Upgrade to GTX 980 ti?

[slayernine]

Hey folks, I could use a second opinion on a hardware decision.

My GTX 670 is being replaced by a local retailer under warranty and they offered a GTX 960 which is worth $270. FYI I live in Canada and our prices suck.

I convinced them to let me pay to get a better card. I'm debating between the GTX 980 and the GTX 980 ti. Planning on getting a 3440x1440 21:9 monitor, hopefully one with GSYNC and/or freesync (if I went AMD). The 980 ti costs about $200 more.

Planning on playing Witcher 3 and GTA V. I also currently play BF4, Mech Warrior Online, Civ V, Civ BE.

Looking at these two cards:
$649 - ASUS STRIX GTX980 DirectCU II OC GeForce GTX 980 4GB
$849 - EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB

Am I crazy to buy a $850 graphics card? Should I wait to see what AMD comes out with?

 

[Arachnotronic]

Will your retailer allow you to wait, or do you need to make a decision fairly quickly?

At any rate, if you can afford it I seriously doubt you will be unhappy with a GTX 980 Ti.

 

[slayernine]

Will your retailer allow you to wait, or do you need to make a decision fairly quickly?

At any rate, if you can afford it I seriously doubt you will be unhappy with a GTX 980 Ti.

Good question, It sounded like I can wait until the end of the month to make a final decision. I do have the money saved up, I just wasn't planning to spend that much on graphics. I've never paid more than about $400 for a card.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Any chance you might be able to get a GTX 970? Much better bang for your C$...

 

[blackangst1]

Right now, with one week until AMD's new releases, is about the worst time to buy a video card (unless, of course, you absolutely cannot wait). I would be patient if you can. Not necessarily to see if any of AMD's new offerings will be better, but that older generation cards will drop in price.

 

[slayernine]

Any chance you might be able to get a GTX 970? Much better bang for your C$...

I'm trying to argue for that too, no success so far. The only real negative about the 960 is that is has a smaller memory interface 128bit vs 256bit.

Most benchmarks have the 960 ahead of the 670.

 

[slayernine]

Right now, with one week until AMD's new releases, is about the worst time to buy a video card (unless, of course, you absolutely cannot wait). I would be patient if you can. Not necessarily to see if any of AMD's new offerings will be better, but that older generation cards will drop in price.

Yeah I think you have a good point here, I'm getting a bit excited about getting a new graphics card and it's hard to wait it out but I should.

 

[Arachnotronic]

I'm trying to argue for that too, no success so far. The only real negative about the 960 is that is has a smaller memory interface 128bit vs 256bit.

Most benchmarks have the 960 ahead of the 670.

Dang...

Do you have any particular preference for NV or AMD, or are you pretty brand-agnostic?

 

[slayernine]

Dang...

Do you have any particular preference for NV or AMD, or are you pretty brand-agnostic?

I'm brand agnostic. I currently own a GTX 670 (being replace), and a Radeon 7970 which is in a different computer.

 

[Arachnotronic]

I'm brand agnostic. I currently own a GTX 670 (being replace), and a Radeon 7970 which is in a different computer.

Then see if you can wait for whatever AMD is going to roll out. Even if you end up going with an NV card, you will have peace of mind that you made a fully informed decision.

 

[C2bcool]

I wouldn't buy a 980Ti with the stock nvidia blower style coolers. I would wait for the Aftermarket ones to come out (MSI gaming/lightning, and ASUS strix, Geforce Widforce, Ect). So unless your warranty requires you to replace it now (meaning time is of the essence) wait a little.

 

[Termie]

...

Planning on getting a 3440x1440 21:9 monitor, hopefully one with GSYNC and/or freesync (if I went AMD). The 980 ti costs about $200 more.

...

Am I crazy to buy a $850 graphics card? Should I wait to see what AMD comes out with?

No one has addressed your plan to get a 3440x1440 monitor. If you're serious about that, don't even consider a 960 or 970. Not nearly enough VRAM on either (2GB and 3.5GB respectively).

Again, if you're serious about that resolution, and moving to it soon, the 980 Ti is far and away your best choice. You're talking about a $1,000 monitor at the minimum (for G-Sync), so if that's just an aspiration, a 980 would be fine. A 960 is no faster than your 670, by the way, so I think that will be a big disappointment to you.

 

[Attic]

No one has addressed your plan to get a 3440x1440 monitor. If you're serious about that, don't even consider a 960 or 970. Not nearly enough VRAM on either (2GB and 3.5GB respectively).

