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[SnakeSlashRO]

My rig specs are below... Its been a few years since I've opened my machine and I was hoping to upgrade my GPU. I think I should be fine... My main worry was if PCIexpress 3.0 was backward compatible as mine is 2.0 I think... Also this GPU seems to use less power than my current one

CPU - i5 2500k
GPU - GTX 570 SC
PSU - AX750
MOBO - msi-p67a-gd55 ---
Socket 1155
CPU (Max Support) i3/i5/i7
Baseclock/Hyper Transport 100MHz
Chipset Intel® P67
DDR3 Memory DDR3 1066/1333/1600*/2133*(OC)
Memory Channel Dual
DIMM Slots 4
Max Memory (GB) 32
PCI-Ex16 2
PCI-E Gen Gen2 (1x16, 1x8)
PCI-Ex1 3
PCI 2
SATAIII 2
SATAII 4
RAID 0/1/5/10
TPM (header) 1
LAN 10/100/1000*1
USB 3.0 ports (Rear) 2
USB 2.0 ports (Rear) 8
Audio ports (Rear) 6+Coaxial/Optical SPDIF
1394 ports (Rear) 1
Form Factor ATX
DrMOS Y
APS Y
SLI Y
CrossFire Y

 

[Skyzard]

Why are you going for the 980 and not a 970? Or even two... I don't get why people would? Not that I'm a fan of SLI. But the 970 is really decent and so cheap.

 

[FreezerGeezer]

There is a thread for this very purpose. Use the search.

 

[Comandr]

I thought the general consensus was that two 970s SLI'd was a waaaay better than a single 980.

 

[Giolon]

Yes, it's backwards compatible. I have a similar machine (Core i7 2600K, Asus P8Z68 mobo) that I just upgraded from a GeForce 660 to a 970.

What you may find is that you might not get the full power out of your new card due to the relative slow performance of your CPU. For example, MechWarrior Online is a very CPU heavy game since it makes a lot of DirectX draw calls which use a lot of CPU time pre DX11/12.

So, it'll work, just don't be surprised if you don't get 100% of the performance out of it. It will be better than what you have now though, that's for sure.

Also, the performance differential between a 980 and a 970 is not worth the price increase.

 

[itchyass86]

No need to worry. A graphics card with Pci-express 3.0 will work on motherboard with a pci-express 2.0.

Also the new gtx 980/970 are both pretty dang power efficient compared to the previous generation as indicated by many tech articles on the web. If you already have a psu with 2 6-pin connectors then you'll be fine.

 

[SnakeSlashRO]

Why are you going for the 980 and not a 970? Or even two... I don't get why people would? Not that I'm a fan of SLI. But the 970 is really decent and so cheap.

I don't know much about SLI, but my PC is crowded already with some other PCI buses being used. I'm just using a ton of fans so its already hot in there. Also I'm not sure if I would need to upgrade my PSU for using SLI.

 

[Zeyphersan]

Why are you going for the 980 and not a 970? Or even two... I don't get why people would? Not that I'm a fan of SLI. But the 970 is really decent and so cheap.

Because people aren't a fan of SLI most likely

 

[Feel_The_Pain]

Don't shoot the 980!!!

 

[nbthedude]

Because people aren't a fan of SLI most likely

Nor should they be. I had an dual card set up for three years. It fucking blows. Hotter, louder, and many, many games have broken SLI support on launch and many others aren't optimized well.


Op- I'd wait for the inevitable 6gb or 8gb versions at this point.

 

[Skyzard]

I don't know much about SLI, but my PC is crowded already with some other PCI buses being used. I'm just using a ton of fans so its already hot in there. Also I'm not sure if I would need to upgrade my PSU for using SLI.

TBH SLI sucks unless you really need it for your setup. Mainly because by the time they have a profile to make use of your second card, you've completed that new game you were interested in.

But the 980 is not much more powerful than the 970 yet almost twice the price...just makes more sense to go for a 970 now regardless unless you found a great deal?

Also 750 watt is pretty good.

 

[Coonce]

If you're gaming on 1080p, 980 is overkill. Go for a 970 instead.

For 1440p you're better off with a 980.

