Card Recommendation for Gaming Nephew

[chusteczka]

Hello, I ask for a video card recommendation for my 16 year old nephew. He is asking for a card that can run "Ark: Survival Evolved at 60 fps". Namely he initially asked for the GeForce GTX 980Ti 6GB but I balked at the $600 price. I am comfortable getting a $300 card and have asked other family members if they are willing to contribute to possibly reach the $600 card. To his credit, my nephew returned with a lowered request for the GTX 960; which points to him following model numbers from what his friends have.

The $300 card I found is the GeForce GTX 970 4GB. While I am computer knowledgeable, I do not know video cards or gaming.

I presume that nVidia provides higher frame rates while AMD provides better quality but at a higher energy cost. I understand that frame rate is key for gaming, which would lead towards nVidia.

For an AMD card I would get Sapphire. For nVidia, I would lean towards Gigabyte but realize EVGA is a well known and trusted company, even if I am not familiar with it.

Is there specific literature, reviews, or benchmarks you can point me to? Or can you provide any thoughts or recommendations from this information?

Thank you for your help.

 

[Kenmitch]

That game looks to be a turd as far as performance goes. Even the mighty 980Ti just scrapes 60fps with medium settings.

Not sure if you can find a newer review but this one is from January. They call it the hardware eater.

http://www.pcgameshardware.de/ARK-Survival-Evolved-Spiel-55571/Specials/Benchmark-Test-2016-1182869/

 

[tential]

Evga is overrated, Sapphire is amazing obviously, gigabyte is decent I think the g1 is amazing.

But what you can do now is wait for pascal and Polaris the new graphics gpus to release.

Right now the Nvidia cards out will likely be discontinued and the amd cards out now that are good are about to be replaced by far lower power variants. Just not a good time to buy.

 

[IllogicalGlory]

For the price, there's nothing appreciably better. ARK is a performance hog of the highest order anyway.

I recommend saving yourself $50 and picking up a B-stock 970 for $250: http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=04G-P4-2977-RX

B-stock is defined as:

B-Stock Products are units which may have small scratches, small dents, or noticeable use. B-Stock products are Factory Recertified to meet the performance and reliability of a new product of the same model. B-Stock products do not come with any optional accessories and only include the accessories required to use the product as listed below.

Included Accessories:
Motherboard: I/O Shield
Power Supply: Power Cables
Graphics Card: None
Other Devices: None

All B-Stock products include a 1 Year Limited Warranty. Warranty Terms
Warranty: 1 Year

Alternatively, you could wait until June and see what the new cards offer.

 

[chusteczka]

This is all great and useful information. Thank you.

I did find an article that mentioned new models coming out in June, so I will wait. He is still in school right now anyway with final exams coming up.

tential, I was not aware of the Gigabyte G1 model until you mentioned it. Thank you.

IllogicalGlory, thank you for pointing out the B-Stock to me on the EVGA website. I was not aware of that either.

Kenmitch, I will provide that Ark review you referenced to my nephew. He is in his second year of German. It will do him good.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I imagine AMD's Polaris 10 will be the best choice in your price bracket. It should be at least as powerful as a 970 since it's being marketed for VR and 970 is the minimum recommended spec for both the Occulus Rift and the HTC Vive. And AMD is calling it a mainstream card, so hopefully it'll have a mainstream price like $230-$270.

 

[chusteczka]

I imagine AMD's Polaris 10 will be the best choice in your price bracket. It should be at least as powerful as a 970 since it's being marketed for VR and 970 is the minimum recommended spec for both the Occulus Rift and the HTC Vive. And AMD is calling it a mainstream card, so hopefully it'll have a mainstream price like $230-$270.

I agree. tential mentioned Polaris above, which got me noticing all the threads referencing Polaris, which opened my eyes. Then I started reading a few threads and a few anticipatory review articles, which have led me to realize this is perfect timing. Now I understand why AMD's stock price recently jumped. The smaller die has me strongly interested.

It is interesting to hear the 970 is the minimum recommended for those games. I do not want to buy a $300 card then find it doesn't meet his expectations or needs.

 

[choccy_bar]

There you go, enjoy hehehehehehehe

http://minuszerodegrees.net/5150_5160/cards/ibm_cga.jpg

 

[choccy_bar]

"Namely he initially asked for the GeForce GTX 980Ti 6GB but I balked at the $600 price"

Did you give him a slap? lol

 

[airfathaaaaa]

buy a 960 and tell him dinasaurs cant see 60 fps

 

[Tidekilla115]

I play ark at 50-60fps@high settings on a 1440x900 moniter with a pentium g3258@4.4ghz, 16gb of ram and a sapphire r9 380x. I'd benchmark it and show y'all but I'm not currently home.

 

[Tidekilla115]

That game looks to be a turd as far as performance goes. Even the mighty 980Ti just scrapes 60fps with medium settings.

Not sure if you can find a newer review but this one is from January. They call it the hardware eater.

http://www.pcgameshardware.de/ARK-Survival-Evolved-Spiel-55571/Specials/Benchmark-Test-2016-1182869/

It is much better optimized now.

 

[nerp]

I would avoid the 960 -- not much better than the sub-$150 GTX950. You're barking up the right tree looking at the 970.

 

[USER8000]

buy a 960 and tell him dinasaurs cant see 60 fps

I have a GTX960 4GB and I tried during Christmas and it seemed to run worse than an R9 280 another mate had. Mate's GTX960 did the same.

I would probably get an R9 390 or GTX970 at least for this game.

 

[chusteczka]

I am going to wait for June and decide between the two models, the Polaris 10 & 11. If I can get money from other family members pooled together, then I will go for the 11.

