When is the right time for a new gaming build?

[johnstac]

I've been building my own rigs for more than 20 years now and this is the first time I have ever had to ask this question. Normally, I would just shop around for the best price and buy everything but this time, things are different. I normally spend between 3-4K which would buy me the latest and greatest gaming rig. This time around though, 3K may not even pay for the GPUs!

I've been trying to follow the tech news to see when perhaps the GTX2020 will come out or when the new boards will be out but then I must also realize that the newest GPU's, etc will also probably cost a fortune. I had read that the GTX1070 and 1080 have been out now for two years so I'm reluctant to buy tech that I know will be considered outdated within a year. I guess at this point I'm trying to strike a balance between cost of components and age of tech.

I'd sure like to hear from anyone in the same boat and what you are going to do. I'm not into crypto currencies and it's a shame that it has ruined it for the avid gamer.

 

[Snipergod87]

The 1180 will be out in a few months, a 2080 may be 10 years or more

 

[Eximo]

If the rumors are true the 1180 should be at least as fast as the GTX1080Ti. They are giving it about the same CUDA core count. I suspect 8GB of GDDR6 to go along with it vs the 11GB of GDDR5X of the 1080Ti. Given the process node change isn't that drastic, I don't imagine it will be that detrimental to pick up a 1080Ti now, there likely won't be an 1180Ti for a good while after that. Unless it overclocks amazingly well anyway. I don't hold much stock in the rumors though, I suspect a more moderate core count and Nvidia's usual policy of making sure the new generation flagship is faster than the previous generation second run flagship.

Multi-GPU is fading away, so the single card recommendation is in. I don't think you would be disappointed with a single 1080Ti now, you can always sell it and replace it in the future.

What you might want to wait for is Z390 and potential 8-Core CPUs from Intel on the consumer platform. Though if you are going big you could get an X299 board and a high core count i9. But there is also the rumored X399 from Intel as well.

Depends on where you want to spend. Right now an 18-core monster will set you back $1300 on its own, but for gaming that doesn't do you much. i7-8700k for the maximum possible gaming frame rates, just a mild overclock and beefy cooling to get 5Ghz cores.

If you are going for high resolution, then CPU becomes less important, so you could get a Ryzen or Intel platform of your choice.


I'm not sure what my plan is. So far my i7-7700k is working fine. GTX1080 is also enough for now. Ideally I would have a 1080Ti for my 1440p 144hz display, but it stays well above 60FPS in most games. I'm certainly not going to try for an 1180, I've been stuck on the 80 cycle for a while and I think I will wait for at least the 1180Ti.

I could probably hold out for PCIe 4.0 before upgrading CPU/Motherboard, maybe DDR5 as well. Last upgrade was solely to get an NVMe drive.

 

[Zerk2012]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/04/27/nvidia-turing-ampere-graphics-cards-specs-release-date-price-rumours/

The release date has come and gone.
I would expect toward the end of year holidays.

For your question their really never a good time to buy whatever you buy is outdated in a year or so anyhow.

Buy a good processor and video card, expect it to last about 5 years with a video card upgrade about in the middle of that time frame.

I'm still using my 4790K and GTX 980 and have no problems gaming on a 1440p monitor.

 

[johnstac]

The 1180 will be out in a few months, a 2080 may be 10 years or more

I used the GTX2080 because the name has not been officially released yet but it will either be the 1180 or the 2080.

 

[johnstac]

If the rumors are true the 1180 should be at least as fast as the GTX1080Ti. They are giving it about the same CUDA core count. I suspect 8GB of GDDR6 to go along with it vs the 11GB of GDDR5X of the 1080Ti. Given the process node change isn't that drastic, I don't imagine it will be that detrimental to pick up a 1080Ti now, there likely won't be an 1180Ti for a good while after that. Unless it overclocks amazingly well anyway. I don't hold much stock in the rumors though, I suspect a more moderate core count and Nvidia's usual policy of making sure the new generation flagship is faster than the previous generation second run flagship.

Multi-GPU is fading away, so the single card recommendation is in. I don't think you would be disappointed with a single 1080Ti now, you can always sell it and replace it in the future.

What you might want to wait for is Z390 and potential 8-Core CPUs from Intel on the consumer platform. Though if you are going big you could get an X299 board and a high core count i9. But there is also the rumored X399 from Intel as well.

