worth upgrading gtx 680?

[IvanDobskey]

I have a gainward phantom gtx 680 4gb and it still seems to run everything just fine, even at 1440p with max settings. Do people still bother to upgrade their graphics cards? It doesn't seem like game requirements have gone up for a few years now? Mainly play elite dangerous and was wondering if a gtx 970 would make any noticeable improvement.

 

[zola25]

With all due respect I find it hard to believe you can max all settings in any game at 1440p. I couldn't do that even with GTX 980 in games such as Black Flag, Witcher 3, GTA and Wolfenstein to name but a few. I guess it depends on what you deem an acceptable frame rate though, in my case 60 FPS.

It really depends on what you play - I gather Elite is less demanding. If the games you play work well for you, then I'd agree save the money. If not though it's a personal choice as to whether any gain is worth the expenditure.

 

[IvanDobskey]

I have to admit, I haven't played much else other than elite for around a year. Maybe horizons will require a beefier graphics card. I think most games are just console ports these days so the need to upgrade has diminished. I'll hang on to the 680 for now I think.

 

[rtho782]

Even with elite, the only way you can be playing everything at max settings at 1440p is if you are accustomed to 30fps and don't notice it.

Spend 10 mins playing on a modern card at 60fps, or higher, and you won't go back.

 

[IvanDobskey]

I'll have to check my fps, but it certainly doesn't seem like 30fps. Seems fast and smooth even when things are hotting up onscreen. I don't think elite is too demanding even at 1440p ultra.

How much faster is a 970 out of interest? I'm guessing about 40/50% ish.

 

[arc@css]

Yeah, around 50%. Maybe slightly more in some titles.

 

[ElliotHand]

I just upgraded from Sli 670s to a 390 and have been really happy with the result. Performance is fractionally down when benchmarking but actual in game performance has been far better and extra ram is very helpful.

Was a cheap upgrade for me to tide me over until pascal so id say worth doing if you're unhappy with your current performance. But, if you only play Elite and it runs fine then save your cash.

I largely play Dota but upgraded for the occasional fallout and elite sessions.

 

[Amraam]

I just upgraded from Sli 670s to a 390 and have been really happy with the result. Performance is fractionally down when benchmarking but actual in game performance has been far better and extra ram is very helpful.

Was a cheap upgrade for me to tide me over until pascal so id say worth doing if you're unhappy with your current performance. But, if you only play Elite and it runs fine then save your cash.

I largely play Dota but upgraded for the occasional fallout and elite sessions.

Yup, I just upgraded my SLI 670s to a 980Ti and whilst it was a pricey move, the performance gain is very impressive. 6GB VRAM is very nice

 

[snips86x]

With all due respect I find it hard to believe you can max all settings in any game at 1440p. I couldn't do that even with GTX 980 in games such as Black Flag, Witcher 3, GTA and Wolfenstein to name but a few. I guess it depends on what you deem an acceptable frame rate though, in my case 60 FPS.

It really depends on what you play - I gather Elite is less demanding. If the games you play work well for you, then I'd agree save the money. If not though it's a personal choice as to whether any gain is worth the expenditure.

I personally have no issues maxing out games at 1440p with my 980Ti.
- BF3
- Arkham knight
- Borderlands 2
- Company of Heroes 2
- Contagion
- Dying Light

..........just to name a few but yes, it can depend on the game.

 

[IvanDobskey]

I'll review it again once horizons is out, but for now the 680 is good

 

[elrasho]

It's personal preference, if your happy to game at a sub 60 fps then thats perfectly fine. But like rtho782 said, once you play at 60FPS+ you wont wanna go back.

 

[zola25]

I personally have no issues maxing out games at 1440p with my 980Ti.
- BF3
- Arkham knight
- Borderlands 2
- Company of Heroes 2
- Contagion
- Dying Light

..........just to name a few but yes, it can depend on the game.

I've had the same experience since moving from 980 (via SLI) to a single 980Ti. I'm actually amazed at the difference between the two cards given that the model numbers are both 980. Despite a larger gap than 970 > 980 it seems to only rate a Ti suffix, but I think it should have been called a "990".