Upgrading to 1440p

[WackyWRZ]

Hey all - I ordered a new 1440p monitor to upgrade my old one and I am trying to figure out what my best course of action will be on the GPU side. Games I play are BF3, BF4, LoL, SC2. I also mix in occasional other FPS or racing sim games. Current specs - i5 4690K, 16GB RAM, 2x - Sapphire 7950

I'd imagine the 2x 7950s will do 1440p but the crossfire glitches are really annoying and I'm thinking I might be better with a single card. BF4
is REALLY glitchy with texture flickering and crashes.

I'm not sure if a single 7950 - even O/Ced - would be enough to keep me above 60fps. I also don't want to break the bank buying something new either! If it's too expensive I will just deal with crossfire. ^_^ I suppose I could sell both of the current 7950s to help offset the cost too. If anyone has any thoughts or recommendations I would appreciate it.

 

[Headfoot]

You should be able to get $100 or a little more per 7950 if you sell them. At 1440p you probably want to get a used 290 or 290x, or a new gtx 970 or r9 390.

If your budget is bigger and you're looking for the best chip, go for an aftermarket 980 Ti

 

[moonbogg]

If you want high FPS at 1440p, that's simply going to cost some money. There is no way around that unless you just lower settings until you get better FPS. People often talk about 1440p like its the new 1080P, or like its low res or something. Its not. Its high res and takes a lot of GPU muscle to get high FPS. You gotta spend some money here. I'd suggest two 980's or two Fury's. Or, as mentioned above, a single 980TI aftermarket card and OC it to about 1440mhz. That would net some decent performance at 1440p, but you'll get plenty of dips below 60 still with a single card depending on the game.

 

[n0x1ous]

Hey all - I ordered a new 1440p monitor to upgrade my old one and I am trying to figure out what my best course of action will be on the GPU side. Games I play are BF3, BF4, LoL, SC2. I also mix in occasional other FPS or racing sim games. Current specs - i5 4690K, 16GB RAM, 2x - Sapphire 7950

I'd imagine the 2x 7950s will do 1440p but the crossfire glitches are really annoying and I'm thinking I might be better with a single card. BF4
is REALLY glitchy with texture flickering and crashes.

I'm not sure if a single 7950 - even O/Ced - would be enough to keep me above 60fps. I also don't want to break the bank buying something new either! If it's too expensive I will just deal with crossfire. ^_^ I suppose I could sell both of the current 7950s to help offset the cost too. If anyone has any thoughts or recommendations I would appreciate it.

Single 980ti will do well for you at 1440p and high hz. on a single 980ti overclocked and sustaining boost @1414mhz with 1440p + all ultra settings (2xmsaa + MFAA on) I am regularly pegged at my Korean's overclock of 96hz on most maps. Some the more demanding maps such as Guilin Peaks dropping into the low 80's

Hope that helpls

 

[xthetenth]

290(x), 390, or 970 if you don't need 60+ FPS at max settings, 980 Ti if you do need it more than the 300 dollars.

 

[tg2708]

I would hang on till next year as upcoming mid range cards will definitely handle it much better than yesteryears even matching or coming close to the performance of higher priced cards of this year for much less.

 

[HOOfan 1]

I would hang on till next year as upcoming mid range cards will definitely handle it much better than yesteryears even matching or coming close to the performance of higher priced cards of this year for much less.

If the trend continues the $340 Pascal card will basically equal the 980 Ti, kind of like the 970 basically equals the 780 Ti.

Then again, by then there may be more demanding games which require the $600 Pascal to keep 60 fps averages at 1440

 

[vissarix]

Hey all - I ordered a new 1440p monitor to upgrade my old one and I am trying to figure out what my best course of action will be on the GPU side. Games I play are BF3, BF4, LoL, SC2. I also mix in occasional other FPS or racing sim games. Current specs - i5 4690K, 16GB RAM, 2x - Sapphire 7950

I'd imagine the 2x 7950s will do 1440p but the crossfire glitches are really annoying and I'm thinking I might be better with a single card. BF4
is REALLY glitchy with texture flickering and crashes.

