Videocard for Longevity GTX 980 TI?

Thanatos.

Gawd
Joined
Jun 24, 2005
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I have been using a GTX 470 for a number of years now (bought new in 2010). It has served me well but it’s not up to par on modern games (Shadows of Mordor, Wolfenstein New Order, etc.) and it’s been 5 years so it’s time to upgrade. The other components of the system was last upgraded in late 2012 - Core i7-2600K, 16GB DDR3 1600 Ram, 250 SSD, 750W Corsair TX PSU, it should still be quite adequate. For my monitor I won a 46" 1080p TV a few years ago I’ve been using as a monitor and due to getting very used to a large screen probably won’t be upgrading to 4k until a large (30"+) can be had affordably. As for budget realistically I don’t have a budget I can afford any one card but I’m cheap and I had a hard time justifying the $350 I spent on the 470 last time, then again I didn’t expect to be still be using it 5 year later.

I mention the 980 TI in the title and that might be complete overkill for my specs and only running 1080p but i am looking for a card i can buy now and not need to upgrade in another 5 years. Is that idea realistic?

How future proof will the Ti be?

Is the 6GB and higher specs make enough of a difference to justify the $200 over the 980? or the $400 over the 970?

When is NVidia’s next card expected?

One final question Manufacturer who should I got with? I have been going with EVGA for the last few cards I’ve gotten due to their Lifetime Warranty (if you register it in time) is there any other manufacturers that offer a comparable warranty?
 
IMO the cards to get at the moment from nvidia are the 970 and 980TI. Chose one within your budget. Of course the 980TI will hold better in the future as it's almost double the power. If you're holding on that long on a card I would get the best I can.

EVGA doesn't offer lifetime warranty anymore! The highest you can go by buying is 10 years if i'm not mistaken. They still offer good CS but other than that they are on par with everyone else.
 
Yep ti is your best bet unless someone else is paying.
Then get a Titan X :p

The EVGA ACX 2.0+ cooler is pretty good, especially considering how thin it is.
I use one and can get 1456MHz with a bit over 70% fan, 74C.
 
A 980 Ti is not exactly overkill as there are a couple of games, such as GTA V, that get just 60 FPS with all the eye candy maxed out. Also, the 6GB of VRAM is good for 1080P now - only a couple of games use more than 5GB at 1080P max settings, such as Shadow of Mordor, Dying Light, Watch Dogs, and GTA V.

As for brand - if you are planning on keeping this 4 or 5 years, go with EVGA. Their customer support has been slipping as of late, but their 10 year warranty (extra cost, you can get it when you register the card within the first 15 days) is still the best.
 
DX12 performance is still up in the air. No one can comment on future performance.

I game at 3440x1440 on a 980ti and am content. Need to turn things down here and there but its a good performer even at that resolution. Thats all that I know at the moment.

Personally at 1080p I would spend less and upgrade again later on.
 
The next gen cards are expected to be significantly faster, so I'd get the 970. It will probably last as long as a 980TI unless you're talking high resolution or lots of AA. At 1080p there isn't much need for a 980TI with current gen games and when we need more power it will probably be geared for the next gen of GPUs or even the gen after that which will likely wipe the floor with anything available now.
 
Buying a top end card just before a process node shrink will diminish it's value much faster than if you buy the top end card after the process node shrink, the performance gap is just bigger.

In this case while the 980ti is still a good card, but the combination of much faster HBM memory on track for next gen cards, missing hardware features on the 980ti (I'm not debating this, just stating it), and the process node shrink being imminent makes it a lot less attractive IMO. You can buy now for today's games, but you may lose more money then usual when reselling it after the next gen cards are released. If you keep it, it may limp along more near the end of it's useful life.
 
Lol some of you are acting as if big Pascal is launching soon. It could easily be 6-9 months before those cards are even ready to purchase. If you need the power of a 980 Ti now then buy a 980 Ti.
 
Since you are an infrequent GPU upgrader like me, it's usually best to get as much GPU between those upgrades. Heavy one-time cost at the time, but break that out over the number of years you plan to go before upgrading again, and the cost per year becomes pretty bearable.

I just dropped $700 on a 980 Ti Classified that I plan to run for 4 years...$175 per year. I'll have much more resale value in the future over a 970, even though the 970 would have been cheaper per year for 2-3 years. So I'm probably coming out ahead in the long run.

