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GPU Upgrade from GTX 970 @ 1080p

NexxCat

NexxCat

NexxCat

Associate
Joined
29 Mar 2008
Posts
226
Hey everyone =)

Looking for a little advice as I haven't bought a new GPU since the GTX 670. My current GTX 970 was second hand and a good deal, so, yeah.

Firstly, specs:
Intel Core i5 4690K, non-overclocked
16GB Corsair Vengence DDR3
Galax GTX 970
Dell P2717H 27" 60hz 1080p monitor
Windows 10
SSD, etc, etc.

I play a lot of new AAA games, though no twitch-shooters like CS:GO, PUBG, BF5, or anything which benefits from a 144hz panel and higher FPS. My 970 is starting to struggle a little without turning details down, so I was looking at my options for upgrades.

My last AMD card was a Radeon 5870, it was fantastic, but I don't have brand loyalty to either nvidia or AMD. I buy and use what works best, and what gives the best bang-for-buck, at the time.

So my thoughts right now are many:
  • Keep my existing monitor (which works great, but adaptive refresh really interests me), and upgrade the GPU.
  • Upgrade my monitor to a Freesync compatible screen, plus a new, lesser, GPU.
  • Hold out and don't do anything =P
If I'm spending money on a new GPU, I'd prefer to think with the future in mind. I don't have the money to upgrade often (hence my current second hand GTX 970), but also am not overly pulled toward the RTX cards for real-time ray-tracing as I firmly believe there will be a few years to go before it really takes off and is less of the gimmick it feels right now. Basically if I can future proof a little more for a little more money, that's certainly worth considering.

As for a budget. I'm certainly not thinking of GTX 2080 money. I had been looking anywhere from the 1660 Ti, Vega 56/64, RTX 2060 up to an RTX 2070. Plus potentially a monitor with Freesync support. I'm not sure the jump to 1440p is worth it for me, I actually like the pixel density of 1080p at 27".

Questions, suggestions, all welcome. Also, experience of Freesync is certainly appreciated!
Thanks for taking the time to read and have a fab day!
 
V56 or 1660ti, may be cpu bottlenecked a bit although at 60hz it should be fine for the majority of games

V56 pulse and Dell S2719DGF is where my money went, well happy with this setup and with a bit of tweaking the 56 gets to 64/2060+ performance. extra vram is nice when you are keeping for a long time as you are too
 
Thank you all for your thoughts so far.

My concern with a Vega 56 is the tweaking and potential power, noise and heat. I know from reading that tweaking them gets the performance up and that they can be undervolted too, but it feels like a little bit of a gamble considering what else is available on the market right now.

As for the GTX 1660 Ti or RTX 2060; I had originally been thinking the RTX 2060 would be where I settled. The two cards are relatively closely priced so it seems spending a little more money gets a fairly sizeable performance boost. For a non-budget card of each type, the price increase would be 10-15% for ~15% more performance, and thus a little more future proof as well. I must admit, if the 2060 had 8GB of VRAM I think I'd have already just gone ahead and bought it =P I suppose the other option would be a second hand GTX 1080, but would be paying the same as a RTX 2060, but having no warranty.

greatash said:
V56 or 1660ti, may be cpu bottlenecked a bit although at 60hz it should be fine for the majority of games

V56 pulse and Dell S2719DGF is where my money went, well happy with this setup and with a bit of tweaking the 56 gets to 64/2060+ performance. extra vram is nice when you are keeping for a long time as you are too
Click to expand...
Out of interest, how is the Dell monitor? My current setup has all IPS panels, I'd be concerned about swapping on to a TN, or has technology improved with regards to TN panels? Also, do you feel Freesync is worth it? I've no personal experience with it and videos on YouTube don't really demonstrate it properly from what I gather.

Lastly, the non-sensible devil on my shoulder keeps pointing out that OCUK currently have an EVGA RTX 2070 for £450... Though that would be a 33% cost increase for 10-15% performance.
 
1660ti should be a straight slot in for the 970, no learning new drivers, similar power consumption as i recall. Vega 56 would also be a great choice, price depending at the time. Needs tweaking to get the best out of it, different drivers and obviously heavier on the power consumption so you would need to check your PSU is up to scratch but, beyond that, either card would server you very well.
 
neolojik said:
Out of interest, how is the Dell monitor? My current setup has all IPS panels, I'd be concerned about swapping on to a TN, or has technology improved with regards to TN panels? Also, do you feel Freesync is worth it? I've no personal experience with it and videos on YouTube don't really demonstrate it properly from what I gather.
Click to expand...
Its great, I tried a few VA 1440p 144hz panels before going for this and returned them all due to the slow response times and ghosting/smearing/blur. Motion clarity is #1 for me. Freesync is fantastic, just turn it on and no more screen tearing in any game. I never used vsync as I can notice the input lag from it so had to deal with screen tearing before.
Colors are not great out of the box but after tweaking the gamma its great and doesnt look too different to my secondary IPS monitor.

Check out this thread: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/dell-s2719dgf-owners-thread.18841714/

The problem with 1440p 144hz IPS monitors is that they are literally double the price of the dell for a decent model and you still have to deal with terrible QC issues.

Going for 144hz you will need a new CPU though.
 
I had a 4690k and 970 plodding along nicely for 3 years or so. I decided to get a 2060 FE and its certainly a big jump. I game at 1440p, obviosuly somesettings may need to be lowered on some games but i cant go back to 1080p now, id take the res bump over ultra settings any day.

Now that vega 56 prices are lower and 1660ti is out though its maybe tougher. When i got the 2060 this wasnt the case. The FE card is lovely though.

Now my MB died and its a full on MB/CPU/RAM upgrade. So its turned into an expensive exercise for me!
 
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and suggestions. After a bunch of research, thought and disappointed looks from my bank balance, I decided to spend a little extra and I've picked up an EVGA RTX 2070 XC. I know it's a bit of a waste compared to a 2060 or 1660Ti at 1080p, but I'm still considering a monitor upgrade in the future and may move to 1440p when I do. In the mean time, I'll have more than enough power for the foreseeable future and I know from experience hos excellent EVGA is with regards to customer support,

Once again, I really appreciate all the replies. I don't make these decisions lightly and the info provided by you all has been a big help =)
 
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