Help, what GPU should I chose ? worth the upgrade ? GTX 960 2GB vs GTX 960 4GB

[Crocosbaur]

Hello everybody, I have some questions and I hope some of you will be able to enlightened me.
I want to upgrade my GPU but I'm on a strict budget.
I was thinking to buy GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 960 OC WindForce 2X 4GB DDR5 128-bit .
But I don't know if I should go with the 4 gb VRAM version or the 2 gb VRAM version .( GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 960 G1 GAMING 2GB DDR5 128-bit ).
I play all my games at 1920*1080 resolution .
Another thing I would want to know if the GPU will be bottlenecked by my current CPU; so in other words I want to know if the upgrade will really make a difference and if it's worth it.
Or should I upgrade my CPU and leave the GPU that I already have?
My budged is only 210 £ unfortunately .

My current configuration:
CPU: AMD FX 4170 4.30 GHZ
GPU: Nvidia Asus GTX 570 Asus Direct CU II
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-D3
RAM: 8 GB
Hard Disk: 1 TB Western Digital Caviar Black
SSD: Crucial MX100 256GB

Thanks.

 

[bennyd87708]

Hello everybody, I have some questions and I hope some of you will be able to enlightened me.
I want to upgrade my GPU but I'm on a strict budget.
I was thinking to buy GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 960 OC WindForce 2X 4GB DDR5 128-bit .
But I don't know if I should go with the 4 gb VRAM version or the 2 gb VRAM version .( GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 960 G1 GAMING 2GB DDR5 128-bit ).
I play all my games at 1920*1080 resolution .
Another thing I would want to know if the GPU will be bottlenecked by my current CPU; so in other words I want to know if the upgrade will really make a difference and if it's worth it.
Or should I upgrade my CPU and leave the GPU that I already have?
My budged is only 210 £ unfortunately .

My current configuration:
CPU: AMD FX 4170 4.30 GHZ
GPU: Nvidia Asus GTX 570 Asus Direct CU II
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-D3
RAM: 8 GB
Hard Disk: 1 TB Western Digital Caviar Black
SSD: Crucial MX100 256GB

Thanks.

I you are playing at 1080p, I would highly recommend the 2gb version from my own experience. The 960 is definitely worth the upgrade as it has about 50% better performance in G3D Mark Rating. The CPU should not bottleneck the GPU at all, even if you overclock the graphics card, but if you really want to be safe, you can buy an aftermarket cooler and overclock the CPU. Hope this helped!

 

[Crocosbaur]

I have a Thermaltake NiC C4 CPU AIR COOLER but I'm not so good at overclocking.
I changed the stock Integrated Dual 120mm VR fans ( extremely noisy at 1800 rpm ) with Enermax Twister Pressure 12 because they provide a better air flow and are way less noisy even at 1800 rpm.
So should I go with the 2 GB VRAM version ?

 

[bennyd87708]

I have a Thermaltake NiC C4 CPU AIR COOLER but I'm not so good at overclocking.
I changed the stock Integrated Dual 120mm VR fans ( extremely noisy at 1800 rpm ) with Enermax Twister Pressure 12 because they provide a better air flow and are way less noisy even at 1800 rpm.
So should I go with the 2 GB VRAM version ?

For 1080p gaming? Definitely.

 

[Crocosbaur]

I have a Thermaltake NiC C4 CPU AIR COOLER but I'm not so good at overclocking.
I changed the stock Integrated Dual 120mm VR fans ( extremely noisy at 1800 rpm ) with Enermax Twister Pressure 12 because they provide a better air flow and are way less noisy even at 1800 rpm.
So should I go with the 2 GB VRAM version ?

For 1080p gaming? Definitely.

OK, also someone told me to consider a r9 290 but I don't know... what do you say?

 

[bennyd87708]

I have a Thermaltake NiC C4 CPU AIR COOLER but I'm not so good at overclocking.
I changed the stock Integrated Dual 120mm VR fans ( extremely noisy at 1800 rpm ) with Enermax Twister Pressure 12 because they provide a better air flow and are way less noisy even at 1800 rpm.
So should I go with the 2 GB VRAM version ?

For 1080p gaming? Definitely.

