Balanced GPU

[Para_Franck]

Hey guys, I intend on upgrading GPU in a few months. I'll be upgrading my psu to 750+ gold rated. The rest of my system is in my signature. What GPU would you recommend to be well balanced to go with my i7-4770k clocked at 4.2 Ghz?

The next step will be screen, but I am not sure what route to take... 3d, 4k, wide single screen, size, resolution, synch-ability..... which setup has the most immersive characteristic (can't waitfor the occulus rift)?

 

[xfia]

a lot of directions you can take and none of them will leave your cpu as a bottleneck.

for myself I would like a 1440p wide panel cus they are sick!

I hear gsync and freesync really help with smoothing out UHD resolutions and sli/crossfire.

 

[Frick]

GTX 980, based on the monitor upgrade.

 

[Bachbaabach]

maybe 3 GTX960

 

[Jetster]

It all depends on how much money you have.

Your current PSU is fine for even a GTX 980. With the i7 4770 CPU you can run any GPU

 

[Bachbaabach]

that was my mistake, because 960 2-way sli. I mean 3-way sli 760

 

[Dia01]

GTX 980, based on the monitor upgrade.

+1

 

[xfia]

-1 for buying 2-3 mid range gpu's

 

[Jetster]

Why would he get three GPUs when the i7 4770 only has 16 lanes. So unless his board has a PLX chip it would run 8X4X4.

And his third PCI-EX16 slot is 2.0 (X4 2.0)

 

[krusha03]

It really depends on your budget but if you want 3d or 4k then be prepared for getting 2x290x or 2x980. Radeon 300 is also coming so maybe wait for that. And if you want to go for two radeons maybe you will need more than that 750W power supply.

 

[Jetster]

Go 1440, or wide format screen and one GTX 980

 

[Bachbaabach]

i thought quad-core has 8 lanes.. next i think that 980 is better decision, also production date of that proccesor Jul 2013, and mid range gpu also Jun 2013 and 980 was released in Sep 2014, that's why.

 

[Jetster]

i thought quad-core has 8 lanes.. next i think that 980 is better decision, also production date of that proccesor Jul 2013, and mid range gpu also Jun 2013 and 980 was released in Sep 2014, that's why.

16 PCI-E lanes. 8 Threads

 

[metalslaw]

3d is awesome to game in, but support over the years has always more often needed a helix mod patch to get the game to work properly.

Saying that though, i've been playing 3d games with nvidia kit the last few months, and it has been awesome. I had the kit for years, but never had the monitor or even really, the system, to run it. If you don't already have the kit, I wouldn't buy one unless you want to also watch 3d movies on your rig.

Oculus however, is what you should be aiming at. The consumer version will hopefully be out this year, and probably 1440p or 4k. You will need a 980 for 1440, and probably 2 for 4k. Your rig will be able to run 2 probably.

But if you have the budget, and patience (probably only a few weeks away now), nvidia and amd have their new cards coming out that should kick major arse.

 

[Para_Franck]

Thanks guys, i'll be waiting at least a month or two (to put aside the money). I went sli once, i was not impressed. I would prefer a single gpu. I am not sure for the monitor, but this will wait another few months. I have plenty of time to decide that later, but I don't want to be limited to 1080 when the moment comes.

I forgot to mention that I CAD (autodesk Inventor and PTC Creo 2.0) alot to.

I did not have the money to upgrade my video card with the rest of my rig last year and that 7850 really is starting to feel like it's time has come, it's not even capable of 1080 with eye candy turned on. I was thinking Gtx970, but, you know that whole memory and rops thing. Plus, I am not sure beyond 1080P if it's going to be very futurproof.

 

[RCoon]

Thanks guys, i'll be waiting at least a month or two (to put aside the money). I went sli once, i was not impressed. I would prefer a single gpu. I am not sure for the monitor, but this will wait another few months. I have plenty of time to decide that later, but I don't want to be limited to 1080 when the moment comes.

I forgot to mention that I CAD (autodesk Inventor and PTC Creo 2.0) alot to.

I did not have the money to upgrade my video card with the rest of my rig last year and that 7850 really is starting to feel like it's time has come, it's not even capable of 1080 with eye candy turned on. I was thinking Gtx970, but, you know that whole memory and rops thing.

A quick reminder, please use the edit button to add information to a post, instead of triple posting!

Thanks

 

[Para_Franck]

A quick reminder, please use the edit button to add information to a post, instead of triple posting!

Thanks

Sorry about that, I was not even trying to edit or multi-post. My tablet gave me error messages when posting, so I ended up posting many times, until that error message would not show up. I deleted the repetition now! In the end, there were no errors and my message was posted 4 times

 

[64K]

SLI GTX 960 isn't a good idea imo because it has 2 GB VRAM. You can look at a recap of the games reviewed here by RCoon and see games using over 2 GB VRAM at 1440p. I would say get a GTX 970 now and in 2 years get the mid range card similarly priced and sell the 970. The reason I say this is that the 980 is $550 or more and probably won't give you the performance that you will want in a few years anyway. Mid range Pascal with stacked DRAM probably will though much like the performance increase from a 670 to a 970. The 970 outperforms the 680 by a good bit too. That was my last GPU.

