980 Ti Now or Pascal Later

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ThatZiast

ThatZiast

Reputable
Jan 23, 2016
105
0
4,690
I am building a 1440p gaming PC hoping to take advantage of the 144hz refresh rate of the monitor I am going to get. I have around $600 to spend on a GPU so I could buy the 980 Ti now or wait until June or later for a Pascal 1080 which should be perfect for 1440p 144hz. I don't think the 980 Ti will last as long at 1440p. Around which time will Pascal probably be released? Should I buy now or wait? Thanks!

This is the PC I'm going to build (w/o the gpu)
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mrvLVn
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mrvLVn/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($233.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC12DX_BK 68.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($47.99 @ NCIX US)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste ($5.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($126.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($57.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial BX200 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($63.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.98 @ OutletPC)
Case: Fractal Design Define S w/Window ATX Mid Tower Case ($72.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($37.98 @ Mac Mall)
Monitor: Dell S2716DG 144Hz 27.0" Monitor ($514.89 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Mionix NAOS 7000 Wired Optical Mouse ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Other: Windows 10 ($27.99)
Other: Anti-Static Wrist Strap ($1.96)
Other: RGB Desk LEDs ($20.99)
Other: PC LEDs ($14.99)
Other: Extended Mouse Pad ($11.99)
Total: $1427.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-04 19:00 EDT-0400
 
Solution
10tacle
There have been countless posts asking the same question. What you need to determine is if you can wait the 3-4 months or so for the 970/980 replacements or not. As far as 144Hz at 1440p, you will need 980Ti SLI (at a minimum) to take advantage of that high a frequency and match it with FPS. And in heavy FPS hitting games like Crysis 3, Far Cry 4, and Witcher 3, even with SLI 980Ti you won't be seeing 144fps at 1440p with ultra quality settings and AA enabled.

It's all speculation, but the GTX 1080 or whatever it will be called likely will be faster than a current 980Ti and cost less. It will also likely have 8GB VRAM. You are picking a bad time to build a new rig and needing a GPU. Just ask the people who dropped $650 on a 3GB GTX...
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10tacle

10tacle

Splendid
Dec 6, 2008
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There have been countless posts asking the same question. What you need to determine is if you can wait the 3-4 months or so for the 970/980 replacements or not. As far as 144Hz at 1440p, you will need 980Ti SLI (at a minimum) to take advantage of that high a frequency and match it with FPS. And in heavy FPS hitting games like Crysis 3, Far Cry 4, and Witcher 3, even with SLI 980Ti you won't be seeing 144fps at 1440p with ultra quality settings and AA enabled.

It's all speculation, but the GTX 1080 or whatever it will be called likely will be faster than a current 980Ti and cost less. It will also likely have 8GB VRAM. You are picking a bad time to build a new rig and needing a GPU. Just ask the people who dropped $650 on a 3GB GTX 780Ti in the months prior to the $550 4GB GTX 980 release that beat it. The 980Ti replacement (with HBM memory) will not be out until next year.
 
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Solution
jimmysmitty

jimmysmitty

Champion
Oct 5, 2007
21,605
599
59,140
I would personally wait. I bought my 980Ti long enough ago to make it worth it so I could upgrade to a newer one and sell my 980Ti off for a bit less to recoup. Right now it is not worth buying with a release so close.

One suggestion, skip the Artic silver:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1399195/budget-thermal-paste#post_20153307

The included stock thermal paste with that Phanteks is as good as the Noctua NT-H1 which is better than Arctic Silver 5.
 
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S

simplifii

Commendable
Apr 23, 2016
20
0
1,510
just wait, exactly why i returned my r9 380. im hoping to hop on the new gen or atleast take advantage of the price drops on older gens like 980 ti's ect. will definitely be prolly mid summer fall till id purchase something.. they are marketing the back to school time as ive read. also come holidays im sure u could pick up a sweet deal. between pokemon sun and moon and the new pascal and COD infinite warefare im gonna be a broke SOB
 
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photonboy

photonboy

Titan
Jun 20, 2006
21,567
13
85,015
GSYNC:

You do NOT have to match the refresh rate to avoid having issues. You can average 50FPS and be just fine.

Normally with a 144Hz monitor you have to be able to output a solid 144FPS, using VSYNC, to avoid screen tearing. The entire POINT of the GSYNC monitors was to eliminate this issue.

(also lots of games don't look much better above 1920x1080. many shooters don't, though some do.)

So...
GTX980Ti is a great card, and will be for a long time. Sure, Pascal may come out and be noticeably faster (or similar but cheaper for the earlier cards) but that's always going to be the case.

Other:
There are a few exceptions when setting up games for non-60Hz panels. For example, Fallout 4 is meant to be run at 60FPS. I'm guessing you can force a 60FPS cap (and stay in asynchronous mode) but I'm not sure how that is done.

Other:
That monitor is a TN panel. It's a lot cheaper to buy though than a similar IPS however visual fidelity will be slightly lacking (it's maybe $250 extra or more for a similar IPS panel). However, I've not tried it and it seems fairly good overall:
https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/dell-s2716dg/

"There is no doubt that G-SYNC did its job on all of these titles, enhancing playability and allowing graphics to be turned up a bit without fearing even slight drops in frame rate below the refresh rate. Again it was a case of the higher the better as far as frame rates went, but even fairly significant drops were much more palatable with the technology active. It’s also important to remember that individual sensitivity to tearing and stuttering does vary. Some will find the technology truly game-changing, whereas others won’t really benefit so much."
 
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