New Videocard Debate! (or, how much is too much for nothing?)

Redspo0n

Greetings all

So normally I'm all about the current happenings in the PC component world, but I'm fairly confused at the moment.

I'm sitting on a 660TI (in an Ivy-Bride i5 machine) and just picked up a new 144hz capable monitor not-too-long ago. So I'm gaming, and I say to myself.. "Self, you want more frames right? Lets look at updating that 660ti so we can really utilize that 144hz beasty."

Aaand now I'm lost.

It seems like, to see any appreciable performance increase, I'd have to jump straight into the 980/Titan level of cards, which seems wrong. My nearly 4 year old card hasn't seen more than minor iterative improvements in 3 generations? Are the 950/960 range cards really not going to yield appreciable improvements?

Tom's hardware GPU Hierarchy, for example, says to aim for at least 3 tiers higher on the list for noticeable improvements, dropping me at the foot of the 980 realm.

So - help me nail down a new videocard? Not worried about VR as a thing yet, and I plan to keep my CPU as is for a while longer, and I'm only concerned with 1080p resolution - but I'm hoping to see my average framerate settle into the 'nice' high 70s instead of the 'playable' 30-60 band across the board.

Bowen

660ti was the card to have. The downsides from the 6xx era don't really affect it too much, and it still plays most games on ultra, though maybe medium for a 144hz monitor. 980 is the one that actually adds specs above the 660ti's. 960 and below are about maybe a 15-20% gain on FPS.

I still have a 660ti in my system, I still play games on pretty much max on my 1080p monitor and have friends with newer systems bitch about getting less FPS than me.

Redspo0n

So really, no reason to throw money at it because I actually dun did good with my build in the first place. Niffty. I was expecting to find a clear 'THIS IS BETTER!' mid-range solution, so it's nice to know I'm not actually at that point yet.

Bowen

I'm sure you could find it, but you're going to be paying $250-500 for it. I'd wait until you can barely run games on medium and upgrade at that point.

Cabezone

A 970 would just about double the performance of a 660 ti. I think those are going for around 300 nowadays? The OP is looking for a card to push high fps for a 144....not "good enough". A 970 would be a very worthwhile upgrade for that purpose.

Bowen

Cabezone wrote: »

A 970 would just about double the performance of a 660 ti. I think those are going for around 300 nowadays? The OP is looking for a card to push high fps for a 144....not "good enough". A 970 would be a very worthwhile upgrade for that purpose.

Depends on the game, but the benchmarks I found for the 970 put it anywhere between 15 and 50 fps higher. It depends on the OP if that $350 is worth it, or if he just wants to wait a while and go bigger and in the meantime not run everything at ultra.

Redspo0n

In this case, the value isnt there for me. Especially with the next generation right around the corner. I was just expecting the 950/960 range to blow my 660ti away for about $200, only to find that really wasnt the case.

At this point, I can sit tight with good enough until the new stuff shows up and atleast pushes the current tier prices down some more.

*Edit* And what do I find on youtube this morning? This video, asking 'How do older videocards hold up in current games?' Focusing on a 660ti.

wonderpug

At the moment I think the sweet spot cards are either the 970 for ~$300 or the 980 Ti for around $600. Any cards above, below, or in between aren't really all that great for the price/performance ratio.

If you wait until the end of the year, the new Pascal cards are supposedly going to be a huge leap up from the current generation.

Casually Hardcore

Keep your current card and wait for Pascal. Makes no sense to upgrade from a perfectly good working graphic card now this soon from what sounds like a major leap in videocards performance.