New Graphic Card upgrade

[skullzbh]

Hi,

I'm planning to buy a new gpu to replace my GTX660, i'm really confused on what to buy i was thinking about the gtx970 but not sure if im making the right choice, I mainly play WoW and i want to play darksouls 3 as well

my current build is:
- Intel Core i5 3570K @ 3.40GHz
- 16GB Ram
- 256GB SSD
- ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP Motherboard (x1 PCIe 3.0 slot)

So should I go for the gtx970 to push some life into my build? or any other advice? my budget is around 320 USD

[Miyagie]

Wait a month and get the 1070 GTX or RX 480/490 just wait for benchmarks and see for yourself.

[Mythbredor]

Wait a month and get the 1070 GTX or RX 480/490 just wait for benchmarks and see for yourself.

Agreed unless he needs a solution now in which case a 970 would do fine. But otherwise definitely wait for the rx-480-490 benchmarks to be out.

[Lathais]

Agreed unless he needs a solution now in which case a 970 would do fine. But otherwise definitely wait for the rx-480-490 benchmarks to be out.

Well, he said he has a 660 and I can not imagine that having much of an issue with WoW. Maybe Dark Souls 3, but it should be at least passable performance in WoW, even on High-ish settings.

[Mythbredor]

Well, he said he has a 660 and I can not imagine that having much of an issue with WoW. Maybe Dark Souls 3, but it should be at least passable performance in WoW, even on High-ish settings.

a 660 will struggle at higher settings in WoW even more so in raids. It'll die in dark souls. But yes I prersonally think he should wait. But giving him options is important he may not need anything more than a 970.

[Mythbredor]

1070 is the sweet spot for single card performance currently.

Out of his budget. Also doesn't need the power for WoW and darksouls

[Lathais]

a 660 will struggle at higher settings in WoW even more so in raids. It'll die in dark souls. But yes I prersonally think he should wait. But giving him options is important he may not need anything more than a 970.

Yeah, but he could at least keep using it for what, less than a month before the 480s are out?

[Mythbredor]

I still recommend he saves up and buys that if he's going to upgrade. It's a little more money, but the card should eat up anything he wants to play in the next few years.

True, rx480 would also be a good option. Maybe 490 once it gets revealed.

[skullzbh]

thanks all for the inputs, my 660 is struggling in wow with medium settings, especially in BGs and Ashran. I will definitely wait for the 1070 or the 480, i can save up a few more dollars till the custom cards come out, i'll have to wait on playing DS3 though

thanks all <3

[aktorsyl]

Well, he said he has a 660 and I can not imagine that having much of an issue with WoW. Maybe Dark Souls 3, but it should be at least passable performance in WoW, even on High-ish settings.

The 660 (and 670) most certainly do have an issue with WoW after the WoD graphical updates - but only if you play on full Ultra. You pretty much have to disable shadows completely in any kind of forested area to have playable framerates. Most of the shadow load appears to be on the GPU, as you can see the GPU usage and VRAM spiking all to hell when you enter a forest - in addition to the GPU fans spinning up like jet turbines.

That said, WoW is perfectly playable on Ultra without shadows. Just, yknow - it doesn't look as good.

- - - Updated - - -

thanks all for the inputs, my 660 is struggling in wow with medium settings, especially in BGs and Ashran. I will definitely wait for the 1070 or the 480, i can save up a few more dollars till the custom cards come out, i'll have to wait on playing DS3 though

thanks all <3

Keep in mind, almost everyone is struggling in Ashran, even people with much much stronger cards than that. Same goes for garrisons.

[Lahis]

What the hell? 660 struggling with WoW?

I'm currenly running on 560 Ti and it can run WoW fine, only thing I don't have on Ultra is Shadows where I have set it so that there's no dynamic shadows for environment, only character models.

Two 560 Tis in SLI can give me smooth experience in Overwatch with Ultra presets and 1920x1200 resolution (obviously I'm not claiming it's over 60 FPS, but it's definetly over 30, around 40 or so and is playable).

Sure, I need to upgrade to 1070 when vendor versions are actually released. Gotta break that 60 in Epic Overwatch presets and Legion beta has also shown that 560 Ti just doesn't cut it anymore for WoW when 7.0 hits.

[aktorsyl]

What the hell? 660 struggling with WoW?

I'm currenly running on 560 Ti and it can run WoW fine, only thing I don't have on Ultra is Shadows where I have set it so that there's no dynamic shadows for environment, only character models..

Yes but that's exactly what I said If you turn those Ultra shadows off, it's perfectly fine. If they're on... it struggles hard.