980ti to 2070 worth the upgrade ?

[shampoo]

Hi

 

I have a gaming PC that I built up a while ago (got it from NCIX to give you an idea).. It has an i7 6700 with a GTX 980ti. I am using a 1920x1200 monitor. I like to play AAA open world titles (Witcher, Fallout, Fry Cry etc). I am thinking of upgrading.. My thinking is the best part to upgrade would the the GPU. Is this a fair assumption ? If so, would going to a 2070 make a noticeable difference ? 

 

  Thanks

 

   J

[Slottr]

If you're keeping that monitor, not at all.

[Mira Yurizaki]

If you like to crank up the settings to maximum, then it'll make a difference. Though the CPU may hold it back in some titles.

[Zodwraith]

You're in a weird spot where I would probably suggest monitor/GPU close to each other. Super high refresh rates aren't the key in what you play (which is my thing too). You want to enjoy that world. You're going to get more enjoyment by bumping to 1440 or 4k to be immersed but that will make the 980 hiccup at 1440 and cry at 4k. At high rez your i7 is fine for at least a couple more years as you'll be GPU bound, and GPU/monitor are universal upgrades that can move platform to platform. As long as you jump a couple generations a GPU is never a BAD upgrade, just not always wise if you can't let it stretch it's legs.

 

I'm sitting on a 1080ti right now and flustered my only solid upgrade is $1200+ as new titles are making me regret being spoiled on 4k for 2 years. 4k panels get funky at 1440 and 1080, while aligned with it's native rez, makes me feel like I'm playing N64. If you're a small monitor guy, go 1440. If you love a massive screen 4k pays you back.

 

RDR2 is a good benchmark to pull from because it's a sign of future titles. It's that open world like you like, It's poorly optimized like many console ports are, but looks stunning at 4k. 

 

My only solid answer is even being an nvidia guy myself, at that price point, I would steer you towards the 5700xt. Open world is big on consoles and AMD is already confirmed with near identical hardware for the upcoming ones. Ray tracing is useless at that level and just a boondoggle. 

[cesh me inside b0z]

Money wise, not worth it even if i told myself a million times to buy it.

[shampoo]

12 hours ago, Zodwraith said:

You're in a weird spot where I would probably suggest monitor/GPU close to each other. Super high refresh rates aren't the key in what you play (which is my thing too). You want to enjoy that world. You're going to get more enjoyment by bumping to 1440 or 4k to be immersed but that will make the 980 hiccup at 1440 and cry at 4k. At high rez your i7 is fine for at least a couple more years as you'll be GPU bound, and GPU/monitor are universal upgrades that can move platform to platform. As long as you jump a couple generations a GPU is never a BAD upgrade, just not always wise if you can't let it stretch it's legs.

 

     Thanks for the input.. And to everyone else as well. I am not a huge gamer either. I bought this box back in September 2016. The idea was to make it into a dual boot gaming pc / hackintosh It worked out very well for me.

 

    If I look at my Steam stats, I am a little over 500 hours since the time I got the PC. So roughly 165 hours a year. That PC is now mostly a gaming rig. Originally though it was used more as a hackintosh then a gaming rig. When you do the math, a new GPU/CPU/Monitor becomes rather expensive on a cost per hour basis.. I don't think I play enough. If a new big open world AAA title isn't out, I don't play. I do something else.. And I never go back and replay old games.

 

 

Quote

 

My only solid answer is even being an nvidia guy myself, at that price point, I would steer you towards the 5700xt. Open world is big on consoles and AMD is already confirmed with near identical hardware for the upcoming ones. Ray tracing is useless at that level and just a boondoggle. 

   Interesting.. That 5700xt would work on a Hackintosh too.. I am actually tempted to just wait to see what the next gen consoles are like. I have never owned a console. I have even been toying with trying Stadia. Again, for me it comes down to a cost per hour basis.. Unless you play a lot, it gets hard to justify those costs.. If it wasn't for using that PC as a hackintosh 90% of the time, it would have been a mistake from a cost per usage standpoint. I have an employer supplied MBP that I use mostly now. So the hackintosh is now just a gaming machine.

 

Thanks again everyone for the replies. I really appreciate it. 

 

 

[Zodwraith]

2 hours ago, shampoo said:

So roughly 165 hours a year.

Then I wouldn't upgrade at all. Your build is balanced if aging. We all get that upgrade bug now and then when something comes along to remind us gaming rigs age worse than dogs. Mine was RDR2 and Rockstar's lack of optimization for anything that doesn't begin with "AMD". 

 

If you HAVE to scratch that itch somewhere grab a big, affordable 4k panel. Outside of gaming that high rez real estate pays off BIG and the 980ti will have no problems pushing it. Good names like Samsung and LG have 50" HDR panels for as low as $350 and that will definitely FEEL like a nice upgrade the first time you browse the web in UHD. Then they can run 1080p at 120hz when you fire up a game once in a while. (You know you want to see Farcry at least once in glorious 4k)

 

When the upgrade bug bites again because the GPU is feeling too slow for even 1080p you already have a piece of your puzzle whether your upgrade path is a new GPU or plugging a console into it. TVs make more sense than monitors if you're not gaming competitively. You get bigger, sharper results for 1/3 the cost and modern TVs have better response times than yesteryear's monitors. Worst case you have a solid 4ktv that you can put to use anywhere down the road.