Upgrade to GTX 670 SLI for $70 or wait for GTX 780?

[unknownxxvii]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: January 17

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming on Maxed settings especially GTA V (if it comes out for PC)

CURRENT GPU: Gigabyte GTX 670 Windforce 4GB
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Displayport-PCI-Express-Graphics-GV-N670OC-4GD/dp/B009LTUDA8

SYSTEM:
i7-3770k oc to 4.34ghz
Gigabyte GTX 670 Windforce 4GB OC @ 1267Mhz
Cooler Master922
Hyper 212evo push/pull
OCZ ZS Series 750W 80PLUS Bronze
Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
128GB Crucial M4 SSD

Hey everyone, I have sold my old GTX 560s and a Vidock 4+ and was thinking about purchasing a second GTX 670 for an additional $70 on top of what I sold. Is it worth buying the card now, or should I wait for the GTX 700 series? I know this is a hard question, but only $70 dollars out of pocket to get another card is very tempting.

Also on a side note, I was thinking about purchasing a 2560X1600 30 in monitor to play games on. Is there really a big enough difference from a nice HDTV to satisfy the large price tag? Or should I invest the money in upgrading my 30 in TV to something larger like a 55in? I will most likely be upgrading the monitor/TV in July of this summer. Thanks

 

[techbaddie]

If you get a monitor or TV with that resolution I would try out the 670 you have now and see what it's performance is, with it being 4g or Vram I would imagine it would run pretty smoothly. But if it doesn't perform to your expectation maybe upgrading to the SLI would be a better option. And honestly, 670 SLI will crush the competition for a little bit at least.

Although..... I am waiting for the 700 Series. I have a 470 GTX and it runs all my games just fine (60+ FPS). So, in other words, my motto is, don't upgrade until you REALLY NEED too, especially when the new series will be out in the next 3-4 months.

Upgrading to a 55inch TV and hooking it up to your computer would be cool, but it would be much stress on your video card(s). And you would probably need to use SLI to optimize that set up, not 100% sure on that though.

 

[Bolivious]

For $70, getting another 670 seems like a no brainer to me. I have read several reports of people having issues with SLI, I am not one of those people personally but YMMV. An SLI 670 setup is going to destroy a 780/770 when they come out, you can take that to the bank. The rest of your rig is more than capable of handling the extra card, so if it were me, I would be all over it. That is, if you are going to upgrade to a 2560x1600 monitor.

If you just plan on buying a 55 inch television, stick with the single 670 and put that extra money you got towards a really nice TV imo. With the 55 inch being 1080P, a single 670 will drive it just fine and will work great for another generation or two. It won't put anymore stress on your card to run a 55 inch screen.

Good luck!

 

[Daedalus12]

^ What Bolivious said.

 

[unknownxxvii]

For $70, getting another 670 seems like a no brainer to me. I have read several reports of people having issues with SLI, I am not one of those people personally but YMMV. An SLI 670 setup is going to destroy a 780/770 when they come out, you can take that to the bank. The rest of your rig is more than capable of handling the extra card, so if it were me, I would be all over it. That is, if you are going to upgrade to a 2560x1600 monitor.

If you just plan on buying a 55 inch television, stick with the single 670 and put that extra money you got towards a really nice TV imo. With the 55 inch being 1080P, a single 670 will drive it just fine and will work great for another generation or two. It won't put anymore stress on your card to run a 55 inch screen.

Good luck!

Yeah that is why I am so tempted. Plus GTA IV at max settings maxes my card at 99% usage right now (could be the 680mb car pack as well). It isn't the only game that does either. Far Cry 3 maxed with 4 AA yields about 40 FPS and 99% usage. Those are the only two games that do that right now. I have used SLI with the 560s and I did not notice any issues either. Also, do you have any preference or knowledge on how better games would look at that resolution. I don't believe youtube does anything real justice when it comes to resolutions.

 

[Swordkd]

The size of the screen has no bearing whatsoever on the fps. The resolution does. So a 55in HDTV would have the exact same fps as a 23in pc monitor if they were both running at 1920 x 1080.

I have a 50 inch plasma 1080p tv, and it's right next to my pc. Prices on tv's aren't too bad now, so you could get a decent brand for not a huge amount of money. Don't discount Plasma either. It's not for every setup(i.e. brightly lit room) but it makes a great tv for gaming, sports watching and high action games. I specifically bought a plasma because they all have glass screens. I have 2 small girls running around and didn't want them to touch the lcd screen, so I went plasma. It's harder to find a 1080p plasma though too.

 

[bruce555]

I'd say hold out for the new card. You already have a more than capable card right now for what games current have to offer. Jump on the next gen card right once next gen games are closer to coming out.

