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Maxwell Titan X upgrade dilema

nails666

nails666

nails666

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Joined
17 Jan 2007
Posts
1,142
Location
Kent, UK
I've currently got a Maxwell Titan X that I got as an RMA replacement for my old 295x2 and I just can't decide what route to go down for an upgrade.
Before my 295x2 died my plan was to sell it this year and upgrade to Vega as I have a 1440p 144Hz FreeSync monitor. In theory I'd still like to go the AMD route to keep FreeSync but since I've been using the Titan X I have to say I haven't really noticed the lack of FreeSync too badly. Now Vega 64 is finally here I'm not really impressed with the price/power/performance balance of it and I definitely don't want a reference cooler again (this Titan X is very annoyingly loud) so I'll still have to wait for AIB cards which are likely to be even more expensive. The other side of it though is that to switch to NVidia I'm looking at at least a 1080 for an upgrade and to be honest at the current prices they don't look so good against a 1080Ti which is obviously even more cash but should last me for quite a while.

So I think really I've got 3 options: -

1) Hold on for a Vega 56 AIB card and hope they come at a decent price (<£400). This will basically be a performance sidegrade but at least I get FreeSync back and after selling my Titan won't really cost much.

2) Say sod it and just go for a good 1080Ti (looking at an EVGA SC2 or Gigabyte Aorus), no FreeSync but hopefully enough raw power to just run at high fps anyway, obviously the most expensive option.

3) Just stick with what I've got and keep waiting for a better value upgrade, Volta or Navi. The boring option and I'm really not sure how much longer I can put up with the noise of the Titan.

So what do you think I should do and are there any other options I could go for instead?
 
Well I'm currently replaying ME3 so extremely well :) However once I've finished that I'll be going back to Witcher 3, Fallout 4 (both with plenty of mods) and I'm looking ahead to stuff like Final Fantasy 15, all of which could really do with more power than I currently have to get frame rates close to what my monitor can display.
 
my view is that i would either sell the monitor and buy a gsync one, then the fps drops wont be noticeable. you can then get the next gen gpu from nvidia. or stick with what you have and see what amd come up with next.

its a tricky one because theres a lot of choices. you do have a decent chance of a 1080 coming up for a good price on the MM too as people get TIs.
 
Yeah I have considered swapping the monitor but to get even the equivalent GSync version let alone an upgrade (ideally a 21.9 ultrawide) is seriously expensive. It's why in the past I've always gone AMD as the best value option but it just isn't there this time with Vega :(
 
Brute force it with a 1080Ti or wait for Volta would be my 2p.

Can you get an aftermarket cooler for your existing card to tide you over? Can't say I've ever looked at options for Titans.
 
If your happy with no freesync and waiting for FFXIV which by the sound of it will be gameworks stuff. Seems like a 1080 Ti is a no brainer....
 
nails666 said:
Yeah I have considered swapping the monitor but to get even the equivalent GSync version let alone an upgrade (ideally a 21.9 ultrawide) is seriously expensive. It's why in the past I've always gone AMD as the best value option but it just isn't there this time with Vega :(
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21:9 is the best thing ive done for my pc (after an ssd) its amazing :)
 
Yeah as much as I dislike NVidia it's getting harder and harder to stay supporting AMD. More and more games seem to be favouring NVidia and with the various factors massively driving up AMD prices it seems now that getting a good card is going to cost and arm and leg from both of them so might as well just go for the most powerful and keep it for a few years again. The 295x2 and it's replacement have lasted me just over 3 years now and still have a decent resale value so if I can do that again then it's not too bad. The price difference between Gsync and Freesync screens is still very painful though :(
 
Keep the Maxwell Titan.

Neither the GTX 1080 or Vega 64 are much of an upgrade and in some ways they are actually a downgrade as the Titan packs 12gb of memory.

I have not got my hands on a Vega 64 air cooled reference card yet but I suspect it is just as noisy if not worse than the Maxwell Titan.

Vega 56 is not a serious option as there won't be any performance increase over what you already have.
 
I'm in 2 minds - on the one hand you have performance around 1070 ball park which handles most games out fine on the other hand I'm tempted to say sell it while you can still get some decent money for them and go whole hog on a 1080ti - this would also allow you to make better use of FastSync and offset the lack of FreeSync/G-Sync a bit.
 
Yeah I know just keeping hold of my be the sensible option but it's also quite boring ;) Plus the noise from this Titan is driving me nuts. I think I can probably still get maybe £350 for the Titan so that only leaves £350 to find for the 1080ti, oh and convince my wife of it's worth....
 
nails666 said:
Yeah I know just keeping hold of my be the sensible option but it's also quite boring ;) Plus the noise from this Titan is driving me nuts. I think I can probably still get maybe £350 for the Titan so that only leaves £350 to find for the 1080ti, oh and convince my wife of it's worth....
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Or do a bit of smuggling like I have to this evening! :eek::eek: :D
 
Ok, well I'm terrible at taking the sensible option... was looking around and found a very good deal on a 1080ti Aorus Extreme and my wife even said it was ok (although there was some mention of a holiday in return..) so I've taken the plunge. Should be delivered tomorrow so then I can get the Titan up for sale and hopefully get some of the money back :)
 
You could just grab an AIO and bracket like the nzxt g12 to quiet it down and hold on for Volta.
 
nails666 said:
Haha, if I had a rig like the one in your sig I'd have had to do some serious smuggling/creative accounting too :D
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To be fair I got the RAM when it was roughly half the price it is now last xmas in anticipation of Ryzen. I was going to go for 1800x originally, but when Gibbo & 8pac said 1700 was the way to go i settled on that. But that was all approved :) It was first upgrade for 5 years or so, so it was overdue :)
 
There will be both Vega 56 & Vega 64 AIB's so definitely worth waiting for those, After all a Maxwell TX isn't a slouch.

That said the EVGA 1080ti SC2 is a beautiful card with an unusual cooler design that helps it stand out from the crowd, The FTW version's nice too but I like the look of the 2 fan model more.
 
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