Should I buy a 970 now or wait `til 1060 (or maybe go with AMD altogether)?

[velzelvul]

Hi everyone!
Here's my situation - I have an i5 4590 @3.3GHz and a gigabyte 960 4GB - it's enough for like most of my needs right now but I want to have ALL my current needs covered plus good performance for at least a couple years ahead. I have a 2500*1440 display @59Hz and I want to play on ultra settings on that resolution but my 960 gets all laggy on that resolution on titles after 2012 (it even lags on Borderlands 2, for that matter, even on full hd resolution with ultra settings, which I find extremely peculiar and disappointing).
I thought that I'd just wait for a 1070 and see how it performs but now that it's known that it's gonna cost upwards of 500 USD I don't know what to do - first of all, I'm on a strict budget so I can't fork over more than like 350 for a card (shouldn't even be looking for an upgrade, for that matter, but I can't stand the thought that I made such a mistake buying that 960 - I could go with a 970 or a R9 380 but it was getting too damn expensive (I was building a new PC from scratch) so I decided to curb my enthusiasm and now I can at least sell my 960 and turn SOME profit - I think very few people will consider buying a 960 after Pascal is released).
I guess now I'm panicking a little because I think that getting a 970 might be a viable option but I'm very concerned that Nvidia will stop optimizing drivers for 900 series after Pascal's release as it famously happened with 700 series and I'll be stuck with nearly useless GPU I spent a lot of money on. And I don't know if I should go with the team red - I don't care either way, not a fanboy of either, no thank you, although I do support AMD's business tactics very strongly - I just want best performance for my money but I worry about compatibility issues (for me it seems that like every other AAA title has some issues with AMD's cards, not mentioning some that COMPLETELY broken) and a lot of people say that R cards tend to die soon after one year warranty ends and there's very few R cards that last for about 3 years which, if true, is a deal breaker - I'll feel shortchanged if I HAVE to buy another gpu even in 2 years - ideally I want to buy next card in 3-4 years or when the performance you get for your 300 USD AT THE VERY LEAST doubles (ideally, triples) - whatever comes first.
So I'm asking you what you suggest I should do - sell my gpu while I still can and grab a 970 or a R9 380X (I know that I could add just a little to the price of a 970 and get a 390 which is on a par with 980 but I only have a 600W PSU and don't feel like throwing out a few months old PSU to get a new one for a new GPU) or should I be patient and wait `til next gen cards or suck it up and stick with my "crappy" 960 'til the bitter end. Please bear in mind that whilst I'm unhappy with my current GPU's performance and want an upgrade my first priority is budget - there's no way I can spend more than 300-400$ so 1070 is off my reach.
Finishing this post, I'm starting to realize that actually I don't feel good about selling my GPU and losing money in order to buy another mediocre card - I want that upgrade to FEEL like an upgrade - from mediocre to the higher end of mid-range spectrum, that sweet spot where you fork over more than you reasonably should but it worth every single penny (that's what my concern with R cards is - love and respect their ethics a lot but after spending this kind of money I don't want to have ANY concern about performance whatsoever - just reading recommended specs and buying a game instead of researching if there's any performance issues, for instance I really want to play Witcher 3 which reportedly has major issues with R cards and who knows what other amazing game in the feature won't work on an R card properly).
Sorry about such a long winded post. So what would you suggest I do?

UPD I guess I should clarify that under "my needs" I mean not new games but approx. 1-2 y.o. stuff (AC Unity, Black Flag, Crysis 3, Far Cry 3 and 4, GTA 5) - basically, the stuff that goes on sale on Steam with like 50-75% off - I haven't been playing for several years and now I'm catching up. I do want to get DOOM if the reviews are good so when I say I want good performance for a couple years I mean the stuff what comes out right now a lil bit later that goes on sale on Steam.

 

[Dylan Smit]

You have a decent gpu now so just wait for the next gen, it will improve a lot and save you some money

 

[velzelvul]

You have a decent gpu now so just wait for the next gen, it will improve a lot and save you some money

Do you think a 1060 will be much better than a 970? It sure seems that it's gonna cost as much as a 970 costs now... without mentioning that I'll have to scrape all that money from the scratch - at least now my 960 can sell for about 150 or so - really don't want to fork over that kind of money (350$ is A LOT in our currency) in just a year for a mediocre gpu - call me cynical but I don't believe that there's gonna be a really big improvement in performance for the same amount of money. And I'm not ok with my current gpu - it's obviously too slow for descent gaming in 1440p.
As to compatibility problems - I think I just could stop updating the nvidia drivers - I already have like five version of drivers saved on my ext.drive, just in case.

