What's the "budget card" for a higher resolution display?

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kohan69

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Lifelong ati user looking to switch due to gsync.

Considering 2560x1440/1600 LCD, what;s the sub-780 cards should I look for?

I'm leaning towards 770 4GB, since more vram should help performance at a higher res, and be more 'futureproof'

Thoughts?
 
770 4gb is the worst value out there. even at 2560, you will run out of gpu power at the settings that need more than 2gb. the 2gb to 4gb debate on single card will likely be irrelevant for the future as the card itself will be too slow by the time that matters. at 2560x1440, you would do good to go with a 280x or 7970 ghz.
 
Heh. "Futureproof". There's no such thing.

What games do you specifically play? Or are looking to play in the near future?
 
There was a review back in September that compared the performance of the 770 in 2 and 4gb versions. I wish I could remember who did it so I could send you a link, but the gist of it was that there was no discernible performance difference between the two when running a single card. This might change if you are talking SLI.
 
A 4GB 770 isn't a great value, i'd honestly just go for a 780 if at all possible. You can sell the 3 free games to recover 50-60$ of the cost as well.
 
bernaby said:
There was a review back in September that compared the performance of the 770 in 2 and 4gb versions. I wish I could remember who did it so I could send you a link, but the gist of it was that there was no discernible performance difference between the two when running a single card. This might change if you are talking SLI.
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Correct. 4GB of VRAM doesn't increase performance, but it allows for high resolution gameplay at 4k or surround with higher MSAA and image quality settings. Since OP is at 1600p, 3/4GB may make sense for gaming a year or two from now. Better to err on the side of caution since he is at 1600p.
 
xoleras said:
Correct. 4GB of VRAM doesn't increase performance, but it allows for high resolution gameplay at 4k or surround with higher MSAA and image quality settings. Since OP is at 1600p, 3/4GB may make sense for gaming a year or two from now. Better to err on the side of caution since he is at 1600p.
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again it wont matter as the 770 will not have the gpu power to run settings that need more than 2gb of vram. spending 50 extra bucks for more vram on the 770 is nothing but a waste and that money should be applied towards just getting a better gpu.
 
....which is why I suggested the 780 instead in an above post. I didn't mean 3/4GB as a suggestion to get a 4GB 770, I agree that it's not a great value as I mentioned earlier. I guess I did that out of habit in between talking about the 290 and 770/780 over several posts.

I've gamed with a single 680 (akin to the 770) at 1600p and you definitely have to compromise on IQ settings with a 770, but less so with a 780. I think the 780 would be the best bet, and the OP can sell the games to recover some of the cost. It's 450$ (after selling the games), but I think it's worth it.

edit: and now I see the OP is asking for sub 780 cards. :shrug:
 
No such thing as futureproof with gpus. Do you really think you can play games from two years from now with todays even top end gpu with all settings cranked to max just because it has more vram or you bought a top end card? Think again, never at a point in history has this happened, nor will it happen, wishful thinking. Only thing is you will lose a lot of money investing in high end video cards if were to do this.

If you want a sub 780 gpu, I'd look at either the 760, or the 770. Do not waste your money on the higher vram cards becasue you're just wasting your money. If you want a 760 with 4 gigs and don't mind spending the extra 50 bucks, just put that extra money towards a faster gpu like the 780 and be done with it.
 
Historically it's rather obvious with 8800GT 512MB vs 8800GT 1GB and 6950 1GB vs 2GB that more vram benefits longevity of performance

While don't have a 4K screen yet, running eyefinity on single 6970 2GB proved that vram was the biggest limiting factor.

I'm not expecting the 770 4GB to ever outperform 780 3GB, and and am looking at other cards like 680 4GB, but I fear that a 2GB card is just simply not enough for 2015.

Besides highres screens, my concern is stable min fps for VR (oculus rift) games as well

My primary concern for 780 is the high cost. I haven't spend over $350 on a video card since X800XTX :D
 
AGAIN 50 more bucks for the 4gb model is stupid for single card use. 50 bucks could be put towards a faster gpu that will give you benefits NOW and in upcoming games. 50 bucks more for 4gb 770 will get you nothing at all now and at best may help out with a setting or two in a couple games in the future. and that is if the gpu can even run it at those settings. its a waste of money for single card use.
 
kohan69 said:
Historically it's rather obvious with 8800GT 512MB vs 8800GT 1GB and 6950 1GB vs 2GB that more vram benefits longevity of performance

While don't have a 4K screen yet, running eyefinity on single 6970 2GB proved that vram was the biggest limiting factor.

I'm not expecting the 770 4GB to ever outperform 780 3GB, and and am looking at other cards like 680 4GB, but I fear that a 2GB card is just simply not enough for 2015.