 

[Corpekata]

No need to worry. You'll probably want to upgrade the CPU and MOBO within a couple years and by then the 980 will still be releveant, and your rig should utilize it well for the most part. Couple CPU bound games may give you issue as noted above but the majority of games will sing.

 

[MikeOfTheLivingDead]

You should be worried that you might get arrested for breaking the law of relativity because pixels will be flying to your display faster than the speed of light when you boot that monster up.

 

[Maintenance]

I would wait for an 8gb model, but that's just me.

 

[Zeyphersan]

Grab the 970 as a stopgap until the REAL new cards come out

 

[badb0y]

Fuck SLI. The second GTX 780 has been nothing but a paperweight.

 

[x3sphere]

TBH SLI sucks unless you really need it for your setup. Mainly because by the time they have a profile to make use of your second card, you've completed that new game you were interested in.

But the 980 is not much more powerful than the 970 yet almost twice the price...just makes more sense to go for a 970 now regardless unless you found a great deal?

Also 750 watt is pretty good.

If you don't play every game day one this is less of an issue. Very happy with my 980 SLI setup for 4K gaming.

But otherwise, I agree, SLI is only worth it if you need performance not attainable by single card. I'd avoid it if I could.

 

[Jin]

Why are you going for the 980 and not a 970? Or even two... I don't get why people would? Not that I'm a fan of SLI. But the 970 is really decent and so cheap.

I can't speak for others, but I game at 1440p. I believe the difference between 980 and 970 is up to 20%. At that resolution every juice counts.

 

[Tenck]

Grab the 970 as a stopgap until the REAL new cards come out

You're telling me the 980 isn't real? JERK!! /sarcasm

 

[itchyass86]

You're telling me the 980 isn't real? JERK!! /sarcasm

No it's not real. Because it can't run Doom 4...

 

[publicpwnerer]

If you're gaming on 1080p, 980 is overkill. Go for a 970 instead.

For 1440p you're better off with a 980.

I kept hearing this regurgitated far too often when I got my 680x2. When I used a single card, it still buckled under the heavyweight games (Hitman Absolution, FarCry 3 etc). Only with SLI was I able to push out beyond 70-80+FPS.

People also kept saying how 2GB is more than enough. Watch_Dogs required 3-4 optimally, for 1080p+, and now most AAA games will require 3GB+ for Ultra.

 

[kevm3]

Honestly, I'd wait until a card came out with more VRAM unless you absolutely need to update now because there is some PC game you have to have. I have a feeling 4GB of VRAM will be used quickly in this gen.

 

[Trickster]

980 seems like a waste of money compared to the 970, unless you are one of those super hardcore pc gamers that run sli or more for downsampling and that sorta thing.

You can almost get 2 970's for the same price, and I'm pretty sure the performance shits on a single 980's

 

[PastorOfMuppets]

Why are you going for the 980 and not a 970? Or even two... I don't get why people would? Not that I'm a fan of SLI. But the 970 is really decent and so cheap.

There's a school of thought in the DIY PC building community that you should always get the most powerful GPU you can afford at the time rather than go for SLI/Crossfire with a cheaper card that has a superior price to performance ratio. Single GPU's are less prone to issues and you can always add SLI down the road. Also, the OP didn't really say what his specs were. Maybe he wants to game at 1440p at 120hz with Gsync.

 

[Fahrenheit]

Always go for the faster single card over SLI slower cards. Very few games work on launch with SLI and not all of them get fixed.

 

[Skyzard]

I can't speak for others, but I game at 1440p. I believe the difference between 980 and 970 is up to 20%. At that resolution every juice counts.

Fair enough.

There's a school of thought in the DIY PC building community that you should always get the most powerful GPU you can afford at the time rather than go for SLI/Crossfire with a cheaper card that has a superior price to performance ratio. Single GPU's are less prone to issues and you can always add SLI down the road. Also, the OP didn't really say what his specs were. Maybe he wants to game at 1440p at 120hz with Gsync.

And I generally agree but the price difference is so massive for the performance...and there are looming upgrades that suggest heavy investment isn't the way to go too imo.

980 seems like a waste of money compared to the 970, unless you are one of those super hardcore pc gamers that run sli or more for downsampling and that sorta thing.

You can almost get 2 970's for the same price, and I'm pretty sure the performance shits on a single 980's

That's what I'm thinking but then the only problem is SLI, which affects some people more than others as x3sphere said but still can hurt.

