Is the GTX 1070 worth it?

[maevinj]

Yep, the best time to buy a card is either at release, or at a massive discount. Waiting 6+ months for ~10-20% off means you aren't getting very good "return on your investment" since the card is a good ways through its lifespan. Buying early and "turning over" the cards is a great way to stay with high end for cheaper, and buying those discounted cards is a good way to stay mid-range on a budget.

If you can get a 1070 for closer to $300 than $400 it could be a good deal. The cards coming out in the next few months will all be >$300-400 so unless you want an existing card at decreased cost or the new cards will be in your price range, waiting is all upto you.

Thanks. This was the insight I was looking for.

 

[2is]

Apparently you missed the OP's first post, "If you guys could give me some advice it'd be greatly appreciated, but I'd prefer to avoid cards that get particularly hot, as I'm in Australia and it's summer over here, so my house is always hot to begin with."

AIB 480's do run hotter under load than AIB 1070's from what I recall. As someone who used to run a gaming rig in a house without AC, every few degrees counts in the hot summer months...

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/gigabyte_radeon_rx_480_g1_gaming_review,5.html

According to that, the difference is 8 watts. Unless this is going inside a room as large as your average dog house, there's no way you're going to notice a change in ambient temperature from 8 watts.

 

[bystander36]

Of course waiting to purchase a new card means several months of poor performance. If you are happy enough now, wait, but if you really want some performance, then you need to just make the best purchase you can. Even when Vega comes out, the GTX 1070 will still be a good card, the best you can hope for is a little lower price, but to get that lower price means you have to live with poor performance for several months. Would you pay something like $50 for several months of much better performance? If so, there is no need to wait.

 

[Bacon1]

You said 300 to $400 ,Small Vega will be under $400.
No way is AMD leaving a gap from $240 to over $400. no way.

Polaris was the $200-300 range.

I've heard nothing but HBM2 is expensive and it's impossible for Vega to use both HBM2 and GDDR5(x), not to mention that everyone says 14nm is more expensive, how will AMD sell Vega for under $400 at launch? Cheapest fury at launch was what, $550? I don't see Vega going for under $400 but it would be great if I could get one that cheap

 

[Thinker_145]

And since when was release the best time to buy a new card? You have to wait at least a couple of months to buy a new gen card at non inflated prices unless you get really really lucky.

So basically the whole waiting thing is ridiculous because you are looking at 2 months AFTER launch.

It's only been a couple of months that the 1070 has been selling at MSRP or lower so it's a great time to buy.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

The GTX 1070 is a solid purchase with your hardware and should offer some legroom to spare. I jumped from a 780 to a 1080 and it was a huge leap in performance, I imagine a 960 to a 1070 would be a similar jump. Others may correct me if I'm wrong, but a 480 will likely pump out more heat than the 1070. If you can wait 3-4 months, it can't hurt to see what Vega does to bring down prices/offer competition.

Recently saw that the 1070 is just shy of a 2x 980 SLI. I have no problem sacrificing 4K for 2560x1440 because the only affordable monitor that has all the features I want is the BenQ XL2730Z "ZOWIE" or whatever it's called. Now I'm trying to "budget" my PCIE lanes. As much as I'd like to have bragging rights for GTX 1070 SLI, it doesn't make sense. If I won the lottery, maybe I'd have a much bigger budget for this stuff. But you are also budgeting your own preferences and pleasures. Rich or not, you'd always have a sense of what seems worth the outlay, and what seems not.

 

[RussianSensation]

And since when was release the best time to buy a new card? You have to wait at least a couple of months to buy a new gen card at non inflated prices unless you get really really lucky.

So basically the whole waiting thing is ridiculous because you are looking at 2 months AFTER launch.

It's only been a couple of months that the 1070 has been selling at MSRP or lower so it's a great time to buy.

1070 came out June 10. It's getting close to 1/2 of its life-cycle in GPU terms. A lot of people in this thread and online are using ancient GTX660/660Ti/670/680/770 or HD7850/7870/270X cards.

