Best gpu for mass effect andromeda @1080p

[fireisdangerous]

Don't do much gaming these days but mass effect series is my fav game series so I want to run it with all bells and whistles on @1080p.

Currently running an evga 780ti superclocked and a overcoocked i7 4790k and in the latest games I've played (batman,fallout 4) I have not been able to run them with everything turned up and I'm assuming it's the lack of vram.

Now the AMD 480,s with 8gb vram have dropped to around 200 I thought this could be a good option as should be able to get £120 for my 780ti.

So questions are:

Do ea games running frostbite perform better on amd or nvidea
Would a move to a 480 be worth it

Thanks in advance

Tony

 

[Silent_Scone]

980GTX will do you just fine for that resolution.

 

[Panos]

980GTX will do you just fine for that resolution.

eh?

Don't do much gaming these days but mass effect series is my fav game series so I want to run it with all bells and whistles on @1080p.

Currently running an evga 780ti superclocked and a overcoocked i7 4790k and in the latest games I've played (batman,fallout 4) I have not been able to run them with everything turned up and I'm assuming it's the lack of vram.

Now the AMD 480,s with 8gb vram have dropped to around 200 I thought this could be a good option as should be able to get £120 for my 780ti.

So questions are:

Do ea games running frostbite perform better on amd or nvidea
Would a move to a 480 be worth it

Thanks in advance

Tony

Tony you wont get £120 for the 780Ti, because is slower than the RX470, and without DX12 support, £120 is the top price bracket for the 970 by the way.

But if you can manage to sell it, good one

The RX480 will serve you well at 1080p. Pair it later on with a nice Freesync monitor and don't look back.

 

[Poneros]

Depends on the game, actually, though initially AMD did better than Nvidia on it - but it started varying as more games used it. I'd still say it leans more towards AMD than Nvidia though.

Go for the XFX 480 imo, don't just go ref.

 

[Brazo]

Personally the 480 isn't an upgrade from a 780ti, whilst benchmarks don't always take into account overclocking the 780ti can be the faster card http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-780-Ti-vs-AMD-RX-480/2165vs3634

Your basically relying on improved driver support for more modern games which is there and will give the 480 an advantage but it's a slight upgrade.

Don't believe the dx12 crowd. DX12 is an utter irrelevance given there are only 3 dx12 only games and no more in the making (that have been announced)

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The VRAM is a major problem and I would ditch the GTX780TI while it has some value,and look at the available RX480 and GTX1060 offers.

Mass Effect:Andromeda is using the Frostbite engine. The latest Mirrors Edge game was Nvidia sponsored and it does relatively worse on a GTX780TI in comparison to the newer cards:

http://gamegpu.com/images/stories/Test_GPU/Action/Mirrors_Edge_Catalyst_/new/me_1920.png

Look at where the RX480 and GTX1060 is in relation to it(GTX1060 faster in this title). The GTX1060 3GB has issues with the game in comparison to the GTX1060 6GB as it lacks enough VRAM.

Now look at the AMD sponsored BF1(RX480 is faster in this title):

http://gamegpu.com/images/stories/Test_GPU/Action/Battlefield_1/new_2/b1_1920.png

In all cases the GTX780TI is being soundly beaten especially in minimums.

In both cases a GTX960 4GB is only slightly slower than a GTX780TI when it comes to minimums.

Now the game might be more than playable if Bioware don't try and ramp up new effects,but if they do you will have to drop settings.

However,if you add the fact that both DX12 and Vulkan will perform better on the newer designs,there is no real reason to stick with the GTX780TI especially with the volatile exchange rates.

Waiting longer will actually cost you more especially if AMD and Nvidia refresh/rebadge the cards this year at some point meaning the GTX780TI looks even older,and if the pound gets weaker.

Edit!!

Looking at the famous auction site you can get between £110 to £170 for a GTX780TI so even with all the fees deducted,you won't paying a huge amount to upgrade,especially considering how much even a "cheap" GTX780TI cost when new!!

