Hey everyone, got a bit of a dilemma at the moment. First and foremost I will list my current PC specs:
Mobo - MSI X370 XPower Titanium (Got on a GREAT deal from Amazon, since I know its notoriously overpriced!)
CPU - AMD Ryzen 7 1800X (No OC YET)
CPUFan - Noctua DH15
GPU - EVGA GTX 970 FTW+
RAM - Team Delta DDR4 16GB 2400mhz (Might be 2166 or whatever the next step down is)
Storage - Samsung 850 EVO 500gb SSD + WDBlue 1TB
PSU - 550w EVGA Bronze+
SO. I have just ordered a 1080p 144hz Monitor since I am an avid Counter Strike player and have been stuck with a really terrible ancient 60hz Samsung for a very long time now. However as an avid MMO player also, I am feeling my 970 won't stand up any longer with the new monitor. I have been searching and searching for my best "bang for buck", and have unfortunately ran out of any idea of what I am/should/will do!
Currently I am looking around the used market since GPU prices are so high, and it seems I can get a used 1070 for £300, 1070Ti for £360 - £390 or a 1080 for £400 - £430. Some of these prices include Refurbished and/or just basic box damage or demo units etc, so the deal sweetens. I have 4 options that I can tell:
1. Wait for next gen Nvidia. I am a very impatient person, and while I am not necessarily hitting any ceilings, I do have the very bad itch to upgrade since it has been 2-3 years since I last upgraded my GPU. I have also read that the performance increase from 16nm to 12nm is not as wondrous as Maxwell to Pascal, which leads me to believe the "bang for buck" on release day will not be as amazing as a potential second hand 1070/1080, and with the whole market being in a horrendous state for so long, I dont believe that this will get any better with new releases. I would love if someone could convince me otherwise.
2. Get a RX580. My new monitor is actually a FreeSync Monitor, so this could work out a bit better and probably cheaper but I am not a big fan on AMD graphics. I would also most likely have to get a new PSU to support such a card, which I am fine with since I have a non modular PSU which makes case and cable management a total nightmare. Just means more money. I have more then enough case cooling to negate the bump in heat from AMD cards.
3. Get a 1070. Seems like this might fall out of usefullness quickly compared to how much of a stretch there is between 1070 and 1080, however they are considerably cheaper - could even get one for sub £300. I could probably push to a PSU upgrade with one of these too to help with my abysmal cable management from using a non modular PSU.
4. Get a 1070Ti/1080. I would probably lean towards a 1080 for future proof, but there are some nice deals on 1070Ti that pop up from what I have seen. There are currently some really nice "almost new" 1080's for sale for around £400. Bit of a stretch budget wise, but seems a lot more future proof.
Anyway sorry for posting, as I know there are an abundance of these sort of threads, but I really am stuck with no one to bounce ideas off of.
I think I know that I should ultimately wait, but with computer parts, it seems to always be a waiting cycle of "something better is around the corner". At the moment there is nothing set in stone for next gen Nvidia, and as I said, the improvements seem quite irrelevant, especially if I am an MMO/Esports type of person.
I forgot to say that I also record/encode/produce YouTube videos and stream, so I believe a bump up in Vram can quite significantly improve what I can record at/encode too (At least when using GPU encoding right?) in which case waiting for the higher rated and supposedly higher capacity next gen would prove very beneficial.
On a very final note, I am not currently gaining income because of illness, so the chance of me having the money to spend that I have now when the next gen comes out is in the air. I could be working again or I could not be. But if it is ultimately worthwhile to wait then all I can do is try!
Thanks for taking the time to read and help me out anyone who does so. It is very much appreciated!
Mobo - MSI X370 XPower Titanium (Got on a GREAT deal from Amazon, since I know its notoriously overpriced!)
CPU - AMD Ryzen 7 1800X (No OC YET)
CPUFan - Noctua DH15
GPU - EVGA GTX 970 FTW+
RAM - Team Delta DDR4 16GB 2400mhz (Might be 2166 or whatever the next step down is)
Storage - Samsung 850 EVO 500gb SSD + WDBlue 1TB
PSU - 550w EVGA Bronze+
SO. I have just ordered a 1080p 144hz Monitor since I am an avid Counter Strike player and have been stuck with a really terrible ancient 60hz Samsung for a very long time now. However as an avid MMO player also, I am feeling my 970 won't stand up any longer with the new monitor. I have been searching and searching for my best "bang for buck", and have unfortunately ran out of any idea of what I am/should/will do!
Currently I am looking around the used market since GPU prices are so high, and it seems I can get a used 1070 for £300, 1070Ti for £360 - £390 or a 1080 for £400 - £430. Some of these prices include Refurbished and/or just basic box damage or demo units etc, so the deal sweetens. I have 4 options that I can tell:
1. Wait for next gen Nvidia. I am a very impatient person, and while I am not necessarily hitting any ceilings, I do have the very bad itch to upgrade since it has been 2-3 years since I last upgraded my GPU. I have also read that the performance increase from 16nm to 12nm is not as wondrous as Maxwell to Pascal, which leads me to believe the "bang for buck" on release day will not be as amazing as a potential second hand 1070/1080, and with the whole market being in a horrendous state for so long, I dont believe that this will get any better with new releases. I would love if someone could convince me otherwise.
2. Get a RX580. My new monitor is actually a FreeSync Monitor, so this could work out a bit better and probably cheaper but I am not a big fan on AMD graphics. I would also most likely have to get a new PSU to support such a card, which I am fine with since I have a non modular PSU which makes case and cable management a total nightmare. Just means more money. I have more then enough case cooling to negate the bump in heat from AMD cards.
3. Get a 1070. Seems like this might fall out of usefullness quickly compared to how much of a stretch there is between 1070 and 1080, however they are considerably cheaper - could even get one for sub £300. I could probably push to a PSU upgrade with one of these too to help with my abysmal cable management from using a non modular PSU.
4. Get a 1070Ti/1080. I would probably lean towards a 1080 for future proof, but there are some nice deals on 1070Ti that pop up from what I have seen. There are currently some really nice "almost new" 1080's for sale for around £400. Bit of a stretch budget wise, but seems a lot more future proof.
Anyway sorry for posting, as I know there are an abundance of these sort of threads, but I really am stuck with no one to bounce ideas off of.
I think I know that I should ultimately wait, but with computer parts, it seems to always be a waiting cycle of "something better is around the corner". At the moment there is nothing set in stone for next gen Nvidia, and as I said, the improvements seem quite irrelevant, especially if I am an MMO/Esports type of person.
I forgot to say that I also record/encode/produce YouTube videos and stream, so I believe a bump up in Vram can quite significantly improve what I can record at/encode too (At least when using GPU encoding right?) in which case waiting for the higher rated and supposedly higher capacity next gen would prove very beneficial.
On a very final note, I am not currently gaining income because of illness, so the chance of me having the money to spend that I have now when the next gen comes out is in the air. I could be working again or I could not be. But if it is ultimately worthwhile to wait then all I can do is try!
Thanks for taking the time to read and help me out anyone who does so. It is very much appreciated!