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Nano to 1080 or water cool

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15 Dec 2013
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I'm looking to make a positive upgrade that can allow me to keep my set up fresh and able to make use of the latest games. So I'm thinking of one of the following:
1. Water cool my nano and i5 4690
2. Upgrade the Gpu to a 1080 (thought about a 1070 but it wouldn't be enough of a jump)
3. Purchase a free sync monitor to compliment the setup (currently game at 1440)

I'm not brewstered by any means so it does need to be a meaningful upgrade. I'm playing GTA 5, sky rim modded and Dark Souls.
 
Good questions. :)

Water cool the Nano & CPU and overclock them, then buy a good Freesync monitor if you have money. (of save for the CF791 coming out the next few weeks).

Best way to water cool without much hassle, grab a Predator 360 and an EK pre-filled water block.
Temps will never creep more than 40C, even when the Nano is heavily overclocked at least to the limit of mine which was 1120/550.
Then upgrade the Nano bios with the AMD UEFI one, it gives surprisingly performance boost, while allows an extra few % overclock.

Ofc you can sell the Nano and buy a 1080. Which again is superb card, and having both, is tough choice. It all depends your budget.
If you consider some 1080, I bought the MSI Armor OC and with the stock fan is quiet even at 100% fan speed.
 
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Going with water might look cool on a sig, but in all honesty, the actual fps gain you will get is going to be insignificant compared to getting a much faster GPU.

Would sooner go with the much smoother freesync in your situation than potentially getting a couple fps extra on water. Assuming your Nano is comfortably over 40fps at all times in your games as that's ideal for Freesync.
 
As mentioned Water or Air isn't going to make much of a difference, Go for a 1080 or get a freesync monitor and prepare for Vega in 7 or 8 months time.
 
I'm looking to make a positive upgrade that can allow me to keep my set up fresh and able to make use of the latest games. So I'm thinking of one of the following:
1. Water cool my nano and i5 4690
2. Upgrade the Gpu to a 1080 (thought about a 1070 but it wouldn't be enough of a jump)
3. Purchase a free sync monitor to compliment the setup (currently game at 1440)

I'm not brewstered by any means so it does need to be a meaningful upgrade. I'm playing GTA 5, sky rim modded and Dark Souls.

Freesync screen. I got the iiyama 4k one it the 35 to 60 range and am happy playing games with an avg of 55 fps with drops into the 40s all the time where before lows 50s looked super choppy now even 36 looks smoother than 50.
Biggest performance boist I've had in a while
 
yes, it was the perfect decision for me. However while i do use only an r9 390, you must keep in mind, you need to adjust the screen to be exactly the right pitch and tilt to be face on as it is TN and also i play OLD or low gfx games, my 2 atm are Smite which i avg 78-85fps on almost max at 4k but with dips into 50s and tomb raider as said(2013 one)but only on HIGH with no AA(not needed)
if you want to play AAA titles from the current year on max then 4k will be beyond any amd card with freesync at times.
but i do love my monitor and if you're not fussed about all max/ultra then its a good buy
 
A Freesync 144Hz screen would be a very nice upgrade, although tying your hands somewhat with regards to future GPU upgrades.
 
Does a 4K monitor scale down to 1440? If so then a 4K model would be more suitable in the long term in regards to my next Gpu as capabilities improve in support of it.
 
Does a 4K monitor scale down to 1440? If so then a 4K model would be more suitable in the long term in regards to my next Gpu as capabilities improve in support of it.

not very well, it gets blurry below 4k. 1440 is worse than 1080 as its not a direct downscale.
 
sell the nano and grab a r9 fury x? its already watercooled for you :P

At best they overclock to 1150, while Nano does 1100-1120 under water.
AMDMatt is using a pretty custom BIOS his DUO, doing 1200 core..... but he doesn't share it with the rest of the plebs...... :rolleyes:
 
Watercooling the cpu won't really help as it's not overclockable.

I've just bought a nano and will be watercooling it and the cpu with a predator kit.

I already have a good 4k freesync screen though, which affected my decision a lot.
 
At best they overclock to 1150, while Nano does 1100-1120 under water.
AMDMatt is using a pretty custom BIOS his DUO, doing 1200 core..... but he doesn't share it with the rest of the plebs...... :rolleyes:

im not too clued up on AMD overclocking but isnt the fury X better? are you saying a 1200mhz nano could match a fury x or beat it? let me know as ive been looking into getting a nano as its looks small yet mighty :D
 
Watercooling the cpu won't really help as it's not overclockable.

I've just bought a nano and will be watercooling it and the cpu with a predator kit.

I already have a good 4k freesync screen though, which affected my decision a lot.

The 4690 is the k variant, should've added that in. So far nobody has done a good enough job of selling a 1080 to me, I'm disappointed :p:) The reason I'm thinking of the 1080 is I'm waiting for a tax rebate of £800 quid this week.
 
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