How does buying a new GPU affect your playing habits?

[VincentHanna]

Was just pondering this myself, and wondered how it affects other people?

For instance, I am a single player gamer. I tend to stick with one game at a time (assuming I am enjoying it) and finish it to completion and then move on to the next one.

Having a new GPU isn't going to suddenly change what I'm playing, I'm not going to suddenly start installing loads of different games to play. I'm currently playing Wasteland 3 on Gamepass and a new GPU isn't going to change that experience, as it's already running 4k/60/Ultra

Sure I might run a few benchmarks here and there - likely games I already have installed though. Things like Hitman 2, Forza Horizon 4 etc.

So how does your first week after installing a new GPU pan out?

Maybe you had a GPU that isn't particularly capable and have been holding off playing certain games until you can get a smooth experience? Maybe you jump straight in to your favourite multiplayer game with an increased framerate? Maybe you have a VR headset but your gameplay was too janky? Maybe you just benchmark the hell out of it and don't even really play games (Kaapstad?)

I'd be interested in everyone's habits when they upgrade

 

[Nablaoperator]

It makes no difference unless you're moving between brands.. eg: both Nvidia and AMD have vsync options but Nvidia's setting works for all games while AMDs implementation only works for OpenGL games. Generally, I have an existing gaming pipeline from beyond the last generation (I do make some room for out of order releases like CP77 in my schedule) so I don't overclock but only attempt undervolting and TDP limiting options wherever available. Don't do any benchmarks or stress tests, never got any problems ( first GPU I owned was a 8800 ultra and have been upgrading every gen ever since)

 

[ttaskmaster]

Install it, do all the drivers, run a set of benchmarks to compare against previous card, then have a friend come over and we get dinner delivered while we spend the evening dicking around with overclocks and stuff.
Once we find something that works pretty well, it gets saved as a profile and that's it.
I then go about gaming as and whenever I can, and this continues for a year or so until said friend starts taking the **** out of my now ******* ancient GPU, whereupon I save up some cash and get the best card available, and the cycle begins again.

 

[pp111]

FPS is what it is all about for me, so first thing I will be doing is playing all my normal games, but at much higher frame-rates than I am used to. Can't wait!!

Day to day I often play mmo's so a lot of it is tweaking settings until it runs at an acceptable temperature. You don't want it running all day every day at 80 degrees. So I will spend some time experimenting with that. Given that the cooling solutions of the 30 series look impressive I guess I will be able to get a fair bit more performance out of them than my current card while maintaining the same temperatures. How that will turn out, dunno, no benchmarks are going to tell me that. I will just have to try it.

 

[jasonsony735]

I own 1080ti and the one problem I have is games not running in 4k at max settings ! Prime example RDR2 ! I stopped playing it for the simple fact it only runs at 25 FPS on ultra settings , I don't like to have my games on mid or high settings they have to be on ultra. Hopefully the 3080 will give me that speed I need so I can enjoy the games at there max quality with no lag..

 

[VincentHanna]

I own 1080ti and the one problem I have is games not running in 4k at max settings ! Prime example RDR2 ! I stopped playing it for the simple fact it only runs at 25 FPS on ultra settings , I don't like to have my games on mid or high settings they have to be on ultra. Hopefully the 3080 will give me that speed I need so I can enjoy the games at there max quality with no lag..

Interesting...like some OCD thing?

Because there are plenty of settings that you can turn down that you wouldn't even really notice.

 

[chaparral]

So how does your first week after installing a new GPU pan out?

Benchmarks and then Benchmarks and then Benchmarks again and after that i do some more benchmarks

But being serious i just want to see how well any of the new GPU's (3080 & 3090) can run MS FS 2020 as i don't really play or own anything else at the moment that needs a more powerful GPU then my 2080ti

 

[fs123]

Last time I bought the 5700XT I tested most of the games I had and did benchmarks to make sure it was setup properly. Then went back to playing league of legends . I guess it was a bit of an impulse purchase and didn't even really need to upgrade from an R9 390 lol. However, have been playing Horizon Zero Dawn recently so not all bad.