Depends on where you want to spend. Right now an 18-core monster will set you back $1300 on its own, but for gaming that doesn't do you much. i7-8700k for the maximum possible gaming frame rates, just a mild overclock and beefy cooling to get 5Ghz cores.

If you are going for high resolution, then CPU becomes less important, so you could get a Ryzen or Intel platform of your choice.


I'm not sure what my plan is. So far my i7-7700k is working fine. GTX1080 is also enough for now. Ideally I would have a 1080Ti for my 1440p 144hz display, but it stays well above 60FPS in most games. I'm certainly not going to try for an 1180, I've been stuck on the 80 cycle for a while and I think I will wait for at least the 1180Ti.

I could probably hold out for PCIe 4.0 before upgrading CPU/Motherboard, maybe DDR5 as well. Last upgrade was solely to get an NVMe drive.

I have always bought two cards because I use 3 monitors most of the time. I'm just addicted to them and so I don't think I could get away with one. What might be a possibility though is to buy one 1080ti and then perhaps a 1070 to run the other two monitors. I only game on one anyway.

As for resolution, I think I'm going to stick with 2560x1440. I've read that 4k is not optimal for gaming anyway. Your system is much newer though. I am using a GTX 980 x 2 with an i7-4790K. Still, I may still have a little time left with my current build to wait and see if something better might be out soon.

 

[Eximo]

If the rumors are true the 1180 should be at least as fast as the GTX1080Ti. They are giving it about the same CUDA core count. I suspect 8GB of GDDR6 to go along with it vs the 11GB of GDDR5X of the 1080Ti. Given the process node change isn't that drastic, I don't imagine it will be that detrimental to pick up a 1080Ti now, there likely won't be an 1180Ti for a good while after that. Unless it overclocks amazingly well anyway. I don't hold much stock in the rumors though, I suspect a more moderate core count and Nvidia's usual policy of making sure the new generation flagship is faster than the previous generation second run flagship.

Multi-GPU is fading away, so the single card recommendation is in. I don't think you would be disappointed with a single 1080Ti now, you can always sell it and replace it in the future.

What you might want to wait for is Z390 and potential 8-Core CPUs from Intel on the consumer platform. Though if you are going big you could get an X299 board and a high core count i9. But there is also the rumored X399 from Intel as well.

Depends on where you want to spend. Right now an 18-core monster will set you back $1300 on its own, but for gaming that doesn't do you much. i7-8700k for the maximum possible gaming frame rates, just a mild overclock and beefy cooling to get 5Ghz cores.

If you are going for high resolution, then CPU becomes less important, so you could get a Ryzen or Intel platform of your choice.


I'm not sure what my plan is. So far my i7-7700k is working fine. GTX1080 is also enough for now. Ideally I would have a 1080Ti for my 1440p 144hz display, but it stays well above 60FPS in most games. I'm certainly not going to try for an 1180, I've been stuck on the 80 cycle for a while and I think I will wait for at least the 1180Ti.

I could probably hold out for PCIe 4.0 before upgrading CPU/Motherboard, maybe DDR5 as well. Last upgrade was solely to get an NVMe drive.

I have always bought two cards because I use 3 monitors most of the time. I'm just addicted to them and so I don't think I could get away with one. What might be a possibility though is to buy one 1080ti and then perhaps a 1070 to run the other two monitors. I only game on one anyway.

As for resolution, I think I'm going to stick with 2560x1440. I've read that 4k is not optimal for gaming anyway. Your system is much newer though. I am using a GTX 980 x 2 with an i7-4790K. Still, I may still have a little time left with my current build to wait and see if something better might be out soon.

You can run three displays off of a 1080Ti, and you don't need a GTX1070 to run a desktop. If you had need for more video outputs, think GT1030 (or older), or use the Intel HD graphics from the CPU. Many motherboards allow that. If anything you could use one of your 980 as another display output, but again, super overkill.

I had an i7-4770k and dual 980 (Actually still do, sitting next to my current build, really ought to put it back together), swapped for the single 1080 which was only a little bit slower. But non-SLI titles went from adequate to amazing. Then I bought the 7700k and preceded to water cool as is my silliness.