Which Nvidia Graphics Card to buy?

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SkarNetwork

SkarNetwork

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Jun 11, 2015
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Greetings Forum,
I have a little predicament. I'm going to be upgrading my 'budget' graphics card (GT 610) to a "GTX" graphics card. I feel that if I purchase a high-end card now, it will last me a good 5-8 years of gaming/Maya Vram playback. I understand that graphics cards don't stay at their peak performance throughout its lifetime, however I plan to spend more money now rather than 1 or 2 years down the line for trying to cut corners.

To Begin. My budget is around £400 however willing to stretch to £600 and since I'm using two 1080p 60hz Display's, My first choice was to buy a GTX 970 (4GB Vram), costing around £299. However I then felt persuaded, by the new release. The GTX980ti I felt if stretched my budget now, I'll always have the option of hooking the card up to a 4K display later and if I get my hands on another 980ti down the line, SLI link right?


After countless YouTube viewings of graphics card performance comparison and searching every last review I can find, I'm asking you lovely people for your help and opinions? Should I spend cheap and wait for the price of the 980 Ti to drop (In about 5 years) or is the 980ti worth it and spend big now?

Oh, and of course here is my current Computer Specifications:

CPU: 3.2ghz i5 haswell 4570
MoBoard: Asus H81M-e (PCI-e x16 2.0? 3.0?)
PSU: 500w (I will replace this to meet the Graphics Card Specifications)
RAM: 16GB
GPU (currently): GT 610

Thank you for reading my post!
 
Solution
J
It's better to spend less on a GPU now and upgrade to a mid-range GPU every 2-3 years. That way you're not missing out on new tech features on future generation GPUs later. You can get a GTX 960 or GTX 970 now and in about 2-3 years, GPUs with stacked memory, new versions of AA, built-in ARM CPUs, etc. will be available by that time. For example, people who purchased GTX 580s expecting their cards to hold out for 5 or more years are currently missing out on 4+ GB VRAM, G-sync, and DirectX 12 as long as they keep running those now-obsolete GPUs.
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senseijtitus

senseijtitus

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Apr 13, 2015
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From your current GPU, even a GTX660 would be huge leep forward. I would suggest at least GTX 970. Although GTX980 would be a better choice. At this stage although the performance is even better, I would not suggest GTX 980Ti. Better settle for a GTX980 or GTX 970.
 
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DasHotShot

DasHotShot

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Feb 17, 2015
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5 years...you are talking about sci-fi here.

You won't buy a 980Ti in 5 years either. You need to be realistic.

What you describe is a situation where you want to use the GPU you buy now for a really really long time, till it can barely display anything anymore.

In this case the 980 Ti is the optimal choice today...Next week, by the end of the week...we will know full details and pricing of AMD Fury XT.

This card will deply HBM (new kind of memory) and is said to be on par in performance with the Titan X. It will create competition and certainly maike pricing interesting.

Your best bet is looking at what this announcement next week Tuesday/Wednesday brings and what your options are then.

It is likely that this will be the card to go for, as it deploys newer tech than any Nvidia card right now and should with it, last the ages as the GPU market is moving to HBM from 2016.


On the PSU, you want a high quality, efficient and powerful unit, giving you the option to use 2 cards but also saving you money on electricity as you plan to use it for almost a decade.

I recommend you pick a tier 1 PSU from the link I am posting below and you make sure it has at least 850W of power. 80+ or better, Gold or better are a must in your case, to be sure it lasts for several systems, not just your current one.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
 
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J

Joseph DeGarmo

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Mar 12, 2014
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It's better to spend less on a GPU now and upgrade to a mid-range GPU every 2-3 years. That way you're not missing out on new tech features on future generation GPUs later. You can get a GTX 960 or GTX 970 now and in about 2-3 years, GPUs with stacked memory, new versions of AA, built-in ARM CPUs, etc. will be available by that time. For example, people who purchased GTX 580s expecting their cards to hold out for 5 or more years are currently missing out on 4+ GB VRAM, G-sync, and DirectX 12 as long as they keep running those now-obsolete GPUs.
 
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Viking2121

Viking2121

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May 9, 2012
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I agree with Joseph, I'd get the GTX 970 got its 4Gb of vram which will be useful when 4k in more of a thing. It will last ya 4 years or more and upgrade to new mid end card and have all them new options.

The GTX 970 is no slouch either, it can nearly play GTA 5 maxed out at 1080p, it can keep a decent playable FPS at 4k just don't expect to max everything out as hardware just isn't up to the 4k task.

The GTX 960 is good card too, I have benchmarked one for a customer at my shop and it did really well, and can be overclocked like crazy, The one I tested was at 1300mhz boost got it to near 1650mhz on the core putting really close to the stock 970, but it only has 2gb of vram and slower memory clocks.
 
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SkarNetwork

SkarNetwork

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Jun 11, 2015
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Thank you Guys for your help. At first I was convinced to get a 980ti. However I'm glad I asked for advice on here, I'm going to follow all of your solutions, my current choice of card will be the 970, in which 2 - 3 years ,like advised, upgrade again. How I ain't slamming the cash down yet, I'm also follow the advice of waiting till AMD's card annoucments, and then my mind will be made. Thank you so much all of you :)
 
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