Another graphics card upgrade

[Blaze]

Well, it's been awhile, and my computer is sufficient for my needs, but now that I have my license, and my own car, soon with a job, I want to start looking into something bigger and better.
Starting first with a graphics card, which this time I'm looking at an Nvidia card instead of an AMD.

I decided to make this thread first before I looked around too much, so I'm not looking at any one card in particular just yet.
But I am looking for something better than the Radeon HD 7770, or at least just as good.

While I do have a birthday coming in four days, it seems I already got all my presents earlier this year, which of course came in the form of a car. ::)
So this may end up waiting to come out of my own pocket, in which case the price will probably be around... Let's just put it at ~$200 for a starting point.

Nothing that will happen overnight, or in a week, just want to figure something out before the time comes to actually get anything.

[Grayzzur]

One resource I like to start with is Tom's Hardware. They often publish a graphics card review that contains their recommendations for various price ranges, as well as a hierarchy chart that let's you get a rough feel for how all the cards line up against each other in performance. They group cards of similar performance into tiers (each line in the table) and recommend not upgrading unless you're going at least 3 tiers up.

For $190 they recommend the AMD R9 270X, saying it's basically an overclocked 7870 and a bit faster than the nVidia 660. All 3 of these are 4 tiers up from a 7770, so you're in the right ballpark for a worthwhile upgrade. Since you want nVidia, if you're patient I'd say watch the sales for awhile and see if you can catch a 760 dropping down into your price range, or catch a 660 on sale for much less than $200 and use the rest for something else.

Outside of that, look at reviews and prices on several cards in that speed/price range and make up your mind, then start watching for sales.

Tom's Hardware -- Best Graphics Cards for the Money: June 2014
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html

Note that I don't take their recommendations verbatim. I like to use it as a starting point, since it's usually been a year or two since I've looked at hardware for computers, it cuts down the amount of research I need to do to find what I want to go with.

My own computer is running a Radeon HD 6970 which is one tier below the Radeon 7870 and nVidia 660, and I'm quite happy with it for now.

[Blaze]

One resource I like to start with is Tom's Hardware. They often publish a graphics card review that contains their recommendations for various price ranges, as well as a hierarchy chart that let's you get a rough feel for how all the cards line up against each other in performance. They group cards of similar performance into tiers (each line in the table) and recommend not upgrading unless you're going at least 3 tiers up.

For $190 they recommend the AMD R9 270X, saying it's basically an overclocked 7870 and a bit faster than the nVidia 660. All 3 of these are 4 tiers up from a 7770, so you're in the right ballpark for a worthwhile upgrade. Since you want nVidia, if you're patient I'd say watch the sales for awhile and see if you can catch a 760 dropping down into your price range, or catch a 660 on sale for much less than $200 and use the rest for something else.

Outside of that, look at reviews and prices on several cards in that speed/price range and make up your mind, then start watching for sales.

Tom's Hardware -- Best Graphics Cards for the Money: June 2014
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html

Note that I don't take their recommendations verbatim. I like to use it as a starting point, since it's usually been a year or two since I've looked at hardware for computers, it cuts down the amount of research I need to do to find what I want to go with.

My own computer is running a Radeon HD 6970 which is one tier below the Radeon 7870 and nVidia 660, and I'm quite happy with it for now.

Always forget about that site. :D
Main reason I want an nvidia is because from what I've seen, you can customize your driver settings far more than you can using an AMD with even RadeonPro.

And I got time to watch for a sale, can't even do anything right yet, just want to figure out what I'll be doing when I can do it.

[Michionlion]

nVidia is by far the way to go in my opinion, it just seems like they are innovating more and have many more 'support' features.  AMD will probably have a slightly better bang for buck, but nVidia has a lot of great programs and other secondary things besides the hardware to back it up.  Plus, sometimes they have game deals with their GPU's, which is always fun.  :P Personally, I have a GTX 770, and it is marvelous; from what I've seen, a 760 isn't a HUGE step down.

[Blaze]

nVidia is by far the way to go in my opinion, it just seems like they are innovating more and have many more 'support' features.  AMD will probably have a slightly better bang for buck, but nVidia has a lot of great programs and other secondary things besides the hardware to back it up.

