GPU Replacement Concerns: Price VS Performance for Specs

[Fallenleader]

Hello everyone,

Let me start this off by pointing out that with my current setup, I am well aware that I will be bottlenecking my GPU regardless of my decision.
I am running
a Phenom 2 x4 945 with automated overclock to 3 GHz (which is actually a sweet spot for this CPU considering the setup)
Biostar TA790GX A2+ motherboard
1TB HDD from a laptop (5400rpm)
5.25GB general pc (think a wal-mart or mass production PC) DDR2 ram (Placeholder as I was considering a couple more DDR2 sticks but can no longer justify the price, hasn't seemed to affect performance)
Radiomax RX-530SS 530W PSU
EVGA GTX 280 (no overclock model)
Emmerson 19" 1080p 60Hz HDTV (running DVI to HDMI from the 280)

This is a last limbs unit that is just getting me by, but was a good build back in the day.
I retired it for my laptop for a while as I wasn't doing much gaming on a PC, but after the death of Mr. Lappy, and my interest in game development, I repurposed the rig using my laptop's HDD.
Taxes are coming back soon, and I have a really good breathing room to start my next build, and as a developer as well as a gamer, I am considering starting with the GPU which I can utilize immediately.
Now to the questions:

I am getting a 32" monitor later sporting 1080p 120Hz refresh. I am not ready to jump to 4K right now, but am open minded to it at a later date. this is simply cutting a corner now as far as cost for my next build.
There are 3 options I am seeing here:
1060, 1070, and 1080.
There are also a vast variety of modified versions of the founders edition from companies like EVGA.

Where is the sweet spot here for a potential 4K build in the future?
My goal is mainly max settings on 1080p without sacrificing too much quality when I transition to 4K, say high settings.
Ignore a budget for now, my focus is on the sweet spot and what is worth getting now rather than "you should get this and save $100 for some other part"

Bonus question: I would even consider 1440p if one can suggest a good 32" monitor. HDMI or Display Port is fine either way.

If I cannot get a decent recommendation, I will likely drop the cash on a Nintendo Switch instead as that is next on my list.

[JuztBe]

When are you planning for your potential 4k upgrade? If it's few years later than I don't really see 1060-80 being a good option as upgrade right now. Or upgrading rest of the build(basically buying new one)

[Fallenleader]

I plan to build my new rig over the course of this year, component by component. The next cost will be Motherboard, CPU, and Ram. Then HDD, followed by sound card and storage replacement to my current HDD which will be temporarily transitioned.
the 4K monitor will be bought sometime around christmas this year when things tend to drop in price, as I am still debating between a monitor or a TV as I also indulge in multimedia with the latter having a larger size to price point.

That being said, is there a better price point card for going with a 1080p setup? This could actually let me use the money elsewhere on this build, though it might mean having to upgrade later, which considering the current rig I have, is not a problem.
My last card when I had a desktop build (that perished in a house fire) was a mid range AMD Radeon that I cannot recall the model of around the time windows 7 was taking off.

One of the factors to consider is the fact I am developing games as well, which means I typically have 3DS Max and Unity running together, sometimes with the addition of Blender. I have seen some disdain on this 280 from that, not to mention it only sports DX10.

[Energycore]

In terms of absolute price / performance, there are two options:

 

- A GTX 1070, since it's $400 and beats the last gen flaships. The 1080 is only 25% faster and 50% more.

 

- An R9 Fury X, if you can pick it up for $300-$320. It lags a bit behind the 1070 in 1080p, but still maxes it out and in 4K, it catches up and ends up 5% slower.

 

A word on Freesync and Gsync: these implmentations of adaptive refresh rate really help with smoothing out framerates especially in 4K. Freesync works with AMD cards only, Gsync works with Nvidia cards and is usually $200 or so more expensive on a monitor.

 

I would also change that PSU, for good measure. Grab a PSU from Tier 3 or higher in the Ranking that's linked in my signature, at least 550W.

[Fallenleader]

thanks to your suggestion, I picked out http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171099 which is very reasonably priced and I recall this being tooted by Linus many times.

I still have to ask the question if there is an option aside from the 10XX series for 1080p gaming.
I haven't heard many good things about the 970, and almost nothing regarding the rest of the 9xx series, so I have no idea there (which is why I considered a 10xx series in the first place).
I will also point out that I refuse to go with any form of a Radeon card. Nvidia only.

[aithos]

2 hours ago, Fallenleader said:

Now to the questions:

I am getting a 32" monitor later sporting 1080p 120Hz refresh. I am not ready to jump to 4K right now, but am open minded to it at a later date. this is simply cutting a corner now as far as cost for my next build.

Please, please, please: do not get a 32" 1080p monitor.  At a normal viewing distance you will see significant pixelation even on a 27" monitor and going even bigger than that is going to be awful.  I full support waiting to go to 4K because games won't be native 4k resolution for a long time still and inflating your build demands to run upscaled 4K because that is the monitor's native resolution isn't worth it.  I would strongly suggest a 27" Asus PG279Q or MG279Q (GSync and FreeSync respectively), I know you said 32" but 27" is a big monitor and having a 1440p IPS with 144hz is a BIG improvement.  I think it's well worth downsizing a few inches for a MUCH better monitor.

 

Quote

There are 3 options I am seeing here:
1060, 1070, and 1080.
There are also a vast variety of modified versions of the founders edition from companies like EVGA.

I would be getting a 1080 to make running 1440p easier with a single card, and EVGA is my GPU brand of choice.  I've had great luck with them, their cards perform great, their support people are awesome and their software is good as well.  If you intend to SLI later you need to get the blower style coolers, if you intend to keep a single card then the ACX cooler is one of the best.

 

Quote

Where is the sweet spot here for a potential 4K build in the future?
My goal is mainly max settings on 1080p without sacrificing too much quality when I transition to 4K, say high settings.

I wouldn't worry about 4K until a LOT more content is native 4K and frankly... we still aren't to the point where 1440p is a native resolution because games are largely based on console technology and it wasn't until this generation that we finally started getting native 1080p textures.  Previously all the 1080p games were 720p textures being upscaled to 1080p.  It will be at LEAST 5 years before we see 4K content become at all prevalent.  Don't buy into the hype, it was like stores pushing 1080p 7 years before Bluray launched... people who overpaid for that were suckers.

[captain cactus]

If you plan to build it out over the course of this year, there's really no way of knowing what GPU and CPU will be a good option. nVidia has Pascal refresh and a possible 1080Ti and AMD is coming out with an entirely new arch on both the CPU (Ryzen) and GPU (Vega) side of the market. Who knows what does best in the price/performance range.

[Fallenleader]

Well, the reasoning I asked here is the 1080 price point here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487245
Compared to the 970 here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA73M4TB0548

I stick with newegg for parts, and being I am severely out of the loop, I guess I will just go with the GTX 1080.