So Sad....

E

Eradan

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Apr 7, 2006
Messages
1,188
My GTX 670 has gone off to live with someone else and I have nothing to replace it. I spent a LOT of time this week getting up to speed on the current video card market. Read dozens of reviews and probably hundreds of forum posts. I've been an Nvidia user for my last several video cards. The last team red card I own was when they were still ATi. But I'm tempted to switch to AMD. I hate to jump ship when we're seemingly so close to some new AMD hardware. But then again, I'm working a few minutes from Micro Center next week. I'd probably go for an MSI R9 290x Lighting if I could find one. Just want to be able to crush 1080p for now and be able to bump up to 1440p in the near future.

Just curious...when/if the new AMD cards become available, will we know a specific date before they show up, or will they just magically be available one day?


doqgpi.jpg
 
That would be a 980 if you want to do all that. When you go 1440 just grab another 980 when the prices will be lower.
 
Btw mc don't sell the msi lightning 290x.

Just walk in ask for the Gigabyte G1Gaming 980 and move on to other aspects of your rig.
 
eclypse said:
Btw mc don't sell the msi lightning 290x.

Just walk in ask for the Gigabyte G1Gaming 980 and move on to other aspects of your rig.
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Yeah, I know. No one sells it at the moment.

And whoa, brother! Are you saying the rest of my rig needs work?! :D
 
You can always get a GTX 970. I replaced my MSI 670 with an MSI Gaming 970. It was a notable improvement performance wise.
 
Eradan said:
Yeah, I know. No one sells it at the moment.

And whoa, brother! Are you saying the rest of my rig needs work?! :D
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I find a build is never truly done. Am I wrong?

Looks good though ya may want a nice fast ssd for online games! Ever play bf4 MP? Holy crap batman! !
 
Flogger23m said:
You can always get a GTX 970. I replaced my MSI 670 with an MSI Gaming 970. It was a notable improvement performance wise.
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True but since he wants to move up to 1440 res later he will be more comfortable knowing he's got true 4gb ram on the 980. That last .5GB will sting pretty bad if the drivers or game allows his card to use it. turtle nation!
 
Can't hate on the MSI R9 290X Lightning - owned it; twice. I will warn you of this: it is a very BORING card if you keep it on air. It's mostly maxed out and absolutely perfect from the factory. So you can't really OC it in a meaningful way. If you find tweaking/tuning/testing fun - be prepared to be bored off of your ass. However, if you just want to stop, drop, and play - you'll be set.

I also view the 970 and 980 as great options, as well. Don't sleep on the used market - lots of people dumping 980s to get TITAN X so you can save $75 or so. Used cards are practically like RAM these days. It works or doesn't. Get a transferable warranty and don't look back.
 
my rig feels great(GTX 680's SLI).............. but you guys are make'n me feel it is time for an upgrade..:0
 
AP514 said:
my rig feels great(GTX 680's SLI).............. but you guys are make'n me feel it is time for an upgrade..:0
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Don't do it if you're feeling like you are getting what you need out of your cards. 680 4GB isn't a slouch if you're a 60hz gamer at 1440p.
 
Yeah he can only do 60hz max on the monitor go back to what u were doing and don't continue reading.. that itch is hard to stop! Haha.

If the need is not there just come back in a couple of months and see if the new 980 Ti is kicking ass and prices should drop for everything else.
 
sk3tch said:
Don't do it if you're feeling like you are getting what you need out of your cards. 680 4GB isn't a slouch if you're a 60hz gamer at 1440p.
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I second this. If you don't actually need (not want :p) to upgrade, it's worth waiting until the 390X drops and seeing what nVidia's response to that would be. Or if you don't mind switching teams you could even pick up a 390X.

Either way, definitely can't go wrong with waiting another 3 months -- clearly you're a patient man since you've held onto your 680 SLI for so long, so what's another 3 months for potentially much better bang for buck?
 
980 over 290X is not a lot of extra performance for a heap of extra money. Especially @ 1440, where the OP is heading. I'm not sure why everyone is suggesting the 980?
 
Relayer said:
980 over 290X is not a lot of extra performance for a heap of extra money. Especially @ 1440, where the OP is heading. I'm not sure why everyone is suggesting the 980?
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Because there's more to video card shopping than price alone?
 
I would wait if I were you. Only rumors right now on the AMD hardware. No way to know if it will be faster then Titan X or the 980 GTX.

Are you a fan of multi-gpu setups? Or are you a single card guy?

Money an issue? On a tight budget?

Right now your best bet is to hold tight until you know if AMD has anything worthwhile for gaming.

If you stick with 1080p I would get a 980 over a 970. Why? Later on down the road that 3.5gb issue on the 970 will show up quicker then the 980.

Also if 1080p is your sweet spot, all you need is one 980 GTX.

