** The Official Nvidia GeForce 'Pascal' Thread - for general gossip and discussions **

[Ayahuasca]

You haven't really built a PC to last 5 years if you've upgraded the GPU with a £500 card for example in that time, that's a considerable amount added to the original purchase with a top GPU of the time and also means you aren't really using the same PC as the components have changed, so what rob said stands correct, no system built 5 years ago will play any game that well today if you want decent settings/resolution and a solid framerate.

I'd be interested to know what your spec is Pottsey for running everything great at 1440p as there's solid gaming PC's built in the last 2-3 years that can't run everything great at that resolution.

 

[andybird123]

If you're into building monster PCs you're probably not the kind of person that waits 5 years to upgrade.

FFT: 5 years ago the top spec card and CPU was a GTX 580 (590 was released at the end of March 2011) and Intel's 2600K.

GPU comparison of top end 5 years ago and top end now:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1444?vs=1496

And equivalent for CPU (although if you only play games then this probably doesn't have as big an impact):

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/287?vs=1543

yeah, a CPU/motherboard will just about last 5 years, but clearly the GPU is the single biggest cost to a PC, and there is no way people are going to be playing on highish settings 5 years later, or even 3, so you may as well sell your old card and get the latest equivalent (e.g. if you get a 780/ti then get a 980ti, skip the Gx104 half step)

in fact the best thing you can do is get rid of your old GPU just before the new ones hit - its surprising how few people follow GPU rumours and will snap up your old rubbish days before a massive price drop... same goes for CPU and mobo really... if I had to get basically nothing for my old stuff to rebuild from fresh every 5 years I'm not sure I could face it... getting back at least 50% of what you paid and just having to top up to replace piecemeal is much easier and even if it doesn't save you much its much easier to justify £2-300 every 18 months than it is £1500 in one hit

my last GPU upgrade I went from 3 down to 2 and it cost me less than £100 after all the postage and fees etc.

 

[namnoc]

One of my current computers has last well over 5 years:

Other than the motherboard, processor, RAM, graphics card and SSD, the only things I ever had to upgrade were the monitors

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I find graphics cards and storage usually are things which get upgraded sooner rather than later. Even if you have a locked SB Core i5 from 2011 you are usually OK in many games still!!

 

[Sin_Chase]

Indeed, platform can last for ages. Intel have done themselves no favours by releasing such ridiculous chips.

For example, the 2500k still is an amazing chip for gaming. I only upgraded from mine as I wanted to try SLI and needed an SLI capable board, made sense to change platform at the same time.

GPUs I tend to get about 2 years out of, before I start to feel the itch.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Indeed, platform can last for ages. Intel have done themselves no favours by releasing such ridiculous chips.

For example, the 2500k still is an amazing chip for gaming. I only upgraded from mine as I wanted to try SLI and needed an SLI capable board, made sense to change platform at the same time.

GPUs I tend to get about 2 years out of, before I start to feel the itch.

Well,TBF even my mates who are on a FX6300,have tended to upgrade their graphics cards first and thats not the fastest CPU in the world either!

Unless you are buying top end graphics cards,lots of people buy cards between £100 to £250,so tend to be more GPU limited IMHO.

 

[dakaiez]

Indeed, platform can last for ages. Intel have done themselves no favours by releasing such ridiculous chips.

For example, the 2500k still is an amazing chip for gaming. I only upgraded from mine as I wanted to try SLI and needed an SLI capable board, made sense to change platform at the same time.

GPUs I tend to get about 2 years out of, before I start to feel the itch.

Yup i'd say 2 and a half years then i feel the need for an upgrade especially on GPU's where as with a CPU i can easily do 3-4 years.

 

[Gregster]

I have had my 3930K for God knows how many years and it still copes with ease and can't see the point of upgrading that but GPUs I have had lots lol.

 

[Bluntwrapped]

Will be interesting to see how much of a difference (if any) DX12 will make to the longevity of our GPU's. If it wasn't for the want of upgrading I'm pretty sure my old GTX480 would still be more than sufficient for a good gaming experience.

 

[Ayahuasca]

Longevity will hurt profits so I'm not sure it will change a great deal, nVidia for sure aren't going to be happy if DX12 means the average lifecycle for people upgrading gets pushed back by even 1 year, it's a huge dent to profits.

Some would have you believe we're already being purposefully held back by software so that older hardware doesn't appear up to the job.

