
 
I'm in a similar situation. Been using my trusty Dell U3011 for the last 2-3 years and I'd like to switch to something a little better soon. With 4k60 tech looking like a real option now (the new 32" Acer model is only $880, is IPS, and supports 60hz without multiple cables) and the 21:9 34" models getting a lot of rave reviews, I'll probably jump on one of them soon. Having been burned a few times (the days of the ATI 9800 Pro are gone, it seems) by AMD with driver issues and the like, I'm gun shy on anything but Nvidia for now. I was set on a pair of 980s to set me up for the new monitor, but I'm reading the same things about memory requirements of new games. I haven't seen anything really conclusive proving that they really NEED that memory though, so I'm uncertain on whether it would be better to wait.

If you do decide to go with the SLI 970s, I think you'll be very happy with the performance on your current monitor. From my understanding, they are about the same or slightly faster than my 780s at stock clocks, and OC better too. I can say that I can run most everything on my 1600p display at a pretty steady 60fps with my 780s (including Crysis 3 and The Witcher 2 with ubersampling). The only game that's giving me issues at all right now is DA: Inquisition, but that's clearly just bad coding in a new game, and will likely be fixed with patches.

TL;DR: If you're upgrading now and keeping your monitor, SLI 970s will be more than adequate for anything out right now.
My experience going to 970s from 780s is thus: similar maximum framerates, but higher averages due to minimum framerates being a lot higher using the same settings at the same resolution. Frame pacing also appears to be subjectively better in SLI than it was with 780s. With fewer dips happening in the framerate, the overall experience is just smoother.
 
You'll always have the next better card coming out... if there's an awesome deal (especially on 970s) I'd snag it. It'll be a big improvement over your current cards, especially if you play any gameworks games.
 
You have to go with Maxwell cards if you're running that many monitors. Kepler only support 3+1 Surround, while Maxwell can do 5+1 with the latest drivers. Be sure to buy a card with the NVIDIA-suggested output layout of 3x DP, 1x DVI-D and 1x HDMI to avoid any headaches.

I am running 970 SLI at 1440p (PG278Q "ROG Swift") and it's currently enough to play most games at very high detail without AA at 80+ FPS. Surround resolutions in-game like 7680x1440 will pose a problem, though, as it's 33% more pixels than 4k. The only game I ran into VRAM issues with at 1440p was Shadow of Mordor with the Ultra texture pack, but it really didn't add anything to the experience so I'm fine with High textures in that case.

Well your post just dashed the OP's dreams. Wonder why the 970's are like that? Kinda seems like a step backwards.
 
Ok, so 780 ti kp is out, Right now I am eyeing the MSI golden 970s. My budget for both cards is $1200, or could go tri sli, I could go 980 gtx sli also, but doesnt seem to be worth it, hence why I thought 970s are the sweet spot. Thanks for the feedback guys, I am preparing to buy between F - M. Please keep it coming haha makes me feel better as its alot of $! If you see any deals also feel free to post, money is in hand but has to be in newegg, since ill be using my preffered account. And amazon charges me tax now :( Thanks!
 
Well your post just dashed the OP's dreams. Wonder why the 970's are like that? Kinda seems like a step backwards.

970/980s are Maxwell cards. 770/780s are Kepler

Ok, so 780 ti kp is out, Right now I am eyeing the MSI golden 970s. My budget for both cards is $1200, or could go tri sli, I could go 980 gtx sli also, but doesnt seem to be worth it, hence why I thought 970s are the sweet spot. Thanks for the feedback guys, I am preparing to buy between F - M. Please keep it coming haha makes me feel better as its alot of $! If you see any deals also feel free to post, money is in hand but has to be in newegg, since ill be using my preffered account. And amazon charges me tax now :( Thanks!

I'm going to watching for sales as well, but to be honest I'm not counting on much. Nvidia is pretty much the top dog right now with the best performance and performance to power/heat/noise ratio. Frankly, I'm a little surprised they're running the free game specials for them. Still, can't hurt to look! I'll share if I find anything. If you're not aware, there's a hot deals section on this forum too. Probably a good place to look as well as slickdeals.
 
970/980s are Maxwell cards. 770/780s are Kepler



I'm going to watching for sales as well, but to be honest I'm not counting on much. Nvidia is pretty much the top dog right now with the best performance and performance to power/heat/noise ratio. Frankly, I'm a little surprised they're running the free game specials for them. Still, can't hurt to look! I'll share if I find anything. If you're not aware, there's a hot deals section on this forum too. Probably a good place to look as well as slickdeals.

Damn Time Warner Cable just woke me up not long ago with a courtesy call after I just went to sleep. Repairman didn't want to come out in the rain. I'm still freaking tired. Thx for catching that. Too cognizant of the sunlight to fall asleep and too tired to do shit.
 
Ok guys, Happy Thanksgiving, I am ready to pull the trigger, 3x MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4G Golden Edition, and the Samsung 1TB SSD. I don't see these things going lower. Last minute thoughts? :D
 
If I was in your shoes, I'd just get two GTX 970s, as Tri-SLI doesn't have linear performance scaling, like regular SLI usually does.

Besides, if you get two, and find the performance to be inadequate to your needs, you could always get the third one later as a last-ditch effort to try to squeeze some higher frame rates out of your rig, but you might be disappointed if you do so.
 
If I was in your shoes, I'd just get two GTX 970s, as Tri-SLI doesn't have linear performance scaling, like regular SLI usually does.

Besides, if you get two, and find the performance to be inadequate to your needs, you could always get the third one later as a last-ditch effort to try to squeeze some higher frame rates out of your rig, but you might be disappointed if you do so.

Agreed here 100%. After having tried to go tri or quad GPU several times over the past 6 yrs, ive learned that adding a third or forth card is just burning money and causes headaches. Every single time Ive been left scratching my head as to whuly i wasted the money. Dual card is your best option, although a single faster card is always preferable.
 
Agreed here 100%. After having tried to go tri or quad GPU several times over the past 6 yrs, ive learned that adding a third or forth card is just burning money and causes headaches. Every single time Ive been left scratching my head as to whuly i wasted the money. Dual card is your best option, although a single faster card is always preferable.

Yea I know, I did it mostly as stupid as it sounds for the extra DP Connector.I wanted all my cards to be DP, as I want to support the standard, but this 970 GTX only has 1 DP port.

So I figured the best way to connect would be:
2x DP for my Side 2560x1080
1x DP for my future 4K Monitor
2x DVI-D for the top 2560x1080's
1x HDMI for top 1080p Monitor

Can someone clarify I can use Surround with all monitors active? I have switching between profiles as I currently have too with my 6950's.

What about 295x? It's going for $650 on some places
I been a main radeon user for many many years. During the good and bad, My GeForce's tended to give me less headaches, so decided to switch to the main. Granted all my GeForce usage have been minimal and less complex to what I did with the Radeons, but the power and performance ratio, plus heat, plus hearing all the time and using GeForce Drivers that seem more stable pushed me to switch camps for now.
 
Newegg has a Powercolor 280X for $130 after MIR. That is such a good, especially after I plaid $300 for the same card back March :(
 
Ok guys, Happy Thanksgiving, I am ready to pull the trigger, 3x MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4G Golden Edition, and the Samsung 1TB SSD. I don't see these things going lower. Last minute thoughts? :D

Go ahead, get them now and enjoy your upgrade.

The only time someone should wait is if current offering doesn't quite serve your needs. If these hardware can fulfill your needs, plus the fact that you can get a good deal right now, you should go ahead and get them.
 
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