upgrade now or wait

[RussianSensation]

If you want to keep the card beyond 5 years as an HTPC, then go for the 960 over the 270X due to better codec and NV's usually longer driver support. This card is newer so it's likely to get 2-3 years longer driver support.

As far as keeping Skylake-E for 10 years, if you don't like upgrading often, I would personally upgrade every 5. One strategy I use is to resell older parts and get newer parts. For example let's say in 5 years you can get 50% of your purchase price for SK-E parts, you can upgrade the CPU/Mobo without too much cost; carry over the DDR4. In 10 years your parts will be worth just double digits. That's why I prefer to eventually sell and move on.

 

[ChuckFx]

The other bad thing is I will have to locate another ft02 case in 2016-2017 when I build the new PC as I don't want to switch all the parts out and I want a fresh case when I build the new skylake-e and I have an unhealthy love affair with the ft02 case. It's just an amazing awesome case that cant be beat in my eyes. The new AP182 triple 180mm fans creates a ton of positive pressure and moves copious amounts of cool air even on the practically 0 DB low speed plus it takes advantage of heats natural convection to rise out the case. The PSU gets direct cold air from the outside and the 140mm exhaust helps pull the cpu heat directly out the case off the noctua d14. It really is the best case ever.

Hopefully by the time skylake-e comes out we will see some 600-800 watt titanium rated consumer psu's which is another reason i don't wanna upgrade the psu now. So the pc will be so cool with so much efficiency psu will probably be a constant 0db 0 rpm fan

You are pretty much justifying why you WILL wait until you upgrade, case solved.

 

[RussianSensation]

This is what the OP said :

"For an upgrade the card has to only require at max 1 6 pin pci-e or 1 8 pin pci-e.

The requirement in the OP is artificial. It is not a hard requirement.

His PSU is a 450W unit that already has a single 1x6-pin connector and handles a CPU platform that peaks at 305W under load or more. A 2nd 4-pin molex to 6-pin adapter can be purchased for $5. His PSU is clearly capable of huge loads on the 12V rail.

There's nothing in here about "throw out my system and buy a 4 year old sandy bridge so I can run an R9 280".

That's what the forum is for - to provide alternative ideas, which may in fact be better than the proposed solution.

The main reason a GTX 960 is perfect for his setup is that he has a 5770 - almost identical power draw to a 960.

That's the problem. You provide a recommendation without talking about any of the cons of your proposed solution. I've seen you completely ignore the cons of the 960 despite many experienced gamers pointing it out to you in the GTX960 thread.

1. GTX960's frame rates do not equal good frame times. In fact, while 280X is just 15% faster than a GTX960, the frame times are worlds apart in favour of the HD7970 chip. You have ignored this since day 1.

The frame times matter a lot more for smoothness and this is where 960 falls apart against the HD7970 style chip.
http://www.techspot.com/review/948-geforce-gtx-960-sli-performance/page3.html

2. GTX960's 2GB VRAM is a major limitation (this is already related to 270X which I pointed out). Titanfall, Watch Dogs, AC Unity, Shadow of Mordor, Evolve, Wolfenstein NWO, and the list will continue growing over the next 2 years. You have ignored this since day 1.

And now the brand new Evolve:

http://www.sweclockers.com/artikel/20031-snabbtest-grafikprestanda-i-evolve/3#pagehead

It's only going to get worse for 2GB cards, much worse.

This whole argument of getting a GTX960 to save some power over a used HD7970 3GB is undermined when the OP could sell his X6+mobo, get a Core i3+ mobo with the $80+ savings from not getting the $200 960. With this strategy, he'll get a way faster CPU and much better GPU for games, not to mention the much needed 3GB of VRAM.

It seems the OP doesn't want an in-between system and just either wants $500-1000+ Skylake-E with NV Titan style GPU as his next upgrade. I don't agree with this way of thinking as he will still use this system for the next 2 years and selling the AMD parts and getting an i3 or esp. a used i5 is a major benefit that will drop his power usage a lot more than the 960 can. If you want to save power, why would you want to leave a 300W+ core system that gets beaten by a sub-90W Core i5 system?

89W i5-4460 system > 305W Phenon II X6 @ 4.2Ghz in games.

