How low to beat a 970 in value in price/performance while still being a strong upgrade?

[EdwardERS]

How low in price would a r9 285 and GTX 770 have to drop in price before they'd be a better value than a 970?

This is assuming 970s are $350 which they are right now in USA more or less.

 

My situation is that I have a 6870 1GB that's about 10.3" or 261mm. My Antec 300 case supports up to 11" cards supposedly, but past about 10.5" they block HD bays. I have a 550W Antec BP550 power supply. Considering the 10.5 inch limit I'm putting on these cards this makes r9 290s and a lot of 280xs out of the question. 

 

285 < 770 < 970

 

I believe a 285 would be a clear 2x upgrade, then 770 being a bit more, then a 970 being 2.5x at least.

[Faceman]

@EdwardERS

 

I would buy an R9 280.  They can be had for around $150-$170 and offer incredible price:performance for 1080p gaming.

 

Don't get a GTX 770, or an R9 285.  They are poorly priced cards for their performance and only come with 2GB of VRAM which is already obsolete.  Games being released today are starting to require 3GB+ of VRAM.  An R9 280 is the minimum in which you should be looking at.  But don't let "minimum" scare you away.  These are incredible cards given their price and performance.

 

Also, don't get an R9 280X, it is a more expensive card than an R9 280, and it isn't justified.  You can easily overclock the 280 to 280X levels and save yourself $50.

 

MSI R9 280 Gaming - $200  -$30 MIR, -$20 Visa Checkout brings the total down to $150. This card is 10.55"(268mm)

 

Also comes with three free games to choose from, which are actually not bad to pretty good.

[EcoBoost]

 My Antec 300 case supports up to 11" cards supposedly, but past about 10.5" they block HD bays.

Are you using all of the HD bays? Or could you move your drives down to the lower bays?

[EdwardERS]

Are you using all of the HD bays? Or could you move your drives down to the lower bays?

 

Next time I clean my PC I'll reevaluate the proposition of a larger video card. I could, this is true. All the same I'd prefer a card about the same size.

 

It might take out 2 SATA power connectors because the top connector hits a DVD drive that I actually do use, then below is my SSD in a 3.5" bay, but if I lower the SSD 1 3.5" bay slot there could be an issue with the connector not stretching to reach because of the long video card. 2x power connectors cables with 3 connectors each. 4 are being used. I could put the SSD with my 2 other hard drives lower in the cage, leaving one cable running the DVD drive, then there could be issues connecting a 5th device.

 

If the deal is sweet enough I'd go through the trouble.

[f22luke]

 

Don't get a GTX 770, or an R9 285.  They are poorly priced cards for their performance and only come with 2GB of VRAM which is already obsolete.  Games being released today are starting to require 3GB+ of VRAM.  An R9 280 is the minimum in which you should be looking at.  But don't let "minimum" scare you away.  These are incredible cards given their price and performance.

 

 

Wait just a minute here; 2GB Vram is not obsolete.  It's just fine for 1080p it's when you get in to higher resolutions that you want more.  Also now that new cards are using fancy texture compression like the R9 285 and GTX 980/970 we could see 2GB cards stick around even longer.

[EdwardERS]

@EdwardERS

 

I would buy an R9 280.  They can be had for around $150-$170 and offer incredible price:performance for 1080p gaming.

 

Don't get a GTX 770, or an R9 285.  They are poorly priced cards for their performance and only come with 2GB of VRAM which is already obsolete.  Games being released today are starting to require 3GB+ of VRAM.  An R9 280 is the minimum in which you should be looking at.  But don't let "minimum" scare you away.  These are incredible cards given their price and performance.

 

Also, don't get an R9 280X, it is a more expensive card than an R9 280, and it isn't justified.  You can easily overclock the 280 to 280X levels and save yourself $50.

 

MSI R9 280 Gaming - $200  -$30 MIR, -$20 Visa Checkout brings the total down to $150. This card is 10.55"(268mm)

 

Also comes with three free games to choose from, which are actually not bad to pretty good.

 

I know what you mean. If it weren't for the memory bus limiting some cards to multiples of 2 and 4GB there'd be better options. Can you show some proof of 2GB not being enough for 1080p already?

 

That does look like a great deal. It's similar to how I got my 6870 for $180 + $20 rebate March 2012.... the free game coupon had expired by then haha. I can't even find a list of the games, just the wall showing the games and I can't recognize or read all the box art. I'd probably be getting Alien Isolation, Saints Row IV and IDK if I could even play Star Citizen yet because it isn't out.

[EdwardERS]

I don't wanna sound like I'm wasting anybodys time right now, but I just wanted to get a discussion going as it relates to current strong value market. Like 2GB vs 3-4GB for 1080p. And just how low would a 770 or 285 have to be to beat a 970 in value?

 

I'm gonna be playing Smash 4 Wii U like a mad man for a long time within a month, but don't let that kill the thread. Damn 960 delay.... damn.