It's far smarter to pick up someone like a $160 RX 480 4GB as a stop-gap 1080p 60Hz card than spend $380-400 on a 1070:

https://slickdeals.net/f/9656024-ms...o-card-for-159-99-ar-free-shipping-newegg-com

It makes it an extremely cheap upgrade to sell one's old card for $60-70 and get a $160-200 480/1060 for 1080p.

1070's value for 1080p 60Hz gaming is very poor. It costs more or less 2X more than an RX480 but is only 42-43% faster:

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_1080_Amp_Extreme/29.html

Too many on this forum think anything less than a 1070/980Ti for 1080p gaming isn't good enough. The best time to buy a 1070 was in October-mid-December when 1070's cost $325-350 with Amex/Visa Checkout deals + stacked rebates and AAA game.

I don't understand how someone plays on say a GTX660 for almost 5! years but dismisses GPUs in the $160-200 range that are at least 2x faster in modern titles. This idea that a $380-400 dGPU is required for a great 1080p gaming experience is laughable when most AAA games out are console ports. Performance increases 50-100% going from Ultra to HQ/VHQ with often no tangible way of telling the difference in motion without using magnifying glass on still screenshots. The irony is most of the best looking AAA games of 2015-2016 run like butter on an RX480/1060. Priced on those 2 cards have dropped while 1070 is still in the $370-400 range. 1070 is overpriced against RX480/1060 for 1080p gaming.

 

[2is]

Since when has their been a like for like in terms of how much more a higher end card costs vs how much better it performs? You can literally use that argument to promote a lower end card with just about any two cards. A >40% increase in performance is nothing short of huge.

 

[DamZe]

It's far smarter to pick up someone like a $160 RX 480 4GB as a stop-gap 1080p 60Hz

Damn, those prices are insane! I'd buy one for the heck of it, if it was priced that low where I live.

 

[Thinker_145]

1070 came out June 10. It's getting close to 1/2 of its life-cycle in GPU terms. A lot of people in this thread and online are using ancient GTX660/660Ti/670/680/770 or HD7850/7870/270X cards.

It's far smarter to pick up someone like a $160 RX 480 4GB as a stop-gap 1080p 60Hz card than spend $380-400 on a 1070:

https://slickdeals.net/f/9656024-ms...o-card-for-159-99-ar-free-shipping-newegg-com

It makes it an extremely cheap upgrade to sell one's old card for $60-70 and get a $160-200 480/1060 for 1080p.

1070's value for 1080p 60Hz gaming is very poor. It costs more or less 2X more than an RX480 but is only 42-43% faster:

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_1080_Amp_Extreme/29.html

Too many on this forum think anything less than a 1070/980Ti for 1080p gaming isn't good enough. The best time to buy a 1070 was in October-mid-December when 1070's cost $325-350 with Amex/Visa Checkout deals + stacked rebates and AAA game.

I don't understand how someone plays on say a GTX660 for almost 5! years but dismisses GPUs in the $160-200 range that are at least 2x faster in modern titles. This idea that a $380-400 dGPU is required for a great 1080p gaming experience is laughable when most AAA games out are console ports. Performance increases 50-100% going from Ultra to HQ/VHQ with often no tangible way of telling the difference in motion without using magnifying glass on still screenshots. The irony is most of the best looking AAA games of 2015-2016 run like butter on an RX480/1060. Priced on those 2 cards have dropped while 1070 is still in the $370-400 range. 1070 is overpriced against RX480/1060 for 1080p gaming.

You cannot compare a 4GB 480 and 1070 like that. When I am buying PC hardware I set myself some minimum requirements and then proceed to see what is best for me. For anyone looking to max games at 1080p with AA for the next 2 years is not looking at a 4GB card.

The 4GB 480 will eventually tank and then it's resale will tank as well. Why the hell does someone need a "stop gap" card? I mean it's good to plan your build and think over things but doing that is just ridiculous.

