Should I go with a gtx 970 or save and go with the gtx 760?

[Ojsitv]

Ok so I am going build my first pc and I really nervous going with a gtx 760 and I have a budget of $1210 and I can cram a gtx 970 into the budget but then that requires me to lose overlocking and cut corners in my build. I really want and need this PC during Christmas and will the 760 last me 3-4 years down the line and is it still relevant today or should I give up core overlocking and cut corners and go with the gtx 970? Here are the games I want to play on my PC and the applications I use in 1080p 40-60 fps high-ultra settings and I also like to play some triple a games in the future at mid to high settings and is it bad that I would want to go with a old kepler card?

Games:
Team Fortress 2
Crysis 3
Battlefield 4
Gmod
space engineers
Minecraft (modded)
Battlefield Hardline (when it comes out)
Planetside 2
Star Wars Battlefront 3 (Dice)
Skyrim
Battlefield Bad Company 2
Five nights at freddys 1 and 2
Risk of Rain


Applications:
Unity 3D
Adobe premier elements
Adobe after effects
Adobe audition

Here are my 2 build options

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/ojsitv/saved/FvdFf7

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/ojsitv/saved/RXgCmG

I was hoping for the gtx 960 to come before Christmas but they instead rather wanted to milk the gtx 970 and 980 which really made me mad. Oh well what could we have done. If you guys can give me input and tips with what should I go for that would be great. Thanks!

 

[Lalith Reddy]

have a look at this build its over your budget by 40$ but will make a huge difference in the long run
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8YBJRB

 

[Jak Atackka]

The GTX 970 is absolutely worth getting over the 760. Right now they're fairly equivalent, but in a couple of years you'll start seeing the performance gap more as new games push your hardware. According to current prices, both builds are below your $1200 budget by a fair amount, so you should be able to afford your base build + 970.

In my experience, CPU overclocking is overrated nowadays. You can expect very little performance gain (15% or less) by overclocking your CPU by 1GHz, which that cooler will barely handle. However, if you really want to eke the most performance out of your system as possible, it might be worth the $30 investment. If you only expect to upgrade your computer in four years or so, it won't make a huge difference either way.

Regardless of your decision, I would highly recommend that you don't get 1x8GB stick of RAM, if 2x4GB is only $2 more. The speed advantage of dual-channel RAM is definitely worth the extra expense. Also, if you're considering the i5-4590 build, you really don't need the Hyper 212 Evo - the stock cooler is just fine at stock speeds.

 

[CTurbo]

You realize that an i5 4590 + GTX970 would be WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better in gaming than an overclocked i5 4690k + GTX760 right? It's not even close.


You could easily afford an i7(Xeon) and GTX970 for under $1200 without cutting any significant corners and maintaining top notch quality.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Pb6dgs
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Pb6dgs/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($248.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.78 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.65 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card ($334.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Enforcer ATX Mid Tower Case ($87.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit) ($104.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer G226HQLBbd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($104.99 @ NCIX US)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN881ND 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($19.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Cooler Master Megaflow 110.0 CFM 200mm Fan ($10.96 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1160.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-04 21:20 EST-0500


Or you could stick with the locked i5 and get a 250GB ssd.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Z9Y7ZL
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Z9Y7ZL/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($188.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.78 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.65 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card ($334.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Enforcer ATX Mid Tower Case ($87.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit) ($104.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer G226HQLBbd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($104.99 @ NCIX US)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN881ND 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($19.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Cooler Master Megaflow 110.0 CFM 200mm Fan ($10.96 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1200.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-04 21:24 EST-0500

 

[chenw]

I'd vouch for the SSD setup, it may not make a difference DURING gaming, but BETWEEN gaming (system bootup, etc) it is a night and day difference. You should be able to put 1~2 games on it to shorten the loading time dramatically (i personally hate loading times lol).