OK, also someone told me to consider a r9 290 but I don't know... what do you say?

The R9 290 will have slightly improved performance over the 960, about 8% (G3D Mark Rating), but costs 25% more. Your call.

 

[bodmatt]

The 290 also uses significantly more power.

 

[Crocosbaur]

Neah, It's a no go for the r9 290, if I had the money for 290 I would chose GTX 970 instead, they are close on the price range. I took a look here http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1888-evga-supersc-4gb-960-benchmark-vs-2gb/ and I still can't decide ) . I mean there is no real difference between the 4GB and 2GB version of the GTX 960 regarding the average fps in the majority of the games that are played at 1080p ( only in AC unity there is a big difference, but the game is awfully optimized )....but you can see that in some cases the FPS are not so stable on the 2GB version and it may result in some short and sudden fps drops/jarring when the game wants to suck more than 2GB. So on the long run I still don't know what to chose...there is a 55$ difference between the 4GB and 2GB. I keep thinking that maybe games like Fallout 4, DOOM, Division, Mass Effect Andromeda, The Witcher 3 and Skyrim with mods may be played better on the 4GB version and the game will utilize the VRAM and put it to some good use and make a difference regardin FPS. But in the end I think that it all comes down on how well the games are optimized. Some games, even if they utilize 2GB or 3,4 GB of VRAM you still won't feel the difference.

 

[Crocosbaur]

So, in order to be safe I may chose the 4GB version, but then again there is controversial talk all over the internet that 4gb on a GTX 960 is not worth it, as the GPU will max on it's power before you will be able to fully use 4gb.

 

[Crocosbaur]

Till now I'm 75% decided to buy the GTX 960 with 2GB VRAM but witch one of these 3 would you chose and why?
1. GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 960 G1 GAMING 2GB DDR5 128-bit = 256 $
2. ASUS GeForce GTX 960 STRIX DirectCU OC 2GB DDR5 128-bit = 260 $
3. GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 960 OC WindForce 2X 2GB DDR5 128-bit = 274 $

The GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 960 G1 GAMING 4GB DDR5 128-bit = 325 $

 

[PrinceRayman]

Witcher 3 consumes nearly 2gb on my machine on high + ultra settings. Other games I have tested like FC4 and Mortal Kombat X are the same. At some point even more. If the price difference isn't much of a big deal for you, then I would go for the 4gb version

 

[bodmatt]

Till now I'm 75% decided to buy the GTX 960 with 2GB VRAM but witch one of these 3 would you chose and why?
1. GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 960 G1 GAMING 2GB DDR5 128-bit = 256 $
2. ASUS GeForce GTX 960 STRIX DirectCU OC 2GB DDR5 128-bit = 260 $
3. GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 960 OC WindForce 2X 2GB DDR5 128-bit = 274 $

The GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 960 G1 GAMING 4GB DDR5 128-bit = 325 $

Tom's did an article on these. I'd go for the ASUS or the EVGA SSC (super-superclocked)

 

[Crocosbaur]

Thanks everyone for the replies, I've decided to go with EVGA GeForce GTX 960 SuperSC ACX 2.0+ 2GB DDR5 128-bit .

 

[Usman Sajid]

using asus one, 2gb . first with gtx 750 ti i would play 900p high, but now all games mostly 1080p high settings 60fps.

also gtx 960 has delta color cmpression so if a game uses 2400mb it will work on 2gb of gtx 960

 

[bennyd87708]

Make sure to select a best answer so someone gets credit for helping you I hope that we all helped you in some sort of way, and wish you luck with your upgrade!

 

[Crocosbaur]

Make sure to select a best answer so someone gets credit for helping you I hope that we all helped you in some sort of way, and wish you luck with your upgrade!

erm, stupid question, how do I select best answer ? )

 

[bennyd87708]

Make sure to select a best answer so someone gets credit for helping you I hope that we all helped you in some sort of way, and wish you luck with your upgrade!

erm, stupid question, how do I select best answer ? )

My bad, I failed to realize that you started a discussion rather than asking a question on the forums. Either way, I hope it goes well for you!

 

[Crocosbaur]

oh, ok, thanks again.