Pretty much my reasoning, several of the games I'm playing have have options that only nvidia cards can do. One example being Planetside 2's extra particle effects which look cool.
With several other older games having several driver options that can be forced to make my current "ultra" settings from my forced driver settings look like I'm just running medium. ::)

Then you have stuff like Shadowplay which is constantly keeping up to ten minutes of your gameplay recorded, which is nice.
I use Action! for recording, but I don't always have it running, and some things may happen in an instant that I'd miss even if I had it up simply because I wasn't recording already.
So I could use that to capture those small random moments, like when I got jumped by four people on Tera and killed them all without having to heal once. :D

So I figure, I plan on getting a whole new build late this year/early next year, I could just get the graphics card sooner until I can get the rest later.

Personally, I have a GTX 770, and it is marvelous; from what I've seen, a 760 isn't a HUGE step down.

Was actually looking at a 760, not too pricey, and seems like a decent step up from my 7770 to warrant upgrading.
But if this does end up coming out of my pocket, which it most likely will, I could just go for a 770, which looks like it'd last me a long while...

[Michionlion]

Two things:
1. the Planetside 2 particle effects have been disabled for an 'undetermined' amount of time (for some performance reason) so don't make a decision based on something like that.
2. If you're hurting for money to pay for a 770, I would get a 760 and use any extra you come up with for other things (like an ssd, which is also a huge performance boost).  However, a 770 will likely last much longer, and once it gets overrun, you can SLI two 770s and get better performance than a Titan most times.  Same thing can be said for the 760.

[Blaze]

Two things:
1. the Planetside 2 particle effects have been disabled for an 'undetermined' amount of time (for some performance reason) so don't make a decision based on something like that.

Not making the decision based just on that, it's just one of the upsides. Though sad to hear it's been disabled for now, last I checked it was a toggle thing.
Haven't even played in some time, been playing Tera during almost all of my free time with three other friends... ::)

2. If you're hurting for money to pay for a 770, I would get a 760 and use any extra you come up with for other things (like an ssd, which is also a huge performance boost).  However, a 770 will likely last much longer, and once it gets overrun, you can SLI two 770s and get better performance than a Titan most times.  Same thing can be said for the 760.

It's not that I'm hurting for money, it's that more than likely I'll have to buy it myself, in that case it means it has to wait until after I get a job, so for now I have no money. :D
If that is the case I may just save the extra for a 770, because of the fact that it will go longer, and in the end I can get another to run SLI to go even longer.

[Grayzzur]

... and once it gets overrun, you can SLI two 770s and get better performance than a Titan most times.  Same thing can be said for the 760.

The only problem with that theory is that in practice, at least every time I've tried it -- by the team you're ready to get that second card, either they don't make them anymore, or there's a new single card out there that has dropped in price significantly and blows away 2 of your current card in SLI, and is the better deal.

[knucracker]

FWIW, I have a gtx 770 in my current development rig.  I've been running it for 7 months now.  It was a very nice sweet spot for performance and price (7 months ago anyway with the incentives, and bundles).  I've done the whole streaming game thing with the nvidia shield, but mainly just to look at it.  I just don't need that functionality but I can see how some folks might (my son uses native games on the shield and it's turned into his toy).

[Blaze]

... and once it gets overrun, you can SLI two 770s and get better performance than a Titan most times.  Same thing can be said for the 760.

The only problem with that theory is that in practice, at least every time I've tried it -- by the team you're ready to get that second card, either they don't make them anymore, or there's a new single card out there that has dropped in price significantly and blows away 2 of your current card in SLI, and is the better deal.

Don't see much of an issue there, if it's significantly better, and the better deal then there isn't too much of an issue there.
And if they don't make the card anymore, well I guess I'd have to just deal with what I'd have until I could get something more expensive, wouldn't I? :D

FWIW, I have a gtx 770 in my current development rig.  I've been running it for 7 months now.  It was a very nice sweet spot for performance and price (7 months ago anyway with the incentives, and bundles).  I've done the whole streaming game thing with the nvidia shield, but mainly just to look at it.  I just don't need that functionality but I can see how some folks might (my son uses native games on the shield and it's turned into his toy).

More than likely I'll end up going for a 770, since it just seems like the better buy in the long run.
Now to get a decent paying job...

[Grayzzur]

Don't see much of an issue there, if it's significantly better, and the better deal then there isn't too much of an issue there.

On the grand scheme of things, no, it's not a big deal. You wind up with a better rig. However, it means I've never had a chance to play with an SLI rig!

[Blaze]

Don't see much of an issue there, if it's significantly better, and the better deal then there isn't too much of an issue there.

On the grand scheme of things, no, it's not a big deal. You wind up with a better rig. However, it means I've never had a chance to play with an SLI rig!

Well, you can always buy a used card simply to toy with it... :D