GTX 1080 or wait for vega?

mrobscura · May 10, 2017

I currently have an r9 390 and while its a solid card I am thinking about upgrading to a 1080, which I can get a really good deal on. Usually I wouldn't advocate waiting since I think it's pointless, there's always going to be something new on the horizon, but in this case I'm doubting my own philosophy due to vega possibly being so close to release.

But rumors are that vega might be in short supply and also might not offer much more than pascal. So, I'm finding this a hard decision to make. On the one hand it might be worth waiting for vega, but on the other I'm kind of fed up with AMD and the way they've handled recent drivers for the 390 series, and at this price the 1080 is a hell of a deal in regards to price vs performance.

Anyway, I was just interested in hearing some opinions. I'm clearly leaning towards the 1080, though. lol

Lukan · May 10, 2017

Go for 1080! For sure! It's one of the fastest nvidia card.

yamahahornist · May 10, 2017

Wait for VEGA and see the performance and cost; if it isn't what you like go with the 1080. The rumors of the VEGA performance are honestly just rumors... you will have to wait and see real world performance. Oh AMD has a big conference on May 16th and they are going to show more VEGA info... maybe even some in-game FPS.

shrapnel_indie · May 10, 2017

How long to you want to wait? It will be more than likely next month for the announcement (maybe end of this month, if we get lucky).. If that's too long, go for the GTX-1080. If it isn't go ahead and wait until then. Just don't get into the perpetual waiting for the next latest and greatest after the current latest and greatest.

tonybstc · May 10, 2017

Depending on how soon you want the card. If you need a strong video card right now you won't go wrong with GTX 1080. But if you can wait for a few weeks, it wouldn't hurt to wait and see how Vega performs.

Even if it doesn't beat GTX 1080 it would also put some price pressure on it and you end up paying less for the same.

feelinfroggy777 · May 10, 2017

I would probably wait just to see what Vega comes out to be. It should only be another month or so. If Vega is a hit, it should help drop the price of the 1080 down even more.

The other thing I would think about is my monitor. If you currently have a free sync monitor, then I would definitely wait for Vega cause you wont be able to use free sync with a 1080. And if your gaming at 1080p, then a 1080 is overkill and you should buy a 1070 or related Vega product.

mrobscura · May 10, 2017

well, thing is this deal is only good for another day, so id risk missing out.

as for the 1080 being overkill at 1080p, thats flat out false. i actually almost bought a 1070 but then realized its kind of a rip off... cheap used 980 tis are on par with it and 1070s are still going for around 400 bucks. i can get the 1080 for just a little more... so in the end the 1070 isnt even an option as far as im concerned.

Eximo · May 10, 2017

Leaked specs put Vega as in the same range as the 1080 and 1080Ti. Really will come down to price.

http://wccftech.com/amd-radeon-vega-specs-leaked-linux-patch/

Looks like it will be pretty comparable to a pair of RX580, have to see if the HBM2 gives it anything worthwhile.

feelinfroggy777 · May 10, 2017

mrobscura :

I have owned the 980ti, 1070, and 1080 and in my opinion (and the opinion of most reviewers), the 1080 is a 4k/2k video card, and any say that a 1070 is a 2k video card. A computer system is only as strong as it's weakest link. With a 1080 and a reasonable processor, the weakest link will be a HD monitor.

If it were me, then I would ask myself how long I am planning on gaming at HD. If my answer was for the foreseeable future, then I would not go for a 1080, if my answer was I want to upgrade to 2k just as soon as I have the cash, then I would get the 1080.

If the 1080 deal is great, then go for it and don't look back. It is a fantastic card. Or you can hang tight and see what Vega has to offer, AMD did very well with ryzen.

feelinfroggy777 · May 10, 2017

Eximo :

WCCFTECH is hardly a creditable source. But I do think that it will be a good card.

mrobscura · May 10, 2017

i think im going to pull the the trigger on the 1080. i plan to game at 1080p for some time and the 1080 will give me decent headroom to not have to worry about specs. ill have a 7700k and a 1080 so ill be good for a while. its definitely not overkill at 1080p considering demanding games can drop the fps below 60fps maxed out at 1080p with the card. that may be down to poor optimization a lot of the time but it still the case, at least this way i can brought force it when need be.

and i can always upgrade the monitor down the line if i feel like it.

shrapnel_indie · May 10, 2017

Eximo :

[sarcasm]Oh, well, there you go.... That is a site that only posts facts without any amount of speculation. [/sarcasm]

BigBoomBoom · May 10, 2017

How much is that deal for GTX 1080? They are already cheap right now, you can pick up a non refreshed brand new 1080 for $500, while refreshed 11Gbps will go close to $600. If your deal is a used non refreshed for > $400 it's not a good deal at all.

I have no doubt Vega will be able to compete with 1080 or 1080 Ti, otherwise AMD would be the biggest joke in history. The only concerning things are the prices (Rx 580 custom cards go for as high as GTX 1060 6Gb refreshed card) or the availability and the timing. GTX 1080 is already out for a year, beating it is easy but capturing the market segment that already bought it (a lot) is hard.

mrobscura · May 11, 2017

BigBoomBoom :

i wasnt even aware of the refresh. lol. oh, well its irrelevant for performance. anyway, i went ahead and bought the 1080. i got a new non reference 1080 for like 460 bucks. considering decent 1070 are still going for 400+ id say thats worth the 60 bucks.

and the 10 series cards being out a year doesnt mean anything necessarily, vega tapped out a long time ago and amd is simply late to the party, vega should have been out a long time ago. amd is low on funds and engineers. their doom vega footage showed fps on par with a 1080 and the footage was edited and often during light action. we all know how amd likes to cherrypick benchmarks. during their ryzen vs 6900 bf1 showings the player was often looking at the sky. and even if they release a card on par with the 1080 or better the price will reflect that. amd cant afford to undercut prices.

BigBoomBoom · May 11, 2017

I have the 1080 myself, I do think AMD will compete in price so NVIDIA may respond by lowering current cards prices. $460 is quite good for a brand new one.

mrobscura · May 11, 2017

yeah, it was too good to pass up. like i said i was about to pull the trigger on a 1070 for 400, but then i came across this deal.

shrapnel_indie · May 11, 2017

mrobscura :

Yeah, AMD tends to cherry-pick their tests. That's why I wait for independent testing before I jump to conclusions such as "it will be crap" or "it will be a Titan XP killer." Polaris is doing quite well competing against the GTX-1060 6GB (the real GTX-1060) and weaker cards, right where it was targeted. Vega isn't out yet. Independent testing and reviews, if they're even ready, are under NDA (gag order) until release. It's just too soon to jump to conclusions.

Yeah, they cherry picked Ryzen, and in reality the R7 series doesn't beat i7 in gaming, just things that love to use a ton of threads. In reality, Ryzen isn't that far behind current Kaby-Lake i7s and took on Broadwell-E i7s (which showed they were behind Kaby-Lake i7s too.) It's considerably better than the margin the FX series CPUs had with Haswell.

That said, you pulled the trigger, and you got what is a really good deal on that GTX-1080 at present prices. Congratz.

GTX 1080 or wait for vega?

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