Should I buy a new graphics card now?

[BTVA]

Hello,

I am currently building an ITX machine. All the parts are built and ready just the graphics card is still not decided.
The recent price drop on GTX 1080 has put them in a very tempting spot (£500) for me with its performance. Coming from GTX 970 HOF, I am looking for something that can perform well at 1440p 110fps+. I only play Battlefield series.
So the question is, should I wait a bit more for the next AMD's generation? Or just buy a standard size 1080 as it seems OCUK is putting 1080 variants on daily offer.

My specs:
i7 5820K @ 4.5Ghz
2x8GB Raiden @ 2800Mhz
Corsair SF600
my build log is here: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/lian-li-q37wx-a-watercooled-itx-project.18772786/

Thank you ocuk for the space.

 

[silversurfer]

I only play Battlefield series.

Fairly sure the BF series is biased towards Nvidia, but I might be thinking of an older game engine. If you are just asking for one game, that makes that games forums maybe the best place to ask which card runs it best. Sounds like you can decide on the current Nvidia releases, there is only Volta from nvidia which is next year I think

 

[FredFlint]

Fairly sure the BF series is biased towards Nvidia

I think you are wrong. AMD GPU's always do well in Battlefield games which is why AMD demo new hardware with Battlefield. I would wait for VEGA, then decide.

 

[Wrinkly]

I would imagine Vega will launch in May since AMD has it's deal with Bethesda and Prey is slotted for May 6th, a game which is supposed to highlight Vega's new features. Either way I can't see the 1080s rising in price as they were always sub £500 cards.

I'm sitting happy with a 980Ti at 1440p/60Hz waiting for new tech. Pascal doesn't offer me anything new at the moment and I want to upgrade my monitor to a 3440x1440 HDR Adaptive Sync panel next.

 

[nashathedog]

No, You'll be better of waiting for another 4-8 weeks,
By then we'll at least have the Polaris refreshes available.
That'll have an effect on pricing for both AMD amd Nvidia's
low to mid range cards.

 

[efish]

Thats a nice machine! My heart would want to fill it now my brain would say wait.

If I had £500 now, I would try to hold off see if I could save a bit more cash. If I was only looking at Nividia I would hope that my choice at £500 or less had expanded (save some money or get something better in the same price range) or if I had managed to save £70-£80, the 1080ti looked like it may be in range with a bit more patience.

Personaly I would want to fill that case with a 1080ti f.e. with a waterblock down the road. I would be keeping my fingers crossed and hope A.M.D do a blinder and prices drop a bit.

 

[BTVA]

Fairly sure the BF series is biased towards Nvidia, but I might be thinking of an older game engine. If you are just asking for one game, that makes that games forums maybe the best place to ask which card runs it best. Sounds like you can decide on the current Nvidia releases, there is only Volta from nvidia which is next year I think

I think you are wrong. AMD GPU's always do well in Battlefield games which is why AMD demo new hardware with Battlefield. I would wait for VEGA, then decide.

Thank you surfer and Fred for the input!
sorry for not being clear in the first place, by BF series I mean Battlefield 1 and 4. They are indeed favour AMD but just very slightly.

I would imagine Vega will launch in May since AMD has it's deal with Bethesda and Prey is slotted for May 6th, a game which is supposed to highlight Vega's new features. Either way I can't see the 1080s rising in price as they were always sub £500 cards.

I'm sitting happy with a 980Ti at 1440p/60Hz waiting for new tech. Pascal doesn't offer me anything new at the moment and I want to upgrade my monitor to a 3440x1440 HDR Adaptive Sync panel next.

The GTX 1080's price is certainly won't be raising. But at £479 (Gigabyte G1) it is just so tempting really

No, You'll be better of waiting for another 4-8 weeks,
By then we'll at least have the Polaris refreshes available.
That'll have an effect on pricing for both AMD amd Nvidia's
low to mid range cards.

4 weeks without playing any games may god give me the strength.
my brain certainly agrees with you but you know I also have a heart

Thats a nice machine! My heart would want to fill it now my brain would say wait.

If I had £500 now, I would try to hold off see if I could save a bit more cash. If I was only looking at Nividia I would hope that my choice at £500 or less had expanded (save some money or get something better in the same price range) or if I had managed to save £70-£80, the 1080ti looked like it may be in range with a bit more patience.