 

[AthlonXP1800]

Don't do much gaming these days but mass effect series is my fav game series so I want to run it with all bells and whistles on @1080p.

Currently running an evga 780ti superclocked and a overcoocked i7 4790k and in the latest games I've played (batman,fallout 4) I have not been able to run them with everything turned up and I'm assuming it's the lack of vram.

Now the AMD 480,s with 8gb vram have dropped to around 200 I thought this could be a good option as should be able to get £120 for my 780ti.

So questions are:

Do ea games running frostbite perform better on amd or nvidea
Would a move to a 480 be worth it

Thanks in advance

Tony

Guru3D had review last month benchmarked Battlefield 1 on DirectX 12 at 1080p with all graphics maxed out:

Spoiler

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/zotac_geforce_gtx_1050_ti_mini_review,14.html

Both AMD and Nvidia performed about same on Frostbite engine games.

So you got overclocked 780 Ti, if it OC 10% then in Battlefield 1 on DirectX 12 would see it about 90 fps. That around the same performance as RX 480! Stock 780 Ti is on par with RX 470 and GTX 970, it seemed 3GB handled it fine with graphics maxed out at 1080p.

You could keep 780 Ti a bit longer or you could grab second hand 980 Ti for about £200 if you can find one, it would not make sense to upgrade to RX 480 if it will still have same performance in Mass Effect: Andromeda.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I found some other benchmarks for BF1 which are newer:

http://media.gamersnexus.net/images/media/2016/gpu/780ti/780ti-bf1-1080p.png

In more intensive areas,the GTX780TI is soundly beaten by the GTX1060 and RX480.

OP,I would probably ditch the GTX780TI while you still can,as I said earlier it still has some value and the GTX1060 or RX480 upgrade path should not cost a lot.

Edit!!

Here is the latest Mirrors Edge game which is using the same engine and is Nvidia sponsored:

http://media.gamersnexus.net/images/media/2016/gpu/780ti/780ti-mec-1080p.png

The GTX780TI is doing much worse and even if you overclock the cards,the minimums are just plain worse than any of the newer cards.

Looking at those two games,at least the GTX1060 does seem to have a slight edge overall,when compared to the RX480,but the RX480 is a bit cheaper.

Edit!!

Looking at many reviews they don't enable the Hyper setting in Mirrors Edge,and when you do any card with under 4GB of VRAM has major problems - The DigitalFoundry tested it and found that the Hyper setting in the game requires 6GB of VRAM.

If the next Mass Effect is anything similar it is going to be VRAM heavy too on max settings.

I mean you could drop settings on your current card and see how it goes and then upgrade if you feel you need better performance,but if you play FO4,etc and find performance lacking then the newer cards are going to be an upgrade for the two games you are running now.

I would ditch the GTX780TI whilst it has value - there are strong hints of a Pascal refresh this year and AMD is refreshing its range too. This is not going to make GTX780TI secondhand prices go up anytime soon I suspect.

 

[LegendaryDread]

Wait for EA Access demo + benchmarks.

Nobody knows how the game will perform; the engine is being used completely differently to other recent Frostbite games. If you get an RX480 now and it turns out to not run the game as you like you'll be miffed.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Its a variant of the Frostbite engine and going by some of the more recent benchmarks the more modern cards do look faster,and if Bioware implement extended settings like in the last Mirrors Edge,cards with 3GB of VRAM will not do as well either.

I would probably ideally wait and see too,but again the GTX780TI value is going to start dropping as time progresses,and exchange rates are volatile too.

 

[fireisdangerous]

Thank you for all the input. I think if I can sell my card for a decent sum then the extra 100 for a 480 would be worth it. Shane there is not a bf1 or mirrors edge demo I could try to test the performance

 

[AlamoX]

i would pick XFX RX480 GTR, not the XS even though it's cheaper.
with the 480 you will be able to handle everything you throw at it at 1080p, and it's futur proof with DX12 games, and the 8GB memory, now the transition games between old and new gen is gone, most projects that started before 2014 are done, and the new gen games will most likely use about 8GB of memory, as the console will push the texture resolution and use every bit of memory they have.

