Video card suggestion for 2560x1600 gaming

discoslice · Oct 9, 2015

I have a Dell 30" ultrasharp monitor and have been running two nVidia 770s (4 gb each) SLI'd together. I can pull off this resolution pretty well on most games but, the new Battlefront Beta tells me these card's cant pull off this resolution at 60fps, that's for sure.

Suggestions? I think I'd like to keep running in 2560x1600 - I sit only a few feet away from my monitor. Maybe the nVidia 970? Or do I need two of them? thanks.

sizzling · Oct 9, 2015

To get a worth while jump in performance and an amount of VRAM that is more than enough for that resolution then a 980Ti would be my choice

discoslice · Oct 9, 2015

thanks sizzling. Is there some way or tool I can use that would let me figure out my performance with say two 970's SLI'd vs a single 980 Ti?

rcald2000 · Oct 9, 2015

Two GTX 970's would suffice but I'd recommend that you go for a single GTX 980 Ti instead. You'd get the additional VRAM and also wouldn't have to worry about early releases of games that may not have working SLI profiles. In addition, you'll have the option of adding a second 980 Ti in the future, if needed. If you're currently running two 770's in SLI, then your power supply definitely has enough wattage for one or two 980 Ti's (PSU recommendation URL below)

*** power requirements for graphics cards ***
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

* Just out of my own curiosity, what are the rest of your system specs?

discoslice · Oct 9, 2015

Here's what I got:

two nVidia 770's 4 GB OC'd and SLI'd
Msi Z97 Gaming 5 motherboard
i7-4790k @ 4ghz, 1.2v
24 gig DDR3 vram - Corsair Veng (2 sticks are a little faster than the other 2)
Samsung EVO 500 SSD
Western Digital 2 TB Black HD

P.S. What can i do with my old video cards? Wish I could get some money back on them :/

andy_Man · Oct 9, 2015

I would crossfire 2 r9 390s Personally. The 390 are at such a sweet spot for price to performance. The 390 beats the matches/beats the gtx 980 at 4k resolution and crossfire scales very well.

rcald2000 · Oct 9, 2015

Holy crap! Wow. Your CPU is better than mine in gaming because of the higher clock speed. Wow man. Your build specs caught me off guard. Nice.

I just realized something. Since your display has a 16:10 ratio with your resolution of 2560 x 1600, it's very close to the amount of pixels that my 3440 x 1440 monitor has. Mine is also 60 Hz and I initially ran it on a single 980 Ti. I think two 970's vs one 980 Ti is even money. I just prefer the single card for the reasons I stated above.

4,096,000 pixels vs 4,953,600

discoslice · Oct 9, 2015

Is it?

what is your clock speed?

Andy_man ty for your suggestion. I haven't used anything but nVidia cards so far, so I guess I'm comfortable with them.

Is there a good discount place to purchase a higher-priced card, or just Amazon or NewEgg? Can I do anything with my old cards? I figure they are worth something.

coozie7 · Oct 9, 2015

Also consider the R9 Fury X, it does really come into its own at that sort of high rez, but it's not every ones cup of tea.
Apart from the AMD fanboi suggestion

I'll just add that I think you should wait until Battlefront gets its first retail patches before actually making any purchases and with Christmas drawing near you may want to spend your money elsewhere (or wait until the release of Nvidias Pascal based parts) anyway.

andy_Man · Oct 9, 2015

Even a single r9 390 could game at that resolution.
http://www.eteknix.com/sapphire-nitro-r9-390-8gb-graphics-card-review/5/

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/powercolor_radeon_r9_390_pcs_8gb_review,13.html

At that resolution, you are spending a lot more money for the same or less performance by going with Nvidia. Show AMD some love.

andy_Man · Oct 9, 2015

coozie7 :

I go by performance

and I want AMD to stick around.

At 1440 r9 390 beats the gtx 980 a lot of times. For what $200 less?

rcald2000 · Oct 9, 2015

Question: What to do with old video cards? Sell them on Ebay or Tom's Hardware classifieds, but read the rules carefully. Ebay is easier in my humble opinion.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum-8.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2083601/read-forum-rules-styling-posts.html

My CPU speed: My clock speed is still the default 3.6 GHz. I honestly haven't gotten around to overclocking it, but I imagine that I can get it up to 4.5.

Two R9 390's argument: I like the R9 390 card, but setting up two in crossfire requires a respectable wattage. The recommendations suggest 1,000 watts, although I admit that the recommendations are extra cautious. Do you have that much wattage?

