Help Please!

[LiveWireUK]

Hello!

I've been out of the loop for way too long. My friend is looking to upgrade his PC so have deicded to sell him my stuff so I need to replace it.

I'll be getting a 5930k (one of the overclocked bundles from here) so that's easily sorted but I've no idea what graphics card to go for.

Currently I own 2 x 290's but want to move to a single card setup (may add another in the future if Crossfire/SLI is worthwhile or if you guys recommend it) but after reading everything I have no idea what card to go for.

I know a new bunch are due for release in the next few months but will need to purchase before then. I don't mind going either nvidia or AMD, just need guidance.

Budget is, in principle up to a Titan X but if better combinations are done for cheaper, I'll gladly take that.

Currently running a Superflower Platinum 1000w PSU so power should be no issue.

Hope this is enough info!

Cheers!

-LiveWireUK

 

[VincentHanna]

Hello.

The Titan X is a year old this month, and though it's still the top tier Nvidia product, Pascal will be announced in April at the GTC and sales are rumoured to start in June.

Similarly, AMD Polaris is rumoured to be announced in a few weeks at the GDC (Game Developers Conference)

I would argue that it might not be the best time to buy a Titan X.

 

[JediFragger]

Tbh if you need a card now and not in 5/6 months then you won't go wrong with an aftermarket (and overclocked as standard) 980Ti. Generally as fast or even faster than a 290X Crossfire setup but without the mGPU hassles

An example;

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/84722-zotac-geforce-gtx-980-ti-amp-extreme/

And then if/when you fancy a boost you can pair it with another in a year or 2 (my PSU is more than capable, and so is yours )

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I wouldn't buy a GTX980TI/Titan X now as the newer generation cards will be out this year and have better support for things like DX12,and people saying buy the card now will probably be the first to ditch them pre-emptively to get the latest and greatest!

Cards like the GTX680 might have been considered midrange by some here but had no problems thrashing the GTX580 and had better DX11 support,etc. The "midrange" GTX980 had no problem sending off the GTX780TI or Titan Black either. Hence I can see a 300MM2 to 400MM2 Pascal chip doing quite well against a GTX980TI IMHO.

The R9 290 cards are solid - I would probably be more inclined to "bear" them for a while longer if I were you OP.

 

[LiveWireUK]

Thanks for all the input!

Perhaps it'll be sensible to wait on the graphics cards - wasn't sure how much of a big difference the new ones would make (and until we see them, we won't know) but the added DX12 support definitely seems appealing.

 

[VincentHanna]

Well put it this way, Graphics cards have been made on a 28nm fabrication process for nearly 5 years. Smaller fab processes allow you to use less power and in theory generate less heat - which is important. Really the Titan X is the absolute limit of what you can achieve on a 28nm process.

Nvidia Pascal and AND Polaris will both be a 16nm process. Not to mention that they will both be using Gen 2.0 HBM memory instead of the traditionally (slower) GDDR5.

They should both be a huge leap foward.

As a comparison, Intel CPU's are currently on a 14nm fab process.

 

[LiveWireUK]

@VincentHanna - that's a great piece of advice - thank you