 

[AthlonXP1800]

Thank you for all the input. I think if I can sell my card for a decent sum then the extra 100 for a 480 would be worth it. Shane there is not a bf1 or mirrors edge demo I could try to test the performance

Well you would had been tried out 780 Ti performance with Battlefield 1 open beta back in 31 August 2016 if you was on internet through August.

Remember RX 480 is now nearly a year old so in the coming months away AMD will launch Vega 11 RX 570 and 580 to replace both RX 470 and RX 480, value of second hand RX 470 and 480 will fall down fast and you will lose out about £100 if you decide to pick RX 480 now. DirectX 12 is old and past tense now with just 15 games out now since launched which is really so few compared to estimated 200 DirectX 10 and 500 DirectX 11 games today. Vega has next generation features that next DirectX 13 and Vulkan 2.0 will fully supported it.

Maybe YouTube will be useful to watch how 780 Ti performed with Battlefield 1 and Mirrors Edge Catalyst at 1080p maxed out. Shame no one did Mirrors Edge Catalyst at Hyper settings so I found 2 videos of both GTX 970 4GB and GTX 670 2GB at 1080p with Hyper settings, surprised both cards handled Hyper Settings very well.

 

[Rroff]

Even though VRAM is going to start to become an issue on the 780ti and the 480 will perform better to considerably better in some newer DX12/Vulkan titles overall I wouldn't go from one to a 480 as an upgrade path - despite the benchmarks my old 780 clocked to around 10% faster than a stock 780ti wasn't far off a stock 480 in the real world even in some of those newer games.

I would save up a bit more money and not hurry to change until the game hits and then hopefully AMD will have done something to shake up the market/prices or the 1070 will be more affordable or something.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Its not the point - the GTX780TI value is only going to go down not up. Getting emotionally attached to computer hardware is pointless and some here in this thread are too emotionally attached to the GTX780TI. The OP can get between £110 to £170 for a GTX780TI on the famous auction site,and there are deals to be had on the RX480 and GTX1060 now.

No amount of emotional attachment and massaging of results deflects from the fact the GTX780TI is getting worse and its value is starting to go down.

Plus you only have to look at some of the newer Nvidia sponsored games and the effects they push which if they do the same with the latest Mass Effect game,will no doubt crater performance and it is a game I will be buying at launch.

Hanging onto old PC hardware is pointless when it comes to graphics cards,with my last few upgrades I could have kept them longer,but I actually didn't as I sold the older cards when the value was still OKish and I got a good deal on a newer card. I found I actually spent less doing it.

For instance my upgrade from an HD5850 to a GTX660 to a GTX960 cost me around £85(including a £30 game I wanted),and I probably almost doubled performance in some newer games.

There are some good deals to be had on the RX480 and GTX1060 now if you shop about,so OP its a good time to upgrade. Stick the GTX780TI on the famous auction site and then you can get a nice bump in performance,better software support,lower power consumption,etc for probably around £100 in my estimates.

Plus all the noise of a GTX1070 or Vega is all pointless. These are still going to be £350 to £400 cards,which is a massive difference from spending £200ish on a card,or probably around £100 in reality once you sell the older card.

If you wait longer,AMD and Nvidia will start refreshing their entire ranges,and the GTX780TI price will start to plummet as more GTX970 and RX480/GTX1060 cards start to enter the secondhand market.

 

[Rroff]

Why stick with a 480 though when something like a 1070 (or future AMD equivalent or better) if attainable would give far better results with a coming graphically rich game? 780ti->480->X as an upgrade shuffle would likely result in just as much financial loss or atleast not hugely different + extra hassle as things move on.

EDIT: Depending a bit on the OP's ability to save some extra money in the meantime.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Why stick with a 480 though when something like a 1070 (or future AMD equivalent or better) if attainable would give far better results with a coming graphically rich game? 780ti->480->X as an upgrade shuffle would likely result in just as much financial loss or atleast not hugely different + extra hassle as things move on.

