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Mulling over an upgrade for 4K

Jim99

Jim99

Jim99

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Joined
25 Feb 2015
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I'm thinking about upgrading, but being a cheap barstool I'm really agonising over it.

I bought a GTX 760 a while back to run my 28" 4K Samsung, and it does the job. I have to keep the settings down, but GTA V ran OK, and I'm not generally a bleeding-edge gamer, so AC:Black Flag, Driver SF, ME2, Rome 2 TW etc have all run OK to great. On the other hand, GTA:V would probably be a lot nicer with at least some of the settings turned up, and CoD:Ghosts ran like an absolute dog.

I've tried running things at 1080p to help, but it just looks awful to me now. I guess being used to 4K is the problem - 1080p ends up looking blocky on 22", let alone 28".

I've heard that the 960 is barely an improvement over the 760, the 970 doesn't seem like the best option for 4K re: 3.5GB, and I'm struggling to see the 980 and Ti as being good value for money. ~£230 is normally my GPU budget. And AMD, normally my preference, feels like a non-option given that G-Sync will be my next move (FreeSync not impressing me thus far).

Any thoughts?

EDIT: Other than that I'm a cheap barstool and upgrading to 4K with a 760 was incredibly stupid, if possible.
 
VincentHanna said:
980Ti SLI or Titan X SLI to get decent 4k performance.

You can't do it on the cheap really.
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Thing is, I keep reading this, but if my GTX 760 copes then I have to conclude Ti SLI isn't essential. I'm sure you whack everything up to ultra at 4K then you can make a Titan X squirm, but the net benefit is rarely all that when you compare the screenshots (IMO).
 
Jim99 said:
Thing is, I keep reading this, but if my GTX 760 copes then I have to conclude Ti SLI isn't essential. I'm sure you whack everything up to ultra at 4K then you can make a Titan X squirm, but the net benefit is rarely all that when you compare the screenshots (IMO).
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In that case I'd be tempted by a s/h 290X or if their is a deal about for something new. A nice balance of gpu power and the vRam to support it (4GB version of course) :)
 
My 290x handled 4k surprisingly well. Yeah you have to turn down the settings a little and overclocking it makes a world of difference but it's certainly do able :)

I got rid of mine because i wanted 4K ultra and that just costs waaay to much money at the moment.
 
JediFragger said:
It's not bad by any stretch, I just like 60fps locked :D I think I'll be getting another at some point ;)
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Trying to get 60fps locked at max settings in 2015 would destroy most peoples' wallet setting them back by at least about a grand :p

2016 is probably the best (more wallet-friendly) time to make the first jump onto 4K, as with the die-shrink and new graphic cards, we can hopefully get a pair of cards at around £250~£330 each that can deliver at least the performance of a pair of 980Ti/Fury X today ;)
 
Single Titan X and a Gsync monitor are what's required for 4k (Fury X/980Ti will also probably be similar). That will give you mostly highest settings in GTA 5 and Witcher 3 with some options on the next to highest and only FXAA, no MSAA.

I find this is a very good experience, framerates average around 40 in W3 and 50 in GTA 5


But really don't go 4k, go 1440p, it's a lot cheaper and not a massive difference IMHO
 
Well the number of pixels are 2M, 3.7M and 8M respectively, so indeed there is the largest jump going from 1440p to 2160p, not by that much though. Guess it depends how good your eyesight is :-)
 
Marine-RX179 said:
Trying to get 60fps locked at max settings in 2015 would destroy most peoples' wallet setting them back by at least about a grand :p

2016 is probably the best (more wallet-friendly) time to make the first jump onto 4K, as with the die-shrink and new graphic cards, we can hopefully get a pair of cards at around £250~£330 each that can deliver at least the performance of a pair of 980Ti/Fury X today ;)
Click to expand...


Games will try introduce super ultra settings to push the new cards when that happens its like a merri go round.
 
I run 4K, I find I can max almost every game I play, but I play without AA on most games now, since I can barely tell a difference at 4K with a 28 inch panel.
There is a HUGE fidelity bump from 1440p to 4k, 1080p to 1440p was nice, but 1440p to 4K is like a whole other thing. I have never had a high Hz monitor, but given that you need a better setup for 144Hz 1440p than you do for 60Hz 4K, I am glad I went 4K now over 144Hz 1440p which I was also considering.

I think most of the people on here are absolutely crazy in saying what you "NEED" to play at certain resolutions. I see people saying you NEED a 980Ti to max stuff at 1080p, or you NEED more than 4GB of VRAM for 1440p, oh please :rolleyes:
I think people see the words "what do I need for X" and just assume they mean absolutely maxed with 8xAA and 60 FPS at least at all times. This is a valid stance, but at high resolutions I find anything over 2xAA completely useless.

I played 1440p with a single R9 290 for the longest time and had no problems with any game. Sure, I had to turn MSAA down to 2x instead of 4x, oh no the hardship, it makes almost no visual impact at 1440p to to the pixel density, and saved me a nice £150 minimum for the 10 FPS extra I will have gotten with a better GPU.
Now at 4k, my 2 290's handle everything I throw at them, GTAV at 60 FPS maxed with FXAA (other than grass quality which is on high because everyone knows what a killer that is). Tomb raider maxed with FXAA, DA:I, skyrim with 250 mods + ENB, quite a few more too... I haven't played witcher 3 yet. but I imagine they can handle that too.

In short, do you NEED to absolutely max out every single slider including the almost useless AA settings at 4K? Yes? then you need minimum 2 980Ti's. Are you willing to turn down one setting from maximum to one level below that to go from 55 to 60 fps? if so, 2 390's will do you (although bare in mine AMD's crossfire profile support isn't the best, not a problem for me luckily though)

Even a single 290/390 will do you ok at 4k if you are willing to play with 2x/no AA and mostly high settings or if you are playing anything that isnt very new. A single R9 290 for example at 4k gets 48 average FPS on Metro 2033 Redux on the high preset with the other settings being maxed (other than super sampling). Pretty playable in my eyes for a cost that is 1/4 of what most people suggest.
 
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Jim99 said:
Thing is, I keep reading this, but if my GTX 760 copes then I have to conclude Ti SLI isn't essential.
Click to expand...

You're right. I was running games on a single 780 Ti at 4K at settings of Medium/High or better. A single 980 Ti will do you just fine at high / ultra.
 
Meladath said:
I run 4K, I find I can max almost every game I play, but I play without AA on most games now, since I can barely tell a difference at 4K with a 28 inch panel.
I think most of the people on here are absolutely crazy in saying what you "NEED" to play at certain resolutions. I see people saying you NEED a 980Ti to max stuff at 1080p, or you NEED more than 4GB of VRAM for 1440p, oh please :rolleyes:


Even a single 290/390 will do you ok at 4k if you are willing to play with 2x/no AA and mostly high settings or if you are playing anything that isnt very new. A single R9 290 for example at 4k gets 48 average FPS on Metro 2033 Redux on the high preset with the other settings being maxed (other than super sampling). Pretty playable in my eyes for a cost less than 1/4 of what most people suggest.
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AMD offers the better scaling on all their cards.
playable at 4k is different for everyone though.
good post
 
Get 4K run your GPU, if you like what you see happy days, if not upgrade, ignore all these people that say you need to sell your mum and your left ******* to run 4K, you know how you like to game crack on.

I'd rather play in 4k at 40FPS than any less resolution, once you've gone 4k you'll never go back, I would recommend a G-Sync monitor does wonders for lower FPS.
 
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