Used 780 or new 970

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Epikas

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Dec 29, 2013
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Hello everyone,
I'm looking into upgrading my 7870 and have been recently looking at two options.

I can find second hand gtx 780 cards for around 250$ while new 970's hover slightly above $500. The used market on 970's bounce between 380-500$.

Would it be a good idea to just go for a 780? Or would it be better to save up for a few months and get the 970. The pc I am currently using will be retired to my sister in about four years.

Crossfire-ing 7870's is not a very viable option as due to my choice of a matx sized motherboard, one of the cards will be starving for air as they will be sandwiched together.

The 7870 is suffering really bad for some of the current games I play.

Thanks
 
Solution
migronesien
If you give it away in two years anyway just go for a 780. It's only 10-15% slower and since a 970 can max out pretty much anything @1080p a 780 will still do totally fine. You'll only need to lower AA in new games and will still be able to max out almost anything @1080p i guess.

Id go for the 780 in this case. :)
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Rogue Leader

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Dec 22, 2014
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The 780 is still a decent mid range card. And if you're planning on retiring the computer in a couple years I would say go for the cheaper option this way when you do a new build you will have that much more cash to get yourself a really good upgrade.
 
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migronesien

migronesien

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If you give it away in two years anyway just go for a 780. It's only 10-15% slower and since a 970 can max out pretty much anything @1080p a 780 will still do totally fine. You'll only need to lower AA in new games and will still be able to max out almost anything @1080p i guess.

Id go for the 780 in this case. :)
 
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migronesien

migronesien

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You barely run into more than 3gb at 4k so i doubt that you have trouble with 3gb @1080p, because im totally fine with 3gb even at 1440p.
 
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Rogue Leader

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I agree, there was recently a site who did tests on VRAM and there was no games at 1080p that came close to using 3gb, most barely used 2gb.
 
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rcald2000

rcald2000

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migronesien

migronesien

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Thats also not true...

I havent seen a single game, where a stock 970 gets better fps than a stock 780ti.
Normal 780 yes, but not the ti.
It's barely better than a normal 780. 10-15% at most.
 
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bicycle_repair_man

bicycle_repair_man

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Considering the large price difference and the small performance gap, I would opt for the GTX 780.

Regarding the VRAM argument, I would definitely say that 2GB is a limiting factor, even at 1920x1080. Graphical fidelity is only going to go up, and the demands for VRAM will increase as a result. Some games, such as GTA V and Arkham Knight, are already breaking through the 3GB barrier. OK, Arkham Knight may get more patches to optimise VRAM, but as it stands, VRAM is heavily used.

TweakTown ran this article about VRAM not too long ago; http://www.tweaktown.com/tweakipedia/90/much-vram-need-1080p-1440p-4k-aa-enabled/index.html.
 
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sizzling

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I can assure you it does at near ultra settings, just tried again with Advanced Warfare and at ultra settings it warns that 3gb isn't enough and suffers stuttering during game play when vram usage hits 100%. I don't have GTA V installed now but that used to suffer the same.
 
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Epikas

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Dec 29, 2013
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I see a mixed opinion on weather the 780 will suffice my needs or not.
So to clarify so. Information, I will be gaming on a 1080p monitor and have no plans in the near future to upgrade.

My 7870 has 2gb of ram and other than not being able to max gta5 variety sliders, the vram seems to be sufficient for my usage.

As for power draw, I live in British Columbia and electricity costs aren't an issue as much as you may think.

I think I will go with the 780 and save the 250$ or so for my future build.
 
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Rogue Leader

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Dec 22, 2014
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You have made the best choice
 
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