Have a 2GB geforce gtx 680 should i change it to 970 o 980?

Gonzoyd · May 21, 2015

Hello everybody i want to upgrade my pc especially for the games that are coming this year like Batman or Witcher 3 that requires a 3Gb memory to run in at least high. My current PC is intel core i7 3820- geforce gtx 680 (2gb) - board gigabyte intel x79 - 12 Ram and 800w power supply. Should i change for 970 or 980, or maybe what suggestion can you give me. Thank you

davidarad02 · May 21, 2015

if you want better performance (and getting 2 games for free with those cards - the witcher 3 and batman), then upgrade the card. the CPU, ram and PSU are all fine. the GTX 970, although it has that 3.5GB ram thing, is still an awesome bang for the buck.

Gonzoyd · May 21, 2015

davidarad02 :

Thanks, but would you recommend that I buy a 980 or a 970 and maybe later buy another 970 for SLI, and which brand should i look for?

davidarad02 · May 21, 2015

Gonzoyd :

a GTX 980 is just 10-15 percent faster than a 970, just it has that extra 0.5GB of usable RAM. dual 970's will wreck it in any possible way, even at 4k.

Gonzoyd · May 21, 2015

davidarad02 :

Gonzoyd :

a GTX 980 is just 10-15 percent faster than a 970, just it has that extra 0.5GB of usable RAM. dual 970's will wreck it in any possible way, even at 4k.

Thanks David, your answer helped me a lot. Best wishes

Eth0nian · May 22, 2015

davidarad02 said:
ä

Gonzoyd said:
ä

davidarad02 said:
äif you want better performance (and getting 2 games for free with those cards - the witcher 3 and batman), then upgrade the card. the CPU, ram and PSU are all fine. the GTX 970, although it has that 3.5GB ram thing, is still an awesome bang for the buck.

Thanks, but would you recommend that I buy a 980 or a 970 and maybe later buy another 970 for SLI, and which brand should i look for?

a GTX 980 is just 10-15 percent faster than a 970, just it has that extra 0.5GB of usable RAM. dual 970's will wreck it in any possible way, even at 4k.

Thanks David, your answer helped me a lot. Best wishes

Keep in mind the GTX 970 has 512mb of its 4096mb (on the 4gb model) that is GDDR2, used as a bridge for textures in your RAM. Once it reaches 3/4gb it slows right down, as it moves into the 512mb. NVIDIA will NOT fix this as they refuse to RMA any cards due to it now being a "selling point". This WILL cause FPS drops and performance issues in even the MOST optimised games (League of Legends, GTA V, CS GO etc). I recommend the 980 if either of them, especially if you're going for the 4gb model, simply because you CANNOT get your 970/s refunded and they are ALL FAULTY IN THE 4gb LINE. Another reason is that the 980 is literally the fixed version of the 970. Or just get a TITAN X and be set for the next few years. Also the 980 is an enthusiest card, just like the 680, making it a choice card, while the 970 is not.

davidarad02 · May 22, 2015

Eth0nian :

most of this comment is total shit. all of the 4GB of ram that the 970 has is GDDR5, its just that the last 500 megs are slower. its still faster then going to system RAM, but its not used to its full potential. this will NOT cause FPS drops and performance issues. take a look at hardwarecanucks' video about the GTX970 in SLI vs the r9 295x2, which has 4GB of ram per GPU. the 970's perform better at 4k.
the 970 is NOT a gimped card, this 3.5GB thing is BY DESIGN. nvidia wanted the 970 to be like this, it's just there was a mis-communication between the engineering team and the marketing team. the 980 is NOT the fixed version of the 970. its a faster card, with more cores and more faster RAM, while costing over 200 dollars more. when you look at this, you understand why nvidia made the 970 the way it is.
Didn't know if you knew, but the titan X is over 3 times as expensive, and the upcoming 980 TI is supposed to be over twice as expensive, so you can just go out and say "get a Titan X". most people dont have the cash to spend for a GPU like that, and thats why they look at GPU's like the 960 and 970. they are (comparatively) much much cheaper, and deliver a much better bang for the buck.
the 970 IS an enthusiast card, thats why it has the SAME GPU as the 980, and has the performance of somewhere between a GTX 780 and a 780ti. I don't know about you, but I think of this as being "Enthusiast class".
as I said, the 970 has the performance of something between the 780 and 780 ti, with an extra 500 megs of real memory, for about half the price of those cards, at the original prices. how can you say no to that...

RobCrezz · May 22, 2015

Eth0nian :

davidarad02 said:
ä

Gonzoyd said:
ä

davidarad02 said:
äif you want better performance (and getting 2 games for free with those cards - the witcher 3 and batman), then upgrade the card. the CPU, ram and PSU are all fine. the GTX 970, although it has that 3.5GB ram thing, is still an awesome bang for the buck.

