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Upgrade now or wait for Q1 2016?

rwm24

rwm24

rwm24

Associate
Joined
3 Apr 2010
Posts
590
I currently have a 670 4GB and it's starting to show it's age. I'd like to fully appreciate Witcher 3 and new games in glorious 1080p or 1440p 60fps.

Is it worth upgrading now to a 970/980, or should I wait for NVIDIA's Pascal cards, due in Q1 2016 I believe?

If you do suggest upgrading now, what should I buy to get the most bang for my buck? I have a 120hz 24" 1920x1080 and a 60hz 27" 2560x1440 monitor to use. I guess 1440p would look better and 60hz is fine as I probably won't get 120fps or more in most games anyway?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
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Wait pascal. If you cannot wait then get a Radeon 390. Alternatively if it must be an nvidia card due to having g-sync then I would recommend you a 970.

But might as well wait for new tech at this point. Pascal sounds like it will be great :)
 
Pascal is more likely to come Q2 and I quote ShakeNBake on his suggestion.
You can buy a 980 now for 350£ and you can sell it when pascal hits, you'll still make 150-200£ but will have enjoyed the time in between.

Wouldn't buy a new monitor right now as you already have both 120hz and 1440p to enjoy with different games, better to wait until more 34" G-Sync monitors come out, that would be a real upgrade given what you have.
 
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I'd get shot of the 670 asap and grab a 970 and clock the runner beans of it tbh. 970's are excellent value. Amd have the 390 and it has plenty of ram but I'm not keen on their drivers for some bizzare reason and prefer nvidia. Waiting is as always is pointless unless it's like next week for release. Enjoy now.
 
Maybe you should grab a used 290x/970 and overclock? Either should tide you over till something better arrives. I have a 970 myself and at 1505mhz it can still cope very well at 1440p.

I wouldn't buy new at this point in time, regardless of whether you're considering a 970 or a 390.
 
razorpakk said:
Pascal is more likely to come Q2 and I quote ShakeNBake on his suggestion.
You can buy a 980 now for 350£ and you can sell it when pascal hits, you'll still make 150-200£ but will have enjoyed the time in between.

Wouldn't buy a new monitor right now as you already have both 120hz and 1440p to enjoy with different games, better to wait until more 34" G-Sync monitors come out, that would be a real upgrade given what you have.
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Q2 is a long wait. I am tempted by a 980, how long do you think I'll be able to play at 1080p or 1440p with a 980?

Danny75 said:
Second-hand 670 4GB (£75 or so) for SLI, if motherboard/PSU are up to it. That's 970-like performance. And give it another year.
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I've only ever seen second-hand 670 4GB for ~£200, unless I am looking in the wrong places.
 
IF you want a cheap upgrade for a few months then buy one of the 780 Lightnings on sale for £199.

If you want something that's going to last longer then get a 980ti. At 1080p/1440p it should last quite a while.
 
What about 390 or 390x? How do they compare to the 980? Better DX12 support? I'd be keeping the card for 2-3 years. I've heard bad things about AMD drivers.
 
rwm24 said:
What about 390 or 390x? How do they compare to the 980? Better DX12 support? I'd be keeping the card for 2-3 years. I've heard bad things about AMD drivers.
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Very little wrong with AMDs drivers right now. Wasn't it Nvidia having a large amount of problems with their recent round of drivers?
 
rwm24 said:
What about 390 or 390x? How do they compare to the 980? Better DX12 support? I'd be keeping the card for 2-3 years. I've heard bad things about AMD drivers.
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If rumour is correct then the 390 and 390x are quite far ahead of the 980 in DX12 benchmarks. Don't take any of that as gospel though, it's only rumour.

AMD drivers are absolutely solid until you add a second GPU from my experience. On a single card they are pretty much flawless.
 
if you're considering a 980 i'd go with amd (390/390x) instead as mentioned above. Otherwise either save money and go with a 970 for the time being or go 980ti.

fyi there's a kfa 980ti showing for £479.99 on the oc shop right now
 
spulse said:
if you're considering a 980 i'd go with amd (390/390x) instead as mentioned above. Otherwise either save money and go with a 970 for the time being or go 980ti.

fyi there's a kfa 980ti showing for £479.99 on the oc shop right now
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Hmmm. That looks decent. Do you get both of those games included or is it a case of having to pick one.
 
rwm24 said:
What about 390 or 390x? How do they compare to the 980? Better DX12 support? I'd be keeping the card for 2-3 years. I've heard bad things about AMD drivers.
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with AMD drivers for single GPU cards, if anything they have less issues than nvidia recently. It is when you want two gpu's in crossfire where AMD get the bad rep from which is partially deserved from my recent experience going crossfire.

In your situation I would definitely go with a Radeon 390 as the extra RAM may potentially come in handy as you intend to keep it for 2-3 years. It will definitely come in handy if you get a higher resolution monitor. Also it looks like it performs better than a 980 in dx12, but we won't know for sure until more dx12 stuff come out.

This Powercolor Radeon R9 390 8192MB looks like a bargain at £230 if you ask me.
 
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