Graphics card upgrade 970, 970 sli, 980 or new 300 series

Alciel

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Nov 9, 2013
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I want to upgrade my graphics card because now it seems that's dying on me or at least doing something weird. The reason I want to upgrade is mainly because I want to max out the games coming out on max settings on 1440p but 1080p mainly for right now until I can upgrade monitors, I want to run mods with no hassle and have a good fps with amazing graphics IE: Enb for Skyrim.

I want something that can play maxed out Witcher 3, Fallout 4, and the out coming games this year. I suspect that Fallout4 will be heavily modifiable like Skyrim and The previous fallouts.

The thing is I'm not sure if the GTX 970 is good for me since that I read that it really doesn't have 4 gigs of memory with reports saying its only really 3.5Gb, Or is that not really much of a difference and will Nvidia fix this?. The 980 looks good, I think it actually comes with a legitimate 4Gigs but which one would be right? Or should I go with an Sli configuration of the 970 with the 3.5Gb limit? Or the newly announced AMD 300 Series with 8Gbs? From what I've read on Toms review (this site) is that the newly 300 series is actually just a re-branded 200 series with more memory.

I'm trying to future proof as much as possible. As for the Sli thing, Id buy one card now then another later if it turns to be a better case.

Current card is 760 2Gb SC GTX


If that is the case which would be good for me?

Planning to buy soon

Reason for upgrading: Besides for the upcoming games I want to max out...I seem to have a recurring problem with my current graphics card. The problem is that when I play a youtube video or go on facebook with those auto playing videos my screen will flash black like its adjusting its self but when I play a youtube music video and go on facebook and one of those videos auto plays my screen blinks badly and I have to exit out of one of the pages, but when its constantly flashing its kind of a hassle trying to exit the tab.

If that is the case which would be good for me?

Planning to buy soon
 
Solution
Firstly, the 3.5GB VRAM "bottleneck" on the 970 is actually non-existent. You're much more likely to run into GPU bottlenecks rather than VRAM bottlenecks unless you play games at ultra high res but with poopy settings or something like that. With that cleared up, I heavily suggest waiting for the AMD Radeon R9 3XX cards and the Fury and Fury X cards before making your decision. The R9 390X looks really promising and it's quite cheap. The Fury X is supposed to cost ~$650 and it'll be AMD's top tier GPU so I think that that would be the best option. However, currently I think the 980 or 980 Ti would be the best.

iPaperKillz

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Feb 4, 2014
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Firstly, the 3.5GB VRAM "bottleneck" on the 970 is actually non-existent. You're much more likely to run into GPU bottlenecks rather than VRAM bottlenecks unless you play games at ultra high res but with poopy settings or something like that. With that cleared up, I heavily suggest waiting for the AMD Radeon R9 3XX cards and the Fury and Fury X cards before making your decision. The R9 390X looks really promising and it's quite cheap. The Fury X is supposed to cost ~$650 and it'll be AMD's top tier GPU so I think that that would be the best option. However, currently I think the 980 or 980 Ti would be the best.
 
Solution

rapidflyhigh

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Mar 24, 2015
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390x for sure at 1440p or if you can find a 290x 8gb for cheaper just go for it.
gtx 980 and 970 performs better at 1080p
and amd'd better at higher res and have better texture quality
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_radeon_r9_390x_gaming_8g_oc_review,13.html
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_radeon_r9_390x_gaming_8g_oc_review,14.html
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202144 look at this
or this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202147&cm_re=r9_390x-_-14-202-147-_-Product
save money on 290x and overclock it a little to match 390x cause 390x is basically an overclocked (rebranded)290x
 

Alciel

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Nov 9, 2013
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When do these Fury or "X" cards release?
 
Alciel, I'm not 100% convinced that your problems are related to your current video card. But as for your direct question, I had the 970 for 1080p gaming (technically 1920 x 1200 resolution) and I was thoroughly pleased. I played at ultra settings with everything maxed except hairworks and I placed AA on the moderate settings. I suspect that uber settings would have played at a respectable frame rate as well. However you mentioned that you want to upgrade to 1440p at some point, but didn't mention that FPS you would seek at that resolution. If you'll be going for 1440p 144 Hz gaming, then why not go for a single GTX 980 Ti now and add another in the future. Check out the videos below.

Joker Productions - GTX 980 Ti SLI Review | 4K & 1440 BENCHMARKS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCLMNJDPOcQ

JayzTwoCents - 970 SLI Benchmarked vs 980Ti and Titan X
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4RyNNlKbJw
 

farnell121

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May 17, 2014
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From personal experience, I completely recommend a "Zotac GTX 970 AMP! Extreme". Before you do anything, research that card, look at the reviews and see what people are saying who have purchased it. Last graphics card I bought new was a 9800 GT, ever since then I have went with 2nd hand cards.

The GPU is clocked really high on this card and the memory is even clocked up from 7Ghz to 7.2Ghz. I originally intended to get this card so I could massively overclock without voiding the warranty, but honestly its clocked so high that every game I have thrown at it plays games on a 70" 1080p TV flawlessly. FLAWLESSLY. If you were to ever overclock the card close to it's limits it performs much faster than a stock GTX 980.

the card also features a micro USB port on the bottom to directly connect to the motherboard for more precise monitoring and overclocking of the card. Also has two 8-pin power connectors so you can send more juice to the thing. Btw, when you open the box and hold the card for the first time, it's absolutely beautiful. Best card I have seen personally, damn huge too.

You can get these cards for around $400 on NewEgg (where I got mine) and I think the thing should've been priced higher. Only reason I would go to a 980Ti would be to play on a 4K monitor only playing the highest resolution games, otherwise it will be a complete waste of money IMHO.