460 768mb or 1gb for gaming at 1360x768?

[Jono8]

Disagree. Things now move so fast that any excess power you currently have gpu-wise is exponentially falling in value by the day. Future-proofing is practically impossible and is financially nonsense these days.

Tomorrow's budget card will always match today's mid-range card, performance wise.

Think about the current situation with 5xxx cards. Why buy a mid to high range 5xxx when a lower group 6xxx would probably deliver similar performance. In reality that rationale holds true now pretty much all the time.

I guess the real question here is whether the OP is likely to upgrade his monitor very soon, say within in the next six months. If not then chances are that an adequate card today plus a further adequate card after the monitor upg would work out cheaper than buying a significantly over-powered card today and letting that excess power do nothing but fall in value for half a year.

Cheers,
vfm

I

It works out the same to be honest.

What if a 460 only gives him 2 years of playable performance but a 5870/480 gives him 4 years? Sure he pays £150 extra now but then, he wont have to buy another for 4 years, where as in 2 years time he might have to buy another mid range card at £150.

It's all swings and roundabouts to be honest.

In terms of his question though, if you plan to keep the 460 for a very long time then get the 1gb version ( also leaves room for a monitor upgrade)

 

[PhoenixUK]

I

It works out the same to be honest.

What if a 460 only gives him 2 years of playable performance but a 5870/480 gives him 4 years? Sure he pays £150 extra now but then, he wont have to buy another for 4 years, where as in 2 years time he might have to buy another mid range card at £150.

It's all swings and roundabouts to be honest.

In terms of his question though, if you plan to keep the 460 for a very long time then get the 1gb version ( also leaves room for a monitor upgrade)

So lets see...

480 will last 4yrs for 350 quid.

460 wil last 2yrs for 120.

So for 350 I can probably buy 3 cards of which each will last 2yrs.

Thats 6yrs total vs ur 4.

Hows that the same ? .

Or even better, buy 460, add another one in SLI in 2yrs for 30quid, it will still last you nearly same as the 480 for less than 1/2 price.

Or even one more way, buy 460, after 2yrs you can probably buy card for the 200 or so difference that will be 2x faster than the 480, hence again giving you longer lifespan for the same price.

You should only buy card adequate to your needs.
I'm not saying that everybody should buy cheap cards and upgrade as often as possible but if you're not going to use the power of expensive card for the next 2yrs because of using low res/details or playing less demanding games.

It's not like changing a GPU is a rocket science, you don't even have to reinstall ur OS or change anything else, just pop it in and install new drivers and thats it.

High end PC stuff is for people who can use it straight away, not for 'future proofing'.

 

[Liampope]

^^^ I agree.

If you buy way more than you currently need (as some people do with PSUs, CPUs, GPUs etc etc), all you are doing is paying loads of money to carry a load of unused potential along for the ride until you might actually use it. All the time eating into the component's life, and more importantly warranty. Buy what you need when you need it and you avoid wasting money, spread out your spending, and keep your gear up to date and in warranty. Simples . Attempting to 'futureproof' in such a fast moving area as PC hardware is a mug's game.

 

[Jono8]

So lets see...

480 will last 4yrs for 350 quid.

460 wil last 2yrs for 120.

So for 350 I can probably buy 3 cards of which each will last 2yrs.

Thats 6yrs total vs ur 4.

Hows that the same ? .

Or even better, buy 460, add another one in SLI in 2yrs for 30quid, it will still last you nearly same as the 480 for less than 1/2 price.

Or even one more way, buy 460, after 2yrs you can probably buy card for the 200 or so difference that will be 2x faster than the 480, hence again giving you longer lifespan for the same price.

You should only buy card adequate to your needs.
I'm not saying that everybody should buy cheap cards and upgrade as often as possible but if you're not going to use the power of expensive card for the next 2yrs because of using low res/details or playing less demanding games.

It's not like changing a GPU is a rocket science, you don't even have to reinstall ur OS or change anything else, just pop it in and install new drivers and thats it.

High end PC stuff is for people who can use it straight away, not for 'future proofing'.

Well I was using the 460 1gb version as an example....2x£170

Bringing SLI into the equation isnt really worth it because there are so many variables that he would need ( power supply, motherboard e.t.c.)

You could ofcourse also factor in that the 480 will fetch a higher used price...e.t.c. e.t.c.

I still stand by my point.

I would however recommend that the OP gets a 460 though

 

[Dauthi]

^^^ I agree.

If you buy way more than you currently need (as some people do with PSUs, CPUs, GPUs etc etc), all you are doing is paying loads of money to carry a load of unused potential along for the ride until you might actually use it. All the time eating into the component's life, and more importantly warranty. Buy what you need when you need it and you avoid wasting money, spread out your spending, and keep your gear up to date and in warranty. Simples . Attempting to 'futureproof' in such a fast moving area as PC hardware is a mug's game.

As a whole a agree especailly on graphics cards but i would rather spend £70 now on my PSUinstead of £50 now and £50 when i upgrade again.