GTX's or R9's on 1080p Ultra-wide + Wide Monitor?

raisonjohn · Jul 27, 2015

Decided to get 2 MONITORS: a 21:9 IPS (2560x1080) AND a 16:10 IPS (1920x1200). The ultra-wide will be used for Gaming (Metro Last Light, Witcher, Shadow of Mordor, Civ, GTA, NBA, Sim City, Rome, Fallout, Grid, etc.), Movies (DVD's), and Drawing (AutoCAD/SketchUp). The smaller display will be used for Web Surfing, Image Editing (Photoshop), 3D Rendering (Vray), Reading PDF's, and other multi-tasking purposes.

My CURRENT components:
Zotac GTX 960 AMP! 2GB
Seasonic M12II-620 EVO
Intel i5-4460 ---> will upgrade to an i7-4790 soon (for rendering)
Gigabyte H97-Gaming 3 ---> does not support SLI; only CF
Samsung T27B350 27" TV-Monitor 1920 x 1080 TN ---> replaced with 2 new monitors

So far, I have no major problems with my current NVIDIA (but had to lower the quality of some games for smoother frames). Now with 2 monitors, I am thinking of upgrading my graphic card to a more powerful one (I would want higher settings than before). I just don't know if I should stick with the GeForce (maybe GTX 970? or the GTX 980?) or try the Radeon (maybe R9 390? or R9 390X? or R9 380X?).

Which graphic card would you recommend and what specific brand? Will my current mobo (which does not support SLI) a factor in deciding (that is, will I ever NEED to go multi-gpu)? I cannot afford the Titan's or the Fury's. I also don't want to spend too much on an over-priced GPU coz I still want to upgrade my CPU.

Anonymouselite5 · Jul 28, 2015

Can you afford the GTX 980ti? The 980ti is about the same speed as a titan X for much cheaper. You won't ever need to go SLI for a while with a 980ti either as it games (OK) at 4k as well.

If you can't afford it I would go for the GTX 980, the 390x doesn't perform as well as it. The gtx 980 is actually more in line with the r9 fury (non X).
So IMO buy a GTX 980ti, if that's too much the GTX 980 would be a better idea.
HOWEVER, if you plan to upgrade your CPU at the same time or soon. (you could possibly wait for Skylake) and buy a new SLI motherboard. CF r9 390's or SLI gtx 970's would kick ass at 2560x1080p.

However single 980ti would still be the best, less hassle of a 2 card setup.

-good luck

17seconds · Jul 28, 2015

Your games list is Nvidia-centric with PhysX and Gameworks titles, and those that favor Nvidia. I would make it easy and decide how much money you can spend, then get whatever single Nvidia card fits your budget. Seems like a GTX 980 with a free copy of Metal Gear Solid V would fit the bill nicely. If a GTX 980 Ti is too expensive, that is.

raisonjohn · Jul 28, 2015

Thanks for you inputs. Well, I got the prices of the readily-available gpu's in my location (converted to US$):

GTX 980Ti:
MSI Gaming - $780
Zotac AMP! Extreme - $780
Inno3D iChill X4 Ultra - $780
Gigabyte G1 Gaming - $760
Zotac AMP! - $710

GTX 980:
Asus Strix OC - $620
Palit Trio - $560
Palit JetStream - $560
Inno3D OC - $515

R9 390X:
Gigabyte G1 Gaming - $490
Sapphire Tri-X - $480

R9 390:
Gigabyte G1 Gaming - $410

What do you think of these prices? Which particular brand would you choose among the available gpu's?

I was originally thinking about a $700-budget for BOTH cpu and gpu upgrade (i7 + R9). It will cost me $290 to upgrade to an i7-4790.

However, based on your gpu recommendations to go with the GTX's, does the huge difference in price (between the R9's and the Ti's) justify me paying for such amount? Would you rather postpone the i7 cpu upgrade and spend the budget for just the Ti?

17seconds · Jul 28, 2015

I would look at the prices of the GTX 970, if you're looking to fit into a budget.

raisonjohn · Jul 28, 2015

Well, the GTX 970's are definitely cheaper than the rest of the cards I considered. Here are the prices in my location (converted to US$):

GTX 970:
MSI Gaming - $410
Gigabyte G1 Gaming - $410
Asus Strix OC - $400
Galax Exoc Black - $370
Palit JetStream - $345
Zotac - $325

Any of these cards would fit my original budget + the i7 upgrade. However, despite the lower costs of these cards, do you think its a good deal to get a 970 coming from a 960? Will it be a considerable upgrade, performance-wise/money-wise?

raisonjohn · Jul 28, 2015

I'm not sure if it's logical, given a $700-pocket, to just stick with my current i5-4460 (wait for that Skylake? as suggested by Anonymouselite) and then just spend all for a very powerful gtx 980 ti?

Anonymouselite5 · Jul 29, 2015

raisonjohn :

Well in my opinion, going from a gtx 960 to a 970 is not a good upgrade. I mean yes there is a difference between the 2 but it doesn't warrant the money you'll spend on it.

Also it really depends how much you think you'll need that I7-4790K for rendering, the i5 4460 should hold it's own (even at stock) for now for gaming. However if you're doing different things like rendering/drawing/animation, and gaming is just a side purpose. I would go for the 4790k.
Pure gaming wise the 980ti will run everything maxed at 2560x1080p, however it is expensive.
(here in AUS, it's $1000 Aud for a 980ti).
So if you want to save a little I would go for the GTX 980.
The r9 390 is a good card but it basically is a r9 290 and ties mostly with the GTX 970 anyway, and instead you could buy the r9 290 for cheaper. However still not a massive upgrade for the money you're paying.

So in my opinion, upgrade the part you feel which needs to be upgraded first. Either gaming or rendering.
Although you could go r9 390 and 4970k anyway but you most likely would get minimal gains on both sides.

-good luck

edit: Also Skylake CPU's are rumoured to release next month and require a new socket (new motherboard). Also are also rumoured to cost a little more than the current devils canyon cpu's. So you could wait for that but it may be a little more expensive in the long run.

Search

GTX's or R9's on 1080p Ultra-wide + Wide Monitor?

raisonjohn

Expert

Anonymouselite5

Anonymouselite5

Distinguished

17seconds

Champion

raisonjohn

Expert

17seconds

Champion

raisonjohn

Expert

raisonjohn

Expert

Anonymouselite5

Distinguished

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page