Fubarbrickdust Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 (edited) So, here’s the thing - I’ve got the itchy [upgrade] trigger finger for a new GPU setup… However, the question wether to or not isn’t exactly a black and white one. I’m struggling making my mind up so I thought this’d be a good place to get some thought from you peeps in the community and maybe some advice from those who have upgraded from a similar setup. Apologies in advance for the uber-long OP, I just wanted to be thorough so as to better inform any possible responses… So here’s what I got (the main hitters are in my sig but I’ll list the whole lot here): CPU: i7 [email protected] GPU: 2x R9 270X 2GB in crossfire RAM: 8GB@2400Mhz PSU: XFX 850W MB: Asus Z97-AR S/C: Mackie Onyx Blackjack audio interface HSF: Noctua NH-D15 SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB HDD: WD Blue 1TB CASE: Fractal Design ARC MIDI 2 MON: AOC whatever 27” 1080x1920@60Hz Basically, I’m looking at swapping out the dual 270X’s for a GTX 980. Namely the Gigabyte G1 Gaming model. And here’s where the second guessing of myself comes into play - initially, I was looking into dropping in a GTX 970, but, with the GPU setup I have now and from what I’ve gathered from the rather limited performance comparisons I’ve managed find online…the raw horsepower performance boost isn’t that much ‘on paper’. In fact it’s pretty much on-par. So if I’m gonna upgrade i might as well UPGRADE, no? - Gotta be a 980 then, I guess. Before continuing - It’s not a case of ‘money’s no issue’. At all. And the cost of a GTX 980 is already pushing it’s luck with what I’m prepared to drop on a GPU - so doubling up on a 970/980 is financially waaaaay off the park at the moment. There’s a few other debates I’ve been having with myself: Is a 980 overkill for 1080p? - Quite a lot I’ve been hearing yes, it is. But on the same note, I may not be using a 1080p monitor forever, and while I am I may well use the DSR feature as an option for AA if it’s any good (any experience with this peeps?). But if I do up my monitor pixel count, who say’s it’ll be before a 980 is struggling to top out the more hungry games? Surely my current GPU setup is more than good enough? - Especially if I consider that most of the games I play are CPU intensive (Arma 3, GTA, etc.) and when I do play I mainly play online, another inherently CPU intensive activity. Still, it’d be nice to have as much GPU grunt as poss, eh? It’d just be nice to push all those sliders up to 10/Ultra without sweating about it or trying to find the balance. Wait! The ‘red team’ might have something up their sleeves pretty soon, better wait and see, no? - True. And I am rather curious - I’ve always been a bang-for-buck kinda guy too (another issue I might have with getting a 980). But then again, I’ve sorta wanted to try out the ‘green team’ for a while now. And of course, the never ceasing Crossfire/SLI vs single card performance debate - To be fair I’ve been rather impressed with the xfire performance I’ve had with these cards. It gave great bonuses and on the whole it’s been faultless. But then I can’t be 100% sure - the very rare little momentary stutters, lags or glitches that happen when gaming every now and then (never gamebreakinig imo) could well be related to xfire…but I wouldn’t know as I’ve never had a single card of similar ‘on paper’ performance to compare it to. Speaking of ‘on paper’ - I could never know if my setup is scaling to the single card equivalent, for exactly the same reason. Lastly - power consumption? Meh!…If I was buying a Sabre GT, miles per gallon wouldn’t be at the top of my concerns - same rules apply to me here. Although better efficiency is something I’d never turn my nose up to. It goes on and on and on in my head…. So basically, I’d very much welcome a bit of knowledgable input from the community to help me consider all the angles. I’m also rather keen to hear from those that might have upgraded from a similar setup to a GTX 980, or anyone else who’s in the same boat with their decision to upgrade. In all fairness I’m open to be swung either way - secretly, the little kid in me is looking for any good reason(s) to pull the trigger, but on the same note I’m completely rational and if it’s just not gonna make any or a minuscule performance difference, I won’t. Yet. So please do. I’d really like to hear from and talk to the GTAforum community on this topic - Hit me (and us) with your thoughts and knowledge on the subject... Edited March 11, 2015 by Fubarbrickdust Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/772466-to-upgrade-or-not-to-upgrade-that-is-the-question/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Raven_ Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 (edited) *Post deleted. Edited October 8, 2017 by The7thOne Fubarbrickdust 1 Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/772466-to-upgrade-or-not-to-upgrade-that-is-the-question/?do=findComment&comment=1067097552 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fubarbrickdust Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 (edited) If you're just going to play 1080p for a while, then I'd wait. Even if you do want an upgrade, it's probably best to upgrade only when you start to feel the age of your specs. If you do want to upgrade, and don't care at all, then wait. There's going to be a ton of new GPU's coming out this year, and who knows, AMD might have something you'll be interested in. It all comes down to what you're planning to do. If you're going to strictly play at 1080p, then a 980 isn't really necessary unless you plan to max out everything. If you want to future-proof your rig, then I'd definitely recommend the 980, but if you're not going to plummet into the 4K spectrum yet, I'd wait. I personally might choose to upgrade my GPU in the future, but since I'm strictly 1080p I don't feel the need to right now. The 760 is still a good card, even if it does feel old. I'm happy with my performance right now. If you are, then follow suit. You don't need a 980 unless you plan to max out at 1080p, or do 4K at low-med settings. Since you're running Crossfire, you should be OK with the 270x for at least a few more years, give or take. Cheers, dude - that's exactly the kind of thought out and constructive input I was hoping would come with this topic. Thanks for starting it off on a good one, btw. You've brought up exactly the kind of area that I'm at... I too am cool with 1080p, yet part of me does want to be able to bust all those settings up to the top with a childish smile on my face, with maybe the thought of bumping up a resolution size in the not-too-distant-future. And then back to earth...As it is my rig's handling everything I chuck at it quite smooth and respectably as long as I don't get overzealous with the hungry options. ...Damn it! - each of your paragraphs make sound sense! **the childish me** Keep 'em coming guys... Edited March 10, 2015 by Fubarbrickdust _Raven_ 1 Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/772466-to-upgrade-or-not-to-upgrade-that-is-the-question/?do=findComment&comment=1067097783 Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Raven_ Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 (edited) *Post deleted. Edited October 8, 2017 by The7thOne Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/772466-to-upgrade-or-not-to-upgrade-that-is-the-question/?do=findComment&comment=1067097839 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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