Again, if you're serious about that resolution, and moving to it soon, the 980 Ti is far and away your best choice. You're talking about a $1,000 monitor at the minimum (for G-Sync), so if that's just an aspiration, a 980 would be fine. A 960 is no faster than your 670, by the way, so I think that will be a big disappointment to you.

Good point. The resolution is important, and 3440x1440 is awesome when you can run it right.

980ti or Wait for AMD release. If you have to buy now, then 980ti.

It will be worth it over the 980 non ti.

 

[n0x1ous]

980ti for sure man or wait till R300 launch if you can - if nothing else but to see if any price changes occur

 

[zigen]

Good point. The resolution is important, and 3440x1440 is awesome when you can run it right.

980ti or Wait for AMD release. If you have to buy now, then 980ti.

It will be worth it over the 980 non ti.

This I agree with.

We are on the same boat. My planned upgrade path is also a 34" Ultrawide Gsync/Freesync. If your set on getting the 3440x1440p resolution, go with the 980 Ti or the AMD equivalent.

 

[moonbogg]

What kind of details settings and FPS are you looking to achieve at that huge resolution? I don't want to be a downer or anything, but at that res even a 980ti will be stressing it. I have two and at 2560x1440 a single Ti doesn't always get the best FPS in graphically intense games. If you can lower some settings it will be more than enough though. This is a high resolution and just because people are gaming at 4K nowadays doesn't mean 1440p or similar resolutions are suddenly a walk in the park for GPU hardware. No single GPU will dominate the resolution you are looking at.

 

[happy medium]

I'm trying to argue for that too, no success so far. The only real negative about the 960 is that is has a smaller memory interface 128bit vs 256bit.

Most benchmarks have the 960 ahead of the 670.

go with the gtx980ti, you can find them for 649$
Whatever AMD brings out wont be more than 10+-% performance wise.

 

[tweakboy]

Have fun with that sick car of yours.. gb

 

[RussianSensation]

Good question, It sounded like I can wait until the end of the month to make a final decision. I do have the money saved up, I just wasn't planning to spend that much on graphics. I've never paid more than about $400 for a card.

Makes way more sense to wait then. Fiji PRO/XT both look better than 980/980Ti on paper based on rumoured specs. You basically don't lose much if you wait. Fiji PRO might be a good balance of price/performance for you without needing to spend $850.

go with the gtx980ti, you can find them for 649$
Whatever AMD brings out wont be more than 10+-% performance wise.

He is from Canada and here a 980Ti after tax is almost $1000. What if Fiji PRO costs him $650 CDN and is only 10% slower than a 980Ti. You are providing bad advice when AMD's new cards are to be announced in 7 days and he'll likely use a new card for 2-3 years.

 

[thilanliyan]

go with the gtx980ti, you can find them for 649$

Not here in Canada!!

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I would definitely look at the Radeon Fury X or the 980 Ti, whichever ends up better for the price, as you're pushing a pretty large resolution. The 970 is a no-go at 3440 x 1440. A 970 can play ultra 1080p at a locked 60 fps in most everything out there other than Witcher 3, but your monitor is 2.38 times the number of pixels. No way the 970 can hang on that even disregarding the memory limitations.

 

[moonbogg]

Why is it so expensive in Canada? Can you have someone here buy you one and ship it to you?

 

[Grooveriding]

Why is it so expensive in Canada? Can you have someone here buy you one and ship it to you?

Our dollar has been losing value because our current government is trash and the US dollar has been getting stronger at the same time. 1CAN=1US about two years ago, then we slipped to the high 9X cents over about a year and it's gone way down over the past year.

Now at this point everything is about 30% more here numerically vs US prices. Getting someone to buy for you in the US would save you the 13% sales tax, but there would still be the currency conversion from CAN to US.

 

[moonbogg]

Our dollar has been losing value because our current government is trash and the US dollar has been getting stronger at the same time. 1CAN=1US about two years ago, then we slipped to the high 9X cents over about a year and it's gone way down over the past year.

Now at this point everything is about 30% more here numerically vs US prices. Getting someone to buy for you in the US would save you the 13% sales tax, but there would still be the currency conversion from CAN to US.

I see. Hopefully more viable options become available with good OC headroom to close the performance gap.

 

[bleucharm28]

This I agree with.

We are on the same boat. My planned upgrade path is also a 34" Ultrawide Gsync/Freesync. If your set on getting the 3440x1440p resolution, go with the 980 Ti or the AMD equivalent.

Well...crap. I want the Asus Ultrawide Gsync as well. Will one GTX 980 Matrix handle such monitor?

get one more Matrix or go Ti?