I'm not sure if a single 7950 - even O/Ced - would be enough to keep me above 60fps. I also don't want to break the bank buying something new either! If it's too expensive I will just deal with crossfire. ^_^ I suppose I could sell both of the current 7950s to help offset the cost too. If anyone has any thoughts or recommendations I would appreciate it.

keep your 7950 till new gen gpu's arrive at q2 next year, maybe there will be a $300 gpu with titan x performance with full dx12 compatibility...

 

[WackyWRZ]

keep your 7950 till new gen gpu's arrive at q2 next year, maybe there will be a $300 gpu with titan x performance with full dx12 compatibility...

I would hang on till next year as upcoming mid range cards will definitely handle it much better than yesteryears even matching or coming close to the performance of higher priced cards of this year for much less.

This is what I was thinking, it seems like the GPUs they have been releasing lately are not major upgrades - similar to Intel's chips since SB. I just haven't paid much attention to what's around the corner.

Once I get the monitor (today) I might try it with CF turned off and O/C one card. The flickering textures in BF4 drive me nuts and sometimes make it difficult to play. The monitor is only 60Hz and I don't really mind occasional dips in FPS. Plus I've heard that with the higher resolution turning settings down is less noticeable (esp AA). It's not worth it to me to spend an extra $300+ just to get ultra instead of high settings. If it becomes too much of an issue, Black Friday is right around the corner anyway.

 

[Freddy1765]

I assume you went with an IPS panel since its 1440p and 60 Hz?
Here's hoping the ghosting won't bother you as it does me; in FPS games that might be very jarring if you're coming from a TN.
I'm aware it's not an issue for everyone, and some screens are better than others, but in my case it's very noticeable on the Dell U2713HM.

 

[tg2708]

I assume you went with an IPS panel since its 1440p and 60 Hz?
Here's hoping the ghosting won't bother you as it does me; in FPS games that might be very jarring if you're coming from a TN.
I'm aware it's not an issue for everyone, and some screens are better than others, but in my case it's very noticeable on the Dell U2713HM.

The ideal monitor would be any with a high refresh rate and have the ips screen type or better (they cost a lot right now). Difference in picture quality is quite noticeable and the extra screen real estate is an added bonus. I bought an asus pb278q recently used and immediately noticed the difference in clarity the minute I turned it on. TN had one trick up its sleeve which was high refresh rate but they soon will be phased out since newer ips monitors are matching their refresh rates.

 

[tweakboy]

More like a downgrade ?

 

[HOOfan 1]

TN had one trick up its sleeve which was high refresh rate but they soon will be phased out since newer ips monitors are matching their refresh rates.

but TNs still have better response time. It is low response time, not refresh rate which causes ghosting.

This is what I was thinking, it seems like the GPUs they have been releasing lately are not major upgrades - similar to Intel's chips since SB. I just haven't paid much attention to what's around the corner.

I'd say releasing a new generation of cards where the $350 card equals the $700 card of the last generation is a pretty nice upgrade. Or the 980Ti released at $650 which equals the $1000 Titan X

 

[flopper]

Hey all - I ordered a new 1440p monitor to upgrade my old one and I am trying to figure out what my best course of action will be on the GPU side. Games I play are BF3, BF4, LoL, SC2. I also mix in occasional other FPS or racing sim games. Current specs - i5 4690K, 16GB RAM, 2x - Sapphire 7950

I'd imagine the 2x 7950s will do 1440p but the crossfire glitches are really annoying and I'm thinking I might be better with a single card. BF4
is REALLY glitchy with texture flickering and crashes.

I'm not sure if a single 7950 - even O/Ced - would be enough to keep me above 60fps. I also don't want to break the bank buying something new either! If it's too expensive I will just deal with crossfire. ^_^ I suppose I could sell both of the current 7950s to help offset the cost too. If anyone has any thoughts or recommendations I would appreciate it.

running a brand new sapphire 390 with 1440p xg270hu 144hz screen.
125fps frame locked in BF4. adjusted settings obviously.
really impressed with the 390.

 

[Mondozei]

Hi! Since you are moving to 1440p, AMD's strengths become much more pronounced. Nvidia is far stronger in 1080p.

Even though Frostbite engine games tend to do better on NV hardware, AMD's GPUs close the gap significantly at 1440p in Battlefield 4.

