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Pull the plug on a GTX 970 or wait it out?

N

Nekrono

Member
I guess other people are on the same boat so might as well post it here.

I'm having a hard time deciding whether I should purchase a GTX 970 G1 or wait and play this and upcoming games with my broken 7970 (broken PCI lanes cause it to work at 4x speeds instead of 16x causing around 20FPS loss).

The deal of the 970 G1 with Witcher and Batman codes is insanely good, since I intend to buy these two games but something in the back of my head tells me I should rather wait for newer cards, announcements, etc. Also the fact that I'd be buying a card that's around 8 months old, granted it is a beast of a card and for the money it's the best you can get but still I'm concerned about upcoming games like Battlefront, I'm not sure I'll it will be able to pull 60 FPS on 1080p maxed out.

I'm really on the fence here and I don't know what to do, what do you guys think?
 
A

AEREC

Member
I wouldn't worry about games in the near future since they will be optimized for consoles as well, and the 970 paired with a decent cpu is already way ahead of consoles.
 
Pop On Arrival

Pop On Arrival

Banned
970 is fine for 1080p, but maxing out certain games will still depend on your CPU. I have a shitty i5 3570 that can't be overclocked so I get a really terrible minimum fps with my 970, but my friend that has a better cpu gets way better performance in openish games such as battlefield and gta

nothing really noticeable 95% of the time. Anyway, if you have a decent unlocked cpu, go for it. Lots of games to enjoy now with 1080p/60fps goodness and I don't think the savings you get over holding off are worth the enjoyment you miss out on now
 
D

Dubz

Member
Nekrono said:
I guess other people are on the same boat so might as well post it here.

I'm having a hard time deciding whether I should purchase a GTX 970 G1 or wait and play this and upcoming games with my broken 7970 (broken PCI lanes cause it to work at 4x speeds instead of 16x causing around 20FPS loss).

The deal of the 970 G1 with Witcher and Batman codes is insanely good, since I intend to buy these two games but something in the back of my head tells me I should rather wait for newer cards, announcements, etc. Also the fact that I'd be buying a card that's around 8 months old, granted it is a beast of a card and for the money it's the best you can get but still I'm concerned about upcoming games like Battlefront, I'm not sure I'll it will be able to pull 60 FPS on 1080p maxed out.

I'm really on the fence here and I don't know what to do, what do you guys think?
Click to expand...

Can you link this deal please?
 
M

Matty8787

Member
Nekrono said:
I guess other people are on the same boat so might as well post it here.

I'm having a hard time deciding whether I should purchase a GTX 970 G1 or wait and play this and upcoming games with my broken 7970 (broken PCI lanes cause it to work at 4x speeds instead of 16x causing around 20FPS loss).

The deal of the 970 G1 with Witcher and Batman codes is insanely good, since I intend to buy these two games but something in the back of my head tells me I should rather wait for newer cards, announcements, etc. Also the fact that I'd be buying a card that's around 8 months old, granted it is a beast of a card and for the money it's the best you can get but still I'm concerned about upcoming games like Battlefront, I'm not sure I'll it will be able to pull 60 FPS on 1080p maxed out.

I'm really on the fence here and I don't know what to do, what do you guys think?
Click to expand...

Go for it, they are excellent cards.

I suspect you will have no problems hitting 60fps @ 1080p maxed out maybe with a couple of things lowered, such as AA and whatnot.
 
K

Kritz

Banned
You make this thread as I'm staring at a cart with a 970 in it...

also in the past 3 minutes now there's a racing wheel in the cart too help how did this happen
 
T

ThoseDeafMutes

Member
I think you mean "pull the trigger". Pull the plug doesn't really seem right.

Anyway, 970 is a good card. If you get it for a good price, sure. If you think you need it immediately for TW3 etc, then go for it. Waiting is always beneficial, but new cards aren't coming out before TW3. Maybe not even before Batman. But they are "close".

Kritz said:
You make this thread as I'm staring at a cart with a 970 in it...

also in the past 3 minutes now there's a racing wheel in the cart too help how did this happen
Click to expand...