I was originally thinking it best to wait for 8GB 970s but 4GB should be enough for most highend users IF you consider it as a stop gap and count on bigger improvements next year or so when they shrink to 16 or 22nm. It's not guaranteed it will be way better...but they've had long enough to design some decent plans right. Then again there are some big games coming out in what we think is a stop-gap year, we don't really know if 4GB IS enough for it yet.

 

[ZeroX03]

Because people aren't a fan of SLI most likely

I went from 2x 680s to 1x 980, benchmarked very slightly lower but no more SLI headaches and more VRAM. I'm happy with it.

 

[Zeyphersan]

I went from 2x 680s to 1x 980, benchmarked very slightly lower but no more SLI headaches and more VRAM. I'm happy with it.

SLI headaches are very real. Also, my very first graphics cards was one of those dual-GPU ones (a 9800 GX2 to be exact)

Never buy a dual-GPU single card.

 

[itchyass86]

SLI headaches are very real. Also, my very first graphics cards was one of those dual-GPU ones (a 9800 GX2 to be exact)

Never buy a dual-GPU single card.

Agreed. I bought that card too. It was a hot mother and didn't work with a whole lot of titles. Actually I still have this card sitting on the shelf. It's a sort of a trophy reminder for my rash decision to even believe this thing would work anywhere close to as intended.

Shall we agree that single-card single-gpu monolithic cards = less frustration over dual card or dual gpu setups? No pressure though...

 

[publicpwnerer]

980 seems like a waste of money compared to the 970, unless you are one of those super hardcore pc gamers that run sli or more for downsampling and that sorta thing.

You can almost get 2 970's for the same price, and I'm pretty sure the performance shits on a single 980's

In Australia, the 970 is around $500, and the 980 is $780. I'm sure the price disparity isn't just here, but most of Europe / U.K too.

 

[Smokey]

SLI headaches are very real. Also, my very first graphics cards was one of those dual-GPU ones (a 9800 GX2 to be exact)

Never buy a dual-GPU single card.

The GTX 690 was one of the best cards Nvidia has made. You are using your experience with an old product and extending it to products that are much newer with multiple advancements.

 

[Evo X]

Do it OP!

I'm running two GTX 980s in SLI with a 2500K. They are beastly. I can tell the CPU is holding me back, but I've had no trouble maxing out all my games at 2560x1440. They will also transfer nicely into my Skylake build next year.

 

[opticalmace]

Do it OP!

I'm running two GTX 980s in SLI with a 2500K. They are beastly. I can tell the CPU is holding me back, but I've had no trouble maxing out all my games at 2560x1440. They will also transfer nicely into my Skylake build next year.

Nice setup. What frequency is your 2500k at?

 

[Evo X]

Nice setup. What frequency is your 2500k at?

4.7Ghz. I'm amazed at what this chip can do almost 4 years after launch.

 

[ChronotriggerJM]

I think you guys may have just convinced me to go with the 970 over the 980. I only intend on gaming at 1080. Would I ever be let down performance wise? I've got an i7 4770k, and 16 gigs of ram.

 

[TheVampire]

Consider it's VRAM ammount.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

If I were still buying hiperf comps, I would personally wait for amd/nvidia to bring out high vram cards, as it seems they're going to be needed more and more frequently.

 

[Mupod]

my own experiences with a 2500k and dual 970s convinced me not to bother with 970 SLI until I upgrade my processor/motherboard. The second 970 isn't mine, I just get to play around with it for a few weeks until my brother's sick of Destiny and abandons console gaming for good.

My plan is actually to run with a single 970 and then buy whatever fuckhuge single card is out this time next year. And then sell my 970 to the aforementioned brother.

One thing though, I'm shocked how cool these run even in SLI. One card runs 65 degrees at full load, other around 56-57. Both asus strix 970s at 1400mhz/1475 boost.

 

[Riposte]

Man, is SLI 970 really that much of a problem? That's what I was aiming for.

 

[Tain]

SLI 970 is way more powerful than a 980 when the software plays well with it, of course.

While I'm sure SLI frame pacing is way better than it was a few years ago, I'm still SLI-phobic. A friend of mine who does SLI (currently with two 970s) makes it sound like he runs into enough unsupported games or games with odd issues that I feel pretty confident in my stance. If anything makes me change, it'll be VR SLI, and if that happens in the near future I can always grab a second 980.