Now if you want to dabble with DSR so you can try out 4k gaming. I would DEF get 2 980's. 1 295x2 or 1 Titan X.

It really depends how patient you can be.
 
I'm still sort of wading through the details of tech like DSR/VSR, G-sync/FreeSync, 144hz refresh displays, etc. as I plan my way forward. The down-sampling stuff seems really cool and I feel like I could just stay at 1080p for a few more years which allows me to attach my consoles to my Asus MX279H.

A number of 980 recommendations. But I have never spent more than $350 on a video card and am unlikely to do so now, so I'm looking for something in the $250-$350 range. I have looked hard at the R9 290, 290x, 780, 970, and even considered keeping my 670 at one point and adding another. SLI would have been my cheapest upgrade path but after almost 20 years in the IT field, I have limited patience for fussing with my gaming PC. I used to upgrade almost annually but now it's new CPU and mobo every three or four years and video card every two or three. Anyway, I suspect I could go with a decent R9 290 and be happy but it would bug me that I could have spent a little more and gone with a 290x or 970. I really don't want to deal with coil whine but that's hit or miss. I'm of the opinion that AMD's drivers are more-or-less stable at this point in time. I don't care all that much about how much power the AMD cards draw....I think my PSU can handle it. As long it doesn't translate to ridiculous fan noise. My previous EVGA 560ti used to spin up like a blender when I played Diablo 3 and I sold that thing on CL immediately. I believe some of the nicer 290/x card wouldn't be much louder than my 670 Windforce.

And, yeah, I guess I need more SSDs. Or at least one new one with more capacity. Tired of juggling shit around on this 120GB Samsung 830. I'm really behind the times and wonder if the newer SSDs are faster than what I have. This thing has been so good it's hard to imagine.
 
Eradan said:
I'm still sort of wading through the details of tech like DSR/VSR, G-sync/FreeSync, 144hz refresh displays, etc. as I plan my way forward. The down-sampling stuff seems really cool and I feel like I could just stay at 1080p for a few more years which allows me to attach my consoles to my Asus MX279H.

A number of 980 recommendations. But I have never spent more than $350 on a video card and am unlikely to do so now, so I'm looking for something in the $250-$350 range. I have looked hard at the R9 290, 290x, 780, 970, and even considered keeping my 670 at one point and adding another. SLI would have been my cheapest upgrade path but after almost 20 years in the IT field, I have limited patience for fussing with my gaming PC. I used to upgrade almost annually but now it's new CPU and mobo every three or four years and video card every two or three. Anyway, I suspect I could go with a decent R9 290 and be happy but it would bug me that I could have spent a little more and gone with a 290x or 970. I really don't want to deal with coil whine but that's hit or miss. I'm of the opinion that AMD's drivers are more-or-less stable at this point in time. I don't care all that much about how much power the AMD cards draw....I think my PSU can handle it. As long it doesn't translate to ridiculous fan noise. My previous EVGA 560ti used to spin up like a blender when I played Diablo 3 and I sold that thing on CL immediately. I believe some of the nicer 290/x card wouldn't be much louder than my 670 Windforce.

And, yeah, I guess I need more SSDs. Or at least one new one with more capacity. Tired of juggling shit around on this 120GB Samsung 830. I'm really behind the times and wonder if the newer SSDs are faster than what I have. This thing has been so good it's hard to imagine.
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If $350 is your limit. I would try to find 2 290's on the [H] forum here or somewhere. You can pick them up for around $200-$220 each.

If you want to go DSR, then Nvidia is the way to go. AMD is way behind when it comes to DSR/VSR (amd's version).

Also if you do plan to go 120hz on a monitor. Remember that to reach and (try) to sustain high frames you will need alot of GPU (and CPU) horsepower.

I think a good buy if you want a new shiny card, would be a G1 Gigabyte 970 (although it really is only 3.5gb of memory) Or a 290x Lightning like you said.

Right now is just not a good time to buy any GPU's with Nvidia still having to release some other cards, and AMD new (hopefully) full lineup.

And O yea an SSD would be nice :) I have seen some 480/500gb drives for around $170ish
 
DASHlT said:
I would wait if I were you. Only rumors right now on the AMD hardware. No way to know if it will be faster then Titan X or the 980 GTX.

Are you a fan of multi-gpu setups? Or are you a single card guy?

Money an issue? On a tight budget?

Right now your best bet is to hold tight until you know if AMD has anything worthwhile for gaming.

If you stick with 1080p I would get a 980 over a 970. Why? Later on down the road that 3.5gb issue on the 970 will show up quicker then the 980.

Also if 1080p is your sweet spot, all you need is one 980 GTX.

Now if you want to dabble with DSR so you can try out 4k gaming. I would DEF get 2 980's. 1 295x2 or 1 Titan X.