EDIT: Depending a bit on the OP's ability to save some extra money in the meantime.

Since there is a huge difference between £350 to £400 and a £200 card??

One of the RX480 or GTX1060 cards on offer(especially if they include a free game),is a cheap upgrade especially since GTX780TI prices are still OKish on that famous auction site.

Its like a 40% increase in average FPS,and a 64% increase in minimums with a GTX1060 6GB over a GTX780TI and a RX480 a tad less than that in Mirrors Edge.

Plus once the newer cards come out,the GTX780TI secondhand price will crash even more,if more people ditch their GTX970 and R9 390 cards.

On top of this,the pound is still very volatile - what happens if the pound goes down even more once Article 50 is announced if the markets don't like what they here(unless Trump does something which makes the USD weaker).

I can't see Vega changing the pricing of the GTX1070 massively,otherwise it will cause the RX480 and RX470 prices to crater.

I can see AMD offering GTX1080 level performance,cheaper,but that is not hard to target since the price difference between the GTX1070 and GTX1080 is massive.

 

[Rroff]

There is still around 2 months to go until the game is released - so depending on the OP's ability to save money my advice is to not rush into an upgrade now - especially with rumours of an AMD release around that time which might shake up the market.

The 780ti price might crash but if as you say newer cards in the 480 type slot push down prices then that is somewhat a shifting story as those cards will be cheaper as well.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

There is still around 2 months to go until the game is released - so depending on the OP's ability to save money my advice is to not rush into an upgrade now - especially with rumours of an AMD release around that time which might shake up the market.

The 780ti price might crash but if as you say newer cards in the 480 type slot push down prices then that is somewhat a shifting story as those cards will be cheaper as well.

I expect more rebadges under £300,so in the end I expect some of the deals we are seeing now is stock clearance for a rebadge which won't be massively different in price.

OP could wait,but again if the pound goes down even more,and the GTX780TI price drops even further,any price advantage would have been eaten up.

I would be surprised if AMD does launch a GTX1070 competitor at under £300(it would nice if they did though),but like I said it would cause massive downward pressure on their slower cards.

I expect AMD will have a £350 to £400 GTX1070 competitor which is a bit faster,and a cheaper GTX1080 competitor probably at £500.

It was the same with the Fury cards - they targeted the expensive Nvidia cards like the GTX980,GTX980TI and Titan X cards.

None of these cards affected the pricing of the R9 390 or R9 390X at all.

Now,its not saying AMD or Nvidia might push a cut down Vega or GP104 card under £300,but they would need to be in a generous mood to do that.

In the end,currently,its more the case of spending roughly £100 or roughly £300.

Edit!!

If I was the OP I would have ditched that GTX780TI last year and got a GTX1060 or RX480,as I suspect it would have been a cheaper upgrade due to the higher secondhand value of the GTX780TI.

In fact even in 2015,you probably could have upgraded from a GTX780TI to a GTX970 for free.

 

[tommybhoy]

@Op, prtty sure ME A is going to be running GW's and the new GW's flame effect thingy could be getting used(flamethrower) too, imagine that's going to have a performance hit as well, could pay to wait?


On the other hand, whether an ~£80 upgrade to a RX480 isn't much for fluider gameplay all round is what you need to ask yourself, just don't expect a huge gain.

£120 is the top price bracket for the 970 by the way

Got £150 for my 970 on mm a few weeks ago-as it was like new and there's hardly any for sale.

Remember RX 480 is now nearly a year old so in the coming months away AMD will launch Vega 11 RX 570 and 580 to replace both RX 470 and RX 480, value of second hand RX 470 and 480 will fall down fast and you will lose out about £100 if you decide to pick RX 480 now.

Rx 480 launched end of June, and highly doubt even a ref £200 RX480 8Gb isn't going to hit £100 second hand any time soon either-regardless whether it's replaced in three, for five or six months or not.