GTX 960 + Good PC or GTX 970 + Worse PC?

[TorterraX]

Hey guys!

I'm getting my new PC build done, but I'm facing a new dilemma. Looking at reviews and benchmarks I see that the performance gap between the gtx 970 and 960 is pretty big. Unfortunately, I'm kind of on a budget so unless money magically appears in my wallet, which I doubt will happen, I can't put that extra 130$ CAD.

So my question is, on the following build, would it be better to swap the 960 for a 970 and cut elsewhere? I'm planning to play games such as The Witcher, No Man's Sky, Mass Effect Andromeda, etc.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($304.55 @ Vuugo)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($45.00)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste ($6.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: Asus Z170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($193.74 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($85.82 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $90.00)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $60.00)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($269.99 @ Memory Express)
Case: Fractal Design Define S w/Window ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ NCIX)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 39.9 CFM 120mm Fans ($29.97 @ DirectCanada)
Other: Orion 685W Silent 80+ Bronze (Purchased For $59.00)
Total: $1255.05
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-16 18:27 EDT-0400

If I choose the 970, I could swap the 6600k for a 6500, and the mobo for a z170-e or b/h150 or something else, but then I'd have to downgrade RAM too.

So, what do you guys think would be better?
Thanks!

TorterraX

 

[TorterraX]

define acceptable? 20fps at 720p yes

The benchmarks I linked in my last post show the iGPU running Bioshock Infinite at 1080p on low settings. Even GTA V would be playable at 720p on low settings.

Well, I still have games like Skyrim, Blade and Soul, The Witcher 2 and such just waiting to get launched once more, I guess I could run them Do you guys think I could also run ARK on low settings?

Probably not for ARK. Honestly though, if you're just gaming at 1080p, get an RX480/GTX1060.

Yeah that's probably what I'll do, since I'm not aiming for 4K or over 1080p or something

60hz 1080p? a 1060 is good
144hz 1080p get a 1070 or greater

Well I don't see the point in going over 60Hz since I'm not going to have any 3D games or such.

what do you mean by 3d games? meaning playing with red and blue 3d glasses? if so thats not at all what 144hz is related too and if you mean games in 3d do you mean you only play terraria?!?

the refresh rate like 60hz 75hz 100hz 120hz 144hz and 165hz are the amount of fps a monitor can show

No no no, I know what it means and that's not what I meant at all I just meant that 60 FPS is plenty anyway, so going over that is a bit overkill since I'm gonna have to sell my house to afford a good 144 Hz monitor What I was saying is that you need at least 120 Hz to play 3D (as in 3d goggles) games to have 60Hz for each eye , but I don't have any of those games

 

[Epicness937]

define acceptable? 20fps at 720p yes

The benchmarks I linked in my last post show the iGPU running Bioshock Infinite at 1080p on low settings. Even GTA V would be playable at 720p on low settings.

Well, I still have games like Skyrim, Blade and Soul, The Witcher 2 and such just waiting to get launched once more, I guess I could run them Do you guys think I could also run ARK on low settings?

Probably not for ARK. Honestly though, if you're just gaming at 1080p, get an RX480/GTX1060.

Yeah that's probably what I'll do, since I'm not aiming for 4K or over 1080p or something

60hz 1080p? a 1060 is good
144hz 1080p get a 1070 or greater

Well I don't see the point in going over 60Hz since I'm not going to have any 3D games or such.

what do you mean by 3d games? meaning playing with red and blue 3d glasses? if so thats not at all what 144hz is related too and if you mean games in 3d do you mean you only play terraria?!?

the refresh rate like 60hz 75hz 100hz 120hz 144hz and 165hz are the amount of fps a monitor can show

No no no, I know what it means and that's not what I meant at all I just meant that 60 FPS is plenty anyway, so going over that is a bit overkill since I'm gonna have to sell my house to afford a good 144 Hz monitor What I was saying is that you need at least 120 Hz to play 3D (as in 3d goggles) games to have 60Hz for each eye , but I don't have any of those games

uh ok?
can you teach me this one im here to help but i honestly i have no idea what your talking about

 

[TorterraX]

define acceptable? 20fps at 720p yes

The benchmarks I linked in my last post show the iGPU running Bioshock Infinite at 1080p on low settings. Even GTA V would be playable at 720p on low settings.

Well, I still have games like Skyrim, Blade and Soul, The Witcher 2 and such just waiting to get launched once more, I guess I could run them Do you guys think I could also run ARK on low settings?

Probably not for ARK. Honestly though, if you're just gaming at 1080p, get an RX480/GTX1060.

Yeah that's probably what I'll do, since I'm not aiming for 4K or over 1080p or something

60hz 1080p? a 1060 is good
144hz 1080p get a 1070 or greater

Well I don't see the point in going over 60Hz since I'm not going to have any 3D games or such.

what do you mean by 3d games? meaning playing with red and blue 3d glasses? if so thats not at all what 144hz is related too and if you mean games in 3d do you mean you only play terraria?!?

the refresh rate like 60hz 75hz 100hz 120hz 144hz and 165hz are the amount of fps a monitor can show

No no no, I know what it means and that's not what I meant at all I just meant that 60 FPS is plenty anyway, so going over that is a bit overkill since I'm gonna have to sell my house to afford a good 144 Hz monitor What I was saying is that you need at least 120 Hz to play 3D (as in 3d goggles) games to have 60Hz for each eye , but I don't have any of those games

uh ok?
can you teach me this one im here to help but i honestly i have no idea what your talking about

Hahahaha well I'm no expert but from what I read, since the refresh rate is the number of times the monitor's image is gonna change in one second, it obviously dictates how many maximum FPS it can show. So as you said, a 60Hz monitor can go up to 60 FPS, a 120 Hz one goes to 120, etc. But for 3D games, that is different (again, I'm on pretty slippery terrain here, so take this with a grain of salt). When running 3D games, the monitor and the PC need to process 2 images at the same time to achieve the 3d effect, just like it would with a movie. So since the number of images is doubled, the monitor needs to be at least a 120Hz to get to 60 FPS for both images - for a total of 120. Does that make sense?

So, I don't see the point in getting over 60 FPS when playing, and I don't plan to play any 3D games, that's why I won't go over 60Hz for my monitor, especially as it's expensive

 

[Epicness937]

120hz monitors are not that much if they are 1080p