What GPU for 3440x1440p 144hz?

KungFuSpaghetti · 26 Mar 2023 at 12:17

I've been holding out on buying a new GPU for a while now. I was trying in vein to get a 3080fe during lockdown which proved impossible. I did manage to snag a 3060ti, but the performance at this resolution isn't brilliant.

I've had the money stock piled for motherboard, ram, CPU and GPU since then, but think I'll leave the bare bones as is (5800x) and just go with a GPU. My main issue however is this and last gen pricing. I talked myself out of buying a 4090fe as it's overkill, but started leaning towards the 4080fe... again though, it's laughable how much money nvidia want for this card.

So my options are, wait it out and don't give these strap-ons my cash, or give in and buy a 4000 series or AMD card. If it's the latter, which card?

throwaway4372 · 26 Mar 2023 at 12:19

wait it out

Kelt · 26 Mar 2023 at 19:25

Yeh, wait it out for the 5 series, coz uncle Jensen will be releasing them at half the price of the current series, out of the goodness of his black heart.

JediFragger · 26 Mar 2023 at 19:43

If anyone thinks that Nvidia are going to reduce their pricing anytime soon are sadly mistaken imo. AI is *exploding* atm and it seems like Nvidia could sell every card they make atm into that sector at massive margins, so if gamers don't want them then that industry sure will do!

And AMD will do nothing but follow them on the pricing, even with a weaker arch. Bad times

The only shining light atm imo is that integrated cpu's become a LOT better for the lower-end market, and it does seem like that is going to happen soon from the red side...

tamzzy · 26 Mar 2023 at 20:00

get a used 3080 off the MM...

MissChief · 26 Mar 2023 at 20:20

tamzzy said:
get a used 3080 off the MM...

This tbh. I have a 3080 at 120Hz 1440p UW. No issues and works well.

varkanoid · 26 Mar 2023 at 21:03

I use a 3090 at that res fine.

ShiWarrior · 26 Mar 2023 at 21:42

how long is a piece of string ?

you might be waiting a very long time

i do a lot of VR, I have a 2K monitor, but not ultra wide like yours

im happy with a 3090 FE

kute · 26 Mar 2023 at 22:13

What games? There will be games in the next 2 years that the 4090 doesn't do high refresh 1440p work in.

The last few years, stuff like a 6700xt have been ok. But right now, you'll need at least a 3080 for new games. And that's only going to head one way moving forward. The inevitable march

KungFuSpaghetti · 27 Mar 2023 at 11:33

To be honest I don't want a 3000 series, the time to get a 3080 has been and gone. I think my only options are 4070ti, 4080, 7900xtx or just put up with my 3060ti. It is struggling though, but I hate the idea of spending over or even close to a grand on a GPU.

stuie · 27 Mar 2023 at 11:58

KungFuSpaghetti said:
To be honest I don't want a 3000 series, the time to get a 3080 has been and gone. I think my only options are 4070ti, 4080, 7900xtx or just put up with my 3060ti. It is struggling though, but I hate the idea of spending over or even close to a grand on a GPU.

Pick one of those then.

MissChief · 27 Mar 2023 at 12:04

KungFuSpaghetti said:
To be honest I don't want a 3000 series, the time to get a 3080 has been and gone. I think my only options are 4070ti, 4080, 7900xtx or just put up with my 3060ti. It is struggling though, but I hate the idea of spending over or even close to a grand on a GPU.

Something is going to have to give if you don't want a 3000 series card. You'll need to spend close to £1k or stick with what you have until more 4000 series come on to the used market.

ShiWarrior · 27 Mar 2023 at 12:31

KungFuSpaghetti said:
To be honest I don't want a 3000 series, the time to get a 3080 has been and gone. I think my only options are 4070ti, 4080, 7900xtx or just put up with my 3060ti. It is struggling though, but I hate the idea of spending over or even close to a grand on a GPU.

In that case
4090 and be done with it

SpellowHouse · 27 Mar 2023 at 12:36

JediFragger said:
If anyone thinks that Nvidia are going to reduce their pricing anytime soon are sadly mistaken imo. AI is *exploding* atm and it seems like Nvidia could sell every card they make atm into that sector at massive margins, so if gamers don't want them then that industry sure will do!

And AMD will do nothing but follow them on the pricing, even with a weaker arch. Bad times

The only shining light atm imo is that integrated cpu's become a LOT better for the lower-end market, and it does seem like that is going to happen soon from the red side...

I think you are right.

It very much depends how they interpret the downturn in sales. The "experts" were predicting a downturn well before NVIDIA released the 4000 series, and for all we know this may well be why they increased prices - they anticipated lower sales. If that's the case we may never see the big reductions we are all hoping for.

Trypta · 27 Mar 2023 at 14:16

I'm using a MBA 7900xt while my xtx is being rma'd (small issue just with the rgb)
It's more than good enough for 3440x1440 144hz, I'd have been quite happy with it if I hadn't gotten used to the previous card.

KungFuSpaghetti · 27 Mar 2023 at 14:18

I do hope there is a reduction, as I don't find the 4070ti particularly appealing with the narrow memory bus. The jump up to 4080 in price is staggering though... 4070ti seems to make most sense financially, but can't help feeling it would age badly.

KungFuSpaghetti · 27 Mar 2023 at 14:21

Trypta said:
I'm using a MBA 7900xt while my xtx is being rma'd (small issue just with the rgb)
It's more than good enough for 3440x1440 144hz, I'd have been quite happy with it if I hadn't gotten used to the previous card.

Isn't it only a bit faster than the last gen 6950xt though for more cash?

This gen of GPU's is such a let down. If it wasn't for the 3060ti struggling I wouldn't hesitate to hard pass.

Trypta · 27 Mar 2023 at 14:34

KungFuSpaghetti said:
Isn't it only a bit faster than the last gen 6950xt though for more cash?

This gen of GPU's is such a let down. If it wasn't for the 3060ti struggling I wouldn't hesitate to hard pass.

I mean if you were considering a 4080, you could buy a good xtx for a similar price too and have fun tweaking it to close to 4090 levels in raster in some cases.
I was mainly expressing you'd be comfortable even at 7900xt level.
The extra vram will come in handy too once this gen takes full speed. 16gb vram is the absolute minimum I'd get right now.
You don't need to worry about upscaling anytime soon so dlss is a none issue and if you want high refresh you'll probably not want ray tracing on either anyway. I'm actually using VSR in most games.

O.Giroud · 27 Mar 2023 at 16:46

7900XT is enough for your sreen !

Quartz · 27 Mar 2023 at 17:07

KungFuSpaghetti said:
I talked myself out of buying a 4090fe as it's overkill,

It isn't overkill. If you can afford one, get it. Performance-wise it is actually one of the more cost-effective GPUs.

But have you tried a simpler solution: just lowering the graphics settings? I get ~60 fps on my Arc A770 at 4k at medium settings.