 

[bakes0310]

I think we can get away with not needing to upgrade are CPUs for a good few revisions. I'm going to keep my [email protected] for asking as possible. I do want a pascal and I may get a bigger ssd. But then I must be tight fisted as I'm saving for a house, so Ii may have to get used to playing games with lower settings.

 

[Pottsey]

“Ayahuasca “
“You haven't really built a PC to last 5 years if you've upgraded the GPU with a £500 card for example in that time”

Upgrading the GPU was always in my plan. The choice was SLI or a single GPU and put the SLI money aside to replace the main GPU in 2 to 3 years. Personally I prefer to skip SLI and upgrade the single GPU every 2 to 3 years. The upgrade cost £299.99. So it’s almost a 5 year old PC with 1 £300 upgrade to extend its lifespan. Although I might do a 2nd GPU upgrade and keep the main machine for 7+ years.

“I'd be interested to know what your spec is Pottsey for running everything great at 1440p as there's solid gaming PC's built in the last 2-3 years that can't run everything great at that resolution.”

If you're into building monster PCs you're probably not the kind of person that waits 5 years to upgrade.

Well I am into building monster PC's it’s just as the years are going on the cycles are getting longer and longer as there isn’t a need to upgrade. LCD’s, Sound cards, CPU’s, hard drives and Ram have hardly advanced in the past 4+ years and building a new PC is just a lot of money for very little performance gain. Even new LCD screens are hardly much better than high end 5 year old screens. (I am not into ultra-widescreen or curved screens).

With no noticeable improvements in building a new PC and all my games run at 2560x1440 max settings at smooth FPS what is the point in upgrading? I should be building a new monster PC Nov 2016 but at the moment it just feels like a waste of time for a tiny benefit.

As for PC spec after looking back looking back I made a mistake. What happened is I designed my PC build in Nov 2010 and brought a 27” 2560x1440 screen at that date but I forgot I delayed my full build until 2011 for the 6 core CPU’s. So more like 4 years 3months. Sorry about that. But I think my point is still valid as with the way things are going it’s going to be fine at the 5 year mark.

For those that wanted my specs. Dell UltraSharp U2711 27" Widescreen, CPU i7-3930k overclocked to 4.2ghz with extra cooling, 16GB of ram, SSD, I think it was a GTX 580? Not 100% sure unless I dig out the old order. Upgraded to a GTX 970 Oct 2014. Runs all current games I own at 2560x1440 max settings. (well I turn Depth of Field off when possible as I dislike the effect so max apart from that) Given the life span of the machine it seems like good value for money.

I might get 'Pascal' just because this Oct will be 2 years without an upgrade. Its not needed, everything runs smooth.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Nvidia Slide reveals numbers on Single and Double precision for Flagship Pascal GPU

http://www.guru3d.com/news_story/nvidia_slide_reveals_numbers_on_single_and_double_precision_for_flagship_pascal_gpu.html

 

[ICDP]

http://www.guru3d.com/news_story/nvidia_slide_reveals_numbers_on_single_and_double_precision_for_flagship_pascal_gpu.html

This is a projected compute performance slide from a presentation at a supercomputer conference on June 2nd 2015. Great info

 

[Gregster]

Well for all of those that were unhappy about DP being taken out of Maxwell can now rest easy with Pascal getting DP

 

[humbug]

Pretty good improvement from HBM there

 

[ICDP]

Well for all of those that were unhappy about DP being taken out of Maxwell can now rest easy with Pascal getting DP

Ironically most people here would prefer the DP to be left out as it meant more optimised GPUs for gaming.

 

[Gregster]

Ironically most people here would prefer the DP to be left out as it meant more optimised GPUs for gaming.

Of course but a certain set of people who had no interest in buying Maxwell made a big fuss about it. I found it funny at the time and seeing that slide reminded me of it was all

 

[LambChop]

Of course but a certain set of people who had no interest in buying Maxwell made a big fuss about it. I found it funny at the time and seeing that slide reminded me of it was all

That was the difference Greg. The ones that made the fuss didnt actually know what DP is. You can spot them a mile off.

 

[eddyr]

To be fair, it was a significant feature of the original 'Titan' product, a part of its price tag and therefore a role in justifying the new price tier. That fp64 isn't necessary for gaming is neither here nor there. With the price established, enough gamers showed they were more than willing to pay a little more than perhaps was originally thought.

Anyhow fp64 is relevant to the gaming community in that their professional sales and margins do enable the earlier manufacture of these large dies with their higher performance. Although I wouldn't be surprised if the GM200 sets a precedent for massive fp32 focused dies, now that they know that in addition to the quadro users, the gaming market is also willing to pay.