Compare the GTX 980 and R9-390X especially:

1080p

1440p

Edit: The slides are taken from September of this year.

Here's the 1080p performance index -- a collection of scores over a large number of games, normalised to an index value and then ranked. Via Sweclockers.

And again, notice the shift at 1440p. AMD moves up.

So if you were staying at 1080p, I'd recommend Nvidia. But if you're going for 1440p, go AMD. Also helps with early DX12 titles and VR, even if I think the fallout will be far smaller than most AMD fans hope for, there probably will be an early AMD lead in DX12 titles due to Async compute.

 

[HOOfan 1]

Hi! Since you are moving to 1440p, AMD's strengths become much more pronounced. Nvidia is far stronger in 1080p.

The charts you posted for Battlefield 4 seem to only show that to be the case when comparing the 390X to the GTX 980

the $300 GTX 970 beats the $320 R9 290X at 1440

The $650 GTX 980 Ti beats the $650 Fury X at 1440

The $400 390X equals the $470 GTX 980 though.

 

[RussianSensation]

Hey all - I ordered a new 1440p monitor to upgrade my old one and I am trying to figure out what my best course of action will be on the GPU side. Games I play are BF3, BF4, LoL, SC2. I also mix in occasional other FPS or racing sim games. Current specs - i5 4690K, 16GB RAM, 2x - Sapphire 7950

I would order one of these:

EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Superclocked ACX 2.0 = $370
EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Superclocked = $380
EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Classified ACX 2.0 = $400

Then sell your 7950s for $80-100 a pop. That means your total upgrade cost will be roughly: $370-400 LESS ($80-100)x2 = $170-$210 depending on which 980 you buy and how much you fetch for each 7950.

Then, coast on this 980 card for 18-24 months until 16nm GPUs become more affordable. This way, you get rid of the 7950s that are giving you glitches, thus giving you an instant benefit, while giving yourself more time for 16nm HBM2 GPUs to mature (remember how NV launched 670/680 first and then 780/780 and they followed with the same strategy again with 970/980 -> 980TI?). Another option would be to sell the 7950s and get a GTX970/R9 390 as those can be found for $270-300.

 

[simas]

RussianSensation , I am considering similar upgrade from 760 with intent of doubling performance but my motherboard is going back to original SB built in 2011
https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P8P67/specifications/

As far as I can tell, what I have is PCIE 2.0 - how much (if any) would it hamper 980 performance if purchased? how much does it currently limit 760 2 GB (if at all)

I2600K no overclock, Asus P8p67 B3 , 16 GB RAM

Thank you

Also (as Russian) - why "RussianSensation" ?

 

[RussianSensation]

RussianSensation , I am considering similar upgrade from 760 with intent of doubling performance but my motherboard is going back to original SB built in 2011
https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P8P67/specifications/

As far as I can tell, what I have is PCIE 2.0 - how much (if any) would it hamper 980 performance if purchased? how much does it currently limit 760 2 GB (if at all)

I actually just pulled up links for the exact same question you have asked. The performance hit at 1080P for a 980 PCIe 2.0 x16 vs. PCIe 3.0 x16 is about 2%. If you follow the links in this post, you can go directly to the GTX980 review on a per game/per resolution basis.

I2600K no overclock, Asus P8p67 B3 , 16 GB RAM

It's very easy to overclock a 2600K, so if you buy a $30-40 CPU cooler (if your case can fit it, the Thermalright True Spirit 140 is a spectacular cooler for the $.

If you are budget constrained, the Cooler Master 212 EVO is also a good safe bet.

Also (as Russian) - why "RussianSensation" ?

On AT, most members just call me RS. I sent you a PM explaining the reasoning for the nickname.

 

[WackyWRZ]

I assume you went with an IPS panel since its 1440p and 60 Hz?
Here's hoping the ghosting won't bother you as it does me; in FPS games that might be very jarring if you're coming from a TN.
I'm aware it's not an issue for everyone, and some screens are better than others, but in my case it's very noticeable on the Dell U2713HM.

It's the Acer K272HUL 6ms GTG which has an AHVA panel- which is a form of IPS I think. I came from Dell 21.5" IPS panels (1080p) so not a big deal. The switch from 21.5->27 and 1080->1440 is SUPER noticeable though!