Finally, am I supposed to believe that someone who is looking to buy NV's Titan-esque style GPU and a Skylake-E platform down the line can't afford to buy a $40 XFX 550W PSU, sell his X6 parts, but a Core i3/5 system, and spend $40 extra over the 960 for a 45% faster R9 290 (as an example) to transform his outdated rig into a powerhouse 1080P gaming system for the next 2 years while he waits for SK-E? This thread is "upgrade or wait", isn't it?

I vote upgrade for now and upgrade again in 2 years. This argument of not wanting to buy "old parts" is odd because the X6 is ancient so it's not as if pairing that CPU platform with a 2015 GPU will magically make the system up-to-date. It won't. In fact, I bet he doesn't even have a SATA 3 SSD in there that can take advantage of modern SSDs.

 

[Laststop311]

If you want to keep the card beyond 5 years as an HTPC, then go for the 960 over the 270X due to better codec and NV's usually longer driver support. This card is newer so it's likely to get 2-3 years longer driver support.

As far as keeping Skylake-E for 10 years, if you don't like upgrading often, I would personally upgrade every 5. One strategy I use is to resell older parts and get newer parts. For example let's say in 5 years you can get 50% of your purchase price for SK-E parts, you can upgrade the CPU/Mobo without too much cost; carry over the DDR4. In 10 years your parts will be worth just double digits. That's why I prefer to eventually sell and move on.

Well I have plans to use my current pc as a 24/7 personal server or cloud/htpc/seed box/nas. Load it up with HGST 7200 rpm ultrastar 4TB drives in RAID 5 so I don't want to resell my old stuff. This current pc used for the reasons stated above is actually quite well specced. Also has 4x4GB Gskill ram running at 2400MHZ CL 9 forgot to list the ram. This will be a beast of a pc using it as a dedicated personal server for me. Have it run a lean version of linux and even at it's age it can get 10 years of server use right along with the 10 years on my main skylake-e. Really the system requirements for that never change so it can be my server until the motherboard goes. Then the skylake-e system becomes my server and I build another crazy beast and this current PC goes to my electronics graveyard.

I like to take my time and do my build exactly perfect and then not have to mess with it again. I put the time in up front so I can be worry free from then on other then cleaning out the custom magnetic dust filters on the case intake and psu intake. And with the way intel has been gaining lower and lower percentages in performance each generation I think you are better off financially just getting a really nice system and keeping it 10 years. Even if I spend 3500 on it thats like buying a 350 dollar pc each year.

Also another reason I will not buy a pc for that long is during that time period I plan on getting a nice 120hz g sync (plz adaptive/free sync win) 32-36 inch 4k monitor (120hz 4k should come out sometime in that time frame and 120hz + g sync + 4k you can imagine will work out very nicely together and allow you the benefits of over 60 fps without having to hit 120 fps on 4k which even for many years will be a challenge but i can see 90's doable (maxed ultra details + some AA) with 2 flagships in sli and of course since g sync you get the benefits of 90 fps without screen tearing and that thing is basically gonna be the cost of a pc in itself most likely). I can't downgrade from 120hz i currently have the 23.5" 120hz eizo VA panel as it was the only non TN 120hz I could find.

Personally I hope the generic adaptive sync over DP wins the market share by being inside all monitors by default as part of DP protocol and nvidia is forced to enable it on their GPU's. Really that is in everyone's best interest. Pullin the trigger friday on 1 of the green msi gtx 960's. So I can finally be rid of this horrid sapphire toxic 5770, good name for it it is toxic to my gaming right now and this is even the 2GB version most are 1GB!!!

Also the power consumption is fine the 450 watt 80+ gold works through it fine. It's just enough to max both cpu and gpu. It's a seasonic I actually do have 2 6 + 2 pin i just dont have the right cables. It's a single rail design

 

[Laststop311]

well i got the gtx 960 and I'm more than happy with it. Massive speed boost coming from radeon 5770. This will tide me over till skylake-e perfectly. For the people saying gtx 960 isnt good enough gpu for the next 2 years I think you are wrong. For 1080 rez this gpu does great. Civilization beyond earth is probably the most graphics intense game i play tho and I think its more cpu limited maybve i guess wow i dunno i dont play many of the hardcore triple aaa games that are being released lately. They seem to all suck. for the games i play im hitting 90+ fps in everything not quite powerful enough to max out the refresh rate of my monitor but thats ok. Skylake-e wont be too long.

