Keep the 970 or upgrade?

[Emjay86]

Hey guys, Sorry for yet another thread on this topic!

Im debating on whether or not I should return my 970 for a refund and get a 980 in its place. Whilst it may seem obvious to go for the 980 the reason why im asking here is because A: it costs another £100 and B: the 970 is doing a fair job as it is.

Is the difference between the two that great that its definately worth going through the hassle of sending the 970 back and getting the 980?

Also how much more futureproofing will a 980 give me compared to a 970?

I like running games at high graphic settings (on a 1920x1080 res) and im not really interested in 4k or whatever else the trend is going towards atm.

My last graphics card was a GeForce 580 in SLI (2) and I had them for about 3-4 years.

Would I then be able to enjoy the same kind of wear from my 970 or will the VRAM bottleneck me too much and only end up being good for 2 years?

Cheers and I apologise for the crystal ball questions!

 

[TNA]

If the only choice is 970/980 then I would say in your instance stay with what you have and save the £100. In a year or so put that money towards a 16nm card

 

[~>Dg<~]

keep 970. people will be kicking themselves in a year.

 

[JakePNEFC]

Depends if you're upgrading to a higher res. I'm in the same boat as you not sure whether to upgrade but I'm considering a 1440p screen so im going to return and get a 980

 

[JakePNEFC]

keep 970. people will be kicking themselves in a year.

Getting a full price refund for my 3/4 month old second hand GPU and paying a extra £100 to get a brand new 980 isn't something people will kick themselves over a year on IMO

 

[Legend]

Getting a full price refund for my 3/4 month old second hand GPU and paying a extra £100 to get a brand new 980 isn't something people will kick themselves over a year on IMO

In and of itself, I agree it's a good deal in that sense... essentially you've had a free card to use for 3-4 months. BUT the question is whether that £100 is actually money well spent in light of the fact that in most cases where the 970 is having trouble with games, the 980 will as well... and it's occurring more with SLI set-ups than single card. In terms of longevity, myself and many others would argue that the 970 does not have a significantly reduced lifespan vs the 980... once that 4GB limit in games is being regularly exceeded, neither card will be much cop. And if you're playing at 1080p, the 970 is more than capable and will be for some time. At 1440p there is an edge to the 980 in performance (but not a cost effective one), and above that neither is optimal and you should be looking at 290X 8GB in Crossfire for 4K. I'd advise anyone who NEEDS to change their 970(s) because they are suffering with bad stuttering at 1440p or above to get x2 8GB 290X in Crossfire... OR wait to see what the 3xx series will bring to the table (it should kick the 970's backside, we hope). Moving to a single 980 or 980 SLI makes no fiscal sense, and for most people the decision to buy the 970 was financially motivated in the first place, otherwise they'd already have the 980!

 

[JakePNEFC]

In and of itself, I agree it's a good deal in that sense... essentially you've had a free card to use for 3-4 months. BUT the question is whether that £100 is actually money well spent in light of the fact that in most cases where the 970 is having trouble with games, the 980 will as well... and it's occurring more with SLI set-ups than single card. In terms of longevity, myself and many others would argue that the 970 does not have a significantly reduced lifespan vs the 980... once that 4GB limit in games is being regularly exceeded, neither card will be much cop. And if you're playing at 1080p, the 970 is more than capable and will be for some time. At 1440p there is an edge to the 980 in performance (but not a cost effective one), and above that neither is optimal and you should be looking at 290X 8GB in Crossfire for 4K. I'd advise anyone who NEEDS to change their 970(s) because they are suffering with bad stuttering at 1440p or above to get x2 8GB 290X in Crossfire... OR wait to see what the 3xx series will bring to the table (it should kick the 970's backside, we hope). Moving to a single 980 or 980 SLI makes no fiscal sense, and for most people the decision to buy the 970 was financially motivated in the first place, otherwise they'd already have the 980!

Would a single 980 be no good at 1440p? My rig isn't really set up for sli and don't have a big enough psu/space/fans for more than one amd card

 

[tommybhoy]

The more people bin it, the more AIB's charge extra on top the next round.

At the very most keep it, no point rewarding a liars war chest with more cash, it's simply encouragement to repeat.

 

[Perfect_Chaos]

Would agree with the above, keep settings in check and it should be fine. I'll probably sell mine off a little later this year, not going to punish myself just because of Nvidias mistake but i'm not going to reward them by buying their next cards either.

 

[Legend]

Would a single 980 be no good at 1440p? My rig isn't really set up for sli and don't have a big enough psu/space/fans for more than one amd card

Single 980 @ 1440p is a great card, and obviously a better performer than the 970 (but only to the tune of about 15-20%)... albeit at a price premium. But the 970 runs fine @ 1440p too, and I know because I have one at that resolution. I've had no issues. Let's not get things too out of perspective, most games aren't going over 4GB VRAM, or falling in to that 3.5-4GB band where some 970 owners claim to have had issues (while others have not)... and it'll be a while before this happens regularly. It's just a handful now, and even with those it's easily fixed by notching down the detail levels and AA. And when a 970 is really struggling with the VRAM demands of games on a regular basis, the 980 will be right behind it.

Both the 970/980 are both going to be solid cards for some time yet. I've yet to see someone say their 970 made games totally unplayable but a 980 solved all their problems. Like I said, the majority of issues seem to be occurring with SLI anyway, not single cards, and in those cases you are more likely to be bumping up against that 4GB because of all the GPU grunt you've got, hence the recommendation for 8GB 290X Crossfire. My initial point was some people are overreacting and somehow seem to be operating under the belief that the 970 is now a useless piece of junk and the 980 is a magical card that will do wondrous things that the 970 cannot. Nonsense of course.

All that said, will swapping a 970 for 980 see your frame rates and game performance improve... of course. Will it give your system a big boost in longevity so that you'll be gaming long after 970 users have been forced to bin their cards because they can't run games anymore? No.

 

[Emjay86]

Thanks guys thats helped a lot!

 

[MrAnthony]

Cheers Legend, that's made me feel much better about my 970 too. Only had it a week and a half and I've had no issues at all @1440p. Granted, most games I play are 2+ years old, but with mods, textures, Enb's, etc. they do require a bit more oomph.

If I could afford the 980 I'd have gone for it, but the 970 was just the better option. It runs great, does everything I need so why bother replacing it when A), there's not much to gain, and B) it'll cost me another £250 at least to get the 980 equivalent.