Insane for downgrading?

[Vexr]

I had a GTX 970 that was struggling running a 3440x1440 60 hz monitor, so I upgraded to a GTX 1070 Ti.

NVidia then opened up to the FreeSync standard, so I upgraded from my 3440x1440 @ 60 hz monitor to a 100 hz FreeSync one at the same res with allegedly top-notch GSync compatibility.

I then got addicted to 85 fps+ (preferably 100 fps), and found the 1070 Ti lacking for this without severely compromising graphics settings. My 1070 Ti / general hardware combo also inherited the apparently rare Windows 10 GSync borderless fullscreen bug that meant adaptive sync was essentially only usable in exclusive full screen mode, which certainly irritated me.

I've had a good winter playing my fill of triple AAA games, and either got bored or completed the ones I liked, or was disgusted that my 1070 Ti wasn't delivering the frames/graphics quality I'd hoped for (i.e. AC: Odyssey / FFXV). I'm now in retro mode playing GZDoom and other oldies/indies.

I've therefore sold the 1070 Ti and have an RX 550 2 GB in the post, which is FreeSync compatible and can at least support 100 hz @ 3440x1440 despite being severely anaemic compared to the GTX card.

Am I mad? TBH the only AAA titles I see myself bothering with in the near future are Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2 and Cyberpunk 2077, and it seems likely Navi/other new cards will have launched between now and either of those games arriving on the scene. The other game I might be interested in is WoW:Classic - which will be borderless windowed only if anything like WoW right now, and therefore GSync disabled for me.

 

[Vexr]

You thought a 1070Ti would give you 3440x1440/100? That's the insanity there.

No. I thought a 1070 Ti would give me 3440x1440 @ 60 fps. Then a monitor upgrade happened and raised the frame rate ceiling another 40 fps.

 

[Vexr]

Does the 1070Ti though? I mean I game at 2560*1440 on a 2060 which is roughly similar, ish sort of and 60fps with headroom isn't exactly guaranteed on a lot of games. Or were you talking things like CS:GO that run at silly FPS or what?

I suppose the big title that prompted the GPU upgrade for me was Shadow of the Tomb Raider. TBH, I was disappointed with the 1070 TIs ability to deliver 60 fps at 3440x1440 - settings had to be less than maximum and there were intrusions into the 50 fps range despite my efforts.

I suppose when I went with the 100 hz FreeSync monitor I was entering a new world I'd only heard rumours / weird testimony about, where some insist on 100 fps/hz+ and some find 25 fps looks like 60 fps thanks to GSync/FreeSync, and say they never need more than 30 fps ever again thanks to the syncing.

Unfortunately I turned into a reasonably high fps enthusiast and definitely not content with 30 fps synced, or 60 fps for that matter. 75 fps+ bare minimum would only do me.

The 1070 Ti has gone now and I think when I get back in to real gaming then definitely something along the lines of the Radeon VII/2080/1080 Ti level will be the bare minimum.

 

[Vexr]

It would be hard work even for an RTX Titan to get 60fps at that resolution.

Personally I am more interested in the gameplay rather than the settings.

I often play really old games and at the moment I am on Baldur's Gate 2 and will be kicking a certain Red Dragon's butt when I go back.

I should've said I meant less than high-ultra settings, not the 'maximum' settings like in the benchmark threads, which are quite the insane FPS killers

I picked up Baldur's Gate 2 on the cheap some time ago, will have to give it a go.

Seems there is an error in your post. You go from 1070ti to rx550? The latter will struggle to pull 60fps at 1080p........
Why.you didn't got a Vega 64 with the money from the 1070ti?

TBF, for the amount the 1070 Ti sold minus the cost of the RX 550, I could buy a new Vega 56... though I won't, I think I can wait until more graphics cards are released before deciding.

A big thing for me was realising the 1070 Ti wasn't quite powerful enough for the high end gaming experience I wanted plus the GSync issues I was having with borderless full screen games. The latter definitely seems to be an NVidia/Win10 issue and not to do with FreeSync compatibility, and neither MS or NVidia seem to be in rush to fix it going by what others are saying.

