Question Upgrading my GTX1080 (non-ti) for high end 1440p gaming

[dempy19]

Hello all,

I feel like it's finally time to upgrade my beloved GTX1080 (non-ti). I am gaming on an Asus PG278QR @1440p 165hz with a secondary 1080p 24" monitor (hoping to get a 27" one to replace it soon just for aesthetics). I am starting to see some stuttering in games and seeing framerates below 50fps. Games I play are Hogwarts Legacy, Bf2042, The Witcher 3, CS2, RDR2. I usually keep my components for a while and am looking for an upgrade that will last me the next 5-7 years. An RTX 4070ti and 7900XT are at the top of my budget right now. Another thing I keep coming back to is that my monitor is gsync only, which makes me think that I should stick to Nvidia to take advantage of the technology down the road when I will need it's help. I understand that the 40-series refresh is coming up and I would not be purchasing anything until I see the results and prices of those.

What are your thoughts on the upgrade at hand?

Here are the rest of my components for reference:
-10700k
-Z490 mobo
-32gb DDR4 @3200mhz
-850 watt psu
-Phanteks P500A case


Thank you in advance for your time and efforts!

 

[punkncat]

If you already have a (true) G Sync compatible monitor, those are pretty pricey (or at least have been). Alongside that, if you like Ray Tracing this question pretty much answers itself.

I do find it odd that your monitor would be G Sync but not also have the ability to work with Free Sync.

The 1080 can benefit from the AMD FSR (I think that is the right acronym) I think, so you might be able to utilize that while you hunt around.

Just anecdotal but:
My GTX 1080 Gaming X got ~ 75 FPS at 1440 high settings in most but the newest of games
I updated to a 3070 and it got ~95 or so at highest or extreme settings. It did RT well enough to see what it was about. (this card works WELL better with 1080 resolution)
I upgraded from that to an RX 7800 XT and it is often well over 100 frames at 1440, typically 135 to the 144 FPS cap of my monitor, highest settings on many of my games. The RT experience with it is sub par to the 3070.

I have an AOC 27" 1440/144 monitor that is "G Sync Compatible" and it paired really well with both of the Nvidia cards. It just so happened that after getting the 7800XT I found that it is also Free Sync Premium compatible. I am not a huge fan of RT and IMO this 7800 with my monitor and 11900K are just about as perfect a pairing as could be purposefully built. It was a happy accident for me that everything came together to work really well.

 

[kira-faye]

No point making the thread till reviews of the 40 series refresh are out.

 

[dempy19]

If you already have a (true) G Sync compatible monitor, those are pretty pricey (or at least have been). Alongside that, if you like Ray Tracing this question pretty much answers itself.

I do find it odd that your monitor would be G Sync but not also have the ability to work with Free Sync.

Asus ROG PG278QR
So I have had this monitor since 2017 and on their page it only mentions G-sync. It's interesting to hear yours works with either technology. I will have to look into this further to see if it's Free Sync compatible as well. If that turns out to be the case, then AMD may have a spot in my build! Heat and power draw aren't a concern.

I'm glad to hear your experience with the AMD card has been very positive. Even though I've had Nvidia cards for the past 15 years, I'm not an Nvidia die-hard, so I'm definitely open to the idea of getting the best pairing for my current system to max out graphics at 1440p, and if that means a 7000 series AMD card then I'm ok with that. I definitely would like to try out RT, as I haven't had a chance to see its effects yet.

No point making the thread till reviews of the 40 series refresh are out.

Thank you for your reply. I realize it may be early to have posted this thread, but with all the deals on cards this past week, it's been at the top of my mind and figured a few others might have some insight on my conundrum. I will definitely be waiting on the new cards to release before making my purchase.

 

[dempy19]

Bumping this thread up now that the 4070ti super is finally out and we have some performance and numbers.
I did some minor benchmarking in my games to see performance with the 1080 as reference. The open world games imo need to be in high detail to enjoy them properly. FPS games I'd like to of course chase fps as much as possible.

CS2 (low detail) - 160-195 fps, average was 175fps
Battlefield 2042 (low detail) - 75-95 fps, average was 88fps
Warzone 3.0 (medium detail) - 55-75 fps, average was 68 fps
Hogwarts Legacy (High detail) - 38-47 fps, average was 43fps
The Witcher 3 (Ultra detail) - 19-24 fps, average was 21

I could wait for the 4080 Super, but I do not want to spend more than $800 USD especially since I only play at 1440p and dont plan on going to 4k until there's gpus that can run games at high fps.

Ultimately, the framerates aren't terrible with my 1080, and technically could get away without buying a GPU until next year with the next gen stuff, but with that attitude I'll never upgrade anything I we keep waiting for the next gen.

I look forward to your thoughts!

 

[pete_101]

The 4080 super will be over well $800, last time I looked the 4080 had increased to over $1,100.

I've got the 7900XT as I really don't care about raytracing, although benchmarks shows it can do RT quite well in some titles. Anyway, for it's price I'm happy and the 20GB of VRAM means it should be able to hang in there for many years to come...maybe longer than the 4080?

Talking about VRAM, your 1080 must be close to using all 8GB at 1440p in modern games...this will cause stutter if it uses it all.

 

[thestryker]

If you care about the variable refresh rate on your monitor your only choice is nvidia. The 4070 Super, 4070 Ti and 4070 Ti Super are all fairly good depending on the pricing. I'd expect even the 4070 Super would double up the performance potential over your 1080. Personally that's probably the card I'd look at, but the 4070 Ti Super having 16GB VRAM instead of 12GB may end up being a benefit by the time you get around to replacing it and if you're good with the price isn't a terrible value.

The 4070 Ti would only be worth looking at if there was a really good deal that dropped it down to ~$650 or less.

Nobody knows exactly when the next cards will all be coming, but nvidia is unlikely to be this year. AMD and Intel will probably bring something to the market, but you wouldn't be able to use variable refresh rate on your monitor.

 

[mdd1963]

7900XT and 7800XT are both worthy competitors to anything priced a bit higher in Nvidia's product line; my 7800XT is on order!

 

[kira-faye]

I'd be looking at a used 7900XTX for under $800 or a similarly priced used 4080 (non-Super) if I were you. Basically, since you (understandably) don't want to spend $1000 the supers don't matter - not going to recommend a 4070 unless they get significantly cheaper, you can't go lower than that for 1440p high settings with any kind of longevity, so that's what's left.

 

[dempy19]

Thank you all for your valued input. Given all the circumstances, I chose to go with the 4070 Ti Super, as there were no available 7900XTX at a decent price. I installed the new GPU in the other day and have seen a huge jump in performance. I haven't had time to test out all my games yet, but most notably while keeping the settings the same, I saw an increase while playing Hogwarts Legacy go from an average of 43fps up to 105 fps.

I appreciate all your input and good luck to anyone else looking for a similar upgrade. I am very happy with my choice especially because of the bump in VRAM that the 4070ti Super received going from 12 to 16 GB. Overall, the 4070 Super would probably be the best upgrade with the new releases with regards to price/performance boost over the non-super variant.