- Jun 14, 2011
- 4,829
- 3
- 23,465
Hello world!
So, the 'ol GTX 570 is finally starting to show it's age now that I am playing Dragon Age Inquisition, and I can no longer play anything I want at 1080p with max settings... or even high settings with decent frame rates. The time has finally come to start saving my pennies and look at buying a new GPU.
Current Specs:
MoBo: ASRock z77 Extreme 4
CPU: i7 2600 (non-K) @~4.2GHz (turbo OC as I cannot do traditional OC, but it works very well)
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1866
GPU: GTX570 *added aftermarket Zalman GPU cooler as stock cooler was very noisy
Storage: 2x Plextor 256GB SSDs in RAID0
Display: Currently 1920x1200, but looking to upgrade to 4K in less than a year
PSU: OCZ 750W 80+ Bronze rated
Case: Cooler Master Cosmos; the original big ugly behemoth. Cant believe anyone paid money for these things. Truly a terrible case, but it is big, it was free, and it can fit any sized GPU in the world... it just makes my PC innards look small and out of place lol
To be honest, outside of my GPU, I am pretty happy with my current build. The system is nearly 5 years old, and I am kinda disappointed (but kinda relieved) that I don't need a whole system overhaul yet. Currently planning to do another major upgrade in ~3 more years.
Usage and questions:
1) Ripping: While I enjoy games and movies, the biggest thing I do is ripping my ever-growing movie collection. It took about a year and a half to rip my movie collection using CPU rendering, but DVDFab recently added CUDA support for rendering BluRay discs in HEVC with current gen GTX960 and up, so a GTX960 would be the starting point for me. This will bring rendering times from 8-20 hours per disc, down to 2-5 hours... You have no idea what a big deal this would be for me! We buy ~1-2 TV seasons a month, which takes ~100 hours per season to rip. Getting that time down to 20 hours or less per season would be really nice and free up my PC for other things.
2) Price: I am sadly a responsible adult, with a house, a wife, 2 kids, etc. etc. etc. so I can't go blowing lots of money on this upgrade. I would like to keep the price around $300 or less if possible, but I can stretch up to $400 if that is what is needed.
3) Games: I mostly play RPGs like Skyrim, The Witcher, Final Fantasy, Dragon Age, etc. along with the occasional racing game like Rocket Leage or Burnout. I also enjoy adventure games like the Tomb Raider reboot (can't wait to play the sequel!). Not typically anything too demanding, and very little multi-player unless it is something like the Lego Star wars or Minecraft with the kiddos. I like to play with an emphasis on frame quality rather than frame rate. I'll take all of the texture quality, draw distance, and filtering my system can run, and as long as it stays above 30fps then I am a happy camper.
4) 4K, HDR, and wide Color gamut: AMD recently announced that their current high-end cards will get an update for the new HDR and color gamut capabilities of 4K BluRay. Seeing as I watch a lot of movies on my computer this is sort of a big deal... but as previously mentioned, AMD is not an option this time around. Nothing against them, they make good stuff, but without DVDFab HEVC support it is a non-starter.
I do not currently have a 4K display, but I am looking to get one next fall or spring 2017 (Samsung UN48JS9000, or equivalent). Any idea if nVidia will bring similar support on their current gen offerings? Or do I need to wait for the next gen Pascal cards to have such features? I fully understand that 4K gaming is out of the practical realm for my budget, but I am ok with 1080p upscale gaming this time around. I am really looking forward to 4K BluRay movies in all their glory once they come out. If these features are not coming to the 900 series cards then I may look at other options.
5) Lag concern: While I am perfectly fine with 1080p upscaling to 4K in gaming from a quality perspective, I do have my doubts about input lag. Keep in mind, I don't play twitch shooters, so I can deal with a little lag... but I don't want to feel drunk and woozey when playing either. If anyone can chime in on how upscaling does on 4K TVs from a PC source (specifically the Samsung UN48JS9000) then I would greatly appreciate it.
6) Silence: Some of you younger people may not understand this yet... but silence is golden. When you get older and sit in server rooms at work, and deal with screaming babies at home, there is a certain peace and tranquility that comes from having a nice quiet rig. On top of that, I sleep near my computer, and do occasional audio editing work on it, so having a nice quiet GPU cooler is a must. If anyone has any particular notes about some of the better coolers on the market like ACX or DirectCU, then let me know. I am not particularly concerned with overclocking, or it looking pretty; it just needs to work, and be quiet... without paying a small fortune for a Gainward card. And no, water cooling is not an option. My computer goes on 'field trips' every few months, so I am hesitant to have any water in the system (outside of a heat pipe of course).