Personaly I would want to fill that case with a 1080ti f.e. with a waterblock down the road. I would be keeping my fingers crossed and hope A.M.D do a blinder and prices drop a bit.

Thank you for the compliment! Yes I am 100% with you on this. Building it all the way but have to wait another couple of weeks just so irritating. As much as i love the performance of 1080 ti, my wallet would slap me to the moon and back if I pull the trigger.

 

[nashathedog]

4 weeks without playing any games may god give me the strength.
my brain certainly agrees with you but you know I also have a heart

That's the heartache we all face in such a situation, It might be worth buying yourself a cheapish b grade gpu that you can afford to keep in the cupboard for future emergencies.
For example today you can get cards like these at an okay price and use them on the 90 day warranty while you wait for the big releases,
and once your done with them if they've shown no issues you can then put it back in the box at the back of the cupboard for a rainy day.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/b-gr...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-bg-123-sp.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/b-gr...graphics-card-gtx750ti-oc-2gd5-bg-756-as.html

Here's the list of current B grades. some seem a bit high but there are good ones.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/clearance/graphics-cards

 

[Razor Time]

I wouldn't wait and would just buy a 1080 now.

 

[Freddie1980]

I wouldn't wait and would just buy a 1080 now.

+1

If you can afford a 1080 then get one now, there's nothing else available at this price point and I only expect AMD to match 1080 performance rather then better it so don't bother waiting.

 

[silversurfer]

AMD already matches 1080 with a 480 crossfire. I dont know but what is the point of vega if its not achieving more in some way

• Memory: 2048MB 5600MHz GDDR5

2 gig wont be enough for some games, sooner rather then later. Nasty lag from not enough vram even if with modest aspirations of an old card. I guess its fine now, just 90 for a backup that wont be enough in future is meh

 

[BTVA]

That's the heartache we all face in such a situation, It might be worth buying yourself a cheapish b grade gpu that you can afford to keep in the cupboard for future emergencies.
For example today you can get cards like these at an okay price and use them on the 90 day warranty while you wait for the big releases,
and once your done with them if they've shown no issues you can then put it back in the box at the back of the cupboard for a rainy day.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/b-gr...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-bg-123-sp.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/b-gr...graphics-card-gtx750ti-oc-2gd5-bg-756-as.html

Here's the list of current B grades. some seem a bit high but there are good ones.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/clearance/graphics-cards

Thanks guys for the great help. I have decided to buy a 2nd R9 290X as suggested by nasha and keep waiting until the next generation of both AMD and nvidia come out.

 

[Griffildur]

you do realise that there is always something around the corner, right?

You could spend your life waiting or you could play some games. I am of a different school, just buy what you want and don't wait.

Let's see how waiting works ... bought a 1080, preorder, cost me £619. 10 months later I could buy the same card a little bit cheaper. Is it worth the wait? Hell no. You could spend some money now buying a cheaper card ( which to be honest is a good idea but maybe now is not the time ) or you could take advantage of one of the great deals these days and buy a 1080 for £450 ish, for example. Yes you could get a better deal, maybe, in a couple of months but that's 2 months of waiting and having a less enjoyable experience. Also knowing AMD I wouldn't count on seeing anything in May. It might be just a paper launch and you could wait another 2 months for the decent cards to appear. Up to you, really, but then if you wait 2 years let's say, you could buy the current generation cards for peanuts

 

[BigBANGtheory]

imho your real choices are
- buy an EVGA 1080Ti FE now if you have water cooling already, or intend to fit a hybrid cooler
- buy a 2nd hand 980Ti (will see your to Vega and Volta, maybe a little more)
- wait for 1080Ti AIB solutions (3-4weeks)
- wait for Vega (12weeks)
- buy a heavily discounted 480x if your a 1080p gamer

Personally if I were you I'd wait for Vega, whilst we don't know that much it is almost certain to surpass a GTX 1080 at every level. If you can get a 1080 for £375 that is imho the break even point atm. I went the 2nd hand 980Ti route myself because I was without GPU, I probably would have bought a 1080Ti had they been available.

 

[BTVA]

To Griffildur,
you got a very strong point. AMD is famous for there paper launch and lack of availability. I have cancelled my order on the 2nd 290X. I also have found a very decent deal on Evga GTX 1080 + back plate + waterblock. So I think I will just go with this deal.

To BigBANGtheory,
I have managed to find a very good deal on an EVGA GTX1080. Thanks a lot for your help.