It really depends how patient you can be.
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Last time I had a multi-GPU setup was back in the 3DFX days. I read up on the current status of SLI/XFire last week and it seems like there is still an even division between people who say it's too much fuss--stick with a single card and people who say it's fine, just do it. At this point I have opted to say single card but I could probably be convinced to go SLI. My 670 is gone though, so it would be something I would do down the road with a 970.

Would like to keep it around $350. Unless I sell my PS4 then I would drop the extra for a 980. My other hobby is astrophotography and that shit is expensive so I would be reluctant to plop down $500 on a 980 without selling one of my other gaming toys.

Definitely benefits to sticking with 1080p. Can use my existing monitor with my consoles. It's cheaper. I have never gamed at 1440p so I have no firsthand experience to know how much better it is than 1080p. I know it's better on paper and people swear by it, but until I see it myself, I just don't know if it's so much better (for me) to justify the expense.

I'm trying to be patient. Just don't know how long I can wait. I guess I can just use my laptop for now and game on my PS4. Or I can sell that thing and get a new video card right away.
 
Eradan said:
Last time I had a multi-GPU setup was back in the 3DFX days. I read up on the current status of SLI/XFire last week and it seems like there is still an even division between people who say it's too much fuss--stick with a single card and people who say it's fine, just do it. At this point I have opted to say single card but I could probably be convinced to go SLI. My 670 is gone though, so it would be something I would do down the road with a 970.

Would like to keep it around $350. Unless I sell my PS4 then I would drop the extra for a 980. My other hobby is astrophotography and that shit is expensive so I would be reluctant to plop down $500 on a 980 without selling one of my other gaming toys.

Definitely benefits to sticking with 1080p. Can use my existing monitor with my consoles. It's cheaper. I have never gamed at 1440p so I have no firsthand experience to know how much better it is than 1080p. I know it's better on paper and people swear by it, but until I see it myself, I just don't know if it's so much better (for me) to justify the expense.

I'm trying to be patient. Just don't know how long I can wait. I guess I can just use my laptop for now and game on my PS4. Or I can sell that thing and get a new video card right away.
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Yea tough choice for sure....I for one love DSR. With my monitor (1440p) I have no need to get 4k monitor now.

I can try 4k and 5k gaming on my monitor.....But it sucks ass with 1 970 GTX (I had 2 but multi-gpu issues made me give up).

The 970 really is a great damn card. Other then lying about the Memory on the card. You really cannot beat the price/performance. Specially if you just stick with 1080p (remember now with DSR no need to monitor upgrade).

Good luck :) Damn choices I tell ya!
 
Eradan said:
And, yeah, I guess I need more SSDs. Or at least one new one with more capacity. Tired of juggling shit around on this 120GB Samsung 830. I'm really behind the times and wonder if the newer SSDs are faster than what I have. This thing has been so good it's hard to imagine.
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Buy on size/price/need not for speed. The 830 is definitely not the fastest out there by any means, but, for the most part, SATA SSD is SATA SSD. I have 830s on one box and 850 Pros in another and there's no discernible day to day or gaming difference. Benchmarks and heavy transfers - that's another story.
 
DASHlT said:
If $350 is your limit. I would try to find 2 290's on the [H] forum here or somewhere. You can pick them up for around $200-$220 each.
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Ha! On a 750W PSU?

I do agree withi going AMD though. A 290 is comparable and a 290X will perform better than a 970 if you're purely talking about FPS. You can SLI a 970 on your PSU but you can't expect to crossfire 290/290X on it.

I had a 290 for a little over a year and it delivered great performance, but I had driver issues for as long as I owned the card. It was a pain in the ass. Little things, too. I ended up going with a 980 as soon as it came out and never looked back.

That being said, getting a 290X for ~$250 used? SO TEMPTING.
 
dr_drift said:
Ha! On a 750W PSU?

I do agree withi going AMD though. A 290 is comparable and a 290X will perform better than a 970 if you're purely talking about FPS. You can SLI a 970 on your PSU but you can't expect to crossfire 290/290X on it.

I had a 290 for a little over a year and it delivered great performance, but I had driver issues for as long as I owned the card. It was a pain in the ass. Little things, too. I ended up going with a 980 as soon as it came out and never looked back.

That being said, getting a 290X for ~$250 used? SO TEMPTING.
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750W PSU is fine for 2x290s. It's near the limit - but if a quality PSU it is fine.
 
The only $250 290x cards I've seen are reference cards. Not sure I can deal with the fan noise.
 
I've been seeing the Tri-x r9 290 and the MSI 290 gaming with the twin frozer cooler dropping below the 240$ price point recently. These cards are pretty boss for the monies. the r9 290 is usually 5% below a 290x, and that can be more than made up with a 50Mhz core overclock, which is usually pretty easy. I think its kind of hard to beat that price for performance right now.

