GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

Timothy Kim60 said:rapidpuma59 - It’s way too early to tell. The 960 isn't even out yet, but it'll definitely be weaker than an R9 290. Might be cheaper, though, and it won't suck up nearly as much power...
Nobody knows anything yet.

BTW, have you guys seen what those cards look like? 😬

Zotac
Inno3D - gross.

That Gigabyte GTX 970 is actually decent.😍

And when do you think the new graphics cards will actually hit the shelves here in the States?

Pretty soon, once those containers finally arrive from China 😁

Robert Rodriguez2 said:That Gigabyte GTX 970 is just plain ugly 😍

Look, are you guys buying a GPU just to put it in a display case in your living room so guests can drool over how flashy it is, or are you actually trying to build a PC that performs?

You aren't really a gamer, so you probably wouldn't catch onto stuff like this...

ironridge352 said:When do you think the new graphics cards will actually hit the shelves here in the States?

It could be as early as tomorrow—if Best Buy gets lucky—or maybe sometime next week. Major retailers like Best Buy or even specialized outlets often have the newest tech first, at least in terms of what they offer, even if everything isn't sitting in the warehouse just yet.

I’m currently running a Phenom II X4 965 with 4GB of 1600MHz RAM, a Fortron 550W PSU, and an HD4870. Since it lacks DirectX 11 support, the whole setup has to go. I need something capable of handling Watch Dogs, GTA V, and whatever else comes out over the next couple of years.
I’ve been eyeing the R9 270 X, assuming I can scrape the cash together, and obviously, I’ll be adding another 4GB of RAM to the mix.
My question is whether this GPU will actually be fully utilized with my current components, or if buying an R9 is a waste of money because it won't hit 100% performance. If it isn't worth it, what should I look for instead?
Hopefully, this makes sense; I've already polished off about six or seven beers.

Watch Dogs is pretty heavy on the CPU, so I guess the Phenom might struggle a bit here. An R9 270 X would probably be fine, though you might need to ocati the processor slightly, maybe up to 3.7-3.8GHz.

If you're strictly looking to play Watch Dogs, that CPU 270 x is going to be your main bottleneck, and honestly, even the R7 265 might struggle a bit unless you've got it overclocked. In other titles, you'd probably be fine. Look, even on high-end rigs, Watch Dogs was notorious for poor optimization—you'd see frame drops even on the most powerful setups—but hopefully, they've patched those issues out by now.

I’ve been pushing my rig to the limit with the most demanding titles out there; I play just about everything that hits the market, from Call of Duty and FIFA to Battlefield and Need for Speed.
What should I go for then? It doesn't necessarily have to be an ATI card.

Go with the R7 265—if you pick up an MSI, Gigabyte, or Asus model, you can get 3 years of extended Warranty, whereas the others usually only offer two. If you aren't planning on sticking with this platform long-term, don't bother wasting money on the R9 270 max. In this specific price bracket, those GPUs offer the best bang for your buck, giving you a really solid jump in performance.

It’s not a typo—prices have plummeted from $800 down to $300
.

Newegg actually has the GTX 780 listed for just $379 right now—that's a massive $150 discount!

http://www.nabava.net/search.php?tp=0&q=gtx+970

I honestly suspect prices will plummet once the other retailers catch up and start clearing out their old stock.
Right now, that GTX 780 is still considered premium gear, and Asus was the first to drop the price.

I’ve totally fallen for this Asus 970—it only needs a single 8-pin connector 😍

p.s. What exactly do you think is going to crash? You linked a GTX 970...

So, the price for a Nvidia GTX 970? It definitely won't stay above $300...
Honestly, that ASUS GTX 780 Ti is the real best-buy here. Those Nvidia GTX 970 cards aren't nearly as powerful as people made them out to be; the reviews are all over the place. If you look at Linus Tech Tips, he mentions the Nvidia GTX 970 Strix performs somewhere between a GTX 660 and a GTX 780 Ti depending on the game.

Timothy Kim60 said:Look, even if you grab an Nvidia GTX 970, it won't top $300...
But honestly, that ASUS 780 Ti is the real deal here. People overhype the Nvidia GTX 970, but the reviews are all over the place. Even Linus Tech Tips showed the ASUS 970 Strix performing somewhere between a GTX 660 and a GTX 780 Ti in certain titles.

Did you catch Jays2Cents' review?
The Nvidia GTX 970 totally tanked once it hit 1.5GHz on the core.
The card is a beast though. 😲

Timothy Kim60 said:the price for a Nvidia GTX 970 probably won't stay above $300...
But honestly, that ASUS 780 Ti is the real best-buy here. Those Nvidia GTX 970 cards aren't quite the powerhouses everyone made them out to be—the reviews are all over the place. Even Linus mentioned that the Nvidia GTX 970 Strix sits somewhere between a GTX 660 and a GTX 780 Ti depending on the game...

True, but it pulls about 90W less power and comes with those newer tech features... though I do agree it isn't significantly stronger than the GTX 780 Ti. They're pretty close. Plus, you know how Linus and his crew always overclock their gear—maybe the Nvidia GTX 970 actually beats the 780 Ti at stock settings?🤷

Robert Rodriguez2 said:Have you seen the review by jays2cents?
My Nvidia GTX 970 just throttled down to a 1.5GHz core clock.
This card absolutely crushes it. 😲

Larry Ortiz5 said:Sure, but you're looking at a 90W drop in power consumption, plus they packed in some fresh tech. That said, I'm with you—it isn't exactly outperforming the GTX 780 Ti.

Without a doubt, these cards are phenomenal. But look, if you're comparing them against the current prices we're seeing here in the States, even an Nvidia GTX 970—which is basically the cheapest Strix model on the market right now—is a different story. $1083Giga. $1017How does this compare to that ASUS GTX 780 Ti mentioned above? $833... you know exactly what I'm getting at.

Linus overclocked every single one of those GPUs for the testing, which is why the results look even more skewed—Maxwell architecture handles overclocking incredibly well. My only gripe is that they didn't specify which cards were standard reference models and which were special editions. With high-end hardware like the GTX 780 Ti, there can be a massive performance gap between a basic model and a premium custom board.

EDIT

Regarding these new features—honestly, it’s all just theoretical right now. Developers actually have to build games that support them first. Take MSAA, for example; everyone was hyping that up, but in the end, it just resulted in a blurry mess and a massive hit to performance, which is why you barely see it used today. In my opinion, the absolute best feature is still resolution downsampling. You can already do that with your current Nvidia cards, and it works across basically any game you throw at it.

AnandTech hasn't dropped those benchmarks for the GTX 1080 yet—I'm really itching to see how it stacks up against the GTX 780 Ti...