Thanks, but would you recommend that I buy a 980 or a 970 and maybe later buy another 970 for SLI, and which brand should i look for?

a GTX 980 is just 10-15 percent faster than a 970, just it has that extra 0.5GB of usable RAM. dual 970's will wreck it in any possible way, even at 4k.

Thanks David, your answer helped me a lot. Best wishes

Keep in mind the GTX 970 has 512mb of its 4096mb (on the 4gb model) that is GDDR2, used as a bridge for textures in your RAM. Once it reaches 3/4gb it slows right down, as it moves into the 512mb. NVIDIA will NOT fix this as they refuse to RMA any cards due to it now being a "selling point". This WILL cause FPS drops and performance issues in even the MOST optimised games (League of Legends, GTA V, CS GO etc). I recommend the 980 if either of them, especially if you're going for the 4gb model, simply because you CANNOT get your 970/s refunded and they are ALL FAULTY IN THE 4gb LINE. Another reason is that the 980 is literally the fixed version of the 970. Or just get a TITAN X and be set for the next few years. Also the 980 is an enthusiest card, just like the 680, making it a choice card, while the 970 is not.

Please do some research before posting bullshit like that. Its complete crap.

Gonzoyd · May 22, 2015

Eth0nian :

RobCrezz :

What would you recommned Robcrezz?

king3pj · May 22, 2015

I love my 970s. Shadow of Mordor is the only game I have been able to produce any VRAM stutters with. Nothing else in my library, including Witcher 3, goes over 3.5GB of VRAM.

If I run the high textures in Shadow of Mordor everything is great. The game recommends at least 4GB of VRAM for high textures but running HWInfo I can see that it stops just shy of 3.5GB on my system.

If you download the ultra texture pack they ask for 6GB of VRAM. When I use those settings it runs smoothly most of the time but I get occasional stutters if I turn fast. HWInfo shows it is using the full 4GB with these settings. Even so, I can't be sure that the stutters come from the slower .5GB of VRAM because the game claims you need 6GB of VRAM for that setting. Even the 980 would be 2GB short.

Since a few websites have shown that the high and ultra textures look identical I just run high to avoid the stutters. Apparently the ultra textures are just the high textures with less compression.

If you want a good value 1080p card the 970 is the best choice in my opinion. It beats the Radeon's 290x for about the same money. I'd rather have the faster card even if the last .5GB is slower because honestly it hasn't been a problem. You can check benchmarks to see for yourself.

If spending the extra $200 isn't a big deal for you can go for the 980. I think the 970 is the sweet spot in terms of price to performance though.

RobCrezz · May 22, 2015

Gonzoyd :

Eth0nian :

RobCrezz :

What would you recommned Robcrezz?

The 970 is brilliant value for money. I would recommend that.

Gonzoyd · May 22, 2015

I wanted the 980 but they told me that with that card i would have to change the PSU to a 1000w so i would spend more money, is that true?

king3pj · May 22, 2015

Gonzoyd :

No way. I'm running two 970s in SLI with a 750W power supply. A 980 draws a little more power than a 970 but not more than two of them.

If your current power supply can handle a 680 it will be fine for a 980. The 980 actually uses less power than the older card. Here is a comparison that shows the differences between the two cards.

GPU Boss

The 980 has a 165W TDP vs. the 680's 195W TDP.

RobCrezz · May 22, 2015

Gonzoyd :

No way, the 970 and 980 are very power efficent. Your 800w psu is more than enough for a 980 *assuming its a good brand/model.

Gonzoyd · May 22, 2015

RobCrezz :

Thank you Robcrezz, looks that they wanted to rob me. Any brand you could recommend for a 980?

Gonzoyd · May 22, 2015

king3pj :

Gonzoyd :

No way. I'm running two 970s in SLI with a 750W power supply. A 980 draws a little more power than a 970 but not more than two of them.

If your current power supply can handle a 680 it will be fine for a 980. The 980 actually uses less power than the older card. Here is a comparison that shows the differences between the two cards.

GPU Boss

Thanks king3pj your answer was really usefull.

The 980 has a 165W TDP vs. the 680's 195W TDP.

Gonzoyd · May 22, 2015

king3pj :

Gonzoyd :

No way. I'm running two 970s in SLI with a 750W power supply. A 980 draws a little more power than a 970 but not more than two of them.

If your current power supply can handle a 680 it will be fine for a 980. The 980 actually uses less power than the older card. Here is a comparison that shows the differences between the two cards.

GPU Boss

The 980 has a 165W TDP vs. the 680's 195W TDP.