 

[DarrenM343]

When I bought my current 2080 it got me back into gaming again. Probably spent more time gaming with this GPU than previous few together due to wanting to try out early RT in games. Not been gaming much for a while now but mostly due to lack of time, time spent on other things. Buying a new 30 series GPU might change that but I'm considering if I should actually upgrade this time, at least for the moment. I think getting a 3090 would get me back into gaming especially but still would have to make the time

Not really into benchmarks but usually run a few just to see where my GPU and overall system sits vs other similar systems so most benchmark scores I will post up are non-OC'd.

 

[chaparral]

Last time I bought the 5700XT I tested most of the games I had and did benchmarks to make sure it was setup properly. Then went back to playing league of legends . I guess it was a bit of an impulse purchase and didn't even really need to upgrade from an R9 390 lol. However, have been playing Horizon Zero Dawn recently so not all bad.

After i Bought my 2080ti i then spent most my time playing Red Alert Remastered & RTX Quake 2

 

[jasonsony735]

Interesting...like some OCD thing?

Because there are plenty of settings that you can turn down that you wouldn't even really notice.

100% lol in my head its telling me I am missing out unless I run the game at ultra 4K ha , Been playing Flight sim 2020 as of late at 4K ultra everything with 25-30 FPS on 1080ti oddly enough it doesn’t feel laggy at all. I sold me 1080ti today so ill be in the Q to order the 3080 on Thur .... I use to game at 1440 but then went and got 4K LG screen , the problem is once you game at that resolution if you go back to 1080 or 1440 you feel as if you are walking back on the past.

I’ve always been a visual gamer so to me its all about the experience and the look more than say the gameplay .

Im really looking forward to RDR2 at ultra 4 k and I think with the 3080 that will now be possible

 

[TNA]

Was just pondering this myself, and wondered how it affects other people?

For instance, I am a single player gamer. I tend to stick with one game at a time (assuming I am enjoying it) and finish it to completion and then move on to the next one.

Having a new GPU isn't going to suddenly change what I'm playing, I'm not going to suddenly start installing loads of different games to play. I'm currently playing Wasteland 3 on Gamepass and a new GPU isn't going to change that experience, as it's already running 4k/60/Ultra

Sure I might run a few benchmarks here and there - likely games I already have installed though. Things like Hitman 2, Forza Horizon 4 etc.

So how does your first week after installing a new GPU pan out?

Maybe you had a GPU that isn't particularly capable and have been holding off playing certain games until you can get a smooth experience? Maybe you jump straight in to your favourite multiplayer game with an increased framerate? Maybe you have a VR headset but your gameplay was too janky? Maybe you just benchmark the hell out of it and don't even really play games (Kaapstad?)

I'd be interested in everyone's habits when they upgrade

Same like you I am a single player gamer and usually stick to one game at a time. That said I may have a few fighting games installed (Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Tekken types) or some rts game. But those are different non-story based games I fire up now and then for a quick go.

I also run 4K and when I do not have a beefy GPU there are still plenty games I can play even with my RX 580 while waiting on a new GPU I want to buy. If the game in question is hard to run and I would need to play it on much lower settings then I will wait to play that game when I have a better GPU. Like right now I would be happy to run 80% of my steam library with this card. The other 20% will just have to wait until I get my new graphics card soon. Not like I have not played the said 20% anyway, I did have much beefier GPU's in the past where I completed these games. Now I am making sure I have a GPU ready for Cyberpunk, which will obviously be able to run 100% of my steam library anyways.

As for benching, I usually only enjoy doing that when I get a new card. I do it for a few days (mostly day 1) which I enjoy and then very rarely after that, maybe if some new benchmark comes out I fancy running. The rest of the week I may run games for a mess about to see the improvement in fps, not necessarily to complete them. Then yeah, back to normal.

This time will be particularly fun as I will have all the RTX tech demo's, benchmarks etc as I skipped turding

 

[rchads89]

Load up counter strike wack everything on low if i don't see over 500 FPS im ****** off.