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Upgrading GPU - It's time!

Associate
Joined
26 Aug 2018
Posts
51
It's finally time for an upgrade. My trusted 970 is now struggling to supply me with smooth gameplay. All my settings are having to be set to low.

My budget is around £800 but I've been thinking that with my requirements, I might not need to spend that much. I don't play on 4k (still rocking a 1920x1080 monitor) but I do play racing car simulation games on my Oculus Rift. One of the games in rFactor2. I'd also like to start playing more games in the future.

I have always had nVidia cards and I would prefer to stick to that. The wife wants me to get the BEST I can for the budget and I've always got this thing of thinking 'oh just another £50 would get me a ...' but I need to erase this mindset.

I know that the 2080ti is out of range, and to be honest, £1100 for a card is never going to happen. I then thought that perhaps I could get a 2080 Super but I need you lovely lot to tell me that I don't need that.

I've been looking at this - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...ddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-43j-as.html

And with the Asus trade in, it seems I can get £105 cashback! The only thing holding me back is that I won't be able to upgrade again for at least another 5 years! This has to last me. Any advise will be appreciated. But again, I'd prefer to stick to nVidia.
 
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Soldato
Joined
22 Nov 2006
Posts
23,304
5 years is a long time to keep the same GPU. You can have at least 2 good mid-high end cards for the price of a 2080ti in that time and by then a mid range card will probably out-do it. Plus you'll get money back from selling them, where as no one will want a 2080ti in 5 years time. Especially with the high failure rate.
 
Soldato
Joined
3 Jan 2006
Posts
24,945
Location
Chadderton, Oldham
4K cards would be struggling 1080P cards in 4 years I think. So you would be looking at lowering settings significantly as the years go by.

If you ever consider RTX anything outside of 2 years probably would be a no go.

5 years is a long time to keep the same GPU. You can have at least 2 good mid-high end cards for the price of a 2080ti in that time and by then a mid range card will probably out-do it. Plus you'll get money back from selling them, where as no one will want a 2080ti in 5 years time. Especially with the high failure rate.

I think the failure rate has subsided now.
 

TNA

TNA

Caporegime
Joined
13 Mar 2008
Posts
27,184
Location
Greater London
5 years is a long time to keep the same GPU. You can have at least 2 good mid-high end cards for the price of a 2080ti in that time and by then a mid range card will probably out-do it. Plus you'll get money back from selling them, where as no one will want a 2080ti in 5 years time. Especially with the high failure rate.
This. Get a 2070S, then get a 4070 or 5070 a few year later. Will work out cheaper and you end up with a new graphics card a few years that will be MUCH better than a 2080 Ti.
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Jan 2003
Posts
3,749
Location
Motherwell, Scotland
It's finally time for an upgrade. My trusted 970 is now struggling to supply me with smooth gameplay. All my settings are having to be set to low.

I've been looking at this - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...ddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-43j-as.html

And with the Asus trade in, it seems I can get £105 cashback! The only thing holding me back is that I won't be able to upgrade again for at least another 5 years! This has to last me. Any advise will be appreciated. But again, I'd prefer to stick to nVidia.

The Gigabyte 2070 Super Gaming OC will work out £5 cheaper even after the 'Asus Tax' cashback & have an extra years warranty if you register it - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...ddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-1b5-gi.html

Performance wise, there's maybe a 2% difference between them in favour of the Asus card. Coolers are on a par for temp & noise.

If you overclock most 2070 Supers they end up basically as quick as regular 2080's.

The 2080 Super is 10-15% faster again, but you need to decide if that is worth £200 extra - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...ddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-1b7-gi.html

I'd go with the earlier suggestions of a 2070 Super now, stick the £250+ saved in the bank, and upgrade to the 3070s / 4070s/ 5070s in 2-3 years time.
 
Permabanned
Joined
2 Sep 2017
Posts
10,490
It's finally time for an upgrade. My trusted 970 is now struggling to supply me with smooth gameplay. All my settings are having to be set to low.

My budget is around £800 but I've been thinking that with my requirements, I might not need to spend that much. I don't play on 4k (still rocking a 1920x1080 monitor) but I do play racing car simulation games on my Oculus Rift. One of the games in rFactor2. I'd also like to start playing more games in the future.

I have always had nVidia cards and I would prefer to stick to that. The wife wants me to get the BEST I can for the budget and I've always got this thing of thinking 'oh just another £50 would get me a ...' but I need to erase this mindset.

