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New nvidia choice

Associate
Joined
20 Oct 2011
Posts
160
Hi Everyone,

Have been running a 680sli set up for the last few yrs but one has just died so its time to get an upgrade:D

What is the best bang for buck at the moment I don't mind going sli again but a single card would be nice.

thanks

craig
 
Although I have the 980, I think I'd be leaning more towards 970 SLI now the prices have changed.

For SLI I believe the general recommendation is to go for the blower type coolers that exhaust air from the case. This won't matter so much if your case is exceptionally well ventilated, but something to bear in mind.
 
What brand is your faulty GTX680?

The GTX680 was launched on 22nd March 2012, so if the brand which you bought offer 3 years or more warranty, you'd still be under warranty and RMA your faulty 680.
 
I would wait it out not long now before the new Nvidia Fatmax hits the shops.

Likely we'll hear from AMD first than Nvidia with their big and expensive Maxwell core.

HBM on Fiji sounds tempting but limited to 4GB when this is the limit for 1080p unless GCN 1.3 offers some amazing compression.

There are a lot of people happy with a 980 and offers hardware DX12 support to prolong your purchase, only downside is not getting much change from £500 unless you find cheaper and ask Gibbo to pricematch.
 
EVGA or G1 980, so far in testing it's turning out to be one of the best cards I've ever owned.. No issues and overclocks to incredible levels!
 
I made a similar upgrade in the last few months, so let me explain my thought process.

What is the average percentage performance difference between a stock 980 and 970 at resolutions of 1440p and higher? And what is the average price difference?

Lets take a recent review: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/GeForce_GTX_980_G1_Gaming/27.html

Going by the review here (and ensuring you compare the stock speeds, not the card actually being reviewed), the performance difference is 10%, but the price difference is like 50-60% higher.

At this point I would be inclined to step back, get the best performance per dollar, and wait for the inevitable big bad boys on their way from AMD and Nvidia. And yes, I say that even in hindsight regarding the whole GTX 970 fiasco with 4 GB.

EDIT: Just saying, because of your "What is the best bang for buck at the moment" request :D Of course, that logic could be taken even further and we would end up at the R9 290 - but since that is an older card, and AMD to boot, I didn't want to derail down the AMD Vs. Nvidia route (note I was considering swapping to a 290 during this recent mess by Nvidia).
 
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I came from 970 to 980 and the difference that some people quote about being only 10% is probably a best case scenario as I've noticed there are games out there which easily perform above 10% better than a 970.

If it was me and going by my own personal experience I would go for 980 over a 970 every time but if you're on a £500 budget then I'd go for one of the AMD cards every time over a 970 unless you get an excellent deal on it.
295x2 at £499 would be an excellent choice.
 
If it's Nvidia and brand new it's got to be the 980.

Recently moved back to a 980 in main PC and it has been flawless, my fav games at highest setting / 1440P.
 
Is your GTX680 still under warranty?? It might be worth RMAing first.

Plus the AMD refresh should be released in the next month or so and I suspect Nvidia will probably release its next card too. Hopefully at least the new AMD releases will push the price of the GTX980 down a bit.
 
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