Graphics Card upgrade from NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti

jjd323 · 29 Mar 2015 at 12:37

I bought a computer from OC in 2012 with the following specs (old post):

More recent DxDiag with monitor and peripherals (if relevant?)

I use a dual monitor setup, with my main monitor at 2560x1440 resolution. The only upgrade I have made it to switch in some higher quality RAM (still 16 Gb) as there were some timing/stability issues with the original Corsair RAM.

I have noticed that some games (SC2, Heroes of the Storm, CS:GO) push the limits of my build when I play in Windowed Fullscreen at 2560x1440 resolution. To maintain acceptable fps I have either to play in reduced graphics quality (looks ugly), Fullscreen (don't like as I can't alt+tab easily) or Windowed mode at a lower resolution (don't like as I don't use the full screen).

Four main questions :

Q1) Is it reasonable to assume the GFX card is limiting here? (How can I test, do I need to or is this obvious?)

Q2) Could upgrading to a GTX 970 resolve the issues above? (This chart indicates 3x improvement)

Q3) Which is the quietest GTX 970 (under load) without oging too much over £300?

Q4) Can I simply swap it for the old GTX 560 Ti without needing to upgrade motherboard to take advantage of it?

snips86x · 29 Mar 2015 at 12:40

1) Yes - that card could do with being reaplced. A GTX980 or Titan X would have no trouble with 1440p. I would point out that the Titan X is the only card currently which handles 1440p perfectly without any issues!

Q2) Seeing as you're gaming at 1440p, a 970 wouldn't cut it, sorry! It's memoty architechture is 3.5gb + .5gb so you'll find it may struggle when using more than 3.5GB VRAM @ 1440p

3) Is £300 your limit? That would be 290x territory or a 780Ti for £250 (780Ti would be better really) I wouldn't spend too much though as in June AMD will release more cards & nVidia have the 980Ti in the pipeline!

4)Yes, simply swap is fine if staying with nVidia but make sure you've updated to the most recent driver!

290x
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-342-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

780Ti
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-208-OK&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1402

africanos23 · 29 Mar 2015 at 12:40

Your build is pretty solid all you need is a GPU nothing else. The GTX970 will be fine for the games you mentioned.

I had a Galax EXOC 970 that was very very silent and cool.

SC2 and Heroes of the Storm are very badly optimized btw just so you know.

jjd323 · 29 Mar 2015 at 13:45

Thanks for your comments.

£300 is not a hard budget limit and I can definitely spend a little more if the marginal returns justifies it. I'm not looking to spend £1k on a 'latest-and-greatest' right now. I don't think I could justify spending over £400 without an exceptional performance jump (ie if £500 would double performance, which seems unreasonable to expect).

Thanks for your comment snips86x — I will look into the June releases as this is not an urgent requirement and it might be that waiting a few months could be significant.

If I do upgrade I expect the card to last me 3-4 years at which point I expect I would be looking for a dual or triple 4K setup with much a much less restricted budget.

snips86x · 29 Mar 2015 at 13:48

If you're after something to last that long, I'd suggest waiting. The details we have of the 390x at the moment make it look like an incredible card but prices are yet unknown - it's just speculation.

The 980Ti will be a cut down version of the Titan X, which looking at the Titan X's performance now the 980Ti will be a stonking card.

Hope this help!

pieman109 · 29 Mar 2015 at 14:25

^^^^^^^^^^ This. I was about to suggest that also. The 390x "should" make an appearance within 2-3 months hopefully and depending how it performs/costs, you might be able to pick up a bargain when people offload their old cards for the latest and bestest replacement.
If you musrt have a new card now, snip86x suggestion is really the best option.

bru · 29 Mar 2015 at 15:40

To be honest, seeing as you have been using a 1GB 560ti for the last few years, people telling you that a 970 wouldn't cut it really don't know what they are talking about.

A 970 or 290x if you fancy AMD would be fine for your usage and either will last you many years, yes there will be games that cannot run at absolute maximum details at your resolution, but lowering just a couple of settings will allow you to play just about anything, just fine.

It will be a massive boost from what you have been used too and waiting, then going for something more powerful, will probably cause the bottleneck to shift to your CPU anyway, completely negating the whole point of waiting in the first place.

NVidia 970, or AMD 290/x you wont be disappointed with either.

mburn_83 · 29 Mar 2015 at 15:49

I recently went from a 560ti to 970 and find it too perform very well at 1440p /w the highest settings on any game I have tried so far.