I've now got the RX 550 up and running, and indeed the borderless full screen games I have work properly with FreeSync now.

The performance difference in some games is so extreme it's actually pretty amusing. I know most newer games just shouldn't be attempted, but there are a couple I reckoned that are just 'in range' of this GPU's power, like Cities: Skylines and Life is Strange - Before the Storm. 3440x1440 LiS BTS has gone from 100 fps @ ultra @ 20%-40% GPU usage (probably the GPU wasn't even running at full speed) - to a solid 27 fps @ low @ 100% usage. I'm guessing VRAM has a lot to do with that as it seemed to max the 2 GB.

Cities: Skylines I dropped to low settings and its textures look like a game from 1995 Though obviously CPU bottlenecked generally on a 100k city, even on an extreme zoom out or whatever the game never went above about 25 fps @ 100% GPU usage on the RX550. And yet, Cities Skylines is a borderless windowed only game, so it actually compared okay for smoothness with FreeSync on over the 1070 Ti, which had the aforementioned GSync bug.

The real surprising result is with World of Warcraft, firing up a trial character and going to a city. This is another game that's borderless windowed only, and at default settings gets 60-80 fps quite happily in the middle of Stormwind on the RX550 @ 3440x1440, and if anything looks better/smoother than on the GTX 1070 Ti because it has working FreeSync in borderless windowed mode (and the fact the 1070 Ti doesn't get much more FPS due to WoWs single threaded CPU bottleneck).

Fun experiment this is lol..

 

[Vexr]

You weren't happy with the frame rate from a 1070ti so you downgraded to a 550 and in the process went from 8GB to 2GB. You continue to game at 3440*1440?

There is literally no justification for that. Borderless fullscreen... For what??

The justification is I'm not playing demanding games anymore, I'm playing oldies - like in my GOG catalogue and cheap indies picked up on Steam. I'll re-upgrade later when one of the titles I'm looking forward to is released. I mentioned what was going on with borderless fullscreen + FreeSync/GSync half a dozen times in this thread, so that's why 'for what', whatever that means.

 

[Vexr]

I downgraded from a Titan XP to a 970 as I have no plans to game until the 3000 series hits.

If they price it right I will go for a 3080 Ti. If not will get a 3070 and a PS5. The 3070 will play every game I have now in my library when I want and the PS5 for all the new games

I'm glad someone here gets it

For what, meaning what difference does it make just go fullscreen.

Your thread is missing the most important details; how much did you pay for the 1070ti and how much did you sell it for second hand?

Many games don't have exclusive full screen available - examples being World of Warcraft, Cities: Skylines, and Forza Horizon 4. Most wouldn't notice this unless say their GSync went ballistic when used on 'fake' fullscreen modes.

GTX 1070 Ti cost £400 new and sold for £300. The RX 550 cost £50 (used) .

 

[Vexr]

You threw £100 away for a worse gaming experience. The sensible thing to do would be simply hold the 1070ti but I think you know that hence why you started this thread.

Really? The graphics card sold for less than it cost new, and the point I should take away from that is that 'I threw away the £ difference'. Your ability to quantify subjective value is astounding.

I could buy a new Vega 56 with the money left over from the GPU sale + RX 550, so in pure GPU power terms the money I've thrown away is only the difference between a Vega 56 + RX 550 vs 1070 Ti, plus fully working FreeSync in all screen modes that the nVidia card couldn't deliver - difficult one to quantify.

And then there's the other dimension of time - I'm not playing triple A games right now so the 1070 Ti would just be depreciating in value, plus I decided it wasn't quite fit for purpose anyway and would ideally need to be upgraded sooner rather than later, etc. Complicated factors.

 

[Vexr]

Dude, if my Gran had a pair of balls then she'd be my Grandad.

You've spent £150 and you're sitting there with a second hand RX 550. Now you're asking the Internet if you've made a good move and the answer is no.

I spent £50 on the RX 550 not £150. By your logic then I must add the depreciation cost of my old hardware to any other component I purchase to replace it, whether upgrading or downgrading.

