nVidia Fanboy Here - Moving on from GTX 760 2GB - Should I go AMD?

[shovenose]

In any other situation I would buy green without even looking at the red... but my MSI Z87M-G43 motherboard does NOT support SLI, only CrossFire (I didn't notice this when I bought it), and my i5-4590, 16GB of DDR3, 2TB HDD, and 60GB Intel SSD Cache are still performing well for me, so I don't see the need to replace my whole computer yet - and I really don't want to change motherboards since I'd have to reinstall my OS and I really don't want to do that. So, either I buy one new nVidia card or I go with two new AMD cards.

I want to spend about $400 to get the best performance across all of my games. My main priority is GTA V for PC. In the past, I've noticed that nVidia GPUs played GTA IV PC better, but I'm not sure if this is still the case for GTA V?

My thought is to wait another month or so for the Radeon RX480 to come out and buy two of them. Is this the best use of my $400 graphics card budget?

I was looking at what's currently on my market as far as nVidia and it's either a GTX970 for like $300 or a GTX980 for like $500... so I can't stay within my budget. If my motherboard supported SLI I'd buy one GTX970 now and then next year buy another... but that's simply not an option. I did see the GTX1070 which should cost about $400... would that be a good option?

Nothing that AMD currently sells (R7,R9,Fury) interests me. So, should I buy two RX 480s or one GTX 1070? Your input is much appreciated!

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Just get a 1070 anything else wont be green enough for a fanboy would it ,plus 1070 should be a nice jump in performance.

 

[shovenose]

Just get a 1070 anything else wont be green enough for a fanboy would it plus 1070 should be a nice jump in performance.

AMD has sucked for a really long time but with these new cards and their new Zen stuff they might actually be competitive again, and if that's the case, I would like to support them. That is why I am considering them. I guess we should wait for official benchmarks, but I'm still curious if people think the GTX1070 or two RX480s would be a better choice. Once again, my primary concern, since you seem to have missed it and instead decide to start making fun of my brand preference, is how GTA V will perform.

 

[64K]

I would say don't be in a hurry. Let's see the benches from from both camps and then decide. If you want to stick with Nvidia no matter what then the 1070 would be a good sub-$400 choice and will no doubt smoke that 760 at 1080p that you have right now. The VRAM upgrade will be necessary soon as well.

Eit: Never look at going Crossfire right off the bat. It's better to get the single most powerful card you can within your present budget and look at Crossfire if you have to later on down the road.

 

[erocker]

AMD has sucked for a really long time but with these new cards and their new Zen stuff they might actually be competitive again, and if that's the case, I would like to support them. That is why I am considering them. I guess we should wait for official benchmarks, but I'm still curious if people think the GTX1070 or two RX480s would be a better choice. Once again, my primary concern, since you seem to have missed it and instead decide to start making fun of my brand preference, is how GTA V will perform.

Unless you want to wait until around the end of the year or get two 480x's at the end of this month (meh CrossFire), I would think the 1070 is the way to go.

 

[newtekie1]

My thought is to wait another month or so for the Radeon RX480 to come out and buy two of them. Is this the best use of my $400 graphics card budget?

No, you are going to want to avoid crossfire at all costs. Reason? You motherboard and AMD's decision to use the PCI-E bus for crossfire data sent between the two cards. Sure, it technically supports crossfire, but the slots will dramatically cripple crossfire.

If anything, wait until the RX480 is out, if it is truly as powerful as some think it will be, then it might trigger a price drop on the 1070. If it isn't really that powerful, then just go with a single 1070 and call it a day.

 

[Zenith]

Bought 980Ti month ago, if I would be buying at this moment I'd buy 1070 gtx for sure. Less heat, newer tech, better OC, less power consumption, 980Ti performance, cheaper....

 

[dieselcat18]

Bought 980Ti month ago, if I would be buying at this moment I'd buy 1070 gtx for sure. Less heat, newer tech, better OC, less power consumption, 980Ti performance, cheaper....

Same here...just purchased a 980ti last month. If I waited, would have looked at the 1070 for a bit less money...though I'm pleased with the price & performance of 980ti I got atm.

 

[Devon68]

I would probably go with a 1070. While you could buy 2 RX 480 you should wait and see how they perform. But I would usually go with 1 card instead of 2.

 

[HD64G]

I'd get the 480 if its at 390X-980 performance lvl since its price is a steal and if by next year some better options exist, sell it for 2/3rds of its price as new and get the newer and more powerful. 1070 is good atm but not sure how good value since it will sink in price once the performance models come out. Normal for every new gen of hw. And as for CF by getting 2X480, let's wait for the reviews, especially for DX12 games.

 

[ZoneDymo]

No, you are going to want to avoid crossfire at all costs. Reason? You motherboard and AMD's decision to use the PCI-E bus for crossfire data sent between the two cards. Sure, it technically supports crossfire, but the slots will dramatically cripple crossfire.

If anything, wait until the RX480 is out, if it is truly as powerful as some think it will be, then it might trigger a price drop on the 1070. If it isn't really that powerful, then just go with a single 1070 and call it a day.

"but the slots will dramatically cripple crossfire"

Got any link to where you got that info? because that to me seems like a bunch of bs seeing as how much data PCI-E slots can transfer, way more then any card uses atm.

 

[cdawall]

"but the slots will dramatically cripple crossfire"

Got any link to where you got that info? because that to me seems like a bunch of bs seeing as how much data PCI-E slots can transfer, way more then any card uses atm.

The second slot is PCI-e 2.0 4x it will cripple performance some. My suggestion would be for him to run a single good card and avoid xfire/sli as a whole.