I run my r9 290 at -50mv, brings it down to gtx 970 power numbers. Great card!
 
geforce man said:
I've been seeing the Tri-x r9 290 and the MSI 290 gaming with the twin frozer cooler dropping below the 240$ price point recently. These cards are pretty boss for the monies. the r9 290 is usually 5% below a 290x, and that can be more than made up with a 50Mhz core overclock, which is usually pretty easy. I think its kind of hard to beat that price for performance right now.

I run my r9 290 at -50mv, brings it down to gtx 970 power numbers. Great card!
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Indeed. I had an XFX Double D 290 and it looked and performed pretty outstandingly. Classy card. I mean, name aside.
 
I'm seeing the 290 for $250 after rebate. Are you guys talking used cards or new?
 
Eradan said:
I'm seeing the 290 for $250 after rebate. Are you guys talking used cards or new?
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I'm looking at the used market. You can find some great deals there, definitely. Although you won't have the warranty support down the line (so, gamble).
 
Last week it was 240$, just gotta get the sales at the right time. I did manage to snag mine for 200$ Shipped (used) but whatever. 3 year warranty by serial number, so I'm happy ;)
 
Is amd still on 3 months plus with no new driver release?? Yeah why deal with that? New game comes out and wait months for something to make it run right?

If you must go 970 I've had the Gigabyte G1 970 and it was pretty crazy quiet. I could lock the fan at 70% and it did not bother me. Hell 100% was still fine and not annoying.

In the past 2 months I've gone from:

280x bought on salesman suggestion at mc. = return without trying once I realized it had only 3gb ram.
xfx 290.. was nice but way too loud for me to deal with.. jet plane take off! Temps in the upper 70 and no overclock.

Asus 970 = loud whine from fan when it sped up or down. Could not figure it out.. prob was an out of balanced fan or bearing.

Gigabyte G1 970.. great card. Stayed cool around 54c with 70% fan.

Exchanged my asus 1080 144hz monitor for a new asus ROG swift 27" 1440 at 144hz. heaven on earth.

And got exchanged the 970 for a 980 gigabyte G1.

Wow.. awesome! Monitor felt huge! 1440 res was awesome! G-sync awesome.. smooth. Bf4 played at 100 fps and dropped down. To 50-60 durring explosions.. did not like that.

Was hoping that one 980 would be enough but nope. 980 sli was the answer. Now frame rate pegged at 144 max refresh rate and drops in the 110-120 range in those explosions and everything is fast and smooth and life like.

Max settings on every game I play and frame rate in the 100s. Shadow of mordor, tomb raider, dying light and yet to try farcry 4.

Edit. Yes for the past 2 years I've sold my dream rig. Top if the line over the top water cooling 7970 quad fire thst I'm pretty sure was worth 12k or more after all said and done. Tried to play consoles only.. bought the ps4. over the holidays bought a xbox one and a month after that tried to build a budget gaming rig to play those 200 steam games going to waste and end up blowing the budget 4 times over hehe. Tax return is nice.

What the pc can do that the consoles cant.. make your games look better! Play better and online gaming free. Plus buying gsmes on the pc end up being cheaper with sales.

1440/4k obviously is awesome.

Back to good old keyboard and mouse.
 
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Also 970 is prob all you need at 1080. The VRAM should be just fine at that res. You will max out games no prob at 1080.
 
Been watching this thread. Is 19x12 essentially the same as 19x1080 when comes to figuring out muscle needed from your card?

Just quick question, not wanting to hijack thread
 
wdeydwondrer said:
Been watching this thread. Is 19x12 essentially the same as 19x1080 when comes to figuring out muscle needed from your card?

Just quick question, not wanting to hijack thread
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I was at 1200p the first year I owned my 670 and moved down to 1080p to go from 24" to 27". The difference between the two resolutions on the 670 was pretty negligible.
 
Sick of the laptop so I'm using the Intel video on my system for non-gaming stuff. It has occurred to me that if switching to AMD is going to necessitate a full OS reload, I may just go with a 970. Not sure I'm up for reloading at this point. Maybe when Windows 10 comes out.
 
No full reloading needed. Just DDU off the existing driver and you're good to go.

Hell I've swapped my desktop SSD into my laptop, and with the magic of Sysprep I didn't have to reload the OS either.
 
Yeah i feel ya. I've been putting it off myself. Windows 8.1 is a little messed up with me swapping hardware alot. Still can game fine though so it's tough for me to take a night away reinstalling everything then just gane.

Was a time decades ago when I was reinstalling like every hour after failed attempts at overclocking hehe. Had the energy for it in my 20s but now at 42 not so much.
 
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