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Upgrade itch - unsure what to do

DiscoDave

DiscoDave

DiscoDave

Associate
Joined
6 Jun 2005
Posts
1,856
Location
Cambridge
Hi all,

I've currently got:

Xeon 5650 @ 4Ghz
12GB Ram
7970 OC Edition
SSD's etc

I've had this motherboard for a good 7 years now, recently swapped out a i7 920 for the Xeon, and quite a while ago swapped out a 4870x2 for a 7970 OC.

I was considering upgrading at the start of this year. Something I'd also like to accomplish is a quieter setup, therefore watercooling may be an option.

Reading articles about the new nVidia GPU's coming out this year with the subsequent die shrink has got me thinking if I should hold out until then. It seems quite a significant change!

What do you guys think?

Thanks
 
this year was supposed to be the year with new cpu/gpu, but as time goes by and more information gets out, it's looking more like the year of low-mid range, anything high end is looking toward Q4 or even 2017 for high end Zen CPU.
so it's up to you if you wanna spend 6-9 months with your current setup or not, before anything interesting come out, or you can grab something cheap to make the wait more comfortable.
 
AlamoX said:
this year was supposed to be the year with new cpu/gpu, but as time goes by and more information gets out, it's looking more like the year of low-mid range, anything high end is looking toward Q4 or even 2017 for high end Zen CPU.
so it's up to you if you wanna spend 6-9 months with your current setup or not, before anything interesting come out, or you can grab something cheap to make the wait more comfortable.
Click to expand...

Nobody knows what Nvidia and AMD are going to do? We could see Pascal Titan in April? It's all speculation right now.
 
Pascal Titan end of 2016. Only middle range in April.

AMD plans top of the line mid Summer
 
Panos said:
Pascal Titan end of 2016. Only middle range in April.

AMD plans top of the line mid Summer
Click to expand...

I thought according to CES Pascal high end chips were coming mid year?

PhoenixUK said:
Is there anything you're currently playing that your current setup cannot handle?
Click to expand...

Witcher 3 is a bit of a beast. Star citizen although I'm fully aware it's completely un-optimized. Two examples that come to mind.
 
Don't think CPU/mobo change will help there much and you'll need to get at least 970 to see any benefit. Whether spending £300 to get 10more fps in a game that runs worse than crysis used to back in the days is worth it or not is up to you. From what I can see on benchmarks this game doesn't run anywhere close 40-50fps on anything else than TitanX and we're not even talking about high resolutions.
 
DiscoDave said:
I thought according to CES Pascal high end chips were coming mid year?



Witcher 3 is a bit of a beast. Star citizen although I'm fully aware it's completely un-optimized. Two examples that come to mind.
Click to expand...


you can always grab a 390, and a 144hz freesync monitor, it wont cost you much and gives you a comfortable gaming while waiting.
 
DiscoDave said:
Hi all,

I've currently got:

Xeon 5650 @ 4Ghz
12GB Ram
7970 OC Edition
SSD's etc

I've had this motherboard for a good 7 years now, recently swapped out a i7 920 for the Xeon, and quite a while ago swapped out a 4870x2 for a 7970 OC.

I was considering upgrading at the start of this year. Something I'd also like to accomplish is a quieter setup, therefore watercooling may be an option.

Reading articles about the new nVidia GPU's coming out this year with the subsequent die shrink has got me thinking if I should hold out until then. It seems quite a significant change!

What do you guys think?

Thanks
Click to expand...

The new AMD Polaris GPU's should be out in a few months, they would be a huge upgrade from your 7970 :)
 
You've waited this long what's a few more months :) If you go for the new stuff this year you'll be set for years to come as by all accounts we're in for a decent performance increase this time.
 
Troezar said:
You've waited this long what's a few more months :) If you go for the new stuff this year you'll be set for years to come as by all accounts we're in for a decent performance increase this time.
Click to expand...

+1

Unless you really can't wait, wait !

Yes, you'd never buy any tech hardware if you always waited for the next new thing, but there are times when it is worth being patient. I think that time is now when it comes to graphics cards.
 
Dervious said:
+1

Unless you really can't wait, wait !

Yes, you'd never buy any tech hardware if you always waited for the next new thing, but there are times when it is worth being patient. I think that time is now when it comes to graphics cards.
Click to expand...

Meh, I could wait. I know there's always something better coming along, but hopefully we should see some decent performance gains with this years tech.

I hope.
 
I had pretty much the same set-up as you this time last year except with a 7950 and for my sins ended up going SLI 970 (actually it's handled the majority that I've thrown at it).

I would wait and see what AMDs next offerings are (as long as it's not too much longer, I'm a bit out of touch) and decide then. I'll probably go back to team red if it's something decent and give Freesync a try.
 
DiscoDave said:
Reading articles about the new nVidia GPU's coming out this year with the subsequent die shrink has got me thinking if I should hold out until then. It seems quite a significant change!

What do you guys think?

Thanks
Click to expand...
If you can still play most of your games at settings you are happy with on your 7970, I would say it's definitely worth holding out.

Die shrink aside, there would be some significant changes to the memory used for graphic cards as well with supposingly huge increase for memory bandwidth; GDDR5 memory being made obsolete, and moving onto GDDR5X and HBM memory for mid-high and flagship cards.
 
Yeah i would wait now, and get one of the new GPUs and a new high res monitor to go with it this year.
 
I would get a 390 & a Freesync monitor. The real gains will be not next generation, but the one after, where the refinements will be. That's what I'm saving money for.
 
Wait 3-6 months, What's the worst that can happen?

A 980ti and or gsync and a 390 and or freesync is expensive if the new cards outperform them by quite a bit and cost the same or cheaper.

Also I would not tie myself to one company right now with gsync or freesync.
 
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