Single card - 4K - average quality

[elleana]

TLDR version:

- 39" Seiki 4K monitor for desktop work (screen real estate is awesome for multiple docs / pdfs / music scoring). Can never use a smaller monitor again.

- Don't really game much on PC but Civ BE is tolerable, WoW at 30Hz makes my eyes want to bleed.

- Getting a 40" Philips 4K which runs at 60Hz over DP.

- Currently have r9 290. Thinking of upgrading video card but no Xfire / SLI - single card.

- Do not need to run at Ultra since it seems AA isn't necessary at 4K.

- Best bang for buck please. GTX 980 or wait til next year???

 

[limitedaccess]

GTX 980 and "bang for buck" are like on the opposite ends of the spectrum, which is the case generally speaking for the highest end cards.

You aren't going to get a significant raw performance difference changing to another single GPU at this point. Only do a Nvidia upgrade if you want the other changes associated with it (feature set, ecosystem, and power differences).

 

[justin_43]

I would wait until GM200 or whatever the big maxwell chip is going to be called to be released. It will probably happen around February/March. Should be much better for high resolution and should have more VRAM.

I currently have 3way SLI with 780ti's and at times it can be lacking in performance and memory for my 8100x1600 setup.

Both companies really need to step up the performance for really high resolutions.

 

[elleana]

I would wait until GM200 or whatever the big maxwell chip is going to be called to be released. It will probably happen around February/March. Should be much better for high resolution and should have more VRAM.

I currently have 3way SLI with 780ti's and at times it can be lacking in performance and memory for my 8100x1600 setup.

Both companies really need to step up the performance for really high resolutions.

Yep that's what I figured. Will probably wait til next year then.

 

[chenw]

Agreed, the new AMD and big maxwells are coming probably first half of first year, those should hit some sweet spots for 4k (eg VRAM).

 

[rhansen5_99]

I was under the impression that the 970 and 980 were still lagging behind the 290/x's at 4k because of their memory bandwidth. So at best with a 980 minimal gains.

 

[gungravevn]

MOre information on R9 3xx coming soon I would say early in q1 release so you would have to wait.

 

[GoldenTiger]

I was under the impression that the 970 and 980 were still lagging behind the 290/x's at 4k because of their memory bandwidth. So at best with a 980 minimal gains.

Incorrect . They keep up just fine thanks to their memory delta color compression and are insane overclockers to boot .

I'm loving my 2x GTX 970 SLI @ 1506mhz 24/7 game stable whisper-quiet and cool/low heat output (I can run 1544mhz 24/7 too but it requires higher voltage and heat which isn't worth it to me) for 4k/60hz gaming but if you want a single GPU then it's going to be another 3-5 months probably waiting on Big Maxwell (GM200) and AMD's next R9 3xx stuff (which will still lack in the extras department, as always, I'm sure, and from early rumors will be extremely hot (tons of heat into your room/office) and loud (if you buy air) still since they're launching versions it appears with stock watercooling on them ).

Another factor to keep in mind is cost... GTX 970's can be had for as low as $300 right now a lot of the time with a free game kicked in. If you think any single GPU card coming soon is going to beat a pair of those or even come close, for under $550-600, you're dreaming unfortunately .