 

[Vexr]

Any reviews would show you the RX-550 capabilities in games against the 1070ti, so with your view of not losing out on the money front to much, you have achieved your goal, saved money and got a lesser GFX card.
dont see any need for a thread about insanity. the bench marks are there for all to read and you know what you want and don't want.

pointless thread really.

Half the internet is pointless - it's called 'content'. That you've replied to this pointless thread tells me you've endorsed it and it's got your neurons firing.

By all means, point me to the review sites showing the GTX 1070 Ti vs RX 550 @ 3440x1440 in appropriate games for comparison. Let's hear the expert take on the merits of the RX 550's low GPU power versus it's uncanny ability to output unusually high resolutions / refresh rates with FreeSync.

 

[Vexr]

your issue mate, you look! pointless thread as I said, click bait only. and anyone with half a brain would know you are insane so you got your answer.

Edit for being a bit harsh: But seriously, who else is dissatisfied with PC performance in the wider context of the terrible overpriced state the graphics card industry is in and isn't tempted to throw in the towel on high-end PC gaming one way or another?

Are those who sell/downgrade their gaming PCs and buy a console also 'insane'?

What about those who may go for Google Stadia type solutions, in which case the lowest-powered but high hz - high res / FreeSync graphics card may end up in quite some demand?

 

[Vexr]

Ive never downgraded.

Not just pcs either, everything. Whether it my car, my house, my pc, my phone, my sound system, other electronics etc. I’ve always had this feeling like downgrading is a failure

Maybe too much consumerism in me

I think the only time I've downgraded previously was when I had a slot 1 Pentium III - 800 MHz O/Ced to 1160 MHz, which I swapped for a Duron 800 MHz and pocketed the cash. Can't fully remember why - maybe I was that desperate for money or maybe I was moving over from an AGP motherboard.

Fortunately not had to downgrade anything else (property, car, etc). The fact I'm not feeling at all that bad about this graphics card downgrade is something reassuring.

 

[Vexr]

^Agreed - smart moves made.

your issue mate, you look! pointless thread as I said, click bait only. and anyone with half a brain would know you are insane so you got your answer.

Oi, report back. Your worthless smug ill-informed opinion mandates further follow up discussion about exactly how you're superior and right, which you aren't.

 

[Vexr]

By the time Cyberpunk 2077 comes out I get the feeling 1070Ti will be worth no more than £150. I am hoping Navi will push this tear performance's pricing down

That's my feeling. I bought my GTX 970 used for £220 IIRC, which was a bargain at the time. I ended up selling it for £100. I even had two used GTX 970s costing about £450 together at one point, but quickly got rid of one at cost after I found out proper SLI in Rise of The Tomb Raider wasn't happening anytime soon.

Further depreciate? He sold it for £300 having bought it for £400. He then had to buy a card for £50 and now has much less performance with no warranty.

He could've kept the 1070ti for another year and not "lost" much more than the £50 he spent on the 550. If a game comes up in the meantime that needs the power, it's there. If the card breaks in that time, he can RMA it.

The thing people seem to forget is that I actually got use out of the 1070 Ti, playing probably at least two thirds of the triple A titles this generation has to offer before I sold it for the £100/25% loss. I scratched the itch, experienced the games, and in the end saw this card was overly expensive for what it was delivering and questioned my PC gaming habits when I could be nicely entertained on older/indie titles that barely require much GPU power at all.

I also have a healthy anticipation of what titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2 may bring, plus Navi/some near-future leap in ray tracing performance, and figured I'd cash out now. There's even Stadia to consider - if that ends up offering 100 hz @ 3440x1440 ultra / ray traced for some reasonable price per month along with access to games without purchase, then that'd make a middle-of-the-road but overpriced card like the 1070 Ti completely redundant.

On top of all that I had my GSync issue - which possibly may only become more prevalent as the move to DX12 borderless fullscreen becomes the standard at the expense of exclusive full screen, and no sign NVidia / MS are even willing to acknowledge it, let alone fix it.