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should i stick with the GTX 970

NTM2003

NTM2003

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should i still stick with a GTX 970 for my new build or get dual GTX 960s 4gb, since i know the stuff what happened with the GTX 970 4gb really being 3.5gb i'm sure its till a good gpu and been reading people having problems with the GTX 970. i'm starting to see better reviews for then GTX 960 then the 970. i am planning on using 3 monitors after my build.
 
NTM2003 said:
should i still stick with a GTX 970 for my new build or get dual GTX 960s 4gb, since i know the stuff what happened with the GTX 970 4gb really being 3.5gb i'm sure its till a good gpu and been reading people having problems with the GTX 970. i'm starting to see better reviews for then GTX 960 then the 970. i am planning on using 3 monitors after my build.
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Are you going to be running surround gaming?
 
i'm hoping to yes
 
NTM2003 said:
i'm hoping to yes
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Well either way the GTX 970 is going to be a better option because 960s really aren't that powerful or meant for that even if you get twin 4gb editions. Your probably going to need more graphical power than even the GTX 970 though to power on high-ultra settings though in the end. You may want to consider a pair of them or buy a pair of higher cards (2 290X's, 980's etc).
 
the GTX 980 is out of my price range for now so maybe i just stay with the GTX 970
 
NTM2003 said:
the GTX 980 is out of my price range for now so maybe i just stay with the GTX 970
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Probably your best option then, if you can manage though a suggestion is that depending on where you look you can pick up a pair of R9 290's (Non-X editions) for pretty cheap as an alternative. Or you can wait and grab a second 970 down the line.
 
i really didn't get much into the AMD GPUs but its something to look into i never had one before.
 
NTM2003 said:
should i still stick with a GTX 970 for my new build or get dual GTX 960s 4gb, since i know the stuff what happened with the GTX 970 4gb really being 3.5gb i'm sure its till a good gpu and been reading people having problems with the GTX 970. i'm starting to see better reviews for then GTX 960 then the 970. i am planning on using 3 monitors after my build.
Click to expand...
One GTX 970 should have enough power to blow away one GTX 960 but pretty much equal when you put them in sli. However, considering that you are using multiple monitors, the VRAM memory usage would reach its maximum. Which means that Nvidia's little controversy is of extreme importance to you.

The GTX 970 WILL disappoint you. The "slight" performance drop that you hear from others will be amplified in a multi-monitor setup. The other option of a GTX 960 SLI will also be a bummer as each card has only 2048MB of VRAM in which data gets mirrored while on SLI and not added up like 2+2=4.

Conclusion: The options you are choosing both have something to compromise. So i strongly suggest you look for a minimum 3GB+ card. Also, if you can find (GTX 960 4GB) X 2, that'll be fine.

Since you have already explored Nvidia, have a look at AMD. AMD counterpart of the GTX 970 is R9 290 and a better one would be R9 290x. My R9 280X's 3GB gets filled up in some games even at 1920X1080.
 
CharlieTwoFour said:
However, considering that you are using multiple monitors, the VRAM memory usage would reach its maximum.
Click to expand...

I know this is down the road a bit, but isn't dx12 supposed to let you use both cards as one rather than alternate frames? That would make the vram less of an issue if he did decide to sli another a couple years from now.

At any rate OP, I wouldn't get dual 960s. The tight memory bus is still there even if you get 4GB. If you really need top performance now, then wait for a deal on a pair of 290s. Should be able to get good ones for $230 ea or so.
 
rruff said:
I know this is down the road a bit, but isn't dx12 supposed to let you use both cards as one rather than alternate frames? That would make the vram less of an issue if he did decide to sli another a couple years from now.

At any rate OP, I wouldn't get dual 960s. The tight memory bus is still there even if you get 4GB. If you really need top performance now, then wait for a deal on a pair of 290s. Should be able to get good ones for $230 ea or so.
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True, Directx 12 will allow VRAM addition but AMD's mantle would be the first to allow this. Nvidia is yet to confirm if their drivers would allow this. DX12 also will allow multi-gpu setup including a mix of nvidia and amd cards but the manufacturers would not allow it.

Also, regarding the main topic, i strongly suggest you wait for the R9 300 series cards which seem to be promising.
 
i head the R9 300 was going around $700 thats not in my price range
 
No.
 
NTM2003 said:
i really didn't get much into the AMD GPUs but its something to look into i never had one before.
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As much as people hate to admit it, a video card is a video card in the end so the difference will be very minimal going from a similar performance AMD to Nvidia and vice versa. The biggest differences can be seen on a game to game basis and the features on the cards (IE things like PhysX, Mantle, Shadow Play, Raptr, etc though even in the end those are very close together as well) which really comes down to slight differences again. I think you will be ok if you stuck with the GTX 970, though as stated above the resolution requires a lot of VRAM and GPU horsepower (I had Dual HD 6990's with 2gb per GPU and now 3 R9 290X's with 4gb per GPU) as I have run surround/eyefinity for a long time now though I recently switched to 4K.

I would just consider your options and money to see what you can grab including what your current setup is (PSU and motherboard if you can support 2 cards). It honestly maybe better to grab a pair of cards like the 290's for the performance gains or to wait and see what happens with cards coming soon.
 
The GPU will be coming a few months after my build I will have to save up for the GPU
 
NTM2003 said:
The GPU will be coming a few months after my build I will have to save up for the GPU
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Then stop thinking about buying GPUs for now. It might be a good idea to have all of your thoughts/ideas/whatever in one "build" thread. I'm quite sure at this point that even you don't remember how many similar topic threads you have made. ;)

Either way things change. It makes no sense to plan for some "future build" other than saving money.
 
NTM2003 said:
The GPU will be coming a few months after my build I will have to save up for the GPU
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Then I would just wait and see what the market does in the mean time and if you need help at then end ask everyone for advice what to buy when your ready as by that time I am sure you will have better options at a better price available at that time.
 
Ya hopefully
 
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