Right now I play 1080p 144 Hz (adaptive Vsync) Shadow of Mordor, the Batman games (including the new Arkham Knight), FC4, and a few others that are older. Performance is on par with my former 780 SLI setup, but with the added benefit of double the VRAM, half the overall power draw, and way less heat output...if it wasn't for power and heat, I'd still be running the two 780s and looking towards Pascal and Pirate Islands. The 980 Ti may just let me wait for their true successors (not just the refreshes). Time will tell.

It's up to you...get the most now by means of a 980 Ti, or will the 970/980 suffice?
 
Get the 980 ti.
Use DSR for 1440p gaming on that 46 inch screen.
Come thank me when your panties fly off due to performance.

If you change cards in 5 years you are paying 11-12 dollars a month (assuming you buy evga classified card). Can't beat that.
 
I honestly still think holding out for 16nm GPU is a much better choice, especially given OP's upgrade cadence. I mean, why buy something that's effectively at the tail end of its life, when the next node is probably just 12-15 months away? I mean if we got stuck on 28nm for so long because node shrinks are getting more and more difficult, you bet your ass we'll be on 16/14nm for even longer. So personally I think the smart thing to do is to buy big Pascal as soon as it launches, then ride it out till the next process shrink in another 3-4 years time.

If it were me, I'd try looking for a used 970 for under $300 or new 290X for $250 to hold over until big Pascal (or AMD's 16nm GPU, assuming the performance is there).
 
I sure as hell would not keep gaming on a gpu that is slower than a 750 ti and only has 1.25 GB ram just to wait on a gpu that could take 9 months or more to come out and maybe be priced sky high. If money is a concern then go 970 now and then go with a x70 Pascal gpu down the road.
 
get the 980Ti, I did. When it starts to choke, get a second one. And mind all the "It doesn't have Async Shaders" bullshit. Its the fastest now, will play next years games just fine. Gaming industry isn't going to shit on Nvidia's 75-80% market share by making games more acceptable to run on AMD hardware period. Tru-Form was really going shit on Nvidia back in the day of the Radeon 8500 series like this Async bullshit. THAT WORKED OUT. lol
 
Yeah, I wouldn't bother waiting for pascal just yet. It's not coming out for at least 6 months and of course, who knows what it will be like beyond it's potential.

I would get a used 980 (if you don't mind for now) and then decide on pascal and sell the 980. If you want to make a final purchase, a 980ti will give you plenty of grunt at 1080p, and help if you decide to upgrade your monitor.
 
I sure as hell would not keep gaming on a gpu that is slower than a 750 ti and only has 1.25 GB ram just to wait on a gpu that could take 9 months or more to come out and maybe be priced sky high. If money is a concern then go 970 now and then go with a x70 Pascal gpu down the road.

Normally I'd agree, but since OP has already held out for 5 years, what's another 9-15 months?

If the OP needs performance NOW, I say get as much bang for buck as possible. A used 780 could be had for $200 here, so that'd be my pick. Or a new 290X for $250 if you can find these rare deals.
 
Thank You all for the suggestions. I played Musical Videocards back in the 6800gt-8800gt days and have no interest in doing it again. I understand that selling and buying up can be cheaper in the long run but i do not have the time nor the desire to do that. I really cannot wait on Pascal Ive been waiting to upgrade since before the launch of the 9 series and wanted to have this all squared away for Fallout 4.

New development had a friend contact me and offer to sell one of his GTX 980s for cheap (970 prices). He bought two for SLI but is having issues so he decided to sell one. Cards are -
ZOTAC ZT-90202-10P GeForce GTX 980 AMP! Omega
EVGA 04G-P4-2983-KR GeForce GTX 980 Superclocked ACX 2.0
Which would you go with?
 
No such thing as future-proofing when it comes to gaming computers. If you want a GPU setup that will remain as relevant as long as possible, buy the most expensive setup you can afford.
 
Hardware wise i'd go with the Zotac. Warranty wise i'd go with Evga (altho not exactly sure how Zotac is in this dept.).
 
You do the warranty by the "guest RMA", either way, which goes by serial number and not by owner number. You both can verify this on Evga's website and it will tell the amount of warranty days left on the card.
 
Yeah, I don't think you have to register EVGA cards anymore to get the warranty. You just give them the number on the card when you have an issue, just like Asus/MSI/Gigabyte.

This is the one positive side of them ditching the lifetime warranty.

http://www.evga.com/support/warranty/graphics-cards/

Not if you want to have the option of stepping up (only new cards purchased from authorized sellers count towards being able to do this). 14 day window for the original owner to register and have this option later on.

Also, you have to register within the 90 day window to be able to purchase the 10 year warranty.

If you don't care about either of those, you don't have to register the card until it breaks and you want to RMA it.
 
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