I've been very happy with my sole 980.

 

[Evo X]

SLI 970 is way more powerful than a 980 when the software plays well with it, of course.

While I'm sure SLI frame pacing is way better than it was a few years ago, I'm still SLI-phobic. A friend of mine who does SLI (currently with two 970s) makes it sound like he runs into enough unsupported games or games with odd issues that I feel pretty confident in my stance. If anything makes me change, it'll be VR SLI, and if that happens in the near future I can always grab a second 980.

I've been very happy with my sole 980.

Yeah, to be honest, I'm not too thrilled with my second 980. Most of the games I'm playing now don't even work with SLI. Dead Rising 3, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, and Metal Gear Rising. I wanted to pick up Shadow of Mordor soon, but surprise, it doesn't work with SLI yet.

For things that DO support SLI, I'm finding a single GTX 980 is actually enough for a single 2560x1440 monitor, especially with GSync. Unless I have Fraps on, I can't really tell the difference between 90fps and 140fps in BF4.

Now, one of the things I COULD possibly do with the additional GPU power is downsample, but wait for it... DSR doesn't work in SLI yet.

I'm strongly considering returning one of the 980s and saving myself $600.

 

[yatesl]

I envy every American user on this board. In the UK the 970 is £300 at least - the equivalent of $483 including tax. And that's the garbage Palit ones - an ASUS will set you back $615.

Really puts your £217 (+ tax) cards in to perspective

 

[Evo X]

I envy every American user on this board. In the UK the 970 is £300 at least - the equivalent of $483 including tax. And that's the garbage Palit ones - an ASUS will set you back $615.

Really puts your £217 (+ tax) cards in to perspective

Lol, I love being American. Everything is cheaper here. One of my friends lives in Australia and he's always complaining about how expensive everything is.

A BMW M3, which starts at a base price of $62,950 here, costs the equivalent of a whopping $144,000 USD. For that much money, I could buy a fucking Porsche 911 GT3.

 

[matrix-cat]

At this point I'd wait for cards with more VRAM to start coming out. Games are already taking advantage of more than 4GB, and even if you aren't playing at 2560x1440 with Ultra textures or whatever right now you don't want to go buying another new video card before you can, right?

 

[SnakeSlashRO]

Thanks for all the support guys. I really have to get back into modifying my machine.

I think ill go with the cheaper 970. I wanted to build a new machine for myself and give the current machine to my brother but I'm not planning to do that till sometime next spring. Ill save the money for future GPU.

I don't think I'm ready to look into SLI. Also I'm only gaming in 720 - 1080 at the moment on two Acer GN246HL.

My real issue is my CPU... I do a lot of video editing and I'd like to capture gameplay and stream at the sametime... I'm only working with 8GB of Ram and a i5 2500k, I think the whole rig may need an upgrade.

 

[mjontrix]

Honestly, I'd wait until a card came out with more VRAM unless you absolutely need to update now because there is some PC game you have to have. I have a feeling 4GB of VRAM will be used quickly in this gen.

Smartest idea here.

Wait for more vram and/or 384 bit+ memory.

6gb vram minimum.

Thanks for all the support guys. I really have to get back into modifying my machine.

I think ill go with the cheaper 970. I wanted to build a new machine for myself and give the current machine to my brother but I'm not planning to do that till sometime next spring. Ill save the money for future GPU.

I don't think I'm ready to look into SLI. Also I'm only gaming in 720 - 1080 at the moment on two Acer GN246HL.

My real issue is my CPU... I do a lot of video editing and I'd like to capture gameplay and stream at the sametime... I'm only working with 8GB of Ram and a i5 2500k, I think the whole rig may need an upgrade.

Wait until next year if you're going to upgrade the entire rig - if you're going to do streaming most people get two PC's - the second handles all the encoding. There's a guide somewhere about it.

 

[Blackage]

Actually finding these cards in stock might make it harder for you to pull the trigger heh.

Both models are really hard to find at the moment, although ZOTAC seems to be selling them more often then the other manufacturers. I'm not sure about the quality of the cards/customer service though.

I wouldn't be surprised if this shortage kept up until mid-November.