 

[azzazel_99]

The 1060 will give 970 performance at a cheaper price. The 1070 will give 980 performance at a cheaper price and the 1080 will give 980ti performance at a cheaper price. All having a little more vram than before. The 1060 likely will be standard with 4gb vram, 1070 probably 6 and the 1080 probably 6 or 8. 1080ti likely 12gb but honestly the radeon 390 is faster than the 970 so if you were going to upgrade i would make it a 390 right now. The 970 just isnt worth it right now.

 

[velzelvul]

The 1060 will give 970 performance at a cheaper price. The 1070 will give 980 performance at a cheaper price and the 1080 will give 980ti performance at a cheaper price. All having a little more vram than before. The 1060 likely will be standard with 4gb vram, 1070 probably 6 and the 1080 probably 6 or 8. 1080ti likely 12gb but honestly the radeon 390 is faster than the 970 so if you were going to upgrade i would make it a 390 right now. The 970 just isnt worth it right now.

If it was the case I'd've gladly waited for a 1070 but the prices for 1080/1070 has leaked and it's 650/500$ respectively so I don't think that 1060 is going to cost 230-250$ like 960 did - it's gonna be like 350$, I guess, so I don't believe that there's gonna be much of a difference between 970 and 1060 - at least now I cant get at the very least 100$ for my gpu - in nine months, when 1060's out, no one's gonna want it for over 50-60$. True - 390 is better but it's also quite a bit pricier than a 970 and a 970's price the absolute maximum I can go now - not mentioning that I don't think that my 600W psu can handle a 390 - it's manufactured by FSP so a guy in the store told me that I shouldn't count on more than 550W from that psu because it's kind of crappy. What about 380 btw? In Jaystwocents' benchmarks 380 outperforms 970 even though by a slim margin but it's also costs like 15% less or so.
Or am I overlooking something really significant here?

 

[Saestear]

I'd wait for next gen. 960 is in IMHO pretty decent for now, even though you have to sacrifice some quality from time to time. Wait for Pascal cards and even then, wait a little for the prices to drop. Unless you are a true hardcore gamer, you should be fine not running everything at ultra, but go for high instead. I find myself gaming a lot, but until recently I only had an old dell laptop with GT555M and I was (I had to be...) ok with running borderlands 2 on medium to low detail and you know what? It still looks good . But of course, it looks even better at maxed details.

In the end, you yourself have to know if you're feeling comfortable about forking over a pile of your hard earned money just to get a bump from high to ultra. I justified my upgrade easily, switching from medium-low to very high-ultra...but you probably won't be getting a difference so marginaly big.

Stanley

 

[azzazel_99]

The 1060 will give 970 performance at a cheaper price. The 1070 will give 980 performance at a cheaper price and the 1080 will give 980ti performance at a cheaper price. All having a little more vram than before. The 1060 likely will be standard with 4gb vram, 1070 probably 6 and the 1080 probably 6 or 8. 1080ti likely 12gb but honestly the radeon 390 is faster than the 970 so if you were going to upgrade i would make it a 390 right now. The 970 just isnt worth it right now.

If it was the case I'd've gladly waited for a 1070 but the prices for 1080/1070 has leaked and it's 650/500$ respectively so I don't think that 1060 is going to cost 230-250$ like 960 did - it's gonna be like 350$, I guess, so I don't believe that there's gonna be much of a difference between 970 and 1060 - at least now I cant get at the very least 100$ for my gpu - in nine months, when 1060's out, no one's gonna want it for over 50-60$. True - 390 is better but it's also quite a bit pricier than a 970 and a 970's price the absolute maximum I can go now - not mentioning that I don't think that my 600W psu can handle a 390 - it's manufactured by FSP so a guy in the store told me that I shouldn't count on more than 550W from that psu because it's kind of crappy. What about 380 btw? In Jaystwocents' benchmarks 380 outperforms 970 even though by a slim margin but it's also costs like 15% less or so.
Or am I overlooking something really significant here?

