Is there a decent upgrade over the GTX 970 out that doesn't cost $400+?

[Artorius]

So, I'm honestly surprised. I can't find any sources, to be fair I heard it word of mouth, but I swear I remember studying the different 970s and certain ones had 4GB of the same VRAM, and the older ones had the 3.5GB+512MB...

This is what I can find from Nvidia:

"The GeForce GTX 970 is equipped with 4GB of dedicated graphics memory. However the 970 has a different configuration of SMs than the 980, and fewer crossbar resources to the memory system. To optimally manage memory traffic in this configuration, we segment graphics memory into a 3.5GB section and a 0.5GB section. The GPU has higher priority access to the 3.5GB section. When a game needs less than 3.5GB of video memory per draw command then it will only access the first partition, and 3rd party applications that measure memory usage will report 3.5GB of memory in use on GTX 970, but may report more for GTX 980 if there is more memory used by other commands. When a game requires more than 3.5GB of memory then we use both segments.

We understand there have been some questions about how the GTX 970 will perform when it accesses the 0.5GB memory segment. The best way to test that is to look at game performance. Compare a GTX 980 to a 970 on a game that uses less than 3.5GB. Then turn up the settings so the game needs more than 3.5GB and compare 980 and 970 performance again."

So unless they have a different revision of the cut-down GM204 GPU used in the 970 I don't think there are any differences between cards when it comes to this. I could be wrong though, but I sincerely never heard of it either.

[Bigvizz]

Ya rather not go with a older model, If/When I upgrade I want it to be future proof for awhile.

Fucking hate that term, nothing is future proof. You always buy what you need and can afford in the moment, which will likely be a 1070 in this case. /End Thread

[Vash The Stampede]

Yes I know it outperforms a 980. What I want to know is by how much.

A GTX 970 OCed can equal a base 980. That's my main thing I'm wanting to know, Is how big of a performance gain is it.

Not enough to be worth the trouble honestly.

[Slicer299]

I game on a 60Hz 1080p 40inch tv just fine already.

Yeah, you are making my point for me. That whole "just fine" argument is complete BS. Response times on televisions is crap. If I could sit you down and let you play a game like Overwatch on your 1080p TV and then play it on a 144Hz 1ms response time monitor, you would set your own TV on fire and never touch it again. You are literally hurting yourself trying to play PC games on a television.

Add to that the fact that you are playing on a 40" TV means you need to be playing from across the room to not see the stretched out pixels of a 1080p resolution on a screen that big. Which makes it easy to miss minor details, hurting your game play further.

[Slicer299]

@Jtbrig7390

If you haven't bought a card yet, I strongly suggest you take advantage of this deal. EVGA GTX 1070 FTW for $379 after MiR. $399 up front, with a free game, then the $20 MiR on top of that taking it down to $379. I have that exact same card and that's an absolute steal at that price.

It's EVGA's highest clocked 1070 and has RGB lighting. Mine breaks 2000Mhz with no manual overclocking by me. Due to how GPU Boost work, dynamically adjusting based on load and temp, it typically runs around 1987Mhz in WoW. Almost a full 200Mhz higher than the advertised boost speed. Obviously that will always vary a bit card to card, but the way EVGA's validation process works, their FTW cards are always some of the best at exceeding their advertised speeds.

With the oversized 100mm fans I've yet to exceed 60c on the card either in a room that often runs at a rather warm 26c when I'm gaming. That is with a custom fan profile, but not an agressive one. I always just set my fan speed % to match the temp, 40% at 40c, 50% at 50c, etc. I've run that fan profile on every GPU for almost a decade, and this card runs cooler than my EVGA 970 SC did. The bigger fans on this card do make a difference.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...m-_-14-487-259

[Jtbrig7390]

@Jtbrig7390

If you haven't bought a card yet, I strongly suggest you take advantage of this deal. EVGA GTX 1070 FTW for $379 after MiR. $399 up front, with a free game, then the $20 MiR on top of that taking it down to $379. I have that exact same card and that's an absolute steal at that price. It's EVGA's highest clocked 1070 and has RGB lighting.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...m-_-14-487-259

I haven't yet and thx for the info

I may look into it if the deal is still there when I get paided.

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Add to that the fact that you are playing on a 40" TV means you need to be playing from across the room to not see the stretched out pixels of a 1080p resolution on a screen that big. Which makes it easy to miss minor details, hurting your game play further.

Nope not sitting across the room, My living room is big so I am sitting in the middle of it. So I am about 5-7 feet give or take away from my tv.

It works just fine for me, I have no interest in 144Hz or 4k.

[Slicer299]

I haven't yet and thx for the info

I may look into it if the deal is still there when I get paided.

Nope not sitting across the room, My living room is big so I am sitting in the middle of it. So I am about 5-7 feet give or take away from my tv.

It works just fine for me, I have no interest in 144Hz or 4k.

That distance is why you don't notice the stretched out pixelated nightmare TVs create. So at least you're using it at the distance TVs should be used at, but that can impact reaction times and affect you when you have to make smaller, more precise movements. To each there own though. As for the "no interest in 144Hz", only people who have never experienced it properly ever say stuff like that.

I used to be one of those people too. When I upgraded my monitor it was strictly to upgrade to a bigger size and resolution. I had been using a 21" 1680x1050 Acer monitor for about 8 years before a dead pixel was enough to justify me spending the money on an upgrade. I had a little extra at the time that I could have put towards one of 3 things, a 144Hz display, an IPS display, or going one resolution bigger to 2560x1440. In the end I went for the most "gamer" of the 3 options and went with 144Hz and never again will I play on display with a slower refresh rate ever again.

Maybe I'd go down to 120Hz if it meant an IPS panel, but 60Hz or even 90Hz, you may as well ask me to eat rat poison. It is that big of a difference, I'd cut a foot off before I'd go back.

[Amalaric]

Like the title say's Is there a decent upgrade over the GTX 970 out that doesn't cost $400+?

Looking to maybe upgrade my GPU to one that isn't gimped

Just wondered what is better then it by a decent amount. I was thinking maybe 1070.

I recommend you to wait for the GTX 2070 or maybe the GTX 2060 Ti if there is one.

[Usagi Senshi]

@Jtbrig7390

If you haven't bought a card yet, I strongly suggest you take advantage of this deal. EVGA GTX 1070 FTW for $379 after MiR. $399 up front, with a free game, then the $20 MiR on top of that taking it down to $379. I have that exact same card and that's an absolute steal at that price.

It's EVGA's highest clocked 1070 and has RGB lighting. Mine breaks 2000Mhz with no manual overclocking by me. Due to how GPU Boost work, dynamically adjusting based on load and temp, it typically runs around 1987Mhz in WoW. Almost a full 200Mhz higher than the advertised boost speed. Obviously that will always vary a bit card to card, but the way EVGA's validation process works, their FTW cards are always some of the best at exceeding their advertised speeds.

With the oversized 100mm fans I've yet to exceed 60c on the card either in a room that often runs at a rather warm 26c when I'm gaming. That is with a custom fan profile, but not an agressive one. I always just set my fan speed % to match the temp, 40% at 40c, 50% at 50c, etc. I've run that fan profile on every GPU for almost a decade, and this card runs cooler than my EVGA 970 SC did. The bigger fans on this card do make a difference.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...m-_-14-487-259

Will back this up as I use the same card and love it and I paid $450 for it near its launch. STILL, it couldn't hurt to wait until next month to see what AMD Vega turns out to be.

[Jtbrig7390]

Will back this up as I use the same card and love it and I paid $450 for it near its launch. STILL, it couldn't hurt to wait until next month to see what AMD Vega turns out to be.

Ya I may wait, thx for the tip.

[Kazgrel]

On the Nvidia front, we're in a bit of a pricing pickle; 1070s haven't dropped down into the $300-400 range yet, while 1080s still go for $500+. The 1070 needs to drop down a bit in price at this point, IMO.

Are you on a 2k or higher res monitor? A GTX 970 should eat anything for breakfast on a 1080p monitor. That said, once you start going to 1440 and beyond, 970s start to lose steam. Case in point; I went from a 1080p monitor to 1440p a couple months ago, and just from that increase in screen and pixels, I went from averaging ~80 fps in FF14 (benchmark for Heavensward at 1920 x 1080 on max settings had it at 84, iirc). With the larger monitor and going to 2550 x 1440, it dropped down to 52 on average. Still very much playable, but frame rate dips became much more noticeable.

Long story short, if you aren't on higher res monitor, the 970 should be fine for a bit. Soon as you start pushing more pixels, though, you'll want more.

Edit: If you are using a TV as display (didn't realize I hadn't looked at page 3 here, lol), the 970 should be fine for at least the next year...then maybe we have a new card in that $300 bracket.

[Jtbrig7390]

Edit: If you are using a TV as display (didn't realize I hadn't looked at page 3 here, lol), the 970 should be fine for at least the next year...then maybe we have a new card in that $300 bracket.

Ya, It isn't a need to upgrade just something I considered doing. I may upgrade my RAM first and just wait on the GPU upgrade.

[DeltrusDisc]

Ya, It isn't a need to upgrade just something I considered doing. I may upgrade my RAM first and just wait on the GPU upgrade.

Don't buy more than 8GB more RAM, as I would consider that a waste, considering we've now gotten pretty situated in the DDR4 realm at this point.

Any particular reason you need more RAM?

[Slicer299]

On the Nvidia front, we're in a bit of a pricing pickle; 1070s haven't dropped down into the $300-400 range yet, while 1080s still go for $500+. The 1070 needs to drop down a bit in price at this point, IMO.

Are you on a 2k or higher res monitor? A GTX 970 should eat anything for breakfast on a 1080p monitor. That said, once you start going to 1440 and beyond, 970s start to lose steam. Case in point; I went from a 1080p monitor to 1440p a couple months ago, and just from that increase in screen and pixels, I went from averaging ~80 fps in FF14 (benchmark for Heavensward at 1920 x 1080 on max settings had it at 84, iirc). With the larger monitor and going to 2550 x 1440, it dropped down to 52 on average. Still very much playable, but frame rate dips became much more noticeable.

Long story short, if you aren't on higher res monitor, the 970 should be fine for a bit. Soon as you start pushing more pixels, though, you'll want more.

Edit: If you are using a TV as display (didn't realize I hadn't looked at page 3 here, lol), the 970 should be fine for at least the next year...then maybe we have a new card in that $300 bracket.

A top of the line 1070 for $379 plus a free game, which is what got this thread started again, says otherwise. Normal price on the card is $459, so it's $60 off already at $399 plus an extra $20 off with the MiR. It's not a permanent drop in price, but it's a big drop in price all the same.

Don't buy more than 8GB more RAM, as I would consider that a waste, considering we've now gotten pretty situated in the DDR4 realm at this point.

Any particular reason you need more RAM?

My system was giving me low RAM warnings in certain games when I only had 8GB of RAM. DOOM in particular. And no I was not using the default prefetch settings or any of that nonsense. If I shut down absolutely every basic program I normally allow to run in the background while playing I could get away with it, but it was a big RAM hog. 16GB really is the standard now anyways, I don't know any reviewer that considers 8GB the standard or even good enough any more these days. Those days are over. 8GB of system RAM would at most be considered entry level for someone who absolutely can not afford the extra $40-$50 on another 8GB to run 16GB in their system.

[Kagthul]

My system was giving me low RAM warnings in certain games when I only had 8GB of RAM. DOOM in particular. And no I was not using the default prefetch settings or any of that nonsense. If I shut down absolutely every basic program I normally allow to run in the background while playing I could get away with it, but it was a big RAM hog. 16GB really is the standard now anyways, I don't know any reviewer that considers 8GB the standard or even good enough any more these days. Those days are over. 8GB of system RAM would at most be considered entry level for someone who absolutely can not afford the extra $40-$50 on another 8GB to run 16GB in their system.

Then you have something weird going on with your machine.

Lathais will stop by with his RAM usage link, i'm sure....

but even with about a bajillion Chrome tabs open, 3-4 programs running in the background, and Doom running at 4K DSR (1080@200%).....

I'm using...

4.6GB of RAM. Out of 16.

Ive literally never used more than 8. I only have 16 in the system because i bought when RAM was dirt cheap and it was less than 90$ for the 16Gb kit and i figured id buy it instead of having to throw perfectly good ram away later (mITX board, only 2 DIMM slots) if i did need to upgrade.

[Slicer299]

Then you have something weird going on with your machine.

Lathais will stop by with his RAM usage link, i'm sure....

but even with about a bajillion Chrome tabs open, 3-4 programs running in the background, and Doom running at 4K DSR (1080@200%).....

I'm using...

4.6GB of RAM. Out of 16.

Ive literally never used more than 8. I only have 16 in the system because i bought when RAM was dirt cheap and it was less than 90$ for the 16Gb kit and i figured id buy it instead of having to throw perfectly good ram away later (mITX board, only 2 DIMM slots) if i did need to upgrade.

I'd honestly like to see something to prove that. With zero games and 6 Chrome tabs open, I'm using 3.87GB of RAM right now. Yet you claim you're using less than a gig more with DOOM running. This is a shot of my task manager for reference, you see 2 applications of Chrome running, that's because I have 2 different windows of it open between my 2 monitors. But only have 6 tabs open total between the 2. And no game running.

Yes I know Windows 10 is going to use reserve a little more on it's own because I have 16GB vs your 8GB, but I know there is no way you're playing DOOM and using less than 5GB of RAM unless you shut down everything else in the background. I normally have 3 or 4 tabs open, and back when I was playing DOOM I was on Windows 7 and didn't have a second monitor either. I was hitting low RAM warning playing at 1680x1050 on just my old 21" Acer. This was back in December.

I don't have DOOM installed any more, didn't feel like installing 40GB updates for a multiplayer I don't play. I beat the campaign and uninstalled. So I can't retest it now. But it forced me to upgrade to 16GB, and any independent review I follow will tell you 16GB is standard these days now too.

[DeltrusDisc]

A top of the line 1070 for $379 plus a free game, which is what got this thread started again, says otherwise. Normal price on the card is $459, so it's $60 off already at $399 plus an extra $20 off with the MiR. It's not a permanent drop in price, but it's a big drop in price all the same.




My system was giving me low RAM warnings in certain games when I only had 8GB of RAM. DOOM in particular. And no I was not using the default prefetch settings or any of that nonsense. If I shut down absolutely every basic program I normally allow to run in the background while playing I could get away with it, but it was a big RAM hog. 16GB really is the standard now anyways, I don't know any reviewer that considers 8GB the standard or even good enough any more these days. Those days are over. 8GB of system RAM would at most be considered entry level for someone who absolutely can not afford the extra $40-$50 on another 8GB to run 16GB in their system.

You realize that I was telling him not to buy anymore RAM beyond 8GB additional to what he already has? So, as in, don't have more than 16GB in his system, especially since it's a DDR3 system.

If you look at my signature, I think you can tell, I'm not afraid of RAM.

Speaking of RAM... right now I'm debating on buying more of the same RAM sticks, filling up the slots, and having 64GB of RAM, or going all 16GB modules and having 128GB. Decisions decisions...

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Then you have something weird going on with your machine.

Lathais will stop by with his RAM usage link, i'm sure....

but even with about a bajillion Chrome tabs open, 3-4 programs running in the background, and Doom running at 4K DSR (1080@200%).....

I'm using...

4.6GB of RAM. Out of 16.

Ive literally never used more than 8. I only have 16 in the system because i bought when RAM was dirt cheap and it was less than 90$ for the 16Gb kit and i figured id buy it instead of having to throw perfectly good ram away later (mITX board, only 2 DIMM slots) if i did need to upgrade.

@Lathais let's make sure he actually gets notified.

And just how many Chrome tabs do you actually have open? I have somewhere in the realm of 70-80 tabs open right now, Fraps, Steam, Path of Exile (using, crazy enough: over 2GB of RAM), RealTemp, Folding@Home (on stand-by, using 32MB between the visual client and the background process), Skype, MSI Afterburner, and one instance of a small Libre Office Excel document open.

Dare I open Lightroom with 200+ RAW CR2 20 megapixel pictures in the queue... I'd go up to around 20GB of RAM being used.

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I'd honestly like to see something to prove that. With zero games and 6 Chrome tabs open, I'm using 3.87GB of RAM right now. Yet you claim you're using less than a gig more with DOOM running. This is a shot of my task manager for reference, you see 2 applications of Chrome running, that's because I have 2 different windows of it open between my 2 monitors. But only have 6 tabs open total between the 2. And no game running.

Yes I know Windows 10 is going to use reserve a little more on it's own because I have 16GB vs your 8GB, but I know there is no way you're playing DOOM and using less than 5GB of RAM unless you shut down everything else in the background. I normally have 3 or 4 tabs open, and back when I was playing DOOM I was on Windows 7 and didn't have a second monitor either. I was hitting low RAM warning playing at 1680x1050 on just my old 21" Acer. This was back in December.

I don't have DOOM installed any more, didn't feel like installing 40GB updates for a multiplayer I don't play. I beat the campaign and uninstalled. So I can't retest it now. But it forced me to upgrade to 16GB, and any independent review I follow will tell you 16GB is standard these days now too.

You didn't link the picture of your task manager.

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I'd honestly like to see something to prove that. With zero games and 6 Chrome tabs open, I'm using 3.87GB of RAM right now. Yet you claim you're using less than a gig more with DOOM running. This is a shot of my task manager for reference, you see 2 applications of Chrome running, that's because I have 2 different windows of it open between my 2 monitors. But only have 6 tabs open total between the 2. And no game running.

Yes I know Windows 10 is going to use reserve a little more on it's own because I have 16GB vs your 8GB, but I know there is no way you're playing DOOM and using less than 5GB of RAM unless you shut down everything else in the background. I normally have 3 or 4 tabs open, and back when I was playing DOOM I was on Windows 7 and didn't have a second monitor either. I was hitting low RAM warning playing at 1680x1050 on just my old 21" Acer. This was back in December.

I don't have DOOM installed any more, didn't feel like installing 40GB updates for a multiplayer I don't play. I beat the campaign and uninstalled. So I can't retest it now. But it forced me to upgrade to 16GB, and any independent review I follow will tell you 16GB is standard these days now too.

Your computer monitor's resolution shouldn't be affecting RAM, it should only affect your VRAM on your GPU.

And I don't think anyone is really denying that 16GB is the standard, it's pocket-change to go from 8GB to 16GB in an initial build, and even still later on to upgrade. I think @Kagthul is just making the point that for some people who control the background processes and such on their computer or run very few programs, 8GB is still fine.

Then there's people like me. ^_^

[Kazgrel]

A top of the line 1070 for $379 plus a free game, which is what got this thread started again, says otherwise. Normal price on the card is $459, so it's $60 off already at $399 plus an extra $20 off with the MiR. It's not a permanent drop in price, but it's a big drop in price all the same.

That's a good step in the right direction, then; last I had checked 1070s was the week after the 1080 Ti came out and they were still in the low $400s. Compare that to the previous generation 970, which by the 1 year mark was in the low $300 range. I have the MSI model with the Twin Frozr cooler, which was $320 or 330 at the time of purchase.

[Deleted]

I bought a 1080 for 800 does that count?

[Kazgrel]

Ya, It isn't a need to upgrade just something I considered doing. I may upgrade my RAM first and just wait on the GPU upgrade.

Set up some monitoring whenever you're running games or multiple apps and see if you are pushing towards maxing out your RAM usage consistently...if not, just save money, although another 8 gb of DDR3-1600 shouldn't set you back much.