Then sell your 7950s for $80-100 a pop. That means your total upgrade cost will be roughly: $370-400 LESS ($80-100)x2 = $170-$210 depending on which 980 you buy and how much you fetch for each 7950.

Then, coast on this 980 card for 18-24 months until 16nm GPUs become more affordable. This way, you get rid of the 7950s that are giving you glitches, thus giving you an instant benefit, while giving yourself more time for 16nm HBM2 GPUs to mature (remember how NV launched 670/680 first and then 780/780 and they followed with the same strategy again with 970/980 -> 980TI?). Another option would be to sell the 7950s and get a GTX970/R9 390 as those can be found for $270-300.

This is part of the reason I was looking now - and selling before the 7950s are worthless. It's been a little while since I updated drivers so I installed the newest drivers today. So far I haven't seen the texture glitches and I'm getting 55-70FPS in BF4 with settings maxed (Ultra/4xMSAA). Turning MSAA off I'm hitting just over 100 which is better than I expected. This is at stock speeds - so I still have O/C headroom too probably. I'm sure O/Cing crossfire is asking for issues though. :hmm:

Next question - assuming that I got a 970/980/390. Is there a difference between crossfire/SLI - in that is one less problematic than the other? Also is this something that they continue to try to improve on or more like it is what it is? I'm hoping if I was getting by on one of these cards and needed more HP - once the new stuff comes out people might dump their old cards on the cheap and I could SLI or CF assuming it worked.

In looking at the charts - the 7950 is pretty much equivalent to the 280x right?

 

[RussianSensation]

It's the Acer K272HUL 6ms GTG which has an AHVA panel- which is a form of IPS I think. I came from Dell 21.5" IPS panels (1080p) so not a big deal. The switch from 21.5->27 and 1080->1440 is SUPER noticeable though!

Nice!

Games I play are BF3, BF4, LoL, SC2.

LoL => R9 380 (similar to your 7950) gets > 100 fps at 4K.
http://www.computerbase.de/2015-07/grafikkarten-benchmarks-cs-go-dota-2-lol-wot-wow-ultra-hd/3/

I cannot readily find new SC2 benchmarks but looking at DOTA 2, Heroes of the Storm, Diablo 3, again not a problem for a GTX970/390 level card at 4K, which means 7950 CF should slice through them easily:
http://www.computerbase.de/2015-07/grafikkarten-benchmarks-cs-go-dota-2-lol-wot-wow-ultra-hd/2/

BF3 isn't a problem either - HD7990 is faster than your cards but it's flying:

BF4, if you overclock your 7950s to 1050mhz each, you should = HD7990 in performance.

I'm sure O/Cing crossfire is asking for issues though. :hmm:

Not necessarily. As long as each GPU is stable, they would both be stable in CF.

The beauty of the 7950 was that it could overclock to match/beat GTX680/HD7970Ghz. 1.225-1.256V on the 7950 on Gigabyte Windforce, MSI TwinFrozr III (with dual 8-pin connectors), Sapphire Dual-X 7950, and HIS IceQ2 7950 produced massive overclocks: 1125-1250mhz (!)

http://www.legionhardware.com/artic...z_edition_7950_iceq_xsup2_boost_clock,13.html

Next question - assuming that I got a 970/980/390. Is there a difference between crossfire/SLI - in that is one less problematic than the other?

If you play a lot of GameWorks titles, it's better to get an NV card for SLI as they have day 1 profiles. If you play mostly brand agnostic titles, most of those have CF profiles ready too. Generally speaking, modern day CF with today's cards has better scaling and huge bang-for-the-buck.

What makes your question difficult to answer is because in some games CF > SLI, in others SLI > CF. You'd have to look up specific games and frame times.

For example, BF4:

You should look at some reviews like this one:
http://www.sweclockers.com/test/20216-nvidia-geforce-gtx-titan-x-i-sli/5#content

or this one:
http://www.techspot.com/review/1033-gtx-980-ti-sli-r9-fury-x-crossfire/

Also is this something that they continue to try to improve on or more like it is what it is?

Ya, both companies work hard to get game profiles ready.

I'm hoping if I was getting by on one of these cards and needed more HP - once the new stuff comes out people might dump their old cards on the cheap and I could SLI or CF assuming it worked.