[EdwardERS]

“The PS4 and Xbox One both have 8 GB of unified RAM which can be used as both system and video memory. Because our PC version is functionally identical to those platforms, we recommend 4 GB of system memory, and 4 GB of VRAM for the best experience.” - 

 

Yep, you can definitely still play the game with a more standard 3GB VRAM video card. However, and this is where I’m a bit baffled, “You won’t be experiencing the game at 1080p and you’ll likely need to turn off some features.” That’s a direct quote from the forum post. Here’s a sobering thought: That 3GB Nvidia 780Ti you paid $500+ for can’t play this game at 1080p according to the game’s publisher.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2014/10/08/pc-version-of-bethesdas-the-evil-within-requires-4gb-vram-video-card-for-1080p/

 

I wonder how that turned out. Is 780 ti getting owned by The Evil Within because of VRAM?

[Faceman]

Wait just a minute here; 2GB Vram is not obsolete.  It's just fine for 1080p it's when you get in to higher resolutions that you want more.  Also now that new cards are using fancy texture compression like the R9 285 and GTX 980/970 we could see 2GB cards stick around even longer.

If you want to play on high and ultra comfortably?  Yea, 3GB is limiting. Watch Dogs, Shadow of Mordor, Assassin's Creed V, The Witcher, The Evil Within, all are games that are starting to require 3GB for high and 4GB for Ultra.

 

When I say 2GB is obsolete, I mean for the future, forward thinking, if I'm buying a graphics card today, 3GB of VRAM is the minimum I would consider.  I own an EVGA GTX 780 SC 3GB, that I bought earlier this year for $500 and its already being phased out.

[Faceman]

I know what you mean. If it weren't for the memory bus limiting some cards to multiples of 2 and 4GB there'd be better options. Can you show some proof of 2GB not being enough for 1080p already?

 

That does look like a great deal. It's similar to how I got my 6870 for $180 + $20 rebate March 2012.... the free game coupon had expired by then haha. I can't even find a list of the games, just the wall showing the games and I can't recognize or read all the box art. I'd probably be getting Alien Isolation, Saints Row IV and IDK if I could even play Star Citizen yet because it isn't out.

Lots of games are requiring 3GB VRAM for high and 4GB for Ultra.  Watch Dogs, Shadow of Mordor, Assassin's Creed V, The Witcher, and as you mentioned, The Evil Within.  It is very recently that this has happened, but the shift is in full force and I wouldn't consider anything less than 3GB of VRAM for a GPU.  Even my 780 with 3GB of VRAM is starting to limit me to High instead of Ultra and this will only continue in the next 3-6 months and so on.

[EdwardERS]

Lots of games are requiring 3GB VRAM for high and 4GB for Ultra.  Watch Dogs, Shadow of Mordor, Assassin's Creed V, The Witcher, and as you mentioned, The Evil Within.  It is very recently that this has happened, but the shift is in full force and I wouldn't consider anything less than 3GB of VRAM for a GPU.  Even my 780 with 3GB of VRAM is starting to limit me to High instead of Ultra and this will only continue in the next 3-6 months and so on.

 

In MSI Afterburner are you seeing low GPU usage, but capped out memory usage with 3GB? I have to play Dead Rising 3 at 720p most likely because of my 1GB VRAM limit, meanwhile the GPU utilization tends to not stay near 90%.

[Faceman]

In MSI Afterburner are you seeing low GPU usage, but capped out memory usage with 3GB? I have to play Dead Rising 3 at 720p most likely because of my 1GB VRAM limit, meanwhile the GPU utilization tends to not stay near 90%.

No, no game I own currently uses the full 3GB.  Maybe if I started to mess around with lots of Skyrim mods and DSR, I would hit the 3GB limit.  But I am interested in buying Shadow of Mordor, which does require 4GB for Ultra.  Witcher 3 is another title I will for sure buy, and that game is going to require 4GB for Ultra details as well.  When I say 2GB is obsolete, I mean it in a forward thinking way.  Games are starting to utilize more VRAM for better settings.  Unless you are fine playing your games on medium settings, by all means, buy a 2GB card.  I mention the R9 280 because it is inexpensive, it has 3GB of VRAM, and it does great at 1080p.

[wadzftw]

“The PS4 and Xbox One both have 8 GB of unified RAM which can be used as both system and video memory. Because our PC version is functionally identical to those platforms, we recommend 4 GB of system memory, and 4 GB of VRAM for the best experience.” - 

 

Yep, you can definitely still play the game with a more standard 3GB VRAM video card. However, and this is where I’m a bit baffled, “You won’t be experiencing the game at 1080p and you’ll likely need to turn off some features.” That’s a direct quote from the forum post. Here’s a sobering thought: That 3GB Nvidia 780Ti you paid $500+ for can’t play this game at 1080p according to the game’s publisher.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2014/10/08/pc-version-of-bethesdas-the-evil-within-requires-4gb-vram-video-card-for-1080p/

 

I wonder how that turned out. Is 780 ti getting owned by The Evil Within because of VRAM?

lmfao that game is joke and stupid console port.

[Bhav]

I just have to point out how much of an oxymoron statement 'obsolete for the future' is lol.