How long will the NVIDIA GeForce/MSI GTX 960 last me before I decide to upgrade for a newer graphics card?

[JLG480]

Just wondering because I recently bought a prebuilt gaming PC from Best Buy a week or 2 ago that has a GTX 960 built in. They've told me that this card should last me a decent 2-3 years depending on the games I play and if I don't have very high expectations of the settings I play it one. I keep hearing how the GTX 960 is nothing but a waste of money and pathetically weak compared to the GTX 970. So far, the GTX 960 in my PC ran my GTA V game on Steam beautifully at 60 fps so I really don't see the problem.

What do you guys think?

 

[why_wolf]

it all depends on what resolution and graphics settings you think are fine. The problem with sites like these and gaming sites is everyones level of "acceptable" is way higher than the public at large.

The other real problem is the price. In all likelyhood Best Buy charged you just as much money for that 960 as the much more powerful 1060 costs today.

So yeah the 960 is fine if your expectations are lower but the price they are charging for them usually is fairly dumb and everyone would be better off getting the 1060 or RX 480 for the same or slightly higher price.

 

[JLG480]

it all depends on what resolution and graphics settings you think are fine. The problem with sites like these and gaming sites is everyones level of "acceptable" is way higher than the public at large.

The other real problem is the price. In all likelyhood Best Buy charged you just as much money for that 960 as the much more powerful 1060 costs today.

So yeah the 960 is fine if your expectations are lower but the price they are charging for them usually is fairly dumb and everyone would be better off getting the 1060 or RX 480 for the same or slightly higher price.

I guess it's whatever, I still have til next year or two to save up for a new graphics card anyway or possibly sooner depending on my budget. So far, this GTX 960 graphics card has been running my GTA V game on Steam perfectly fine at 60 fps.

 

[why_wolf]

Yeah as long as it runs fine who cares. I believe the rule of thumb for GPUs is to wait two generations for the improvements to stack enough to be worth it. Unless you plan on climbing up the tier tree, in which case it really doesn't matter unless you are already at the top.

 

[James Mason]

*shrug* if you want to save up for the next card, like put $10 away in a piggybank every month for 2 years and you'll be good to go.

It's unlikely the 960 will die on you, but newer higher end games will keep trying to push the limits of graphical fidelity, and it probably won't be a concern for at least 2 years till you reach a point where you just outright couldn't play a certain game.

 

[lordmogul]

I'm stull running fien with a 660 Ti and just recently got into games where I need more performance.
So depending on your expectations a 960 might be acceptable for 2-3 years