Based on the games you described though, it sounds like unless you plan on playing more demanding games, if new drivers removed the glitches/artifacts and you can overclock your 7950s, perhaps there is less urgency to upgrade. Chances are your 7950s are close to the bottom on the resale value scale. If say you can sell them for $100 a piece, in 12 months, you can probably sell them for $60-70 a piece of $60-80 less. However, chances are the price drop on existing cards will be FAR greater than $60-80 per each card. For example, Fury/Fury X are $550-650, 980Ti is $610-700, GTX980 is $470 without sales, R9 390X is $380. In 12 months from now, a lot of these cards will lose a lot of their value once 16nm HBM2 GPUs launch. It wouldn't be surprising if 980Ti's used resale value was $375-400 by Sept 2016.

I mean if you sell the 7950s now, you can get a single 390 for $270 for example. The decision to CF/SLI rests more on the types of games you play most.

Another alternative is: (1) sell 7950s --> (2) buy stop gap 970/390/980 --> (3) sell stop-gap 970/390/980 and buy a 16nm HBM2 faster single GPU and skip SLI/CF entirely.

In looking at the charts - the 7950 is pretty much equivalent to the 280x right?

An 800mhz stock 7950 is about 30% compared to a 280X at your resolution. It will take about an 1100mhz 7950 to match a 280X, and 2 of those will be at least as fast as an HD7990. A 7990 roughly = 980.

That means if you get a 390/970, it should roughly equal your stock HD7950 CF, and a 980 should roughly equal your overclocked 7950 CF.

 

[WackyWRZ]

HOLY LONG READ BATMAN!!! -- And I mean that in a GOOD way! Let me start out saying I really appreciate your in-depth reply! Very helpful indeed. :thumbsup:

I tend to hold out upgrading drivers because AMD drivers always seem to get wonky, so I usually try to reformat when I upgrade drivers. This time I used the DDU driver cleaning program - and it seemed to be OK.

I've got the Sapphire Dual-X "Boost" cards (925MHz) so I downloaded their Trixx program and was able to hit 1075Mhz on the GPU without trying - temps around 65c. The game seems to be stable, so I have more room to go. I almost wonder if it's not a BF4 issue because that's the only game that gets glitchy (also happens to be what I play most). Good thing winter is coming because at those speeds she's putting out some toasty air.

At this point since it seems to be running OK I might as well not worry about buying anything right now unless I came across a smokin' deal. I like your idea of waiting and buying a high-end card assuming prices drop drastically next year - or hell even a used one. I don't need to be on the bleeding edge and don't mind dropping quality settings a bit to compromise!

 

[simas]

Agree, excellent information clearly presented. I usually prefer to 'sleep' on big actions (i.e. dropping $400 on video card where the words 'I need' are very relative) and if I still feel the same by the end of the week will buy 980. Thank you for help

 

[sm625]

If you play mostly MOBAs then you should just cut back your settings on the FPS games and wait out the rest of this generation.

 

[Headfoot]

HOLY LONG READ BATMAN!!! -- And I mean that in a GOOD way! Let me start out saying I really appreciate your in-depth reply! Very helpful indeed. :thumbsup:

I tend to hold out upgrading drivers because AMD drivers always seem to get wonky, so I usually try to reformat when I upgrade drivers. This time I used the DDU driver cleaning program - and it seemed to be OK.

I've got the Sapphire Dual-X "Boost" cards (925MHz) so I downloaded their Trixx program and was able to hit 1075Mhz on the GPU without trying - temps around 65c. The game seems to be stable, so I have more room to go. I almost wonder if it's not a BF4 issue because that's the only game that gets glitchy (also happens to be what I play most). Good thing winter is coming because at those speeds she's putting out some toasty air.

At this point since it seems to be running OK I might as well not worry about buying anything right now unless I came across a smokin' deal. I like your idea of waiting and buying a high-end card assuming prices drop drastically next year - or hell even a used one. I don't need to be on the bleeding edge and don't mind dropping quality settings a bit to compromise!

If you haven't overclocked your chips yet, you could very well hold off and overclock. Those 7950's should be able to hit 1150-1200 core with a little voltage. They'll be noticeably faster max overclock