Driving 1440p and you

[DeltrusDisc]

I'm finally looking at a situation where I may be able to both upgrade my GPU and monitor. I am pretty sure I am going to buy a $300~$350 Korean IPS monitor, whether I'll overclock it to the realm of 80-120 Hz remains to be seen, but that is certainly a possibility. Currently I am running a 1920x1080 display as gaming display, and a 1680x1050 display on the side for monitoring/Chrome/etc. I may go down to single monitor with the 1440p, but we'll see. Dual monitors has its perks!

I've seen some games, hell even World of Warcraft, but obviously Skyrim, push my 560 Ti to the max, both on the GPU core as well as filling up the 1GB of VRAM, quite easily, on a meager 1080p display.

1440p is about 1.78* the pixels of 1080p. Thus we can conclude 2GB is an obvious MINIMUM for the new GPU. Thankfully GPUs made nowadays are taking an impressive jump over the old struggling through the 1-2GB realm and going even towards 4-6GB. Question is, how much do I really need? I already have a few mods in Skyrim, but I'd like to use a fair amount more. If I am already maxing out 1GB of VRAM with my current setup, just how much VRAM would it fill up if it was there, for just 1080p? 2GB? 3GB? Unfortunately there is really no database for these kinds of things, so we have to essentially guess.

I've been pondering a GTX 760 as that is a healthily-priced card and I am comfortable with NVidia. I don't care right now to deal with the shortages on AMD GPUs because of the recent ridiculous boom in mining, nor do I care to participate, so don't let that enter your formula.

I'm trying to figure out if a GTX 770, which does have a fair jump over the 760, is worth the extra $100~ price-point premium, since it does lack anymore VRAM and 770s that have been custom-built with additional memory have even seen drops in performance.

I certainly would love to get an EVGA GTX 780 Ti King Ping Pong Edition, but I don't think it is worth it, not at all, considering the games I play I already mentioned, as well as any other games I'll play:

Binding of Isaac (when Rebirth launches it will no longer be Flash-based and take more GPU power, but will still be nothing in comparison to other games.)
Orcs Must Die 2
See what I mean?

Still, I don't want to have a less-than-amazing 1440p experience. I want to max out Skyrim like I already do and play at at least 60 fps. Same thing with WoW (which shouldn't be an issue, I would think).

I can save up for a 780 Ti thanks to my job, but really it is a matter of need vs want vs practicality.

Thanks for any and all help!

I guess I should add computer specs so you guys don't wonder if I need a better CPU:

i5-2500K@4.5GHz
8GB 1333MHz RAM (sometime I'll upgrade it... lol)
Crucial m4 128GB SSD
SeaSonic 660watt Gold X Series PSU

Basically I'm good on these fronts. :P This thread is really a focus on GPU and monitor.

[Confined]

AMD cards are out of stock where you live?
A 280x really does sound like what you are looking for.

[DeltrusDisc]

AMD cards are out of stock where you live?
A 280x really does sound like what you are looking for.

Care to go more in-depth?

Also, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...73&Tpk=r9-280x

$420+? Hahahahaha...

[Confined]

Yea... That pricing is ridiculous lol. Glad I got mine for 320$ worth before that mining craze.
But I don't really think a 760 is enough to drive a 1440p if you want some eyecandy.. Either get a 770 or wait, I really think that this mining craze is about to stabilize soon enough with BTC crashing as hard as it is right now (values dropped from 1.2k Peak to 522$ atm).

[DeltrusDisc]

Yea... That pricing is ridiculous lol. Glad I got mine for 320$ worth before that mining craze.
But I don't really think a 760 is enough to drive a 1440p if you want some eyecandy.. Either get a 770 or wait, I really think that this mining craze is about to stabilize soon enough with BTC crashing as hard as it is right now (values dropped from 1.2k Peak to 522$ atm).

I feel bad for the people who bought and built entire computers just because of this. Knew it was too good to be true.

I guess I'll give it a few weeks, as my next paycheck is 2 weeks from this upcoming Friday in a couple days and I might get some money on Christmas, though I am not counting on it. Who knows, maybe I'll be staring at enough money for a GTX 780 or better yet, 780 Ti. I wouldn't mind having one, but I need to be able to say "this is driving 1440p at 60+ fps." :P

[n0cturnal]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._280x_3gb.html Decent price if they get it back in stock at that price.

[Yami]

Yea... That pricing is ridiculous lol. Glad I got mine for 320$ worth before that mining craze.
But I don't really think a 760 is enough to drive a 1440p if you want some eyecandy.. Either get a 770 or wait, I really think that this mining craze is about to stabilize soon enough with BTC crashing as hard as it is right now (values dropped from 1.2k Peak to 522$ atm).

It's like they didn't know the bubble would pop that fast and make the value of it drop that fast.

[DeltrusDisc]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._280x_3gb.html Decent price if they get it back in stock at that price.

I don't know how I feel about XFX, I hardly ever hear anything good about them.

[n0cturnal]

I don't know how I feel about XFX, I hardly ever hear anything good about them.

Changed it to MSI

[DeltrusDisc]

You seem hell-bent on making me leave my comfort zone.

I guess I should mention I am not too keen on sticking with MSI, either.

#makingn0cturnalpullhishairout

[n0cturnal]

You seem hell-bent on making me leave my comfort zone.

I guess I should mention I am not too keen on sticking with MSI, either.

#makingn0cturnalpullhishairout

280x Deltrus Edition oops...

Well I guess you could wait for Asus or something http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...x_graphic.html

[Confined]

It's like they didn't know the bubble would pop that fast and make the value of it drop that fast.

Well, my card certainly has been useful :P, It paid itself and got me a nice 256GB SSD.

[Yami]

Well, my card certainly has been useful :P, It paid itself and got me a nice 256GB SSD.

Well you got out in time! I feel for everyone else just now getting into it.

[Deleted]

I know you already bought the card but just wanted to share this video talking about the vRAM limit to Skyrim, basically a ~3.1GB limit before crashing (unless this has changed) so 2GB will do fine but heavy modded (textures) you'll want 3GB optimally: