Graphics Card or Whole New Computer?

[Lemons]

Hi, I'm feeling like my computer is due for an upgrade. It's a few years old now, and I just bought Witcher 3 and it struggled to run the game. I can't even enjoy the damn game cause my computer sounds like a harrier jet taking off when I try to run it. So I figure it might be time for an upgrade, but I was wondering if I should upgrade my whole computer or just buy a new graphics card? Here are my specs:

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K
Mobo: Asus P8Z77-V
RAM: 32GB DDR3-1866
HD: 256 GB SSD
GFX Card: Radeon HD 7970
PSU: Corsair Professional 750W

So what do you think? New Graphics card? Or is this shit so out of date I might as well just build a whole new computer?

[Deleted]

I would wait a few months till the new cards are on the market, AMD is supposed to come out with an amazing new GPU line. The CPU seems pretty good still, upgrading that won't give you much of an upgrade for your money.

[Lemons]

I would wait a few months till the new cards are on the market, AMD is supposed to come out with an amazing new GPU line. The CPU seems pretty good still, upgrading that won't give you much of an upgrade for your money.

Alright...I guess I will just get the card. I don't really care for AMD cards though...I'm more of an Nvidia guy, should I still wait in that case?

[Artorius]

Your computer seems fine for me. Everything on it is still reasonably strong.

If you really want to upgrade then just switch the graphic's card, no reason whatsoever to buy everything new.

[Denpepe]

yup, new Nvidia cards will launch end of may, start of june depending on the model.

[Lathais]

Alright...I guess I will just get the card. I don't really care for AMD cards though...I'm more of an Nvidia guy, should I still wait in that case?

You might want to reconsider your position. nVidia is just now releasing their new cards, the 1070 and the 1080, which are great cards, but the 1080 is just barely able to beat out the Fury X, just barely. So nVidias current gen is just barely surpassing AMDs last gen, and AMDs next gen is right around the corner as well. When the 490/490x I think we are going to be looking at getting current 970-980 like performance for under $300. And that's only taking DX11 performance in to the equation. DX12 Performance will likely be better with AMD cards as well, though can't really say much as good benchmarks for the 1070/1080 are not out yet. NDA lifts in a week though, so we'll know a little more then, and AMD is supposed to be making its announcements at the end of the month.

[Deleted]

I assume you might have a reference cooled 7970? If so, you could try to get a custom cooler for it. The Gelid Icy vision is not that expensive and should fit on it, just double check it. That is if you want to fiddle with it. I doubt you still have waranty on it. It should perform better than the reference cooler and will be more silent

Also, when is the last time you cleaned your computer or in particular your GPU? Might be some dust build up

As for extra performance. I understand the need for a new gpu. Although the 7970 is still a good card, should perform around the same level as a 380, it is possibly a bit slower. That said, I would wait. As others have said, Nvidia is releasing their 1080 in a week and the 1070 a bit later. This are quite expensive tho. Might be out of your budget range. AMD is also releasing new cards soon, they might announce something at the end of the month. AMD is aiming for the mainstream market and their cards should be cheaper.

In short, wait with buying a new card untill both companies have released their cards! And have a look for dust in your computer

[Fascinate]

You might want to reconsider your position. nVidia is just now releasing their new cards, the 1070 and the 1080, which are great cards, but the 1080 is just barely able to beat out the Fury X, just barely. So nVidias current gen is just barely surpassing AMDs last gen, and AMDs next gen is right around the corner as well. When the 490/490x I think we are going to be looking at getting current 970-980 like performance for under $300. And that's only taking DX11 performance in to the equation. DX12 Performance will likely be better with AMD cards as well, though can't really say much as good benchmarks for the 1070/1080 are not out yet. NDA lifts in a week though, so we'll know a little more then, and AMD is supposed to be making its announcements at the end of the month.

Where are you coming up with your numbers? The 980ti swaps wins with the fury x pending on what game you are looking at, how does the 1080 "barely" beat the fury x?

[Artorius]

Where are you coming up with your numbers? The 980ti swaps wins with the fury x pending on what game you are looking at, how does the 1080 "barely" beat the fury x?

Nope the stock 980Ti is worse than the Fury X, but stock Fury X runs at extremely high clocks for Fiji so it's not exactly a fair comparison.

Thing is: Nvidia could sell the stock 980Ti with a way higher clock, but they don't because they can use the OC as an extra feature to put the price higher. Everything is marketing and marketing done very well.

[Fascinate]

Well of course its got a water cooler lol. Look at OC editions of the 980ti for a fair comparison and they swap depending on the game. But more important here is how did he come to the conclusion the 1080 is only "barely" faster than a fury x? From everything ive read the 1080 is at least 30% faster than a 980ti.

[Bigvizz]

OP, wait for some unbiased / controlled benches to be released, your 7970 should hold you over till then. Really all you need is a graphics card upgrade, but whatever you get Pascal or Polaris will likely be a big upgrade from what you got atm.

[Lathais]

Where are you coming up with your numbers? The 980ti swaps wins with the fury x pending on what game you are looking at, how does the 1080 "barely" beat the fury x?

The 980ti used to swap wins with the Fury X, before the Crimson drivers. Now they are about dead even at DX11 with the Fury X obviously winning in DX12. As for the 1080 just barely beating the Fury X:
http://www.overclock3d.net/articles/...y_benchmarks/1

There it is, in DX12 it's only about 10% better than the Fury X.

[Fascinate]

...lathais lol.

Are you really one of those guys now, really? Linking that dx12 game that no one plays? You are gonna be that guy? Listen i understand you are just trolling at this point but in the real world the gtx 1070 is going to be faster than the fury x (if only slightly). 1080 is a whole tier above the fury x. Ill come back to this thread when the actual benches come out to show you.

[Lathais]

...lathais lol.

Are you really one of those guys now, really? Linking that dx12 game that no one plays? You are gonna be that guy? Listen i understand you are just trolling at this point but in the real world the gtx 1070 is going to be faster than the fury x (if only slightly). 1080 is a whole tier above the fury x. Ill come back to this thread when the actual benches come out to show you.

Not trolling at all. Yeah, that's one game no one plays, but it uses features that games coming out soon will use. Now, sure, the 1080 is new and the drivers it is using could still be tweaked, but the fact of the matter is that's AMDs last gen and it's performance is close to that of the 1080. So what is AMDs next gen going to bring? At the very least it could affect the price points of the 10xx series, so I recommend waiting and once we have real benchmarks out re-evaluating. Not sure how that's trolling or anything, it's recommending waiting for more info.

[Fascinate]

No you said "there it is" like what you linked even matters lol. Its trolling because you are giving bad advice to people on these boards given your bias. You told the guy in the OP to "reconsider your position" based on some random game that literally no one plays with a feature set that has not been widely implemented in games yet. I suggest you stop posting that benchmark altogether, it really holds no value to the conversation. Once games start widely making use of these dx12 features then you can start talking about it.

[Artorius]

No you said "there it is" like what you linked even matters lol. Its trolling because you are giving bad advice to people on these boards given your bias. You told the guy in the OP to "reconsider your position" based on some random game that literally no one plays with a feature set that has not been widely implemented in games yet. I suggest you stop posting that benchmark altogether, it really holds no value to the conversation. Once games start widely making use of these dx12 features then you can start talking about it.

Because comparing graphic's cards from 2016 with an API from 2009 makes so much sense. How those cards perform at 1080p@d3d11 is irrelevant.

VR, DX12, Vulkan, 4K and HDR are the things that you should be looking at. People use Ashes as a benchmark because it's relevant, it's a game that properly utilize everything that it can in order to increase performance under DX12. It doesn't matter if people play it or not, we don't care about the game. We care about the benchmark.

AotS represents what the performance at following games should look like, it also does not make any difference if it is because AMD had a better hardware design long ago or because they had a plan to put GCN into the consoles, and made Mantle first leading the market into it's way. Both are true to some extent but regardless of it, the reality is that async compute is a thing and it's important now.

Nvidia could perhaps pay the devs not to include it at their games, but then they'd be literally paying for the stagnation of the market which isn't something that a company that lives out of "gaming" should be doing. Or at least the "gamers" not supporting said company.

[Lathais]

No you said "there it is" like what you linked even matters lol. Its trolling because you are giving bad advice to people on these boards given your bias. You told the guy in the OP to "reconsider your position" based on some random game that literally no one plays with a feature set that has not been widely implemented in games yet. I suggest you stop posting that benchmark altogether, it really holds no value to the conversation. Once games start widely making use of these dx12 features then you can start talking about it.

If you buy a $600 card today, then what about all the games that come out in its lifetime? The features DX12 brings are features devs have been wanting for a long time and will be very quick to adopt. I mean sure, no one plays AoS but people do play Rise of the Tomb Raider, which already has full DX12 support patched in. Gears of War Ultimate Edition uses DX12.

Coming later this year we have Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Ark: Survival Evolved, Total War: Warhammer, Forza Motorsport 6 and Arma 3. Already in the line-up for 2017 is Star Citizen. There are only going to be more. It's not like DX12 is just going to go away and no one will use it anymore. If I buy a $600 card today, I am thinking about what it is going to be doing for at least the next 2 years. Even though no one plays AoS, it is still a good way to gauge DX12 performance, as it utilizes it well. It's there for benchmarking DX12 as nothing else out there fully utilizes it as well yet but there is plenty more coming and soon.

I've been an nVidia fanboy myself for years. I much prefer nVidia normally and would really love to see the 1080 beat out the 490x when it releases. AMD has really stepped up their game though, with the release of the Fury series and the Crimson drivers, they are in a position to give nVida a run for their money. All I am saying though is keep an eye on it. We'll all know a lot more in a couple weeks once the 1070/1080 actually launch and we get some real benchmarks. Then AMD will be making it's announcements later this month and hopefully we'll get some data from them as well. I fail to see how saying to wait for that is being a troll. It's recommending that people wait until they have all information and make an informed decision. Honestly, I'd love to eat my words and upgrade my 960s to 1070s in Jan/Feb when I am due for upgrades again, but I'm betting the 490/490x will be a better value.

[Fascinate]

Guys, no games utilize these features and suggesting people buy AMD cards on speculation is bad advice, period. Best we can do at this point is wait for the benches, i just read an article today saying polaris will be announced at end of may with release a few weeks after. But holding onto this dx12 stuff is not helpful at all until games are widely being developed with these DX 12 technologies.

[Lathais]

Guys, no games utilize these features and suggesting people buy AMD cards on speculation is bad advice, period. Best we can do at this point is wait for the benches, i just read an article today saying polaris will be announced at end of may with release a few weeks after. But holding onto this dx12 stuff is not helpful at all until games are widely being developed with these DX 12 technologies.

and over the course of the next 2 years, they will. Why would you base your purchasing decisions on the past? You need to look at the future and DX12 is here and over the course of the next 2 years we will be seeing it widely adopted.

[Fascinate]

Well of course dx12 is inevitable, but again you are still SPECULATING that AMD will have some massive advantage here because of the asynch compute being built into the GPU's.....we don't even know that yet. Its just way too early to say anything at this point, what i will say is i am going to wait for both pascal and polaris benchmarks before i do anything and will buy the card with the best performance to the dollar ratio (if that turns out to be a discounted gtx 970 ill go that way even). DX12 will work itself out guys, just chill on that random benchmark it really lowers your credibility when you wave it around like your holy grail.