GTX970 and 1440p

[Theonelemon]

Id say go for the R9 290x, It will hold on for longer since it has more full-speed Vram. In your case it wouldnt be too bad since the CPU's heat is already thrown straight out.

I would recommend getting another fan in the front so there will be less dust-buildup in the case(You should strive for a neutral or posetive pressature in teh case).

Pretty much the only heat in the system will be from the GPU so it would not be very hot or loud since your cooling situation is Very good.

I would recommend the Sapphire Tri-x model since it has the highest cooling capacity.

The thing is I will lose the witcher 3 and all nvidia benefits like GeForce experience. The sappire is the exact same price of this card I have now so that would be trading witcher 3 and all nvidia benefits like GeForce experience for .5 vram that I may or may not use. before my card even reaches the 3.5vram limit will my card already be struggling with textures and settings like that because if not then its Definately not worth my time and effort to switch

[Johannes_Lazor]

The thing is I will lose the witcher 3 and all nvidia benefits like GeForce experience. The sappire is the exact same price of this card I have now so that would be trading witcher 3 and all nvidia benefits like GeForce experience for .5 vram that I may or may not use. before my card even reaches the 3.5vram limit will my card already be struggling with textures and settings like that because if not then its Definately not worth my time and effort to switch

Why would you be trading the witcher 3? Havent you already redeemed the code? I dont think they can take it from you.

AMD uses Raptr isntead of Geforce experience, It has many features similar to Geforce experience, Like Shadowplay and such. It also has a system which makes you able to earn games simply by playing other games.

[Guest andyysplash]

Thats when Crossfire becomes a cost-efficient choice.

My GTX 660 is still holding up pretty well and it is from late 2012, 2gb of Vram. Back then there wasnt many who nedded more than 2gb.

Thats also my argument against the 960, It has more raw performance than the GTX 660, But has the same amount of Vram, To actually use all the performance it would need almost 3gb.

 

Similar story with my 660. Bummer is that I could do with around 4GB vram for graphics/textures mods and for when I upgrade to 1440p eventually, not to mention a hefty performance increase for more demanding or badly-optimised games.

 

With the mods I run on Skyrim the card's having a hard time keeping to 60fps. I'm averaging 45-50 and because it's a DX9 or 10 game (can't remember which one) and essentially a non-optimised console port with a laggy script engine stacking vram with DX12 won't solve the issue and though a 970 would have the core power it would be let down if it ran over that 3.5GB with higher res textures and more particles.

[Johannes_Lazor]

Similar story with my 660. Bummer is that I could do with around 4GB vram for graphics/textures mods and for when I upgrade to 1440p eventually, not to mention a hefty performance increase for more demanding or badly-optimised games.

 

With the mods I run on Skyrim the card's having a hard time keeping to 60fps. I'm averaging 45-50 and because it's a DX9 or 10 game (can't remember which one) and essentially a non-optimised console port with a laggy script engine stacking vram with DX12 won't solve the issue and though a 970 would have the core power it would be let down if it ran over that 3.5GB with higher res textures and more particles.

Im in the same position in skyrim, Im capped by my Vram, I reach up to 1.8-1.9Gb, I cant use any more texture mods without overloading it.

Im running at 30fps in settlements, 45fps in the wilds and 60 fps in dungeons and such, Im limited mainly by my CPU and Vram, The A6 6400k is still a shit CPU even at 5Ghz.

[Guest andyysplash]

Im in the same position in skyrim, Im capped by my Vram, I reach up to 1.8-1.9Gb, I cant use any more texture mods without overloading it.

Im running at 30fps in settlements, 45fps in the wilds and 60 fps in dungeons and such, Im limited mainly by my CPU and Vram, The A6 6400k is still a shit CPU even at 5Ghz.

 

I've declined most higher res texture mods (gone for the Static Mesh Improvement and a couple city overhauls) in favour of mods that add more stuff like extra dungeons or armour (Konahrik's Accoutrements) and my vram's around 1.6GB currently. I did most of my testing in Riften when I was OC'ing my GPU and just outside the Thieves Guild's secret entrance I get 50-60, but in Riften proper it drops into the 40s. Inside dungeons or other areas it's nearly always 55-60. Hasn't changed much since I OC'd my 8320 from 3.5GHz to 4GHz after I got my new cooler and for whatever reason I had to back off my GPU OC by a few MHz because it ran worse. I also seem to remember that 3.5 vs 3.6GHz CPU caused performance losses as well.

 

I think I'll do a cleanup of Skyrim in the summer (if I have fibre by then I can do a full reinstall and set up my mod profiles for each character individually, hopefully eliminating any script engine issues).

 

I would take this to PM but it's probably worth keeping here simply for vram usage of a rather unoptimised game. OP might be able to gain something from it.

[Swegly]

Why would you be trading the witcher 3? Havent you already redeemed the code? I dont think they can take it from you.

AMD uses Raptr isntead of Geforce experience, It has many features similar to Geforce experience, Like Shadowplay and such. It also has a system which makes you able to earn games simply by playing other games.

I decided to use my old gtx650 as a place holder and return the 970 for 450$. This will enable me to buy a TRI-X R9 290X for 300$ when in california in one month since the prices are so cheap compared to sweden. Maybe I will even get two and I will have saved alot of money while getting the vram I want