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Advice on upgrading my 670 sli GPU's

ash08

ash08

ash08

Associate
Joined
22 May 2012
Posts
17
Location
Brixton
Hi Everyone,

Long time lurker here, member since 2008 (under a different account) with only one previous post.

I'm moving house soon and may have enough pennies left over to upgrade my GPU's and possibly monitor (I'll have to run this one by my wife...). They have served me well, never missed a beat, but I know they will start struggling soon. I have the 2gb cards.

Anyway, I was thinking about a 970 set up in sli. I game on the ASUS VG278H. I'll definitely upgrade to the ASUS 1440 144hz monitor or the ACER 1440 144hz IPS at some point soon in the near future.

Looking at benchmarks, the 970's perform as expected against the 980's and I can't justify the price difference between the two. I have to buy 2 now as I wont have the money further down the line.

My dilemma is this; I can't upgrade for another month or so and AMD have new cards around the corner, plus their cards do seem to perform well at higher resolutions. I know it's all conjuncture at this point but should I wait until these cards are released? I'm always wary of buying the first wave of new architecture. In your experience, are there likely to be issues when they ship (drivers/working with older CPU's etc...)? I'm not a fan-boy of either company and don't want to start a fight here :)

Also, advice on my PSU and CPU would be helpful. I'm sure they will be fine with 970's but would they need replacing if I waited for AMD's offerings?

Cheers in advance

Ash

Monitor: VG278H
CPU: 2500k @4.5
MOBO: ASUS P8Z77-V
RAM: 8GB DDR3
PSU: Aerocool GT 700w (bronze)
KB: Corsair K90
Mouse: Corsair M90
 
I reckon the 970s be your best bet and will perform well at that res
Your PSU will be fine m8.
Never owned an AMD card so can't make a call on them, but heard rumblings round the forums their slow on driver updates and lack crossfire profiles for some games
 
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Smart money goes on two 290s atm. If you're opposed to AMD then I guess two 970s will suffice.

As for the new cards? Totally different price league. You'll be looking at £900 or so, not £450 or £500 for a pair.
 
I do not recommend the 970 that's for sure

either go single card solution(290x) or wait to see what AMD bring out in the next few months
 
Have a feeling the 980 will drop in price too when new high end cards are released in the £450+ price from both companies so that's something to keep an eye on. Will be at least 2-3 months before AMD release their new big card though.
 
Thanks for all of the replies...Still not 100% sure (as is always the way!) but waiting for the 980's to drop wasn't something I thought of, might be the way to go.

I have no problem going with AMD but can't wait 3 months!

Cheers again
 
A single 970 would be an upgrade to 670 sli - would probably suit you until a more long-term solution is available or you could go sli int he future with another 970
 
Stick with the 670s until new cards come and then make your choice.

ash08 said:
They have served me well, never missed a beat, but I know they will start struggling soon.
Click to expand...

By saying that above you're admitting that at the moment, you're not struggling in the games you're playing. With the new cards coming soon, do you think you'll run into problems before these cards are released?. If so, then make your suggestion when gaming becomes a problem as the longer you can wait (3 months max hopefully), the better it is in choice for your upgrade.

The waiting game is a battle of will against impulse that many fall prey to. So on that note, good luck :p.
 
I made the switch from sli 670's to a single 780. The 970 isn't that much more powerful than a 780. I gained 1gb of ram but max fps dropped a fair bit. Minimum and average were pretty similair. Eventually ended up sticking in another 780.
 
Again, Thanks for all of your input. I wasn't sure if a 970 would be that noticeable different in-game, although I've seen the benchmarks.

The cards are not really struggling with the games I'm playing but I'm barely playing at the mo due to working away from home. There are a couple of games coming up that i, realistically, will need extra power for if I want all the bells and whistles. Also, 2gb will likely not cut it.

So, I've decided to either wait for the new cards if I don't upgrade my monitor to 1440p/144hz soon. If I do get impulsive (experience tells me this might be a 2am impulse buy!) I'll buy either 970sli or a single 980 with a view to buying another this year when the prices drop.


Cheers everyone - ash

Mods: this can now be closed
 
whyscotty said:
But but but - shiny :D
Click to expand...

hahaha - It seems we all fight the inner Gollum/magpie :(.

ash08 said:
Again, Thanks for all of your input. I wasn't sure if a 970 would be that noticeable different in-game, although I've seen the benchmarks.

The cards are not really struggling with the games I'm playing but I'm barely playing at the mo due to working away from home. There are a couple of games coming up that i, realistically, will need extra power for if I want all the bells and whistles. Also, 2gb will likely not cut it.

So, I've decided to either wait for the new cards if I don't upgrade my monitor to 1440p/144hz soon. If I do get impulsive (experience tells me this might be a 2am impulse buy!) I'll buy either 970sli or a single 980 with a view to buying another this year when the prices drop.


Cheers everyone - ash

Mods: this can now be closed
Click to expand...

If you do upgrade before the release, good luck and I hope you have no regrets. No games are struggling and you're hardly playing atm is screaming for you to wait but it's your money. As long as you're content, that's all that matters.
 
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