I currently have a 970 gtx do you think its worth upgrading to a 1080 or 1070, I don't want to spend 800$ on the 1080 ti right now or would it be better to wait till the 11's come out?
Thanks!!
Thanks!!
Graphics card opinions..
- Thread starter Phil
- Start date
EpilepticCricket
Space Marshal
What are you wanting to upgrade for?
If you're just considering Star Citizen, then I would just save up money until we get closer to launch. There will most likely be another hardware/ship package to consider and even if you don't get the newest card, the 1080s should start dropping in price soonish which could save you some coin.
If you're just considering Star Citizen, then I would just save up money until we get closer to launch. There will most likely be another hardware/ship package to consider and even if you don't get the newest card, the 1080s should start dropping in price soonish which could save you some coin.
Depends on your display(s)
My displays configs:
1. center 1920x1080; 2x side 1280x1024. SC resolution 4480x1080 = 4.8M
2. center 1920x1080; 2x side 1920x1200, down scaled to 1920x1080. SC resolution 5760x1080 = 6.2M
3. center 1920x1200; 2x side 1920x1200. SC resolution 5760x1200 = 6.9M
4. center 2560x1440; 2x side 1920x1200. SC resolution 6400x1440 = 9.2M
5. SC resolution 2560x1440 = 3.7M
Every upgrade slowly decreased the performance of my GTX970. 1. and 2. were good playable on 3 screens, 3. was still playable, but started getting sluggish. 4. wasn't playable on 3 screens. I had to switch back to 1 screen. As long as you only play on one screen:
- Full HD 1920x1080 = 2M
- Quad HD 2560x1440 = 3.7M
- Ultra Wide Quad HD 3440*1440 = 4.9M
The GTX970 does fine, you can play at high quality or even ultra high quality (Full HD). If you want to go Ultra HD (8.2M) or multiple screens, than you better upgrade to a 1080 or 1080ti. It all depends on the resolution you want to play.
If you need an upgrade for other things then yes, otherwise you know how it goes. everyday there is something a little faster and cheaper.
1080 wouldnt be bad for the time being.
1070ti might be best option, volta is possibly going to be a long way off.
The older 1070 and 1080 (not that much older but still), are not always going to be as good of retail value (depending where you buy) as the newer ti's in stock on say Amazon. Once major retailers run out of stock, 3rd party sellers jack the price up. So when I did shopping for my mining rig, I found the best option were either 1070s or 1070tis or 1080tis. So I ended up getting 1080ti hyrbids and will use my older GPUs in a dedicated mining rig and use the new 1080tis for mining when my two main PCs aren't in use.
P.S. I would suggest buying from manufacturers like EVGA directly. Their prices are usually without taxes and a lot of times slightly lower than Amazon.
The older 1070 and 1080 (not that much older but still), are not always going to be as good of retail value (depending where you buy) as the newer ti's in stock on say Amazon. Once major retailers run out of stock, 3rd party sellers jack the price up. So when I did shopping for my mining rig, I found the best option were either 1070s or 1070tis or 1080tis. So I ended up getting 1080ti hyrbids and will use my older GPUs in a dedicated mining rig and use the new 1080tis for mining when my two main PCs aren't in use.
P.S. I would suggest buying from manufacturers like EVGA directly. Their prices are usually without taxes and a lot of times slightly lower than Amazon.
BluePilote
Space Marshal
BluePilote
Space Marshal
Radegast74
Space Marshal
Totally agree with the 1070ti recommendation, and totally agree with avoiding Amazon...the prices for video cards there suck. Definitely go with either the manufacturer, or try a good online electronics shop. I like using B&H Photo...no taxes if you are not in NY or NJ, their prices are pretty good, and they are ultra reliable. Right now the top two hits for 1070ti are $470:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=1070ti&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=
One more thing...with frames really being dependent on server/netcode, I would recommend trying to wait...the next Nvidia generation cards are *supposed* to come out in early-ish 2018...
Best GPU for the money is the ASUS GTX 1070Ti
Honestly, this is my first thought as well. Are you experiencing issues with your 970gtx? It should be able to play most anything out there with decent frame rates. If not, you may be experiencing a different bottleneck like power supply, CPU, hard drive, etc. I'm currently running a GTX 1080, but that's because I multitask like a mofo. My 980ti actually handled single clients on high settings up to the limit of my monitor.
Unless, of course, you caught the 4k or framerate bug. If you are chasing 4k graphics or 120+ frame rate, you may be looking at a much higher investment than just a graphics card. You need a monitor(s) that can actually deliver what your graphics card can. Everything from view distance, to the type of cord you choose, to real capabilities of the game can interfere with that as well.
There are proven scientific limitations to the human eye. We can only discern sharpness up to a point. We can only see the difference in frame rates up to a certain point (widely accepted to be 120hz btw). It is really easy to over purchase and waste your money on resolution and frame rates far above what you can notice.
4k and high framerates are buzzwords to sell overpriced and unnecessarily advanced hardware. My advice would be to decide why you want to upgrade and focus on a specific goal. The entire industry is designed to make you want to upgrade far more often than you need. Goal orientated updates can help balance things out.
TLDR: I like my 1080gtx. My 980ti was more than sufficient for any single application. 4k and ultra hz can often be far past what you can see with your setup.