Sorry man but those "leaked" prices are not accurate. Thing is there have been NO prices leaked by nvidia themselves. $650 and $500 for mid level gaming cards is WAY to high and that has NEVER happened in the history of nvidia releasing mid level shit. Maxwell dropped alot in price considering what kepler was priced at for the same "level" of cards. Nvidia is not going to increase the price up farther when they just lowered them when maxwell first dropped. No one knows what the prices will be but history has already proven to be pretty accurate with previous releases so im going to stick with my history here and say the 1070 at first launch MIGHT be $400 (highly doubt it) and the 1060 will be $299'ish.

 

[velzelvul]

The 1060 will give 970 performance at a cheaper price. The 1070 will give 980 performance at a cheaper price and the 1080 will give 980ti performance at a cheaper price. All having a little more vram than before. The 1060 likely will be standard with 4gb vram, 1070 probably 6 and the 1080 probably 6 or 8. 1080ti likely 12gb but honestly the radeon 390 is faster than the 970 so if you were going to upgrade i would make it a 390 right now. The 970 just isnt worth it right now.

If it was the case I'd've gladly waited for a 1070 but the prices for 1080/1070 has leaked and it's 650/500$ respectively so I don't think that 1060 is going to cost 230-250$ like 960 did - it's gonna be like 350$, I guess, so I don't believe that there's gonna be much of a difference between 970 and 1060 - at least now I cant get at the very least 100$ for my gpu - in nine months, when 1060's out, no one's gonna want it for over 50-60$. True - 390 is better but it's also quite a bit pricier than a 970 and a 970's price the absolute maximum I can go now - not mentioning that I don't think that my 600W psu can handle a 390 - it's manufactured by FSP so a guy in the store told me that I shouldn't count on more than 550W from that psu because it's kind of crappy. What about 380 btw? In Jaystwocents' benchmarks 380 outperforms 970 even though by a slim margin but it's also costs like 15% less or so.
Or am I overlooking something really significant here?

Sorry man but those "leaked" prices are not accurate. Thing is there have been NO prices leaked by nvidia themselves. $650 and $500 for mid level gaming cards is WAY to high and that has NEVER happened in the history of nvidia releasing mid level shit. Maxwell dropped alot in price considering what kepler was priced at for the same "level" of cards. Nvidia is not going to increase the price up farther when they just lowered them when maxwell first dropped. No one knows what the prices will be but history has already proven to be pretty accurate with previous releases so im going to stick with my history here and say the 1070 at first launch MIGHT be $400 (highly doubt it) and the 1060 will be $299'ish.

I sure hope it happens as you say - don't feel like making any rash decisions now.

 

[azzazel_99]

Yea honestly i would wait man

 

[velzelvul]

I'd wait for next gen. 960 is in IMHO pretty decent for now, even though you have to sacrifice some quality from time to time. Wait for Pascal cards and even then, wait a little for the prices to drop. Unless you are a true hardcore gamer, you should be fine not running everything at ultra, but go for high instead. I find myself gaming a lot, but until recently I only had an old dell laptop with GT555M and I was (I had to be...) ok with running borderlands 2 on medium to low detail and you know what? It still looks good . But of course, it looks even better at maxed details.

In the end, you yourself have to know if you're feeling comfortable about forking over a pile of your hard earned money just to get a bump from high to ultra. I justified my upgrade easily, switching from medium-low to very high-ultra...but you probably won't be getting a difference so marginaly big.

Stanley

When does this price dropping usually happen? I've been out of sync with the computer parts market for quite a while so I have no idea.

 

[Saestear]

When does this price dropping usually happen? I've been out of sync with the computer parts market for quite a while so I have no idea.

Difficult to say, as it varies strongly from manufacturer to manufacturer and from vendor to vendor. But as with all technology, what's hi-tec today will be old news by tomorrow, so if I had to give you an estimate, I'd say 2 to 4 months. I found a page at pcpartpicker with price evolution for some cards, so tha tmight give you some idea...note the black line is an average price and the grey area actually marks the prices range.

https://pcpartpicker.com/trends/price/video-card/

have a nice day!