 

[Para_Franck]

SLI GTX 960 isn't a good idea imo because it has 2 GB VRAM. You can look at a recap of the games reviewed here by RCoon and see games using over 2 GB VRAM at 1440p. I would say get a GTX 970 now and in 2 years get the mid range card similarly priced and sell the 970. The reason I say this is that the 980 is $550 or more and probably won't give you the performance that you will want in a few years anyway. Mid range Pascal with stacked DRAM probably will though much like the performance increase from a 670 to a 970. The 970 outperforms the 680 by a good bit too. That was my last GPU.

That sounds like a good plan.

 

[krusha03]

For 1080p and 1440p a single 970 / 290x should be enough (you may have to turn down some eye candy settings at 1440p) but since you mentioned earlier that you want to go to 4K and 3D currently there is no single card capable of driving that at 60FPS+ and high visual settings

 

[Para_Franck]

but since you mentioned earlier that you want to go to 4K and 3D currently there is no single card capable of driving that at 60FPS+ and high visual settings

Actually, what I mentioned was I did not know which route I was going to take, 4k and 3d being one of the possible routes. Pardon me if I was not clear on that matter. For sure I want to upgrade from my 24'' 16:9 1080p. For CAD I would prefer 16:10, but I'd rathre comprimoise the CAD part, as I do this all day long at work, I'd prefer focusing more on the gaming experience. 1440p with some sort of Synch (g-sync or Free-Synch), that's for sure, size and aspect ratio, that's another story. Would I go 4k? Not sure, I do not feel like we are there yet. 3D, That I would like to try, but if occulus rift comes out this year, I may be better focusing on this approach. I wonder what hardware will be the best for this...

 

[GhostRyder]

Actually, what I mentioned was I did not know which route I was going to take, 4k and 3d being one of the possible routes. Pardon me if I was not clear on that matter. For sure I want to upgrade from my 24'' 16:9 1080p. For CAD I would prefer 16:10, but I'd rathre comprimoise the CAD part, as I do this all day long at work, I'd prefer focusing more on the gaming experience. 1440p with some sort of Synch (g-sync or Free-Synch), that's for sure, size and aspect ratio, that's another story. Would I go 4k? Not sure, I do not feel like we are there yet. 3D, That I would like to try, but if occulus rift comes out this year, I may be better focusing on this approach. I wonder what hardware will be the best for this...

I guess it really will depend how you want to spend the money and how much you really are interested in investing.

Since you do not want SLI/CFX, I would avoid 4K because your going to have to turn down some settings even if you grabbed one of the best GTX 980's possible and overclocked to the max on it. The best bet for you upgrading the monitor and such would probably be a 1440p monitor and even one with a high refresh rate for some high speed fast paced fun. Right now with G-Sync and Freesync its going to be (for at least awhile) limited to mostly 120hz-144hz monitors with very few exceptions because that is where most of the benefit is at. But remember whatever you get is going to lock you to that GPU manufacturer unless you want to sell the monitor and buy the other type unless something changes soon.

My advice to you is this, your 4770K at 4.2ghz is going to max anything you can throw at it so the GPU will not be bottlenecked. I would probably wait and decide what to get in about a month to 2 months mostly because with the R9 3XX series coming GPU prices are going to fluctuate down and you will be able to get more for your money in a short time (Plus by then the Freesync monitors will be around so you can see them in action). If you are really getting anxious and need something now I would say look at the lowered 290X price because its definitely one of the best values around for the performance and you can get an overclocked model with a nice cooler for pretty cheap considering the other options out there. Its hard to beat the price right now... If budget really is not a concern and you would rather have G-Sync (or just in general G-Sync is better for you), I would get the GTX 980 in about a month because I have a feeling the price will drop a bit in a months time based on the release of the R9 3XX series.

With screen though, just decide on other G-Sync or Freesync, skip 3D (It really is not worth it), look in the 24-28inch range as those are probably going to be the best areas to look (At least in my opinion), skip 120-144hz unless you get freesync/g-sync, and look at the top brands for monitors (Acer has really stepped up recently in monitor quality).

 

[Para_Franck]

Thank you GhostRyder, I was not aware that the release of the R9 3xxx was so close. I will watch all this closely while I pile up some cash. I don't think I will be able to exceed 500$ (canadian) for the gpu. It's always a question of priority and gaming, even if it is fun, is not my top priority. But I really am bored with my actual 7850 and 1080p monitor.

 

[GhostRyder]

Thank you GhostRyder, I was not aware that the release of the R9 3xxx was so close. I will watch all this closely while I pile up some cash. I don't think I will be able to exceed 500$ (canadian) for the gpu. It's always a question of priority and gaming, even if it is fun, is not my top priority. But I really am bored with my actual 7850 and 1080p monitor.

Generally speaking its not official but that is when AMD said something was coming out this month and the predictions still fall in line. Something could change but I believe we will hear something before the month is out one way or another because that is what everything has been pointing towards. Either way it is still a good idea to wait and see otherwise you may jump the gun unless you are really in need of a new GPU.