Besides highres screens, my concern is stable min fps for VR (oculus rift) games as well

My primary concern for 780 is the high cost. I haven't spend over $350 on a video card since X800XTX :D
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The difference back then was games like Crysis actually used more than 512MB of vram at higher resolutions, unlike today's hype of OMG Battlefield 4 REPORTED it used more than 2 gigs of vram. There is a difference. Especially when the gpu's by themselves aren't keeping up at high resolutions, it's kind of pointless to have extra buffering memory when the horsepower isn't even there in the first place to push it.
 
in 2015 a 770 will not be enough for demanding games at 2560 anyway so 4gb is not future proofing anything.
 
kohan69 said:
Historically it's rather obvious with 8800GT 512MB vs 8800GT 1GB and 6950 1GB vs 2GB that more vram benefits longevity of performance

While don't have a 4K screen yet, running eyefinity on single 6970 2GB proved that vram was the biggest limiting factor.

I'm not expecting the 770 4GB to ever outperform 780 3GB, and and am looking at other cards like 680 4GB, but I fear that a 2GB card is just simply not enough for 2015.

Besides highres screens, my concern is stable min fps for VR (oculus rift) games as well

My primary concern for 780 is the high cost. I haven't spend over $350 on a video card since X800XTX :D
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IMO just get the GTX 780. By the time you waste 400$ on a GTX 770, you could spend a few more $ to get a 780, sell the 3 free games for 60$, and get a great card for 440$ or so.

Trust me - I play at 1600p and the 780 has way more grunt for that resolution than the 770, and it has more VRAM to last you for two more years. The 770 4GB is one of the worst values on the market in terms of price/perf. On the other hand, the 780 overclocked is pretty good - when you overclock the 780 a slight bit, it can be 10-15% faster than the Titan. All for 500 bucks minus the 50$ that you can sell the games for.

To me it is well worth the few dollars over the 770, especially for 1600p. There's a big horsepower jump between the 770 and 780, trust me on this! I've used both. Well, kinda - I used an OC 680 which is essentially the same as a 770. The point remains, though, the 780 has a lot more grunt for 1600p than the 770 especially if you overclock the 780 - the 770 is nearly pushed to the max out of the box, whereas the 780 has tons of OC headroom. So i'll repeat my vote for a GTX 780 OC. ;) It is worth the $ if you want a card to last a couple of years. No, it won't be the fastest kid on the block 2 years from now, but it will be usable for sure.
 
I agree with others. The GTX 780 for resolutions above 1080/1200p would be what I'd call "budget" for those resolutions. The difference between 1080 > 1440+ isn't marginal, it's exponential. Can you get away with a 770? Probably, but you wont be running it with a ton of settings and down the road you'll probably have to lower your settings faster than you would @ 1080p gaming.

It's still quite the cost jumping into resolutions above 1080p and I would say we are not at a point where it can go completely mainstream just because monitor and video card expenses needed to run that high.
 
Alright, alright... If only there was a 6GB version of the 780 :D

I hope you guys don't to convince me to get the 780ti for "just $200 more" :D

So which 780 has longest warranty and has the quietest cooler?
(I dont think my thermalright hr03 will cut it, does the whole card need to be cooled?)

schmuckley said:
7950
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Can you read? G-SYNC, do you speak it?
 
That depends on whether you're really focused on overclocking: if you are, you'll want a classified 780 or a lightning 780 as they both offer limited voltage control. Those do cost a good chunk of change, though (550$). If you just want reasonable overclocking without breaking the bank, as well as a quiet cooler - you have several options which range in price from 500-520$. What I would look are the Asus DC II, Gigabyte windforce 3 (GHz edition) and the MSI gamer 780 cards. The EVGA SC ACX is also another contender, although it isn't as quiet as the the other 3 listed. Of these listed, all warranties are all pretty much identical but if you're in the US, you may prefer EVGA for their customer service.

Of course, you can also just go reference as well. The reference GTX 780 cooler is pretty much amazing, and you will be surprised coming from any AMD card. It won't overclock as well as the open air cooled cards I mentioned earlier, but it will do a fine job nonetheless. Basically, you can't go wrong with any of these options. My preference is the Asus DC II, but your opinion may differ - I love Asus' hardware.
 
I never use the stock cooler. Currently I have a 6970 on a Thermalright HR-03

I heard good things about the MSI cooler. Isn't reference a blower cooler? Those tend to be loud.
 
The reference 780/Titan/690 cooler is not loud. It's a significantly better reference design than anything else on the market. I was downright shocked at how whisper quiet it was, after having used AMD reference shrouds for some time.
 
xoleras said:
The reference 780/Titan/690 cooler is not loud. It's a significantly better reference design than anything else on the market. I was downright shocked at how whisper quiet it was, after having used AMD reference shrouds for some time.
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This. NVIDIA's reference blower cooler for the Titan/780/Ti is the best I've ever seen or heard. AMD has some work to do in this area (strongly suspect that they didn't do it -which they easily could've done a la 7990 reference cooler- because they wanted to retain AIB support).

IMO, a true "budget card" for 1440p-1600p gameplay would be a overclocked GTX 760 2GB, GTX 670 2GB, or 7950. Easily under $250 US, and can run most games at 1600p on medium settings. Just be sure to have a non-reference cooler on those cards.
 
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