EDIT: another thread on this topic: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/916373-pc/70692128

 

[velzelvul]

Thank a lot, man! Can you check this thread as well and say what's your take on that question? http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3046357/extreme-editions-matter.html#17904688

 

[Saestear]

Thank a lot, man! Can you check this thread as well and say what's your take on that question? http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3046357/extreme-editions-matter.html#17904688

Well, simply put, the extreme and similarly named cards are only factory overclocked to the poind when the manufacturer can still claim it's stable. With good cooling - usually aftermarket cooler that dissipates heat into the case and good case airflow, you would have no trouble overclocking the stock card to the same level as those extreme cards. I own a Zotac GTX 780 AMP! edition, which is the highest factory overclocked 780 out there and I still can push the limits a bit further with this...I only bought it because it was on a sale and looks cool, otherwise I'd have gone with stock 780 and overclock it.

tl;dr: 90% not worth it, overclock yourself and be done with it...

 

[velzelvul]

I know about the OC aspect but what about the fact that they "allegedly" put the very best chips and components in those editions? Gigabyte, for instance, even spray PCB's with some stuff that repels dust and corrosion, well, again, allegedly.

 

[azzazel_99]

Thats only in the high end cards like the msi lightning and the evga classified and kingpin models. Other cards usually are just clocked higher out of the box but are not binned chips.

 

[velzelvul]

What about xtreme edition from gigabyte? Their 980 Ti is considered to be the fastest gpu on the market except the titan series. I wonder if 970 xtreme edition worth it - that is, have better OC potential and quality than regular cards. I'm thinking about getting a 1070 if the price's not brutal and hope to get the best one possible.

 

[azzazel_99]

I dont buy anything but mobo's from gigabyte. Their gpu's are subpar. To many issues around the web of warped pcb's and horrible customer service. You can overclock anything once you install it. The kingpin and classified models are as far as i know the highest clocked models out of the box and the lightning model has had the highest on air clocks i have seen at 1525mhz.

 

[velzelvul]

Why do you think gigabyte gpu's are subpar? I've perused through customer reviews on amazon and their ratings only slightly worse than that of MSI and EVGA. This 970 xtreme gaming in question didn't have 1 or 2 star reviews altogether - only one with 3 stars and even 4 star reviews complained about only OC Guru (yeah, it sucks, I know). Maybe they had some problems in the past but stepped up their game since then? I had a conversation with a clerk in a retail store and he was hating on gigabyte as well so I asked what was so wrong with gigabyte's gpu's and he said that he didn't know anything in particular about their gpu's but he thought that gigabyte is so so manufacturer and their hardware tends to be on the hotter side but I'd had gigabyte's 950 for about a week by then and it was nothing but great - I OC'd the core by approx. 150 Mhz and it still ran very smoothly and stable and very very quiet so I decided to go with gigabyte again when I decided to trade in my 950 and get a 960 - especially since their gpu's are somewhat cheaper than that of any other well known vendor and my 960's been nothing but great (I mean, to the extent that any 960 can be) - very stable and quiet (never heard coil whine from it and even on 100% the fan isn't very loud) and reasonably good overclocker - from 150 up to 200 MHz (in some cases) on core and 500-600 MHz on memory and up to plus 30-35% in fps - so pls tell me if you have a lot of evidence that gigabyte is terrible - I'm open to it (I don't want to end up with a shitty gpu when I upgrade). Even if you don't have it - I'm still interested in which vendors you consider the best - I'll consider it too. I was thinking MSI or Gigabyte, leaning to MSI but now I don't know - Gb is cheaper than MSI - you can add just 20$ to the price of regular TwinFrzr and get the xtreme edition and I think that xtreme (delux) edition of any descent vendor would be better than a regular one. 980 ti and 970 xtreme gaming have rave reviews - I, for one, would buy the 980 ti xtreme gaming if I had enough dough - it performs on a par with that copper finned kingpin and costs like 100-150$ less.

 

[azzazel_99]

Like i said messed up pcb's (google gigabyte warped pcb's) and to my knowledge they do not pre bin their gpus. I stick with msi and evga with nvidia stuff

 

[velzelvul]

IDK - tried it and got only a couple results - I think if it was such massive problem there would be quite more posts about that. They write on the boxes of xtreme editions that these chips selected through some "gauntleting" process so I guess they do bin gpu's now. I guess when the 1070 comes out I'll read the reviews very carefully and make my mind then.

 

[azzazel_99]

Yep. I choose based on customer service AND performance and evga has the best customer service period. This is usually why i choose them if im buying nvidia.