Would deffo recommend - esp with the current free game offers.

snips86x · 29 Mar 2015 at 15:54

bru said:
To be honest, seeing as you have been using a 1GB 560ti for the last few years, people telling you that a 970 wouldn't cut it really don't know what they are talking about.

A 970 or 290x if you fancy AMD would be fine for your usage and either will last you many years, yes there will be games that cannot run at absolute maximum details at your resolution, but lowering just a couple of settings will allow you to play just about anything, just fine.

It will be a massive boost from what you have been used too and waiting, then going for something more powerful, will probably cause the bottleneck to shift to your CPU anyway, completely negating the whole point of waiting in the first place.

NVidia 970, or AMD 290/x you wont be disappointed with either.

Ok, so you don't see the 3.5gb Vram an issue then? It's been proven that at 1440p games can top 4gb usage so no, it won't be OK and you run the risk of having a card which will cause you just as many issues as any AMD card.

A 3.5gb is too much of a risk!

bru · 29 Mar 2015 at 16:14

snips86x said:
Ok, so you don't see the 3.5gb Vram an issue then? It's been proven that at 1440p games can top 4gb usage so no, it won't be OK and you run the risk of having a card which will cause you just as many issues as any AMD card.

A 3.5gb is too much of a risk!

For the ultra must have the ultimate enthusiast, 3.5GB 'MIGHT' be an issue in certain situations. But for most games players and almost certainly for the opening poster, playing the games he is playing it wont be an issue.
Remember he has been running a 1GB 560ti for the last few years.

snips86x · 29 Mar 2015 at 16:24

bru said:
For the ultra must have the ultimate enthusiast, 3.5GB 'MIGHT' be an issue in certain situations. But for most games players and almost certainly for the opening poster, playing the games he is playing it wont be an issue.
Remember he has been running a 1GB 560ti for the last few years.

Good Point!

I only make the point as I would be disappointed if it were me, but that's not to say his choice will be wrong

bru · 29 Mar 2015 at 16:46

The other thing of course, if he has no preference for either NVidia or AMD, the 290x is also a great choice, which will also serve him well for many years.

Telecaster · 29 Mar 2015 at 16:58

snips86x said:
Seeing as you're gaming at 1440p, a 970 wouldn't cut it, sorry! It's memoty architechture is 3.5gb + .5gb so you'll find it may struggle when using more than 3.5GB VRAM @ 1440p

... or a 780Ti for £250 (780Ti would be better really)...

How is 3GB 780ti a better option than a 3.5+0.5GB 970?

jjd323 · 29 Mar 2015 at 21:00

Thanks for your coments guys. I'm going to go with this OcUK GeForce GTX 970 (with free GTA:V).

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 29 Mar 2015 at 21:47

SC2, Heroes of the Storm, CS:GO

A R9 290 would be fine for those games,especially since the first two are going to be more CPU limited. Even an R9 280 or GTX770 would do the job fine. I would also overclock your CPU.

mnc fear · 30 Mar 2015 at 00:06

I had the same predicament and the 780 Ti on sale for £249 looks a winner. Although waiting to see what happens when the 300 Series cards happen is also good advice.

ALXAndy · 30 Mar 2015 at 00:27

From what I read in last month's Custom PC the R290 is actually a better card for 1440p.

Absolutely no doubt it comes down to the memory bus so I would avoid the 970.

If I were buying right now I would snap up a 780ti. It doesn't have a rubbish memory bus so is a much better bet for 1440p. You're only losing 500mb of usable VRAM too so yeah, much better card for the money.

africanos23 · 30 Mar 2015 at 00:32

ALXAndy said:
From what I read in last month's Custom PC the R290 is actually a better card for 1440p.

Absolutely no doubt it comes down to the memory bus so I would avoid the 970.

If I were buying right now I would snap up a 780ti. It doesn't have a rubbish memory bus so is a much better bet for 1440p. You're only losing 500mb of usable VRAM too so yeah, much better card for the money.

The R9-290 is better at 1440p+ but looking at the games OP plays anything will do IMO be it the GTX970-780Ti or R9-290

bru · 30 Mar 2015 at 00:41

africanos23 said:
The R9-290 is better at 1440p+ but looking at the games OP plays anything will do IMO be it the GTX970-780Ti or R9-290

Yup
Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of what an average game player needs, rather than what we as enthusiasts need, or indeed would like.

Dirk Diggler · 30 Mar 2015 at 05:49

If you really need to buy now and you can afford it, get a 980. A titan would be a waste of cash.

Forget the 970 for 1440p.