Help With Upgrading From Radeon 6850

azure_jet

Honorable
Dec 7, 2013
5
0
10,510
Okay so this is a bit lengthy and I have read up on a lot of posts this past year on the forums before asking these questions. Some I could not find a direct answer to, so I just want to get some clarification.

1) I am going to upgrade, but I'm not sure if now is the time. With the release of the new consoles and the whole "shared 8gb of memory" I'm not sure if I even should blow money on a card in such an unstable time (as far as future requirements for games). I know there is truly no future-proofing but I do not want to get what is considered to be a good card now, only to have it rendered fairly obsolete within a year.

2) I've been looking at the GeForce GTX 770 reference. Now don't shoot me just yet. I know the cooling isn't as good as the EVGA models or any others for that matter. But I absolutely love that Titan look, AND my case doesn't have the best airflow right now and probably won't until I buy a new one (mid next year). So it'd be nice to have a card that blows air outward not circulates within the case.

3) I will be primarily gaming on a single 1080p monitor, and want high settings. Maybe not always the highest as I've heard of Crysis 3 cranked eats up about 2gb for some, but definitely more highs than meds or lows. Will getting that 2gb reference card kill my gaming hopes? Other than that, maybe I'll add additional monitors later, but probably not until late next year when I could potentially SLI (if it would be worth it).

Any thoughts? Really any help would be appreciated. I REALLY want a new card because my ancient 6850 is showing its age with every new release. And like I said that reference cooler is straight up awesome, I'm just not sure its worth the money when I might be adding monitors and there is only a 2gb model for the reference design.

Thanks in advance though!
 
The GTX 770 will not be obsolete in a year, games do not come out that fast. If you planning on multiple Monitors and wanting to be using the card your buying now then you should get a 4gb model. Running two cards in SLI does not double the vram you only use the vram from the card in the main slot. The other card is connected to it and uses the processing power from the GPU of the second card.

You do realize that once the card is in your computer that you can only see the top edge of it ?
 

azure_jet

Honorable
Dec 7, 2013
5
0
10,510
Lol yes, I am aware. But I still think the thing just looks awesome. It's like having an awesome engine in your car, you may not see it but it doesn't diminish how awesome you know it looks. ;)

My SLI situation is the reason why I am so hesitant. There is no 4gb model with the reference cooler. :( Which means I'd be stuck buying the EVGA one with the ACX cooler if I hoped to SLI.