I'm hoping for when the new xbox/ps4 is released, there will be some nice new engines pushing the graphic cards to the next level. Kinda like what Unreal said about Kepler being released and it being the only real architecture to run the new Unreal engine, but that could be just PR pushing.

My problem with the SLI rout is it does great performance boost in practically all games, but then you hit one certain game that is bottleneck's so hard that the SLI act's like one card. That only happens after a generation or two has passed but but it is usually an architecture's limitation somewhere (ie: not enough TMU's or whatever it may be). Also you will be stuck with the limitations of the cards architecture when it comes to DX features ect.

But if you do have the cash to hit up the SLI now and maybe skip next gen and grab the one after that, I don't see you running into that problem. It is just my personal preference to wait. The $*itty thing is, is there has been no big information at all about the Kepler Refresh or Maxwell so you may have to wait a while.



EDIT: I also like to add, I enjoy gaming on Big HDTV's as well. Add some AA and it looks great.

 

[blacknemesist]

Never thought I would say this but at that res it would be great to have an AMD card because of the extra bandwidth.

Still,on the matter,70$ is nothing for a 670.Unless you need to spend the money elsewhere(can only think of getting a noctua d14,another SSD or 2 or 3 HDDs) the money is very well spent.
There are issues with SLI on some games but they seem tolerable.

If you are happy with your system then a second 670 is the best upgrade you can make specially if you are planning to go into higher res.
Personnally i'd wait,the 670 is going to be on market for some years and is going to get cheaper.If you don't have the immediate need for another card save the money and buy it latter when you need.Now it is 70$ extra,next month can be 60$ and you can get a great game with it.Lots of great titles coming in march,maybe one can be included on your 670,seems worth the wait to me since you dont seem to need a 670 right now.

 

[unknownxxvii]

It seems that most people have reached a consensus that it is probably a better idea to wait for any news regarding the GTX 780. Still a little worried that GTA 4 and Far Cry 3 push my card beyond its limits though. I was thinking of just buying the second one eventhough it will cost $450, its only $70 out of pocket, but I think I will wait to the middle of February and see if any news pops up on the new series.

As for the monitor, I have no idea how much better 1600p is or if its worth $1000+, so I am probably going to buy a 50-55in 120Hz TV later on in the summer.

 

[ittimjones]

i would SLI. I did w/ my rig and it's still awesome

 

[ittimjones]

where do u sell older PC parts tho?

 

[ibjeepr]

It seems that most people have reached a consensus that it is probably a better idea to wait for any news regarding the GTX 780. Still a little worried that GTA 4 and Far Cry 3 push my card beyond its limits though. I was thinking of just buying the second one eventhough it will cost $450, its only $70 out of pocket, but I think I will wait to the middle of February and see if any news pops up on the new series.

As for the monitor, I have no idea how much better 1600p is or if its worth $1000+, so I am probably going to buy a 50-55in 120Hz TV later on in the summer.

If you have $380 (regardless of how you got it) plus $70 more to add to it, it's still $450 out of pocket, not just the additional $70.
Ask yourself if you want to spend $450 now on a 670 or $450 in 6 mo. (?) on a 7xx.

I would say if buying the 670 now means you'll skip over the next gen of cards then do it. If you intend to by a 7xx when they come out anyway, then don't waste the money. My guess is SLI 670's will outperform whatever the first round of 7xx cards are to come out.

 

[unknownxxvii]

where do u sell older PC parts tho?

I used Amazon.com to sell both of my GTX 560s for $130 a piece. They sold within 3 days of each other and only a week after being posted.

I sold the vidock 4+ through Craigslist.

 

[unknownxxvii]

Thank you everyone for your input, I am going to wait until the end of May and see if the GTX 780 comes out. If not, then I will most likely SLI the 670. I still have no idea what is the big deal with 2560x1600 resolution monitors. I probably will just buy a nice 55in 120Hz TV.

 

[unknownxxvii]

Best answer selected by unknownxxvii.

 

[joshua25ss]

Hello I wanted to shed some light on your issue of the monitor selection. I have been running 25x16 for about a year now and I would have to say there is NO comparrison. The pixel density is so tight and the image is so crisp its really just unreal and your right you cannot experience it without seeing it in person. Thats not the best part though. The reality is that you actually see more "STUFF" on your screen. You will get more field of view than anyone using a 1080 monitor and see more clearly at long distances in game. The best way to experience it without the real thing is to zoom in on different MP images if you know what I mean. Look at an 8MP picture and zoom in as far as you can then look at a 15MP image and zoom in as far as you can. The difference is unmistakeable. Thats the difference with the 25x16. Just more image data on the screen. If your looking for ultimate image quality than you cant beat the higher resolution. Ill answer any questions if you have more.