660 2gb oc to 960 4gb oc?

[Eli Stout]

My birthday is approaching and out of all the research, this is the best price in my range.

 

[renz496]

It will be noticeable jump. What is your resolution?

 

[Eli Stout]

I play triple A titles like farcry 4, Gta V, Advanced Warfare, and soon Witcher 3 but I know that my card is starting to fall behind. I was going to get the 970 but I don't want to puch my psu.

My PC
-Intel i7 2600k
-2x500gb WD blue
-ASUS p868 Vpro
-Thermaltake 600w
-GTX 660 oc twin frozr

 

[Eli Stout]

My resolution is 1680x1050

 

[Eli Stout]

Which will most likely be replaced with a 1080p with the money from selling the 660

 

[renz496]

At your current resolution 960 will do quite well. Used to have 660SLI myself. And the gaming experience isn't that much different. Probably only slightly slower in term of raw performance. But that's at 1600x900.

 

[photonboy]

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-04gp43966kr

THIS is the card I recommend.

I should also mention the R9-280X. There are pros and cons. The R9-280X is slightly faster but the newer 960 has many features including MFAA which can close the performance game for some games.

Also the PRICE advantage goes to the GTX960 if you factor in the FREE GAME. Witcher 3.

I should also mention the GTX970. It's another $100 more roughly but it not only is faster but it also includes Batman Arkham Knight which is $60 I believe. So if that's a game you'd buy the price difference is only about $40.

THIS is my current recommend card (or the EVGA SC 1.17GHz model which is nearly identical):
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-strixgtx970dc2oc4gd5

 

[Eli Stout]

Now before I go ahead and buy it, I guess the r9 280x is a choice too. The thing is that Ive heard my 600w psu can't handle the r9 280x.

 

[photonboy]

GTX970 vs GTX960:

It's roughly 50% faster:
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/GTX_960_G1_Gaming/28.html

Slightly less on average with your CPU but not by much. Also future DX12 games are likely to reduce the CPU bottleneck times significantly thus extending the life of your PC. We'll get better info later.

*So again, the GTX970 comes with TWO GAMES not just ONE like the GTX960 so it's a very interesting choice. If you added the cost of the 2nd game to the GTX960 4GB that would cost about $290 vs $330 for GTX970.

Thus the GTX970 in this scenario is about 14% more money for 50% more performance (roughly).

 

[Eli Stout]

Photonboy I have looked into the 970 before but I am only 14 and even though I have a job, I need to save up and not spend that much.

 

[Eli Stout]

These are my two choices in my range.

r9 280x 235.99 after mail in rebate
gtx 960 239.99

 

[photonboy]

These are my two choices in my range.

r9 280x 235.99 after mail in rebate
gtx 960 239.99

I'd get the GTX960 4GB card.

While the R9-280X is slightly faster the GTX960 4GB has these benefits:
- Witcher 3 free game
- PhysX
- Zero noise in light usage (disables fans)
- MFAA (for supported games to use instead of MSAA anti-aliasing. Can make games run similar frame rate to R9-280X)
- 4GB vs 3GB VRAM
- less heat output (important for rooms that get hot)

The other benefits are minor to most people:
- H.265 encoding (may help STREAMING and recording though in the near future)
- voxel lighting support (future games)
- HUD support (reduced latency support for HUD's like Occulus Rift)
- 4K at 60FPS

Update:
As per my above link the AVERAGE of 20 games shows the R9-280X faster by 17%. Since the GTX960 will overclock relatively higher that will be a smaller difference. Let's say 12% but that's a guess. Also, for games that support MFAA you can get roughly 15% boost (varies quite a bit) which means the GTX960 will match or slightly exceed the R9-280X in some cases.

So I think it's a pretty strong case that the GTX960 4GB is the better choice but it depends on your preferences. If the Witcher 3 game doesn't matter to you, nor none of the other benefits then the R9-280X is slightly faster.

It's not clear how much the extra 1GB of VRAM will matter in the near future however the new consoles are starting to encourage a lot more VRAM usage.

Finally, AMD is in really sad shape financially which may affect their future ability to provide the same level of support as NVidia.

 

[Eli Stout]

Yeah I noticed new games needing more Vram and My room is upstairs so it gets really hot. So I will be purchasing the 960. Thankyou.