Using the msi gaming green 100 million edition gtx 960 and its dead silent compared to the sapphire toxic 5770 and way more powerful. It was a well spent 230 dollars and will make my games happy till skylake-e. thanks for all the comments.

 

[Laststop311]

and russsian im just lazy i didnt want to go thru the hassle of selling old parts getting new parts bla bla bla too much crap. i will probably give my gpu away to some 1 with a 5770 thats wants to xfire em.

 

[Ajay]

I have a 28nm GFX card already. Even though a newer 28nm video card would increase it's performance considerably - I'm going to hold out for a 14/16 'nm' GFX card. The prices for current 28nm video cards are too high, IMHO.

 

[Headfoot]

The GTX 960 is a horrible buy. Terrible price performance ratio and pretty terrible performance given it's stuttering frametimes.

Either go small and get a 750 Ti and save yourself the money while getting pretty close to the same FPS due to CPU limitations, or go big and get something that you can transfer to a more modern platform (like an R9 280, R9 290, GTX 970, and a new PSU to power it).

Getting a 960 compromises on everything and its not even cheap. Getting a 960 is the worst option.

Edit: I see you paid $230 for a 960.... lol

 

[tweakboy]

Bummer for AMD. gb

 

[voodoo7817]

I hate to be a thread crapper or come off like a jerk but your AMD CPU combined with an Nvidia 960 is about the least cost effective gaming machine you can build, no matter what parts you have repurposed. I too find it curious that OP claims to want to spend $3k in 2 years for a massive Skylake-E upgrade but can't scrape together ~$500 for a legit upgrade today. 2 years is a long time, especially in the gaming world! Regardless, I hope OP enjoys his system.

 

[shady28]

The GTX 960 is a horrible buy. Terrible price performance ratio and pretty terrible performance given it's stuttering frametimes.

...

Edit: I see you paid $230 for a 960.... lol

Aren't you the same Headfoot that just posted you bought a 7950 Boost in another thread?

You are aware that the 7950 has horrid frame time consistency compared to the 960, right?

 

[schmuckley]

Aren't you the same Headfoot that just posted you bought a 7950 Boost in another thread?

You are aware that the 7950 has horrid frame time consistency compared to the 960, right?


*snip

Watever man..I'd take a 7950 over a gtx 960 any day.Some of that can be driver-related as well.I have no complaints and can play any game maxed out with a 7950 with decent framerates.Will a 960 do that? I doubt it. (1080p)

 

[shady28]

Watever man..I'd take a 7950 over a gtx 960 any day.Some of that can be driver-related as well.I have no complaints and can play any game maxed out with a 7950 with decent framerates.Will a 960 do that? I doubt it. (1080p)

Why not just go look?

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2015-vga-charts/compare,3683.html?prod[7372]=on&prod[7217]=on


Strix 960 vs 7950 Boost at 1080p : 960 is 14% faster on average

20 Index 1080p


Score in Score Go 78.50 68.77



Strix 960 vs 7950 Boost at 2160p : 960 is 5% faster on average

21 Index 2160p


Score in Score Go 66.60 63.77

 

[schmuckley]

Why not just go look?

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2015-vga-charts/compare,3683.html?prod%5B7372%5D=on&prod%5B7217%5D=on


Strix 960 vs 7950 Boost at 1080p : 960 is 14% faster on average

20 Index 1080p


Score in Score Go 78.50 68.77



Strix 960 vs 7950 Boost at 2160p : 960 is 5% faster on average

21 Index 2160p


Score in Score Go 66.60 63.77

a)Link to Tom's :thumbsdown:
b) I run my card @ 1020/1650

Metinks I'll just wait and see how it scores compared to 7950 @ Hwbot..mmk?

 

[Headfoot]

Aren't you the same Headfoot that just posted you bought a 7950 Boost in another thread?

You are aware that the 7950 has horrid frame time consistency compared to the 960, right?

Bought it for $100, less than half the price of a new 960. For a secondary computer running an i5-750... Lol. Really trying hard man.

 

[voodoo7817]

One can take issue with Russian's verbosity, prolificness, and occasional tone, but that doesn't make him wrong (at least on this subject). Shady on the other hand, I'm not sure I've seen a post that wasn't filled with FUD, misdirection, or willful ignorance.


Member callouts will not be tolerated here.

-Rvenger