I know that the 2080ti is out of range, and to be honest, £1100 for a card is never going to happen. I then thought that perhaps I could get a 2080 Super but I need you lovely lot to tell me that I don't need that.

I've been looking at this - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...ddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-43j-as.html

And with the Asus trade in, it seems I can get £105 cashback! The only thing holding me back is that I won't be able to upgrade again for at least another 5 years! This has to last me. Any advise will be appreciated. But again, I'd prefer to stick to nVidia.

Nah!
Maybe it's about the time to change the mindset completely. Take the new Radeon and upgrade to an amazing Ultra HD monitor with HDR :D
All in the same budget:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £778.98 (includes shipping: £0.00)
 
Permabanned
Joined
28 Nov 2006
Posts
5,750
Location
N Ireland
Get the cheapest 2080ti which is the EVGA black at £1060. You have a flexibility with 1080p because only 1080p can use 0% smoothing DSR x4 which maps a pixel perfect 4k to a 1080p screen. This is exactly what i do and will do with my 2080ti.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 May 2010
Posts
22,302
Location
London
Your better of getting two mid range cards spread over the 5 years than one expensive card now.

It's not just raw power to consider here. Software features, API, hardware level features are all just as important.

Every few years things move on to new technologies. For example with the new consoles the world of Ray Tracing should finally be upon us the cards to come will greatly improve on this and even AMD should support it.

Who knows whats gonna come in the future.

If you buy a 2070 Super now that gets you support for all of todays features and another £400-£500 card in 4-5 years will bring you right up to date again.

If you splurged on a 2080ti now in 5 years time that 2080ti will look pretty old and grizzly and will not have support for the tech of the day that the £500 card will that you will buy in 2024.
 
Associate
Joined
30 Jul 2008
Posts
44
Location
The North
Go for a 2080, they are not a bad price at the moment, (as far as the rip off prices go) a top end 2080 for the same price as a top end 2070 super. I went with a 2080 for VR (DCS, ACC, PC2,IL2) as even though I was OK with the GTX970 it was limiting my VR experience. The tarmac on the runways on DCS are not just one colour grey anymore, I can actually see the different textures. My mate did the same, went from a 970 to a 2080 for VR, but he bought last Christmas and paid £750, the same card but the OC version can be had for £609 and it runs on par with the gaming x trio, uses less power but gets a few degrees hotter. Anyway mate, you have some good advice above but as I have said before, the rift changed my gaming experience, and the 2080 changed my rift gaming experience.

This Graphics forum is full of RTX doesn't wok, DLSS doesn't work, blah, blah ******* blah, but personally, it doesn't bother me as playing FPS online I don't use either, and VR SIM games like DCS it will probably be years if at all they use it. I just wanted a fast card for VR, and if VR is the way you are going, forget the 2 cards over 5 years get the best you can now.
 
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Permabanned
Joined
2 Sep 2017
Posts
10,490
It is almost year 2020 and some people are stuck with 1080p, considering to spend £800 to support it. Thinking of using it till 2025. :eek:
Not good.

For the people who don't know - 1080p is so 90s...
 
Associate
OP
Joined
26 Aug 2018
Posts
51
Wow so many replies and help. It’s great to see so many concluding that getting two cards is better than throwing it all into a 2080ti.

I am thinking this now -

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...ddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-43h-as.html

and with the £105 off it’s only £545. Thoughts? I can’t see the difference between the 2080 Super and the one above to warrant the price difference.

I will eventually get a higher resolution monitor.
 
Associate
Joined
5 Mar 2017
Posts
2,216
Location
Cambridge
2070 or similar would last some time. 2080, which I use, would hold longer, but doesn't add the performance to justify the price increase compared to the 2070 performance level.
Best bet mid high and keep for 3 or 4 years while under warranty.
I understand that a 2080ti would last longer than any other actual GPU, but the performance per buck isn't as good as other GPUs considerably cheaper.
 
Associate
Joined
5 Mar 2017
Posts
2,216
Location
Cambridge
Wow so many replies and help. It’s great to see so many concluding that getting two cards is better than throwing it all into a 2080ti.

I am thinking this now -

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...ddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-43h-as.html

and with the £105 off it’s only £545. Thoughts? I can’t see the difference between the 2080 Super and the one above to warrant the price difference.

I will eventually get a higher resolution monitor.
Paid that much for a 2080 from evga.
 
Caporegime
Joined
8 Nov 2008
Posts
28,997
Only slightly, though it does depend on the clock speeds from model to model, so a top of the range 2070 Super might be on par with a lower quality 2080. But broadly speaking, yes, a 2080 will be a bit faster.
 
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