Should i 980 or 980ti or wait for pascal?

[ben morris01]

Hey guys, wonder if you can help?

Ok my current build is:

I7 4790 (not k version)
GTX 770
8gb ram xms 1333 2xdual channel
Games running from external 2tb seagate usb 3

Ok so basically I need to to what is more beneficial, im thinking about getting a 980ti but it is quite a lot of money, and for the same amount i can get a regular 980, 8gb 1600hz ram and an internal 7200rpm 1tb hard drive to move my games to and still save £50 overall, also pascal is coming out soon ish and i dont want to spend loads only to buy another card almost instantly.

So what do you think? Im basically hoping to play witcher 3 and battlefront 3 on ultra but only 1080

any help will be greatly appreciated 👍

 

[Reaper_7799]

The 980 is a waste of money if you are only staying at 1080 P, the gtx 970 is the much better buy at 1080P or even the 290x or 390x if you aren't comfortable with the 3.5GB vramgate. If you even consider buying the 980, then buy the 980 ti because it destroys it for $150 more in all resolutions.

If you want serious future proof for 3-5 years at 1080 P ultra settings, your best bet would be 980 ti because it runs 1080P all ultra at really good fps, even with demanding games like witcher 3, crysis 3, metro last light and if it can run those at the fps it is at now, even if games went two times the quality of where they are now, you have plenty of room to fall back on fps before you will have any issues. And double where they are at now in a few years, is kind of unlikely, especially with consoles holding things back.

 

[Adel Medhat]

The 980 is a bad buy as Reaper stated, you really wouldn't need the 980 Ti to play on 1080P. I recommend the 390 and if you want CrossFiring in the future for more power.

 

[HKILLER]

I'm kinda in the same boat...i have enough money for GTX 980 but I'm thinking that Pascal is close and from the benchmarks that I've seen I am OK with how a GTX 960 2gb performs( i don't play a lot of AAA games and the 4gb seems just like a waste of money ) so i though buying a 960 and then waiting for Pascal would be a good idea...is it?

 

[Reaper_7799]

I'm kinda in the same boat...i have enough money for GTX 980 but I'm thinking that Pascal is close and from the benchmarks that I've seen I am OK with how a GTX 960 2gb performs( i don't play a lot of AAA games and the 4gb seems just like a waste of money ) so i though buying a 960 and then waiting for Pascal would be a good idea...is it?

The 960 is a decent little card for the money. If you do upgrade next year, at least you wont be out of pocket $300 or $400 and if you are happy with the performance of the 960, go for it.

 

[Adel Medhat]

Technology keeps improving every year, so really you can just wait forever. Better to just buy a card now, a 970, 390, 390x, whatever you choose. Or if you are really patient wait till Pascal.

 

[Reaper_7799]

Yeah like adel said, it's tough to decide to wait or buy or whatever but you can wait and put it off every year if you want because something new will always be right around the corner. Next year you wait till pascal comes in and then you start seeing performance leaks about the next gen cards coming the next year and think, wait again. Sometimes it's just best to buy the best you can buy now and sell it later on when you need to upgrade.

 

[ben morris01]

Sorry im new so i dont know how to reply tona specfic post, but thanks repear, i think i might just go for the 980ti, i know pascal is apparently to be 10x faster but, just does not seem worth the wait given how well 980ti performs already.

Could i just ask would i be hindered by my ram speed or that i use an external usb 3 hdd? I have not noticed a problem before, apart from when trying to make a huge war on skyrim, thanks a lot for the help so far anyway.

 

[HKILLER]

Yeah like adel said, it's tough to decide to wait or buy or whatever but you can wait and put it off every year if you want because something new will always be right around the corner. Next year you wait till pascal comes in and then you start seeing performance leaks about the next gen cards coming the next year and think, wait again. Sometimes it's just best to buy the best you can buy now and sell it later on when you need to upgrade.

i disagree...this is a jump from 28nm+GDDR 5 to 16nm+HBM 2...also it depends which generation you are jumping from...it's waste to upgrade every year..especially if you are buying the $200 card each time!but for example if you are jumping from a GTX 660 to a high end card like GTX 980 that's a worthy upgrade...and it would worth it much more if you wait for the next $500 GPU wouldn't it?

 

[Reaper_7799]

Yeah like adel said, it's tough to decide to wait or buy or whatever but you can wait and put it off every year if you want because something new will always be right around the corner. Next year you wait till pascal comes in and then you start seeing performance leaks about the next gen cards coming the next year and think, wait again. Sometimes it's just best to buy the best you can buy now and sell it later on when you need to upgrade.

i disagree...this is a jump from 28nm+GDDR 5 to 16nm+HBM 2...also it depends which generation you are jumping from...it's waste to upgrade every year..especially if you are buying the $200 card each time!but for example if you are jumping from a GTX 660 to a high end card like GTX 980 that's a worthy upgrade...and it would worth it much more if you wait for the next $500 GPU wouldn't it?

That's what I said, maybe you're misunderstanding. Don't upgrade every year at all but if he has no card now and was thinking about a 980 but is also thinking about pascal, that's a waste of money so buy the lowest card if he absolutely NEEDS one now. And yes the nm will drop next year but high performance cards wont be out till late next year or later and it's not like they are going to just destroy the 980 ti and titan and be like $300. Sometimes it's better to just buy the flagship card and depending where we are at technologically wise and the games that are actually being made at this point in time and those going forward. I was saying you can find an excuse every year to put off buying a flagship or upgrading because things change so fast.

 

[Reaper_7799]

Sorry im new so i dont know how to reply tona specfic post, but thanks repear, i think i might just go for the 980ti, i know pascal is apparently to be 10x faster but, just does not seem worth the wait given how well 980ti performs already.

Could i just ask would i be hindered by my ram speed or that i use an external usb 3 hdd? I have not noticed a problem before, apart from when trying to make a huge war on skyrim, thanks a lot for the help so far anyway.

You're welcome. Pascal will be a lot better and a lot faster when comparing them to the entry level and mid range cards and eventually the high end will be better too but It will take them time to perfect it and the lower cards will come out first anyways but if you get the 980 ti at least you get great performance going forward now and for years to come at 1080P. It's a solid overclocker and is just a cutdown Titan x chip for acceptable prices.

I would put getting an hdd as my next priority and then do your memory. A decent 1tb hdd is around 40 euro maybe with VAT? Somewhere close to that price I think. The memory, even though is low frequency, you wont notice a huge huge difference just going up to 1600.