Thank you all for getting me back in the game.

 

[tential]

This is all great and useful information. Thank you.

I did find an article that mentioned new models coming out in June, so I will wait. He is still in school right now anyway with final exams coming up.

tential, I was not aware of the Gigabyte G1 model until you mentioned it. Thank you.

IllogicalGlory, thank you for pointing out the B-Stock to me on the EVGA website. I was not aware of that either.

Kenmitch, I will provide that Ark review you referenced to my nephew. He is in his second year of German. It will do him good.

Ya, generally, the G1 isn't much more than the regular model on release. Maybe 2-30 more. I honestly would recommend it though usually. But of course, just read the launch reviews of cards. You really just have to if you want to find a good one. Or I mean come here and ask. By then we'll have a consensus of what coolers we like the best. I think Sapphire will win out though, they always do for AMD so far.


What I would do, come back here when new cards come out. Ask for recommendations. Don't read anything. Look at the graphs posted. Try and decide what you think. Then read and come to a conclusion on what you want.


Why am I personally making the choice I am, and recommending you what I am?

Since it seemed you weren't 100% sure the difference between AMD/Nvidia right now I'll try and break it down as quickly as possible.
It's tiny. AMD consumes more power. Games are a toss up as to who is faster. Really, if you have any card, I doubt you can tell the difference between them for example: a GTX970 or R9 290.

Seriously, if I put both cards in systems in ANY price bracket next to each other, and let you play both, you couldn't tell which is better without the FPS counter up.

Now, lets up the ante even further and look at freesync/gsync monitors (Very quick explanation of the technology in a youtube link here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ey-KObDABI)

So, now, lets say you use one of these monitors + a GPU from AMD or Nvidia?

Do you believe your eyes are that precise that you could tell which GPU is faster in a scenario in which you always have smooth gaming anyway?

With this, we can come to the conclusion that as long as we can hold 40+ FPS, it's irrelevant which GPU we have. Given AMD and Nvidia's current solutions, and the market, it's pretty clear, Nvidia can charge more money than AMD for the same product. They have a better market image. That's just life. Mercedes can charge more for a car than Honda. That's how the world works and really we don't need to delve much more into that.

Conclusion:

For me it's a no brainer. AMD GPU + Freesync monitor.

I'm not saying this because Nvidia + Gsync monitor isn't good. It certainly is. But can I tell the difference between the two? Absolutely not, and I know I couldn't. I mean, the person I bought my R9 290 from, who later went out and bought a GTX 970, doesn't notice a difference. He just wanted a GTX 970.

It's just a far cheaper solution for the same quality for the AMD GPU + Freesync monitor.

My current speculation will be Polaris 10 + Freesync monitor for your son. We'll see if I'm right.

I'd use this for freesync monitor deals:
https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/search?q=freesync&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all

 

[tential]

Also, since no one mentioned it, the game your son is playing is in Beta... Performance will continue to change. The goal shouldn't be to power through poorly optimized code.

 

[RussianSensation]

I am going to wait for June and decide between the two models, the Polaris 10 & 11. If I can get money from other family members pooled together, then I will go for the 11.

Thank you all for getting me back in the game.

Don't forget NV Pascal GP104 should launch and be on sale in June. There will be 970/980 replacements with performance at or better than 980Ti. Best bet is to wait until June and see where Polaris vs. Pascal end up.

 

[DooKey]

I would wait until NV and AMD release their new cards. Take a look at both and buy what fits your use case.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I am going to wait for June and decide between the two models, the Polaris 10 & 11. If I can get money from other family members pooled together, then I will go for the 11.

Thank you all for getting me back in the game.

Polaris 11 is going to be the slow one, Polaris 10 the more powerful.

 

[TypoFairy©]

I recommend placing it in a shoebox/clothing gift-box so he can be very disappointed before ultimately realizing he did indeed get a graphics card. Its that extra mile that makes you a stud

 

[Arachnotronic]

Hello, I ask for a video card recommendation for my 16 year old nephew. He is asking for a card that can run "Ark: Survival Evolved at 60 fps". Namely he initially asked for the GeForce GTX 980Ti 6GB but I balked at the $600 price. I am comfortable getting a $300 card and have asked other family members if they are willing to contribute to possibly reach the $600 card. To his credit, my nephew returned with a lowered request for the GTX 960; which points to him following model numbers from what his friends have.

The $300 card I found is the GeForce GTX 970 4GB. While I am computer knowledgeable, I do not know video cards or gaming.

I presume that nVidia provides higher frame rates while AMD provides better quality but at a higher energy cost. I understand that frame rate is key for gaming, which would lead towards nVidia.

For an AMD card I would get Sapphire. For nVidia, I would lean towards Gigabyte but realize EVGA is a well known and trusted company, even if I am not familiar with it.

Is there specific literature, reviews, or benchmarks you can point me to? Or can you provide any thoughts or recommendations from this information?

Thank you for your help.

Wait for new GPUs to launch then make a purchase decision.

 

[chusteczka]

You guys are great! Thank you.
Will wait for June, then balance the NV Pascal with the AMD Polaris (10 being the faster model than 11). I am also finding interest in several of the Video threads now that I know what is happening.

The freesync monitor is new to me. Will look into that.

Much appreciated.

Regarding preferences, my personal preference is for AMD but my nephew's friends are all nVidia, leaving him feeling left out by the crazy uncle getting him the "inferior" AMD components. So I am trying to be open minded but figure if it is my money, it is going to AMD.

 

[xthetenth]

Introduce him to the wonderful world of DX12 smuggery. ()

 

[sm625]

Knowing AMD you might be waiting well past June. I would be shocked if you are able to buy any 14nm card before July.