Budgeting and Lifespan ?

[trif]

TL;DR: Will an i7-4770k (overclocked) and 2x GTX 780's be able to run games at max settings (1920x1200) in 4 years?

So say I have a budget of £30 per month

Basically this means I can either spend £720 every 2 years, or £1,440 every 4 years,

Looking at specs and doing rough costings:

For £720 I could get:
£237 GTX 770
£109 FX-8320
£70 mobo
£70 8gb of ram
£60 PSU
£80 240gb ssd
£30 CPU cooler
£50 case
£20 fans etc etc

And then something of a similar equivalent power in 2 years time when the 770 and FX-8320 aren't able to run new games,

[This is assuming they'll manage most games out this year and next (2014-2015) on max settings at 1920x1200 ?]


or, I get:
£369 GTX 780
£240 i7-4770k
£120 mobo
£132 16gb ram
£80 psu
£180 SSD
£70 CPU cooler
£50 case
£20 fans etc etc

Then in two years ill pick up a second 780 on ebay or somewhere for SLI, and another 16gb of ram (maybe overclock the i7-4770k a bit more)

Is it silly to Hope that 2xGTX780s will be able to run games released in 2016-2017 at max settings at probably 1920x1200 and still be fine through till the end of 2017?

 

[gopher1369]

Is it silly to Hope that 2xGTX780s will be able to run games released in 2016-2017 at max settings at probably 1920x1200 and still be fine through till the end of 2017?

I think you're overestimating the amount of power you'll need. Sure there will be exceptions, but most games are developed for consoles first, meaning that any decent graphics card you buy nowadays will be fine in a few years time. And the consoles aren't even especially powerful, the PS4 I believe contains a Radeon 7870.

Look at it another way, most games released today need a Geforce 8800GT as minimum spec. That's an 8 year old graphics card. Sure you aren't going to be playing on high settings with that card, but it should put things in perspective for you.

The only reason for something like SLI 780s in the near future would be for 4K or Oculus Rift.

 

[trif]

So to play games on ultra at my resolution I barely even need a single 780?

And the:
£237 GTX 770
£109 FX-8320
Would be enough?

 

[trif]

Also I wasn't meaning to SLI within the next year, I mean in 2 years time, will there be games out then which will tax a 780? (I bought an HD 5850 3 years ago and its definitely been struggling with new games for the last year!)

 

[gopher1369]

in 2 years time, will there be games out then which will tax a 780?

There are games out now that will tax a 780 - the obvious one being Crysis 3, you can't run that on the highest settings and maintain 60FPS on a single 780. Rome 2 Total War doesn't even hit 40 FPS with a 780. There will always be exceptions that are specifically designed to max out even the highest of high end cards, but they are few and far between.

When you bought your 5850 games were being ported from Xbox 360 which, when it was released, was a super high end PC in a box. The difference now is that the Xbox One is a low to mid range gaming PC, and I suspect that means that graphics requirements for PC games, which by-and-large are console ports, will plateau.

I can't predict the future, but I reckon a 780 now then another one to SLI in 3 years time will be more than you need. Crysis 4 being the obvious exception! Oculus Rift being another, if you are considering buying Oculus - and I'm super, super excited fro it and definitely buying one, you'll need all the rendering power you can get for it.

 

[trif]

I wish there were more right answers in life

OR does look interesting but maybe a bit before its time? What sort of kit are you looking at buying to run one?

 

[gopher1369]

What sort of kit are you looking at buying to run one?

I have a 7850 at the moment, I don't think that will be enough. The new nvidia Maxwell cards are due out later this year, I'm going to sit on my 7850 until Maxwell arrives, then I'm thinking the Maxwell equivalent of the Geforce 660ti.