GTX 980/970 SLI and 4k Monitors, which models are best?

[Japes]

Hey all, I'm on a ~$2k USD budget (a little more cuz im abroad in Japan) to beef up my computer from my 4770 non K and my gtx 760 4gb. I used to run surround 1080p, but japan is small so I'm going to go 4k. I want to future proof as much as possible, and I would like feedback on what I'm thinking.

Monitor: Asus PB287Q (i think if i wanna do 4k surround [12k] in the future this will be cheap and still good)

Option 1: 2x strix (or other) gtx 980 SLI
option 2: 2x Strix (or other) gtx 970 + 4790k overclocked cpu.

What I really wanna know is what model video cards really are fast.

will either of these setups last? If i get the 980's, I can upgrade later to a better processor (MB is asus maximus hero VI) and liquid cool, but for now the wife *cracks whip* has given me a budget.

oh, as a side note/wishlist item, I'm running 16gb 1600 patriot RAM, if there are better chips that would provide a *worthwhile* upgrade, please let me know. THANKS!!! ^-^

 

[FunkyFeatures]

So first off, two 980s are of course going to give you better performance over two 970s.
I would say, a 4770 is good enough for pretty much any game, so upgrading the cpu would not do too much. (at least not before directx12 afaik)

Pick up two 980's, but don't expect to go 12k gaming if you get 4GB vram on them(which are the only versions that exist so far). One thing is that they won't be able to run at such a high resolution, but another thing is that you are going to run out of VRAM instantly.

Single 4k monitor or triple 1440p monitors will do fine with 4GB - so if you want triple monitor, 1440p is about as high as it goes if you also look at VRAM.

So a quick conslusion - the expense of upgrading to a cpu that is only a tiny bit better than what you have now, is not worth it at all. But the 980s compared to the 970's are.

And a quick addon - 12k is not yet realistic with the amount of vram we have, and definitely not with the amount of performance we have.

 

[Japes]

Great answer, thanks @funkyfeatures. I was thinking the same, the cpu can be wishlisted for later. I did kinda want it for video rendering but i agree the upgrade is marginal.

Is there anything *major* I can do to upgrade at this point besides the videocards? I'm looking for big bang for buck things. Perhaps the RAM, I'm not sure. All I know is now is my chance as I dont et to sink money into my rig often.

Current specs:
i7 4770 non k
maximus hero vi MB
128GB SSD
16gb 1600mhz Patriot RAM
Gtx 760 4gb (replacing with 980 2xSLI)

Also, *BIG QUESTION* 4k vs 1440P, if I go 1440p will it still look epic vs 1080 and give me the option to just buy monitors in the future for surround without needing new graphics cards?

 

[FunkyFeatures]

Is there anything *major* I can do to upgrade at this point besides the videocards? I'm looking for big bang for buck things. Perhaps the RAM, I'm not sure. All I know is now is my chance as I dont et to sink money into my rig often.

It is nice to have 16gb of ram, which you already have. In the future, faster ram may be better for gaming, but for now, the ram is fine. If you had to upgrade ANYTHING it would either be storage or the cpu to a K version. I know you might want more gigahertz, but really are you willing to pay for - new motherboard AND new cpu? that could easily add up to quite a bit if you want quality motherboard.
I see you posted that you only had 128gb ssd, nothing else? no hardrive, no more storage? are you doing games on the network, or did you forget to mention other storage you have? - if you don't have any storage other than the ssd, another ssd or another harddrive might be a good upgrade for a wishlist too.

Also, *BIG QUESTION* 4k vs 1440P, if I go 1440p will it still look epic vs 1080 and give me the option to just buy monitors in the future for surround without needing new graphics cards?

1440p will of course be better than 1080p, but I cannot speak from personal experience, only from others who report their experiences. I run 1080p, and i will admit, higher resolution would not hurt even on 24".

And the same goes for 4k vs 1440p. 4k is of course sharper than 1440p, but if you really need that surround gaming, 1440p would be better.

Its a tradeoff, because we are nowhere close to 12k gaming.
Single 4k, or triple 1440p. Also dealing with scaling is a thing - 1440p is more "windows-ready" out of the box, where with 4k, you might have to tweak it.