Thanks king3pj your answer was really usefull. Any brand you could recommend for a 980?

king3pj · May 22, 2015

I'm not sure how much difference it actually makes if you aren't going to overclock it yourself. I think one of the things that set higher end GPUs apart is their ability to run higher overclocks but you have to take the time to do that.

I run 2 EVGA SC ACX 2.0 GTX 970s in SLI and haven't had any trouble with them. I went with that model because it was a good deal and it had a factory overclock on it. For some reason people on these boards don't seem to be fans of EVGA GPUs though.

The ones I seem to see recommended most often are the ASUS STRIX or one of the MSI models.

Again, I'm not sure how much difference it actually makes. Most of these GPUs tend to have factory overclocks on them and buying a super high end 980 isn't going to make it a Titan X. By that same token, buying a cheaper model 980 isn't going to make it a 970.

Gonzoyd · May 22, 2015

king3pj :

I'm not sure how much difference it actually makes if you aren't going to overclock it yourself. I think one of the things that set higher end GPUs apart is their ability to run higher overclocks but you have to take the time to do that.

I run 2 EVGA SC ACX 2.0 GTX 970s in SLI and haven't had any trouble with them. I went with that model because it was a good deal and it had a factory overclock on it. For some reason people on these boards don't seem to be fans of EVGA GPUs though.

The ones I seem to see recommended most often are the ASUS STRIX or one of the MSI models.

Again, I'm not sure how much difference it actually makes. Most of these GPUs tend to have factory overclocks on them and buying a super high end 980 isn't going to make it a Titan X. By that same token, buying a cheaper model 980 isn't going to make it a 970.

I was giving a shot to the gibabyte gaming is it good?

king3pj · May 22, 2015

My previous GPU was a Gigabyte Radeon 7850 Windforce. I used that card for 3 years without issue and it's actually still in use on a secondary PC I built with old parts as I upgraded my main machine.

I've never used a Gigabyte Nvidia card before so I can't give you a definitive answer. Some people have much stronger preferences for one brand GPU or another but I haven't really had a bad experience yet. I typically just look for the best deal. As long as it has positive reviews on Amazon or Newegg I figure it's probably going to be fine.

Gonzoyd · May 22, 2015

Thank you everyone for your support i'll check wich brand is the best for my needs and buy it.

Eth0nian · May 25, 2015

davidarad02 :

Eth0nian :

most of this comment is total shit. all of the 4GB of ram that the 970 has is GDDR5, its just that the last 500 megs are slower. its still faster then going to system RAM, but its not used to its full potential. this will NOT cause FPS drops and performance issues. take a look at hardwarecanucks' video about the GTX970 in SLI vs the r9 295x2, which has 4GB of ram per GPU. the 970's perform better at 4k.
the 970 is NOT a gimped card, this 3.5GB thing is BY DESIGN. nvidia wanted the 970 to be like this, it's just there was a mis-communication between the engineering team and the marketing team. the 980 is NOT the fixed version of the 970. its a faster card, with more cores and more faster RAM, while costing over 200 dollars more. when you look at this, you understand why nvidia made the 970 the way it is.
Didn't know if you knew, but the titan X is over 3 times as expensive, and the upcoming 980 TI is supposed to be over twice as expensive, so you can just go out and say "get a Titan X". most people dont have the cash to spend for a GPU like that, and thats why they look at GPU's like the 960 and 970. they are (comparatively) much much cheaper, and deliver a much better bang for the buck.
the 970 IS an enthusiast card, thats why it has the SAME GPU as the 980, and has the performance of somewhere between a GTX 780 and a 780ti. I don't know about you, but I think of this as being "Enthusiast class".
as I said, the 970 has the performance of something between the 780 and 780 ti, with an extra 500 megs of real memory, for about half the price of those cards, at the original prices. how can you say no to that...

Please don't abuse me "most of this comment is total shit". Not necessary. I posted hastily and did not look 500% into each card prior to the post I made, this I apologise for. Though my point is still valid, the 970 presents a flaw in both it's marketing and it's production. The 4gb GDDR5 is indeed a full 4gb GDDR5, ALTHOUGH it does contain 512mb within the 4gb that is GDDR2 SPEED.

Thanks nerd.

uglyduckling81 · May 25, 2015

Please be aware the a 970 isn't all that much better than a 680. You can look at the chart in the link below to figure out where your card lies in comparison to other cards.
Toms Hardware recommends not changing unless the difference is at least 3 tiers. A 970 is 1 tier from a 680.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

RobCrezz · May 26, 2015

uglyduckling81 :

In this case, the toms chart isnt very accurate. I have done builds with the gtx 970 and I own a gtx 680 in my current system, the 970 is much faster:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1348?vs=1355

uglyduckling81 · May 26, 2015

Fair enough. Tom's list is only a guide.

Have a 2GB geforce gtx 680 should i change it to 970 o 980?

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