Bad Kritz, I need you around to buy my 970 when I upgrade it this year so I don't have to mess around with postage :p
 
N

Nekrono

Member
Dubz said:
Can you link this deal please?
Click to expand...
Here.
Matteoj8 said:
Topic name is confusing, I think you meant pull the trigger?
Click to expand...
I did, I need some sleep but first I felt the need to post this, I really need some advise.
Corpekata said:
Your 7970's broken lanes, isn't that a motherboard issue? Wouldn't you have the same issue with a 970?
Click to expand...
I thought it was but I had a friend lend me his 970 and it worked flawlessly. I have to connect my 7970 on the secondary PCI-E slot and it only runs at 4x speed.
 
E

Eusis

Member
The 970s sound like the kind of card that epitomizes why I had been saying to wait on a new video card rather than buying one RIGHT when the new consoles hit: because you give it a year or two and you'll easily get something that'll annihilate anything that hits consoles. Though it helps that this time around higher end cards that were a few years old like the 560 Ti still stood toe to toe with consoles.
 
M

matrixman92

Member
i just got one...upgraded my 760 to it. It is great for the price, I recommend it.

Also, not sure where u plan on buying it from. But just a warning on Amazon, I am still waiting for my game codes. I believe they take 5-7 days after it ships.
 
N

Nekrono

Member
You guys are certainly convincing me to buy one, from the performance threads of recent games seems like everyone that posts their specs has a 970 so I guess devs will have to optimize for it whether they like it or not.

What about upcoming announcements for new cards? Is there an ETA on it? I know AMD cards are around the corner but I don't want to be on AMD's since anymore, their power consumption, thermals and loudness always is a huge disappointment for me, also I would like to have Physx, etc, for a change, that and games/drivers that are actually optimized for releases.
 
T

ThoseDeafMutes

Member
Kritz said:
>_> what's SLIing cards like these days?
Click to expand...

Depends on the game. They release "SLI profiles" for each game, sometimes these make launch sometimes they don't. Cryengine games run fantastically on SLI, with almost perfect scaling up to 4 cards. Most games only scale to 2 cards. Some games don't have any scaling or profile.

If you mix and match two 970s and they aren't the same model, the "slower" of the two will essentially be the speed of both cards. If you aren't joking, I'm running this model which isn't the cheapest.

Nekrono said:
What about upcoming announcements for new cards? Is there an ETA on it? I know AMD cards are around the corner but I don't want to be on AMD's since anymore, their power consumption, thermals and loudness always is a huge disappointment for me, also I would like to have Physx, etc, for a change, that and games/drivers that are actually optimized for releases.
Click to expand...

Inside of a month is when AMD stuff is expected to launch. Some kind of Nvidia response is expected soon after.
 
J

Josman

Member
Wait for AMD's new GPUs, and get one if they're good or see if Nvidia drops prices in respone.
I'm going to wait for 14nm but I assume you don't have any GPU
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
Nekrono said:
I was reading about the step up program, since you have to pay the difference how much do you think we're talking? ~$200?
Click to expand...
Depends on what AMD does. They'll either release it like they did with the 780 Ti at ~$700, or like the 780 at $500. Not sure which yet. My money is on the former though.
 
C

Corpekata

Banned
I'd either prep for a Step Up program or get it and just sell it when the card you're waiting for hits. It's unlikely the next Nvidia cards are going to be going for the mid price range like the 970 so you'll likely be able to get a decent chunk of your money back, especially when you factor in the cost of Witcher and Batman if you were going to get them.
 
D

Dr.Acula

Banned
The games deal is really good. It's super hard to time VCs perfectly, so don't worry about it too much.

Is this the card with 3.5 gigs of ram?
 
S

shark sandwich

tenuously links anime, pedophile and incels
970 is the sweet spot for price/performance/power consumption. It's the best 1080p card you can get IMO. I don't expect anything to beat it until 14nm GPUs arrive in 2016.
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
mkenyon's guide to buying video cards in the modern and stagnant age:

Step 1: Just fucking buy it already.

Step 2: Wait for the next thing that you need to upgrade to.

Step 3: Sell your card for a good chunk of cash.