This is a single card scaling, crossfire will on exacerbate the issue.

 

[LightningJR]

The 1070 is an obvious choice but if you have no issues waiting then why not wait. I have no experience with SLI or Crossfire but if the rumors are true then 2 480s should be top in price/performance (when the game takes advantage of it) Wait for the benchies.

 

[Dethroy]

Do you game on 1 or all 3 of your monitors? If you game on a single monitor the RX 480 will handle every game @1080p easily. But if you play on 3 monitors or plan on upgrading to Ultrawide 1.440p or 4k then I'd look in the green direction.
Anyways, I'd await the reviews of RX 480(X) cards before making my decision.

 

[arbiter]

The 1070 is an obvious choice but if you have no issues waiting then why not wait. I have no experience with SLI or Crossfire but if the rumors are true then 2 480s should be top in price/performance (when the game takes advantage of it) Wait for the benchies.

Only rumors are one's put out by AMD so take that with a grain of salt. Likely independent reviewers will see 2 480's around same performance as 1070. if you get a 1070 for 400$, then you will have 2 480 4gb cards at that price. to get same 8gb could be 100$ more for 8gb premium. other thing is 300watts vs 150watt draw.

Anyways, I'd await the reviews of RX 480(X) cards before making my decision.

^ pretty much best advice when looking at any AMD card now day's, AMD's PR has very little to believe anymore when they speak.

Eit: Never look at going Crossfire right off the bat. It's better to get the single most powerful card you can within your present budget and look at Crossfire if you have to later on down the road.

My stance now with CF and even SLI, since its going to be in the hands of game dev's now cause DX12. Probably best to avoid both since probably be at least a years or 2 before they game dev's can sort it out and make it work properly.

 

[newtekie1]

"but the slots will dramatically cripple crossfire"

Got any link to where you got that info? because that to me seems like a bunch of bs seeing as how much data PCI-E slots can transfer, way more then any card uses atm.

The 2nd PCI-E x16 slot on his motherboard is only an x4 2.0 slot. This PCI-E Scaling test is already showing a single card loosing performance in that type slot, you add Crossfire communication to that and performance is going to suffer greatly.

 

[jaggerwild]

I'd suggest to wait it out, first get a card(current 1070 will be old soon) it's a mid tier card to begin with, if you feel the need to spend buy a swappable mother board so down the road what ever card you do buy you can then SLI or CF.

 

[thesmokingman]

The 2nd PCI-E x16 slot on his motherboard is only an x4 2.0 slot. This PCI-E Scaling test is already showing a single card loosing performance in that type slot, you add Crossfire communication to that and performance is going to suffer greatly.

Pro tip for you, any multi-gpu will run like ass with seriously mismatched slot widths, whether it be Green or Red, ignoring the fact that his mb is seriously under engineered for the task.

 

[Grings]

If you consider yourself an nvidia fanboy id certainly say wait to see 1070 pricing

Given that the 1080 has released and non founder editions are around the same price as 980ti's, i would expect the 1070 to be at 980 prices, at least for the first month or so

This is also why (i think) we see talk of 1060/65 cards with a 256bit mem bus, because it will come priced closer to 970 prices than 960's

 

[arbiter]

Pro tip for you, any multi-gpu will run like ass with seriously mismatched slot widths, whether it be Green or Red, ignoring the fact that his mb is seriously under engineered for the task.

I think nvidia has a limit built in to them that 4x slot won't work for sli.

 

[qubit]

Stay green and go for the 1070, but wait until AMD releases the new models first to hopefully get a decent price drop. Let AMD prove themselves with their next gen cards.

As NT said, this latest version of CrossFire is crippled, so don't bother with it. Better to invest in a new NVIDA SLI cable mobo down the line, although SLI has issues too, so I advise that you just stay with this current mobo and one card.

 

[cdawall]

I think nvidia has a limit built in to them that 4x slot won't work for sli.

It'll work it just won't work well.

 

[newtekie1]

Pro tip for you, any multi-gpu will run like ass with seriously mismatched slot widths, whether it be Green or Red, ignoring the fact that his mb is seriously under engineered for the task.

That is correct, I'm not saying that isn't the issue on both side. However, the problem is worse with AMD now that the cards do all communication through the PCI-e slots.

 

[5DVX0130]

Well $400 won’t buy you a 1070, that thing is certain. Also expect it to be pretty much sold out and overpriced into oblivion for (at least) the first two months.

The RX cards are still largely a mystery and while they should launch at end of June, we only have speculations till then. At the same time do note, that if the card turns out to be as good as it’s suggested expect the 10x0 story to repeat (hopefully it does), and cards will be sold out for a while.

Best suggestion I can give you… unless you are in a hurry just wait till August/September and based on reviews make up your mind then. By then stock and prices should stabilize, drivers mature, any issues pop up, and custom cards make an appearance.

 

[Kanan]

I would say don't be in a hurry. Let's see the benches from from both camps and then decide. If you want to stick with Nvidia no matter what then the 1070 would be a good sub-$400 choice and will no doubt smoke that 760 at 1080p that you have right now. The VRAM upgrade will be necessary soon as well.

Eit: Never look at going Crossfire right off the bat. It's better to get the single most powerful card you can within your present budget and look at Crossfire if you have to later on down the road.

If you're just into GTA V and the likes (AAA games), it's no problem to go with a Crossfire RX 480 system, also general support of it will be better in the future, DX12 multi adapter will make things easier.

Edit: if your mainboard isn't suited for multi graphics cards, it's better to go with a single strong GPU. GTX 1070 maybe, or a good 980 Ti.