 

[amenx]

Depends on ones argument. If as RS said, one is on 1080p, his advice may make sense. But for someone on 1440p, I dont think I would go for a 'stop gap' like 480 4gb, a 1070 may be more worth the extra money for the several months more wait. Upgraded a 970 to 1070 3 months back and would still do it today for my 1440p display.

 

[Thinker_145]

As it has already been pointed out DSR is simply amazing at 1080p so you can never have too much performance regardless of resolution. So let's put to bed this ridiculous argument once and for all.

 

[amenx]

Sorry, DSR in my experience can NEVER match native quality of higher res screens. I've lived with both and know. Not only that, visual impact/immersion is not as great due to most 1080 screens small 24" size. The need for higher res (for me) is required by my absolute need for larger displays (where even 27" beginning to feel small for me).

 

[bystander36]

Sorry, but DSR is a better than nothing tech. I use it in some games, but the impact isn't all that great, but better than nothing in some games. I find it works best if you use MSAA with it, as its not very effective on its own.

 

[casiofx]

If you use 1080p and 60hz, please just get either 1060 or rx480.
If you have extra money for better gpu, you should get better monitor such as 1080p 144hz or 1440p 60hz or 144hz. Gtx1070 shines on better monitors right now. Maybe 1070 will be the standard for 1080p 60hz in the future, but by that time a midrange volta or navi would rekt 1070 already.

 

[Thinker_145]

Sorry, DSR in my experience can NEVER match native quality of higher res screens. I've lived with both and know. Not only that, visual impact/immersion is not as great due to most 1080 screens small 24" size. The need for higher res (for me) is required by my absolute need for larger displays (where even 27" beginning to feel small for me).

And whoever said anything about matching native res? Why wouldn't someone make the most of what they have?

DSR makes a metric ton of difference. It's way better than 4xMSAA so to downplay it is just wrong.

And YOU don't find a 24" monitor immersive but that's just your preference.

 

[casiofx]

And whoever said anything about matching native res? Why wouldn't someone make the most of what they have?

DSR makes a metric ton of difference. It's way better than 4xMSAA so to downplay it is just wrong.

And YOU don't find a 24" monitor immersive but that's just your preference.

If you have money for a gpu like gtx1070, at least get 1440p monitor than just running dsr on 1080p

 

[Thinker_145]

If you have money for a gpu like gtx1070, at least get 1440p monitor than just running dsr on 1080p

On a 1440p monitor you are locked. Going any lower provides a horrible IQ downgrade. On a 1080p monitor you don't have to run DSR just like you don't have to use high AA on every game.

Secondly I am not even sure I agree with your statement. A good quality 1440p monitor is atleast the same price as a GTX 1070. So that's like saying if you can afford one 1070 then you can also afford two. Makes any sense?

And lastly people can upgrade their monitor down the line. This whole obsession that oh I got an expensive GPU so I MUST get a new monitor is wasteful and illogical.

 

[2is]

On a 1440p monitor you are locked. Going any lower provides a horrible IQ downgrade. On a 1080p monitor you don't have to run DSR just like you don't have to use high AA on every game.

Secondly I am not even sure I agree with your statement. A good quality 1440p monitor is atleast the same price as a GTX 1070. So that's like saying if you can afford one 1070 then you can also afford two. Makes any sense?

And lastly people can upgrade their monitor down the line. This whole obsession that oh I got an expensive GPU so I MUST get a new monitor is wasteful and illogical.

Agreed, my GPU upgrades have NEVER resulted in a monitor upgrade. My monitor upgrades on the other hand have resulted in GPU upgrades. When I went from a 19" 1280x1024 to a 24" 1920x1200 I upgraded my 8800GT to a HD 5870. By the time I upgraded that monitor I was running 2GB SLI 680's which I swapped out for my current 980Ti when I got a 27" 144Hz Gsync display. As long as nVidia doesn't price me out of PC gaming, this monitor should be with me for at least another 2-3 video card upgrades and I tend to upgrade every other generation.