Amazon / NewEgg: I like both sources. I bought my GTX 970 from Amazon. I bought my single GTX 980 Ti reference and my two GTX 980 Ti FTW cards from NewEgg. Currently they are the only places I buy computer stuff from. The exception is my processor and motherboard. I bought both from Micro Center because they sell CPU's at below cost to attract buyers to purchase in-store. I live in New York.

discoslice · Oct 9, 2015

Thank you all for your input - I'm considering all this

discoslice · Oct 9, 2015

rcald, I checked out that 980 Ti on Amazon - there are EIGHT versions of it

- which one did you get/do you recommend? WTF?!!

rcald2000 · Oct 10, 2015

All the options boil down to two simple questions: Do you want a reference cooler or a custom cooler? Vast majority of people want a custom cooler cards. The second question is whether you want the card to come with the standard clock speed for the processor and memory, or do you want the factory (EVGA) to overclock the card for you. I'm guessing that most people opt for the factory to overclock their cards and pay the extra $20-$50 premium that these cards generally cost.

*** option #1 ***

If you want a 980 Ti with a moderate and respectable factory overclock then buy this:

06G-P4-4993-KR
* Do not spend more than $659.99
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Whisper-Graphics-06G-P4-4993-KR/dp/B00YDAYLTY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444481040&sr=8-1&keywords=06G-P4-4993-KR
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want 980 Ti that includes a back plate plus moderate and respectable factory overclock then buy this:

06G-P4-4995-KR
* Do not spend more than $679.99
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Installed-Backplate-Graphics-06G-P4-4995-KR/dp/B00YDAYOK0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444479672&sr=8-1&keywords=evga+980+ti
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want 980 Ti that includes a back plate plus moderate and respectable factory overclock but the ability to push an extreme overclock then buy this:

06G-P4-4998-KR
* Do not spend more than $699.99. Amazon's price of $849.99 is outrageous because it's from a third party. If you purchase this, get it from somewhere else like NewEgg
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-CLASSIFIED-Installed-Backplate-06G-P4-4998-KR/dp/B010GK3YYC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444481065&sr=8-1&keywords=06G-P4-4998-KR

*** option #2 ***

Another option you have is to purchase an official EVGA GTX 980 Ti b-stock (refurbished) card directly from EVGA. The price is currently $549.99, but these cards do not come with a steam code for a free game. The new cards probably do. Currently EVGA has only the reference model in stock, but if you want the custom cooler model, you could simply create an EVGA acccount, click "auto-notify". If you're prepared to purchase the card at a moment's notice then you'll probably be able to buy one no later than this Friday.

http://www.evga.com/products/ProductList.aspx?type=8&family=GeForce+900+Series+Family&chipset=GTX+980+Ti

* FYI: I personally own one reference 980 Ti and two FTW 980 Ti's. I only have the 2 out of 3 cards installed because my Intel 750 PCIe SSD is taking up a valuable slot. I have one of my three cards sitting in a box until I remedy the situation.

discoslice · Oct 10, 2015

Thanks for the detailed reply. Which of those you listed is your personal suggestion?

rcald2000 · Oct 10, 2015

Honestly, I love finding deals. I'd get one of the two EVGA refurbished cards. They $130 cheaper than a new card and still come with a one year warranty.

http://www.evga.com/Products/ProductList.aspx?type=8&family=GeForce+900+Series+Family&chipset=GTX+980+Ti

rcald2000 · Oct 10, 2015

As for which one of the two refurbished cards, that's a tough one. I have custom and reference cards. I plan to switch all my cards to reference because I plan on having three in my system. Reference cards run warmer than custom. But reference cards keep your entire system cooler because they blow hot air outside of the case. Custom cards are cooler but they blow the hot air inside the case, thereby making your components just a little warmer. Since I'll eventually have three cards in my system, reference are a great option for me. I should mention that the reference 980 Ti doesn't have a back plate. Some people care about that, but I personally don't.

If you're intent on buy new, then get the 06G-P4-4995-KR (http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Installed-Backplate-Graphics-06G-P4-4995-KR/dp/B00YDAYOK0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444479672&sr=8-1&keywords=evga+980+ti)

discoslice · Oct 10, 2015

I've never bought a refurbished one - it scares me a bit since they are used. Are you sure they are safe and reliable? Also, can I send my old 770's back to EVGA then and get some money back?

JUICEhunter · Oct 10, 2015

discoslice :

EVGA B-stock if you're looking for a deal and trust their re-certification process, pretty sure I'm getting my next GPU from there.

Of course if you see add to cart it's ready to go, there were a few not avail with auto-notify that I already put in for and haven't heard anything back so I would only focus on the ones ready to go like the 970 SC for $250:

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=04G-P4-2977-RX

Here is the B-stock main site:

http://www.evga.com/Products/ProductList.aspx?type=8

discoslice · Oct 17, 2015

Just got my 980 Ti - I kept going back and forth on how much of a performance difference there will be between it and 2 4 GB 770's SLI'd. wish me luck!

Video card suggestion for 2560x1600 gaming

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