Spend the money for a cheap 1080 or just go for 1070?

[Alt_]

Hi,

I've been wanting to grab a card from Nvidea's 10 series for a while and I have always had my eye on the 1070 but Umart, my local pc store (I'm from Australia) has a Galax GTX 1080 EX OC for $699 AUD which is ~ $100 more than the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 G1 @ $595 AUD.

So my question is, would i be worthwhile (in your opinion) to spend the extra money for the 1080 from Galax? I have read reviews and people have mixed things to say about this particular card (Galax 1080), hence my apprehension.

If it helps, in terms of giving advice, the 1080 has me more inclined to purchase a 1440p monitor; so i would be more inclined to spend more money, down the road, on a new monitor also. So there is that.

Thanks, in advance, for the advice.

Cheers.

 

[13thmonkey]

I would get a budget 1080 over a top end 1070, it is simply more powerful and can OC better.

 

[Tech_TTT]

are you in a hurry ? if not wait for the AMD VEGA release , the Rumors says it will be the same Performance of GTX 1080 and cheaper than nvidia.

Moreover , AMD FreeSync monitors are alot cheaper than Gsync Monitors , you will save like $200 on the monitor as well.

If you want a card now .. I would pick GTX 1080 any time over GTX 1070.

 

[wildfire707]

If you are gaming at 1080p a 1070 is more than enough. My favorite 1070 card (value wise) is the ASUS Dual series 1070 for $550 AUD:

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/product/fPFXsY/asus-geforce-gtx-1070-8gb-dual-video-card-dual-gtx1070-o8g

Some people like the white fan shroud, some people do not like it, but it is relatively quiet and has a good design. The Gigabyte unit is a slightly better design, but it also costs more and there is almost no difference as far as FPS goes.

If you do go for 1440p, then I would recommend a 1080 card, but you are right about the design not being the best on the Galax / Galaxy brand card. I have the same reservations about the PNY cards as well. Both brands will work, but the designs could be improved.

In my opinion, the cheapest card that I would recommend as far as a Geforce GTX 1080 in Australia would be the Gigabyte G1 Gaming at $760 AUD:

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/product/3fvZxr/gigabyte-video-card-gvn1080g1gaming8gd

It has an excellent design and comes with a fast factory overclock, but that does increase the fan noise on the card. The three fan design is also big, so this card really needs a case with enough room to mount a card that is over 11.25 inches long. If you want a card that is quiet and only has two fans, my favorite Geforce 1080 GTX unit is the $800 AUD MSI Armor OC one:

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/product/FwcMnQ/msi-video-card-geforcegtx1080armor8goc

The card has an good dual fan design, but is not clocked the fastest and is not the best value around.

Finally, the best overall compromise between speed / cooling / value is probably the Gigabyte Windforce Geforce GTX 1080 for $760 AUD:

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/product/V4M323/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-1080-8gb-windforce-oc-8g-video-card-gv-n1080wf3oc-8gd

It is a triple fan design with a slightly lower stock speed, so the fans are not as noisy. You can still run an overclocking tool like MSI afterburner on it to make it go faster, but most people would get the MSI Gaming unit instead.

Good luck!