EDIT: Edited for science. Here are some examples if you were curious
https://www.techspot.com/article/1113-4k-monitor-see-difference/
http://www.pcgamer.com/how-many-frames-per-second-can-the-human-eye-really-see/
Last edited:
Plagueis
Admiral
I would wait, I've got the same card as you and with SC still having a few more years till release you can save back and get a new card just before SC launch date.
Same. I've got the same card too and I'm waiting. It's the best option since it works now and I'll likely have to upgrade again in 2 years, ha.
Thanks for all the awesome replies, my main issues were 3.0 I really want to get into it and start enjoying the game even though its release is years away. I play some other games as well nothing to hoggy as far as graphics but I was leaning away from the console gaming recently and looking to do more PC gaming. I guess it comes down to will a 1070 ti hold up for the next 2 years and is it a big enough upgrade from the 970 to warrant the cost.
AstroGimp01
Space Marshal
I am still running my rig's original AMD R7 360 2GB and it is really showing it's age lately with SC in PTU 3.0, still good for Flight Simulator X.
It is virtually unplayable in the open PTU (<1 - 9 FPS), although I do get ~15-20 FPS in the hangar (at something like 1600x900 - I forget and not at home to look).
Older Cyberpower AMD Rig, FX6300 w/16GB memory and 1TB HDD. Thinking either the AMD V56 or V64 to keep it in the AMD fam or break down and replace with a 1070 or 1080 - on Alpha 2.6.X I could play reasonably well at 1920x1080, but the monitor is 4K and would like to get more pretty pew pew pew and smoother/more predictable FPS when 3.0 goes Alpha.
I know some of it is still server side, but the lag at Levski is insane, and that is while also producing a very messy/blurry graphic.
What says this august body in terms of recommending a card for yours truly? Also, would an SSD make a true improvement?
'Gimp
It is virtually unplayable in the open PTU (<1 - 9 FPS), although I do get ~15-20 FPS in the hangar (at something like 1600x900 - I forget and not at home to look).
Older Cyberpower AMD Rig, FX6300 w/16GB memory and 1TB HDD. Thinking either the AMD V56 or V64 to keep it in the AMD fam or break down and replace with a 1070 or 1080 - on Alpha 2.6.X I could play reasonably well at 1920x1080, but the monitor is 4K and would like to get more pretty pew pew pew and smoother/more predictable FPS when 3.0 goes Alpha.
I know some of it is still server side, but the lag at Levski is insane, and that is while also producing a very messy/blurry graphic.
What says this august body in terms of recommending a card for yours truly? Also, would an SSD make a true improvement?
'Gimp
Unfortunately, I can't give you much advice on the AMD side. I tried AMD cpus shortly after they arrived on the scene. I burned out two of them before tucked tail and ran back to Intel. I've been there ever since. The same was for GPUs except the amd issue was with drivers. So for the last decade or two, it's been exclusively Intel/Nvidia for better or worse.
From the frame rates you're getting, it almost sounds like your rig needs to retire. Old gaming rigs can either make damn good media computer (and good for another 5+ years in that job) or sold off for a few hundred to some hungry college kid. At this point, at least from my intel/nvidia experience, the time is amazing for building a rig that will be both cheap and good for another 5 years minimum.
Ram is cheap, 1000 series nvidia gpus are cheap, i7 4790's are cheap, LGA1150 motherboards are cheap, even SSD's (samsung evo series) are dirt cheap. I honestly think you would be better off and happier with an all new build. The way I see it, if updating or repairing will cost over 60% of a total replacement, I will choose to replace every time. You will be way over 60% of the way to a new one if you try to update what you have, with less upgrade options in the future.
Oh, and as for the SSD, I was skeptical as well. I used to run raptor hard drives and thought they were good enough. I was wrong. I have less corrupted sectors, less malfunctions, and they really are much faster. They are so much cheaper now, you might as well try it. Here's the link to the last one I bought:
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E500B-AM/dp/B00OBRE5UE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1512192750&sr=8-3&keywords=samsung+evo+500gb+ssd
Graphics cards can be both convoluted and counter-intuitive at times. For instance, a gtx 980ti is generally about as good as a normal gtx 1070. The "ti" is generally where the major performance is at. In my opinion a gtx 1070ti should last you at least 2 years. It should also be around a 50% increase in performance from a gtx 970.
Wait, wait, wait. I'm sitting right there with you at the moment. But I'm am holding out for Nvidia Volta to be released. Then the price drop we'll likely see in the 1080/1080ti line will be more than worth it. If you are even considering a GPU because of SC don't. No matter your GPU it won't help the framerate issues in SC. Now, having said all of that... I am currently using my 980 with a very minor OC to run most games at a comfortable 1440p up to 144hz if the game is older or really well optimized. Even newer games right now, I can usually tweak to 60fps at 1440p.
So, if you have no intentions of going abover 1080p right now, I wouldn't even upgrade in general. If you are planning to future proof your PC and get another 3-4 years out of it before need more upgrades, then a 1080ti in 6-10 months would be your best bet.
Hopefully this helps you out a bit, but holler if you have any other questions.
I went ahead and got the 1070 ti evga I think after taxes + shipping it came out to 489.00ish should hold up for a year or 2 then I can worry about SC actually releasing and getting another upgrade lol. Now I have to get my thrustmaster hotas working in another thread lol.
Thanks again for the help!
Thanks again for the help!
Richard Bong
Space Marshal
For Star Citizen and all other current games the 970 is enough. It only falls short if you are doing something more serious, like Iray or Octane renders.