Video Card Upgrade

[kpat99]

I currently have 3 evga 660ti's (3gb) cards. I don't really have a reason to upgrade except I think I can still get 500-550 for my cards at this point and I wouldn't take too much more cash on top of that to get a pretty good boost in performance

I'm looking at the evga 780ti classified referance. 420 with free shipping after rebate. Two of these would be pretty incredible.

EVGA 03G-P4-2887-KR GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB 384-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 SLI Support Video Card - Newegg.com

But I also am reading that the 970 is fairly close to the 780ti with way less power draw and more vram (I may move to 4k in the future)

I'm looking forward to far cry 4 next month and i'd like to have everything cranked up on my 2560x1600 monitor.

Any thoughts on going 780ti or 970 SLI would be appreciated....Thanks

 

[PP Mguire]

If you can get that much for those cards you'd be lucky. Locally I've seen 660ti cards as low as 125 used.

The 970 is between 780 and 780ti performance. For the money and if you plan to go 4k later while keeping your choice of cards now I suggest getting a 980. 2 980s can run 4k rather decently depending on the title.

 

[kpat99]

You may be right about my 660's, I thought i'd get at least 150-175...but who knows.

One 980 really wouldn't be an upgrade from my current set up, but 2 970s would be fairly substantial. Looking at the power draw from the 970s I could go with a 3rd in the future if I found I needed more power for 4k.

I just don't want to have 1 980 and realize its not enough for my current 1600p while gaming

 

[PP Mguire]

With SLI scaling and game compatibility in mind, 2 660ti cards are about that of an overclocked 680 and 3 in a perfect world would cusp a 780. A single 980 is 4-10% faster than a 780ti depending on resolution and the game in question. So either way, it's going to be considerately faster than 3 660ti's, way less power draw, and 1 card vs 3 is going to show no scaling issues and 100% performance in those few games that don't support SLI or have limited support.

I'm only saying 980 simply because if you're thinking of going 4k you will need the most horsepower you can get. IMO these cards are still 1080p monsters and the real deal won't come out until later which will be GM210.

 

[kpat99]

I'm going to try and hold off a bit while places get restocked, and hopefully there are a few more reviews out there. Two 970s are obviously way better than one 980 for about an extra hundred bucks. That's what would make it hard to pull the trigger on a 980

 

[PP Mguire]

Well of course, but if you want to go 4k and can sell the 660s for about 500 then it would be worth it to spend the 550 like you're buying a new card and have 2 980s. The last 980 SLI review I took a look at was Linus's and 2 980s @ 4k was generally averaging between 50 and 60 with lower settings. Now if you want to stay at 1600p I don't see 2 970s having much of an issue there.

The other solution is to just wait out the few months and get the actual upgrade to the 780ti. The 980 is simply the 680/770 replacement card.

 

[kpat99]

Sorry to be a pain in the ass but what do you mean by wait for the upgrade to the 780ti?

Right now I can get the evga classified referance for 420 along with a free borderlands game that i can sell on ebay for 40 bucks

 

[PP Mguire]

Means exactly what I said lol.

The 980 and 970 are GM204, they are the replacement of the 680 and 670. They aren't 780ti/Titan Black killers. The big GM210 chip will be that and probably called something along the lines of 980ti or Titan II or whatever ridiculous name they come up with.

 

[kpat99]

OK...I guess i was confused with why you said to wait it out for a few months that's all.

I might pull the trigger on a couple of EVGA 780ti's.

Thanks

 

[PP Mguire]

You buying 2 Classified's for 449 on Newegg? Only thing I can see worth it compared to just buying 2 980s.