Should I upgrade? Platform / 970 - 1070

[nashathedog]

You could go with an i7 and a 1070 but it might be a good move to get on a newer platform and sell the bits you have while they're still sellable for more than tuppence, It's not like you're doing an upgrade for the hell, because you're bored. As I just read mentioned the 1070 isn't a spring chicken now so it'll be worth leaving the gpu upgrade a little longer to see what else turns up on the market.

 

[opethdisciple]

Honesty, while the 1070 is a better card, I don't see the point buying one at this point, it's been out awhile and there's always something out around the corner. It's the age old PC builders question 'should I wait?' I'm a strong believer in if I'm going to upgrade from what I have, I'll upgrade at the start of a new generation of components to avoid the dreaded buyers remorse, you could end up with the 1070, and it is a brilliant card make no mistake about that, but, what if AMD's Vega, say the 580 is better and cheaper, and by going off the 480, I would say it's likely to out perform it in Vulkan and DX12 by some distance.

I would hold on to what you have, for just a little while yet

Yea. This is how I usually operate. I set a target. For example the last time I upgraded it was when the 670 and the AMD bulldozer launch. I set my target for both of these things to happen and then make a decision. In the end Bulldozer was a disappointment so I went with a 3570k and the 670 which I waited for launch.

I could set my target as Vega and then see from there.

 

[JamesM]

More and more games are finally taking advantage of more cores, BF1 is a good example of this.

DX12 isn't great with Nvidia and BF1 but when I used my 4690k it was a stuttering mess with my 1070. I bit the bullet and upgraded to X99 with the idea that I shouldn't need to upgrade my CPU again. I instantly noticed a performance increase in BF1. The game stopped stuttering and ran smooth as butter at 1080 with everything on Ultra.

Everyone about 6 months ago was saying you don't need a i7 for games, well times are changing.

Yes you could buy a 1070 now (or maybe even a 1080) but in some games you will be limited by CPU performance.

 

[opethdisciple]

Further evidence that a 1070 is now a 1080p card.

For 60fps:

1070 - 1080p
1080 - 1440p
1080ti - 4k

 

[Griffildur]

The prices have dropped a lot, so the biggest question for you is how long do you really want to wait.

You can buy a 1070 or 1080 right now and they are both great value for money, although at this point I really think the 1080 is the best value for money card you can buy. Your choice really, keep waiting and hoping something better comes along ... or just buy whatever the heck you can and enjoy it. Waiting and gaming are not exactly compatible, know what I'm saying ?

 

[opethdisciple]

The prices have dropped a lot, so the biggest question for you is how long do you really want to wait.

You can buy a 1070 or 1080 right now and they are both great value for money, although at this point I really think the 1080 is the best value for money card you can buy. Your choice really, keep waiting and hoping something better comes along ... or just buy whatever the heck you can and enjoy it. Waiting and gaming are not exactly compatible, know what I'm saying ?

Yep. Know exactly what your saying!

But 1080 best value for money?

I only game at 1200p. (currently)

 

[mahius]

1070 isn't too bad. As long as you don't pay much over £350 for one. The price increase is what really hurts the upgrade to 1070 (even with recent price drops), it's in a different price tier to what the 970 was.

But! Once again, it's this time of year again. The time of year where I suggest: wait for Fiji Polaris Vega. It's highly likely there will be a card competing closely with the 1070. It could potentially beat 1070 by a fair bit at the same price. And even if that card turns out not great, Nvidia will potentially drop prices to try and hit back AMD. It's exactly what happened when the 300 series launched. That day, the 970 took a permanent price drop, at least on Overclockers UK.

I guess I'm probably going to be saying 'wait for Vega!' a lot in the next few months...

 

[opethdisciple]

1070 isn't too bad. As long as you don't pay much over £350 for one. The price increase is what really hurts the upgrade to 1070 (even with recent price drops), it's in a different price tier to what the 970 was.

But! Once again, it's this time of year again. The time of year where I suggest: wait for Fiji Polaris Vega. It's highly likely there will be a card competing closely with the 1070. It could potentially beat 1070 by a fair bit at the same price. And even if that card turns out not great, Nvidia will potentially drop prices to try and hit back AMD. It's exactly what happened when the 300 series launched. That day, the 970 took a permanent price drop, at least on Overclockers UK.

I guess I'm probably going to be saying 'wait for Vega!' a lot in the next few months...

Yes, it makes sense. We're in that bubble zone now where we are so close to something new. But the whole Ryzen thing has shown that I am currently CPU bottle necked by my 3570k even with a 970. And I've got the funds for a new build and of course itching for a new GPU too.

I guess if AMD can do with Vega what they've done with Ryzen.... their be worth waiting for.

In the meant time.