MSI 970 To FE 1080?

[No One_1]

Intel - Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor
MSI - Z270 SLI PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
CRYORIG - H5 Ultimate 76.0 CFM CPU Cooler
G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
MSI - GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card

So I've been wanting to upgrade my computer for a while now and now that I've been looking to upgrade to a new graphics card since my current one seems to be struggling in newer games but nothing too serious since I mainly play CSGO and some newer releases. I have a 4K monitor along with a 144hz 1080p monitor that I bbought a while back. Mostly use the 4K monitor for just watching movies or youtube with it since I doubt I'll be able to play games on the 4K monitor. I recently saw the FE 1080 for sale on bestbuy for $589.99 which is almost MSRP I believe so pretty good deal imo. I've heard some pretty bad reviews about FE cards since they will often have significantly worse performance than aftermarket. People also argue that aftermarket cards bad if the fan configuration in your computer is bad but mine works perfectly with my current setup. I don't think I'll have a problem with an aftermarket card. Would it greatly increase the performance of my computer because if it's only going to boost the performance a little it's not worth my time or money. Would it be worth upgrading to that or should I wait until I find an aftermarket card so I can have better performance or does it not really matter?

 

[photonboy]

1) FE performance is based primarily on cooling... so it varies on ambient room temp, case cooling etc but even with excellent cooling you will get a noticeable LOSS IN PERFORMANCE (relative to a GTX1080 Asus Strix) unless the fans are cranked up to what I consider too high.

*Thus I would WAIT just a little longer for something closer to an Asus Strix at roughly $500 to $600USD or so... lots of indications the pricing will stabilize in the next few months due to crypto-mining profitability and/or supply chain increases.

2) Boost amount?
Depends of course on the game so I can only link to THIS: https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_1080/26.html

In raw numbers it is "2x" the FPS an average as a GTX970 but for some games that may give no obvious benefit. For example maybe in Shadows of Mordor you already get 2560x1440, 60FPS, max or near-max quality settings?

Conversely newer (or older demanding) games can get a quality and/or FPS boost. Plenty of examples so I won't bother much though in Witcher 3 I drop just a couple settings to hit a mostly solid 60FPS, 2560x1440.

On a GTX970 that would be closer to 35FPS average (with VSYNC OFF so screen tearing) or you drop a lot of visual settings down somewhat though the game certainly doesn't look "2x" as good with a GTX1080 so it's complicated.

3) 4K discussion:
In general don't put the game settings at 4K resolution anyway. Let the monitor (or GPU depending on NVidia Control Panel settings) upscale. You should usually just use 2560x1440.

SUMMARY:
Upgrade good idea? YES.
Do it now? Not recommended.

NVidia has some new cards coming with TENSOR CORES though I wouldn't put a huge value on that as games benefiting will be very SLOW to be introduced. There may be other reasons with newer cards or the combination of new cards, crypto etc may help drop prices of a GTX1080 or even GTX1080Ti down a lot.

 

[photonboy]

Other:
For non-GSYNC, lower refresh monitors some games benefit greatly from a feature called "Adaptive VSYNC" which auto-toggles VSYNC ON and OFF.

First off, VSYNC is used to get rid of screen tearing but it adds more LAG so games are more sluggish. You also get increased STUTTER if you can't hit the goal (i.e. VSYNC is ON with a 60Hz monitor but you drop below 60FPS).

Example:
In AC Brotherhood I would get (on my GTX680) occasional big STUTTERS despite carefully tweaking settings to try to maintain 60FPS at 1080p. That's because some areas are far more taxing than on average.

But VSYNC OFF gave bad screen tearing... what to do? Adaptive VSYNC.

(start then close game, then)
NCP-> manage 3d settings-> ... add game-> adaptive VSYNC-> save

I actually first went back and tweaked so I was hitting 60FPS at least 90% of the time. So after this I was locked to 60FPS VSYNC ON like normal, but instead of STUTTERING when I dropped below 60FPS I got screen tears which were far, far less distracting.

Same thing for GTA5. Despite a GTX1080 some areas would have big stutters with VSYNC ON so this sorted that out too.

 

[photonboy]

Other:
For SHOOTERS you may even want to play on the 144Hz panel depending on how much responsiveness matters. For example VSYNC OFF to reduce lag. That causes screen tear but that's less obvious as the monitor refresh rate increases (though the FPS factors in too).