Thinking of upgrading

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jbcastello

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Hey guys, been talking myself out of buying a new graphics card for months, ever since AMD teased Vega for the first time. I've always bought AMD personally, but have no qualms about buying an nVidia card if priced competetively. Currently I'm running at 7950 Boost that I've had for about 4 years now, and while it still runs games that I play, i recently upgraded to a 2k 144hz gaming monitor that I got for a steal (I paid 250$ for a 400$ monitor)

So typically I spend ~$300 when I upgrade my cards and try to keep maybe not that best settings, but I want to play on high/med settings for the next 3-4 years. So my current options are really the RX 480 and the 1060. I have issues with both of these cards, they both don't offer the 2k performance I'd really like, I feel the 1060 is overpriced(for a nonmini version), and It offers poor DX12 performance in comparison to the RX 480. I'd consider getting a 1070, but that stretches my price range a bit more than I'd like, and if I'm spending close to 400 for a decent 1070, I'd rather just get an entry level 1080. Then when I get that far I consider well maybe I'll get some more info about Vega soon, just to see where its going to get priced at. I know the top end one is supposed to compete with the 1080ti, but I don't forsee AMD leaving a price gap between 250-600. There are rumors of a non top end vega card coming out, and RX 500 series cards coming out together sometime within Q2.

For those curious my current build:
AMD fx-8350 w/ zalman 9700
8gb mushkin ddr3 running at 1800mhz
Seasonic x-650 gold
Main HDD - WD Raptor 640 gb
Storage HDDs - Toshiba p300 2gb Samsung 1tb
Asus M5A97 mobo
Corsair 200r carbide case
 
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raisonjohn
As the GTX 1080 Ti have been released (at same price point when the GTX 1080 were released), the GTX 1080 has dropped its prices considerably. It may be a good deal to consider (financial-wise) to get the performance you need in 1440p/144Hz gaming, unless your budget is really restricted. You are right that a GTX 1060 or RX 480 might not maximize the potential of your high-res/high-refresh rate monitor.

Another thing to consider when upgrading to these powerful cards is the probability of hindering its performance by your weaker CPU. There is a high chance that the GTX 1060 would be bottlenecked by the FX-8350 especially in CPU-demanding games. Going upwards to a GTX 1070 or all the way to GTX 1080/GTX 1080 Ti, the chances of...
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raisonjohn

raisonjohn

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As the GTX 1080 Ti have been released (at same price point when the GTX 1080 were released), the GTX 1080 has dropped its prices considerably. It may be a good deal to consider (financial-wise) to get the performance you need in 1440p/144Hz gaming, unless your budget is really restricted. You are right that a GTX 1060 or RX 480 might not maximize the potential of your high-res/high-refresh rate monitor.

Another thing to consider when upgrading to these powerful cards is the probability of hindering its performance by your weaker CPU. There is a high chance that the GTX 1060 would be bottlenecked by the FX-8350 especially in CPU-demanding games. Going upwards to a GTX 1070 or all the way to GTX 1080/GTX 1080 Ti, the chances of bottlenecking increases exponentially.

So, you might also want to consider (though very expensive) saving for a complete upgrade of your CPU/MB/RAM.

In any case, should you go by your current CPU with a powerful GPU, it is not the end of the world.
 
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jbcastello

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I was worried about cpu bottlenecking for a bit, but currently I'm mainly just looking to upgrade the card, and upgrading the rest of the system next year at some point. the 8350 still performs well enough for me to hold off on a ~$600 upgrade atm
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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Your Seasonic X650 is a top psu and will run any card you want including a $700 GTX1080ti.

A GTX1060 will be a nice boost over your 7950, but I think for 1440P, you would be better served with a GTX1070 or GTX1080.

Some games are graphics limited like fast action shooters.
Others are cpu core speed limited like strategy, sims, and mmo.
Multiplayer with many participants tend to like many threads.

You need to find out which.
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To help clarify your CPU/GPU options, run these two tests:

a) Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.

You should also experiment with removing one or more cores. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of processors to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game does not need all the threads you have.



It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system,
and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
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dontlistentome

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"and upgrading the rest of the system next year at some point."

Well, considering that the upgrade level you're looking at, 480/1060, wouldn't do what you want in the here and now, and considering that you do plan building a new system next year, why buy a new card now at all? Next year build your new system and pick the card from what will be available then. There will undoubtedly be more options and they will be at worse the same price as now, at best even less expensive.
 
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jbcastello

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well.... I want to upgrade sooner rather than later..... your statement is valid every. single. year. "If you wait till next year you can get all this stuff for so much cheaper!" Yes. I'm aware, that is the common theme every single year with hardware.
 
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jbcastello

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I wouldn't buy a 970 as its performance is worse than the 480 and also more expensive.... rather just get a 480 or 1060. the 980 isn't worth the money. the older gen cards don't offer enough future proofing as I'd like
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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I misspoke.
I meant GTX1070 or GTX1080.
 
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