Preparing for the future... GTX 770 4GB (1 now, SLI potential in future) vs. GTX 780 (1 now, SLI potential) (vs 760's in SLI)

Best GPU setup for the money, and keeping the future in mind:

  • MSI TF/ or Gigabyte Windforce 4GB GTX 770 OC (1 card now, SLI In the future)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Asus DirectCUII OC GTX 780 Now, (1 card now, SLI in the future)

    Votes: 1 100.0%

  • Total voters
    1

effa114

Honorable
Sep 19, 2013
7
0
10,510
Hey everyone,

I know similar questions have been addressed, but I just wanted to ask from my specific perspective, and also based around the state of the market at the moment.

I've just purchased all the components for my build except for my GPU. This is my build: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/2esjF

I'm now deciding on GPU(s). My plan up until now had been to go for a single ASUS DirectCU II GTX 780, available for ~$530 Canadian Dollars, but now I'm starting to consider other possibilities too.

This is at the edge of my budget, so I really don't think I can stretch beyond this.

To reiterate what is in the build, I'm currently gaming on a single 1080p monitor. I don't intend on going dual monitor at this point, but I could definitely see jumping to 1440p in the future, so I want to give myself that flexibility.

Now I've looked into possibly going with two GTX 760's in SLI, but I think the benefits over a reference 780 (let alone an over clocked model as I'm planning) are slight, given that with the new NVIDIA price drops, twin 760's are more expensive than the ASUS 780.

Even 2x 2GB 760's would be more expensive, let alone 2x 4GB 760's. I personally have faith that SLI is stable enough to not be an issue, so I would have no issues doing it, but I don't think I'd want to pay a extra for the 760's over the 780 OC, given that there isn't really a further upgrade path, and for the heat/noise of running two cards for essentially the same performance.

So that leaves the 770 vs. 780 debate. Given that at present I'm gaming on a single 1080p monitor, should I just get a 4GB 770 and SLI down the road? I know that 2 x GTX 770's would kick some serious ass, but then again, 2 x 780's in SLI would arguably be even better.

TL;DR:
I guess my ultimate question is this then. Is the GTX 780 worth $130 CAD over the 4GB GTX 770?



  • -I could get either an MSI TwinFrozr 4GB GTX 770 or a Gigabyte OC Windforce 4GB GTX 770 for $409.99 CAD Right now.
    -Or I could get the ASUS DirectCUII OC GTX 780 for $539.99

I intend to pick up a second one down the road to run in SLI, either way.

Thanks for reading and I appreciate the advice.

P.S. FWIW I'm going NVIDIA because I'm building this system as a Hackintosh, and there are still some issues with the new Radeon cards on OSX 10.9. I'm looking for ease of compatibility, so I'm sticking Green team.

Cheers,
Ben
 

BeaverTail

Honorable
Jan 7, 2014
19
0
10,520

II had a similiar debate, between the gtx 770 4 gb and the gtx 780. I havent ordered anything yet but ive decided to go with the 780, even though the price to performance ratio declines from 760>----770>----780. The 780 will last me the longest, so im willing to pay double for a card thats %60 more powerful than the 760, which is what i originally wanted. gotta up the psu too to 750w just to be safe. but its all in the name of balance and "future proofing" or cost efficiency. Here's my part list if you're interested.http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2ERK2 Downside: I can't afford this build yet xD. But im willing to wait. Maybe my dad has some manual labor he'd pay me for...the money i have so far is saved up from my summer job. Anyway- have fun with whichever setup you chose, or are choosing.(the choosing is so fun! hopefully the building process will become just as intuitive) Your post has further invigorated me. Peace.

-Tom P.

By the way, my first choices were a fx-6300 and a r9 270. Those would make a great budget combo, BUT I WANT MOAR POWER. :bounce::pt1cable::love:

Oops, didnt see you already bought everything. Cheers!