Looking to upgrade GPU & Monitor...should I wait?

[amsage]

I've been eyeing upgrading both components of my gaming PC for the last month or so now, but am unsure of when to purchase. I currently have a GeForce GTX 770 and 1080p 23" monitor.

I know the recent 900 series of GeForce cards just came out...but I'm a little turned off by this whole business about the false spec sheet claims. Without getting in to the arcane debate of Nvidia vs. AMD, is now a great time to switch? I'm impartial, really...I kind of just go where the benchmarks & value take me. For reference's sake, I usually go with PassMark for benchmark numbers, which consistently rank AMD cards well down the list of their best scores. I can't claim to know enough about computers to know if that's accurate.

As far as how I game...I don't play one specific game over all others, but I do enjoy playing the latest releases, and playing them at their max settings. I noticed I was having some trouble during cutscenes/cinematics during Dragon Age Inquisition, and well...thought it might be time to start eyeing an upgrade.

In any case, if I'm spending the money on a new card, I figure why not get a 4K monitor to go with it. Just bought a 4K TV and love it. Most recent articles say to wait, especially for cards that are either HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.3 enabled...but those seem to be elusive specs, at quick glance.

Thanks for any recommendations!

 

[mrmez]

As you say, specs are just that. Numbers on a page. Benchmarks and price/performance are what matter.
The 970 has great performance at a good price and uses very little power.
For gaming at 4k however, you are going to need some massive firepower.

4k has 4x the pixels of 1080, and hence needs 4x the power.
Depending on the game a single 980 MIGHT be enough at max.
Metro Last light for example will get ~12fps at max.
BF4 an acceptable 56fps.

 

[f-14]

"Most recent articles say to wait, especially for cards that are either HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.3 enabled"

ya it's better to wait if you're going to 4K, you're going to put more of a load on any graphics card no matter what then.

 

[nismoguy82]

Yeah, I'd wait another year or 2 if you want to go single GPU 4k gaming. It's still not a consistent experience across the board right now.

 

[amsage]

As you say, specs are just that. Numbers on a page. Benchmarks and price/performance are what matter.
The 970 has great performance at a good price and uses very little power.
For gaming at 4k however, you are going to need some massive firepower.

4k has 4x the pixels of 1080, and hence needs 4x the power.
Depending on the game a single 980 MIGHT be enough at max.
Metro Last light for example will get ~12fps at max.
BF4 an acceptable 56fps.

Oh wow, I didn't realize there was such a disparity between what a 4K monitor needed and what the top cards were putting out. You mentioned a "single" 970... Were you implying that 2 cards may be necessary? What about the 295X2?