So here are my thoughts:
Option 1) Assuming the upsacaling input lag (display lag?) isn't a big deal, and nVidia does support wide color gamut and HDR on current gen cards, then I think I want to go with a GTX970. 5 years ago when I bought my last GPU there were not nearly the variety of cards as we have now. Anyone have a specific card/cooler to suggest? I think I would prefer MSI or ASUS... but then again my current GPU is 'Sparkle' brand, so I am not THAT picky lol.
Option 2) If life has taught me anything, it is that I am not a lucky person. If life goes the way it normally does then my TV purchase will likely be delayed a year or two due to a leaky roof, or a sick kiddo, or some other such nonsense. So the thought has crossed my mind to get a cheaper 960 for now, and then get a 'real' card after I eventually purchase the TV. I don't want to pick up a 970 and 'only' use it for 1080p gaming if the display purchase gets delayed. While picking up a 960 now and selling or repurposing it when I do get the big fancy screen would not be too terribly difficult. Looking at benchmarks, even a 960 is going to be a ~50-100% improvement over my 570, so it may be the way to go.
Also, I know that in the 960 price range AMD is a (much!) better deal, but keep in mind I am largely looking at this upgrade for DVDFab HEVC rendering, which (as far as I understand) does not work on AMD cards, so I'll have to eat that cost if I choose this route.
Option 3) The other option is just to wait for Pascal. I mean, I have been on this card for ~5 years now. New games are still playable at 'OK' settings, and I have gone this long rendering on my CPU... so what is another 3-4 months? If Pascal is going to be half as much of an improvement as what is expected then I could probably pick up a 1060 or 1070 and be happy for a very long time regardless of the display I am using. But at the same time, we don't have a release date. Waiting 3-4 months is no big deal... but waiting 6-8+ months could be a bit painful especially if it comes around the same time I am expecting to buy the TV... I don't think my wife would take kindly to me buying 2 fancy toys in such quick succession, and I'd rather keep my wife than the PC stuffs lol.
Anywho; thoughts, opinions, rants, ideas, flamewars, etc. are all appreciated.
So, the 'ol GTX 570 is finally starting to show it's age now that I am playing Dragon Age Inquisition, and I can no longer play anything I want at 1080p with max settings... or even high settings with decent frame rates. The time has finally come to start saving my pennies and look at buying a new GPU.
Current Specs:
MoBo: ASRock z77 Extreme 4
CPU: i7 2600 (non-K) @~4.2GHz (turbo OC as I cannot do traditional OC, but it works very well)
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1866
GPU: GTX570 *added aftermarket Zalman GPU cooler as stock cooler was very noisy
Storage: 2x Plextor 256GB SSDs in RAID0
Display: Currently 1920x1200, but looking to upgrade to 4K in less than a year
PSU: OCZ 750W 80+ Bronze rated
Case: Cooler Master Cosmos; the original big ugly behemoth. Cant believe anyone paid money for these things. Truly a terrible case, but it is big, it was free, and it can fit any sized GPU in the world... it just makes my PC innards look small and out of place lol
To be honest, outside of my GPU, I am pretty happy with my current build. The system is nearly 5 years old, and I am kinda disappointed (but kinda relieved) that I don't need a whole system overhaul yet. Currently planning to do another major upgrade in ~3 more years.
Usage and questions:
1) Ripping: While I enjoy games and movies, the biggest thing I do is ripping my ever-growing movie collection. It took about a year and a half to rip my movie collection using CPU rendering, but DVDFab recently added CUDA support for rendering BluRay discs in HEVC with current gen GTX960 and up, so a GTX960 would be the starting point for me. This will bring rendering times from 8-20 hours per disc, down to 2-5 hours... You have no idea what a big deal this would be for me! We buy ~1-2 TV seasons a month, which takes ~100 hours per season to rip. Getting that time down to 20 hours or less per season would be really nice and free up my PC for other things.
2) Price: I am sadly a responsible adult, with a house, a wife, 2 kids, etc. etc. etc. so I can't go blowing lots of money on this upgrade. I would like to keep the price around $300 or less if possible, but I can stretch up to $400 if that is what is needed.