Something you might consider too for a monitor, is a 21:9 aspect monitor. LG makes them
link: http://www.lg.com/uk/monitors/lg-34UM95
and apparently they are great, but with higher response time than TN.

Alrighty, quick conclusion:
I would go triple 1440p because i do work with a lot of monitors(especially with school stuff), but it's more a personal preference.

Anything to upgrade? Not really.

 

[Japes]

Thanks for the reply as well. First, yes, i have media drives (2x2tb 7200), but i dont run games off them (except diablo 3 and star craft because they seen minimal benefit).

My motherboard is pretty sweet actually for a z87, its an RoG and i find anything with that tag is great, though im sure thats just me. It would handle the 4790k no problem, which would give me .5ghz and the ability to overclock past that. It could be a viable upgrade.

As far as monitors go, I really do hope to go surround again in the future, i had it back home in canada with 1080p VE278Q monitors, and it was amazing. However, moving to japan meant i could only take one, and for the moment, 3 1440p monitors are out of my budget. If i go 4k, I can keep the 1 27" 1080p i brought with me for my second screen, and go 4k for gaming. And hope that the future brings more power for surround I guess. even if I could do urround 1440p, it would be hard to find the space for it here. It is near impossible to find a desk they will fit on, and stands run 400$+ to float them.

So, i think, the decision is:

2x gtx 980 (im still wanting to know if strix is good, or maybe msi gaming? (1/4?))
4790k (in the future)
4k PB287Q monitor.

I'd love some feedback on specific models of gtx 980

thanks again.

 

[FunkyFeatures]

Specific models

MSI Twinfrozr V:
It has 0db tech in it, and it can turn its fans off completely(thats the tech). Overall, i have only heard great things about all of MSI's Twinfrozr series, but nothing special yet about the 5/V version.

Asus Strix
All right, i was pretty excited about Strix for the 700 series, so i might be overhyping it. It is basically a DirectCU2 cooler, with 0db/fan off technology like the msi one. I have always been a fan of Asus cards, and they generally perform well with the coolers. You would not regret going with strix.

Gigabyte G1 Gaming
This is it for me. I am personally getting a 970 soon, upgrading from laptop to desktop. The G1 gaming has some GPU gauntlet thing which lets you overclock it better, but if prices don't drop on this version soon, i will probably not get it. It does NOT have 0db techonology, a bit disappointing, as the fan is constantly around 35%.
It has a very nice backplate, which i believe the strix one also has.

Conclusion
Get whatever card you think is nice, the three i mentioned are very nice, all of them have ups and downs, just not the same ups and downs.
You were planning on getting the strix it looks like, go for it. It is very cool indeed, and you should be having low temperatures with the efficient maxwell cards.

 

[ralavoie]

I just purchased a Samsung 40" 4k TV this past weekend along with 2 evga gtx970 sc video cards. I use a high speed hdmi cable and get 4k @ 60fps in all the games I have tried with maxed settings. Both the cards and the tv support hdmi 2.0.

Shadow of Modor looks sick in 4k.

I can't wait to see the new Assassin's Creed, Far Cry 4, and Dragon Age: Inquisition.

 

[Borge80]

Just throwing in 2 cents..have sli msi gtx 970's myself and the msi models are nice. Great overclockers too got em sli'd at 1541mhz or single 1546mhz.

 

[carlosriosness]

I just purchased a Samsung 40" 4k TV this past weekend along with 2 evga gtx970 sc video cards. I use a high speed hdmi cable and get 4k @ 60fps in all the games I have tried with maxed settings. Both the cards and the tv support hdmi 2.0.

Shadow of Modor looks sick in 4k.

I can't wait to see the new Assassin's Creed, Far Cry 4, and Dragon Age: Inquisition.

what kinda of FPS are you getting with Far Cry 4 @ 4k with maxed settings? my 660sli setup struggles with FC4 at 1080p (with very high settings, but not maxed), but i am considering a 970 sli setup since i bought my vizio p652ui-b2 tv.

i figure i will wait until GTA V is released to make my purchases in case there are any sales, or 8gb versions of the 970 come out.