Upgrade to a gtx 770 or build a new PC?

[Camilo3245]

Hey guys, I currently have a gaming PC with a GTX 570, an i7 2600k, and 8 gigs of RAM. My question is whether I should upgrade the video card to a gtx 770 or just wait to build a whole new pc at a later time. BF4 has me rather excited andd I have an OCD thing about maxing these kinds of games out. Plus with the whole new console generation coming out... I just feel like my current rig won't cut it anymore.

 

[kaels]

The 770 is an absolutely fantastic card considering the price point, but it's really just an upgraded 680, which means it's very well-matched to your 2600K. In terms of bang-for-the-buck, upgrading your current system to a 770 would probably be the best thing you could do.

If you wait and build a new system in the next 6 months or so, in order to get the same gaming performance as you would by upgrading to a 770, you're looking at on the order of about $1100ish minimum (4670K, AsRock mATX build, GTX 770, low-end PSU, no SSD) unless you can scavenge parts from your old system. So you'd have to spend about 2.5 times as much for the same performance gain, and you'd lose the i7 advantages in well-threaded applications (if you care).

In order to get *better* performance from a new system than you would by upgrading to a 770, you'd have to upgrade to (a) a 780 (add $200-250), (b) SLI 760s (add $150ish plus $50ish for supporting hardware), or (c) an SSD (add $175-200). So you're looking at spending $1300ish for something that's marginally better than what you can get now by spending $400-450.

I wouldn't do it. If you really have the itch to build a bleeding-edge PC, save up just a little while longer and buy a 780 (also an amazing card) and then build a new system around it later. But if you want the most value while still maxing out games, grab the 770 and then wait a generation or two.

 

[Camilo3245]

The 770 is an absolutely fantastic card considering the price point, but it's really just an upgraded 680, which means it's very well-matched to your 2600K. In terms of bang-for-the-buck, upgrading your current system to a 770 would probably be the best thing you could do.

If you wait and build a new system in the next 6 months or so, in order to get the same gaming performance as you would by upgrading to a 770, you're looking at on the order of about $1100ish minimum (4670K, AsRock mATX build, GTX 770, low-end PSU, no SSD) unless you can scavenge parts from your old system. So you'd have to spend about 2.5 times as much for the same performance gain, and you'd lose the i7 advantages in well-threaded applications (if you care).

In order to get *better* performance from a new system than you would by upgrading to a 770, you'd have to upgrade to (a) a 780 (add $200-250), (b) SLI 760s (add $150ish plus $50ish for supporting hardware), or (c) an SSD (add $175-200). So you're looking at spending $1300ish for something that's marginally better than what you can get now by spending $400-450.

I wouldn't do it. If you really have the itch to build a bleeding-edge PC, save up just a little while longer and buy a 780 (also an amazing card) and then build a new system around it later. But if you want the most value while still maxing out games, grab the 770 and then wait a generation or two.

Thanks for such a comprehensive reply! I completely agree , I guess my only fear was that the CPU might be getting a little dated and might bottleneck, but after reading your reply and doing some research... well apparently CPU's don't progress as rapidly as video cards so I'm golden in that area. I think i'll wait until December and pick up a 770 (hopefully a small price drop by then) and if I do go for a new build it'll be at least a year down the line. I'm definitely not itching to build a new one any time soon because I've noticed a well built gaming PC can slay games for up to 4 years if you upgrade the video card once at the halfway mark. I usually tend to ignore the highest end cards because I feel as if you hit a point of diminishing returns in relation to cost/performance.

 

[kaels]

Yeah, I usually agree, but the 780 holds up unusually well in a price/performance comparison (it's basically a Titan for 65% of the price). The PassMark scores are a really coarse measure, but they give you a good idea: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html#value

The really amazing high-end value pick right now though is 2-way SLI 760s: better than a Titan, half the price, only $100 more than a 770.

 

[Camilo3245]

Yeah, I usually agree, but the 780 holds up unusually well in a price/performance comparison (it's basically a Titan for 65% of the price). The PassMark scores are a really coarse measure, but they give you a good idea: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html#value

The really amazing high-end value pick right now though is 2-way SLI 760s: better than a Titan, half the price, only $100 more than a 770.

So it's been a while since I've kept up with SLI. When it first came out I thought it was a waste of time because you're paying double the money for nowhere near double the performance. Are they starting to get more efficient now then? I'd love two 760's but the 770's $400 price tag is already pushing it for me at this point. Also, I lol'd SOO hard when I saw the rating for the 570 on there. Apparently they're a collectors item now or something haha😉

 

[kaels]

Yeah, SLI still won't double the performance, but you typically see gains of 50-80% as long as the game is GPU-limited and you don't run into graphics memory limitations. For single-monitor gaming, it's only really a smart choice if you already have/are planning to buy the supporting hardware and you can get a pair of really amazing price/performance cards that don't individually offer the performance you want.

Right now the good SLI choices would be 760s (Titan equivalent for about $500-520) and 650 Ti Boosts (770 equivalent for about $330-350).

760 SLI review:
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_760_sli_review,16.html

650 Ti Boost SLI review:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_650_Ti_Boost_SLI/16.html

Anything in between those two, you're paying as much as or more than a 770 for marginally more performance. Anything above 760 SLI, you probably don't need unless you have a multi-monitor setup. Anything less than a $300 budget, you're probably spending more on the supporting hardware than you're saving by SLIing cheap cards (and the performance drops off pretty rapidly once you go below $150 per card.)

And yeah, the 570 is a collector's edition Great card though.