Step 4: Purchase new card.

Then you're on top of the game and only out a few hundos each time, rather than needing to plop down $300-500+.

mkenyon's alternative guide to buying video cards in the modern and stagnant age:

Step 1: Wait for people who do the above to sell their cards on GAF B/S/T.



For real though, warranties are based on serial # and last three years if you buy from one of the big AIBs - ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, EVGA, Sapphire.
 
L

LowSignal

Member
I got a evga gtx970 for $330 at bestbuy with batman arkham night. upgrade from a 7970, i only have a 1080p monitor and hopefully dx12 with help in new games.
 
A

astonish

Member
I just pulled the trigger this week. Not a total world changing upgrade (From a 680GTX 2GB), but I notice it. An with the oculus spec and the vive and a couple games requiring horsepower (Witcher 3, Batman: AK, sorta Dirt Rally) around the corner I just went for it.

I'm slightly unique in that at times I'll be able to borrow a 970GTX from work to SLI.

I also plan to grab a Pascal card if VR and HBM turn out to be all that..
 
StereoVsn

StereoVsn

Member
IMO, it all depends on what you are running right now, but if you were planning to get Witcher 3/Batman on release or soon after, this is a good deal, IMO. Personally I am waiting on Witcher 3 to get a few patches and Batman is going to be Ultimate Edition wait for me, so might as well wait for new AMD cards to see what's going on.
 
K

Kritz

Banned
ThoseDeafMutes said:
Depends on the game. They release "SLI profiles" for each game, sometimes these make launch sometimes they don't. Cryengine games run fantastically on SLI, with almost perfect scaling up to 4 cards. Most games only scale to 2 cards. Some games don't have any scaling or profile.

If you mix and match two 970s and they aren't the same model, the "slower" of the two will essentially be the speed of both cards. If you aren't joking, I'm running this model which isn't the cheapest.
Click to expand...

only twenty bucks more expensive than the one I was gonna get

I'll grab it and decide later in the year if I'll also take your card off you
 
B

bomberman447

Member
I just installed my second 970 today. I have been very happy with mine so far and it seems to be about a 50% improvement for the second card. Very quiet, low power and great performance. (1080p)
 
C

CHC

Member
Unless a concrete release date and has been announced for the next batch of hardware, the best time to buy a new GPU is always right now. They don't go down in price, they just get phased out. You'll drive yourself insane waiting for the next best thing - the 970 deal is a great one, and if the alternative is continuing to use a broken card - well, it's a no brainer!

(copy/ paste of my reply in another thread, forgive me)
 
U

UpDownLeftRight

Banned
This is a question of how much disposable income you have really and not something we can answer for you. My opinion is, if you can afford it and you want it, get it. Live life while you're alive and worry about money when needs be. I'd have dived on one but I just don't have the money for it. I'm saving for a new build and I'm having to time it right so that I get the most out of it having saved up for a couple years. If you're in my boat, wait until the next wave of cards.
 
G

ghibli99

Member
I bought 2, mailed in the rebates, and got rid of the game codes and backplates, except for 1 Witcher 3 code, which I preloaded and am ready to go in a few days. No regrets.
 
X

x3sphere

Member
Apparently the 980 Ti could be a week or so away, though I expect it to cost $700 and will probably only bring a price cut for the 980, not the 970.
 
BigTnaples

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
For 1080p? Get it.


With Batman and Witcher codes, it's a no brainer. Hell, I bought one and played most games at 4K just fine. Ended up buying a second one in my Wild Hunt hype. But one card for 1080p will be just fine. And at the pricepoint, you can't go wrong.


I have always been an ATi guy, and this is my first experience with Nvidia. Despite kind of hating how they took the market with stuff like PysX, I have to say I am beyond pleased with the experience thus far.
 
M

m_shortpants

Member
If you were going to buy Batman and the Witcher anyway, then take 120 dollars off the card in your consideration! It's a pretty good deal IMO.
 
P

Piercedveil

Member
Buy it now and sell it when you want a new one. I did that with my 760 and didn't lose much money at all. Very nice upgrade for me too.
 
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