3) Games: I mostly play RPGs like Skyrim, The Witcher, Final Fantasy, Dragon Age, etc. along with the occasional racing game like Rocket Leage or Burnout. I also enjoy adventure games like the Tomb Raider reboot (can't wait to play the sequel!). Not typically anything too demanding, and very little multi-player unless it is something like the Lego Star wars or Minecraft with the kiddos. I like to play with an emphasis on frame quality rather than frame rate. I'll take all of the texture quality, draw distance, and filtering my system can run, and as long as it stays above 30fps then I am a happy camper.
4) 4K, HDR, and wide Color gamut: AMD recently announced that their current high-end cards will get an update for the new HDR and color gamut capabilities of 4K BluRay. Seeing as I watch a lot of movies on my computer this is sort of a big deal... but as previously mentioned, AMD is not an option this time around. Nothing against them, they make good stuff, but without DVDFab HEVC support it is a non-starter.
I do not currently have a 4K display, but I am looking to get one next fall or spring 2017 (Samsung UN48JS9000, or equivalent). Any idea if nVidia will bring similar support on their current gen offerings? Or do I need to wait for the next gen Pascal cards to have such features? I fully understand that 4K gaming is out of the practical realm for my budget, but I am ok with 1080p upscale gaming this time around. I am really looking forward to 4K BluRay movies in all their glory once they come out. If these features are not coming to the 900 series cards then I may look at other options.
5) Lag concern: While I am perfectly fine with 1080p upscaling to 4K in gaming from a quality perspective, I do have my doubts about input lag. Keep in mind, I don't play twitch shooters, so I can deal with a little lag... but I don't want to feel drunk and woozey when playing either. If anyone can chime in on how upscaling does on 4K TVs from a PC source (specifically the Samsung UN48JS9000) then I would greatly appreciate it.
6) Silence: Some of you younger people may not understand this yet... but silence is golden. When you get older and sit in server rooms at work, and deal with screaming babies at home, there is a certain peace and tranquility that comes from having a nice quiet rig. On top of that, I sleep near my computer, and do occasional audio editing work on it, so having a nice quiet GPU cooler is a must. If anyone has any particular notes about some of the better coolers on the market like ACX or DirectCU, then let me know. I am not particularly concerned with overclocking, or it looking pretty; it just needs to work, and be quiet... without paying a small fortune for a Gainward card. And no, water cooling is not an option. My computer goes on 'field trips' every few months, so I am hesitant to have any water in the system (outside of a heat pipe of course).
So here are my thoughts:
Option 1) Assuming the upsacaling input lag (display lag?) isn't a big deal, and nVidia does support wide color gamut and HDR on current gen cards, then I think I want to go with a GTX970. 5 years ago when I bought my last GPU there were not nearly the variety of cards as we have now. Anyone have a specific card/cooler to suggest? I think I would prefer MSI or ASUS... but then again my current GPU is 'Sparkle' brand, so I am not THAT picky lol.
Option 2) If life has taught me anything, it is that I am not a lucky person. If life goes the way it normally does then my TV purchase will likely be delayed a year or two due to a leaky roof, or a sick kiddo, or some other such nonsense. So the thought has crossed my mind to get a cheaper 960 for now, and then get a 'real' card after I eventually purchase the TV. I don't want to pick up a 970 and 'only' use it for 1080p gaming if the display purchase gets delayed. While picking up a 960 now and selling or repurposing it when I do get the big fancy screen would not be too terribly difficult. Looking at benchmarks, even a 960 is going to be a ~50-100% improvement over my 570, so it may be the way to go.
Also, I know that in the 960 price range AMD is a (much!) better deal, but keep in mind I am largely looking at this upgrade for DVDFab HEVC rendering, which (as far as I understand) does not work on AMD cards, so I'll have to eat that cost if I choose this route.
Option 3) The other option is just to wait for Pascal. I mean, I have been on this card for ~5 years now. New games are still playable at 'OK' settings, and I have gone this long rendering on my CPU... so what is another 3-4 months? If Pascal is going to be half as much of an improvement as what is expected then I could probably pick up a 1060 or 1070 and be happy for a very long time regardless of the display I am using. But at the same time, we don't have a release date. Waiting 3-4 months is no big deal... but waiting 6-8+ months could be a bit painful especially if it comes around the same time I am expecting to buy the TV... I don't think my wife would take kindly to me buying 2 fancy toys in such quick succession, and I'd rather keep my wife than the PC stuffs lol.
Anywho; thoughts, opinions, rants, ideas, flamewars, etc. are all appreciated.
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