GTX 960 love

[rkcmd]

So I recently made a thread regarding possible upgrades for a GTX 960, and I got some responses which basically told me to:

 

1. sell my GPU

2. get a GTX 970

This got me thinking... and I decided to post my card in our local 2nd stuff market, err, website... And I actually got a lot of bites! I averaged USD170 equivalent (PHP7,500). The best offer I got was USD170, plus he'd give me his 500gb western digital 7200rpm hard drive. I was very excited. If I sold my GPU, it would basically be close to a refund (bought it for USD210 equivalent) and I could get a very good, shall I say future proof for the next 3 years, video card in the GTX 970... I would only need another USD170 dollars to get a new GTX 970 locally. Then I peeked into my wallet and my heart broke...

 

Then, I remembered why I build my system in the first place. I actually wanted a console killer. I've never had my own gaming PC before, it was always consoles, laptops, and more recently, my phone. I've always wanted to build a decent gaming rig. This year, I started reading around forums, and I was actually looking at a GTX 750 ti. I don't have a lot of money, I'm well off in local standards, but to the US readers here, I'm quite poor :'(. So my aim with my rig was a power sipping, cheap, easy to source PC. Then the GTX 960 came out last January and I was shocked. It was only a couple thousand PHP (maybe USD40) from the 750 ti, and it was almost twice better. And I'd only need another 6 pin power connector, bringing the TDP to a very low 120w. Plus, it can handle a lot of games of the past few years, and a few from late last year, on high at 1080p. From where I'm coming from, budget laptops and consoles, that's a win.

 

I love my GTX 960. It performs well beyond my standards, it's cheap, and it's power efficient. Sure, it can't use anti aliasing and advanced ambient occlusion, but the games I'm playing look great without them. I mean I could turn them on, but the frame drops are dangerous to my health, I'd rather have them off and play at a constant 75+hz.

Thank you for reading.

[rkcmd]

I would definitely sell the 960 for 170 and a 500GB HDD. That's unbelievable almost.

 

Trust me. If you manage to pick up a 970, you will be more than glad you did. Go for it!

Hahaha. That's what I was saying when I heard that offer. But I'd have to not eat for a month, and maybe bunk in with someone else to get the extra money. Like I said, 960 is worth it for me. 

[Ophidio]

I feel you dude, I got a lot of shit when I built my pc because I put a 760 in it at the time. People told me I should have gotten a 770 or 780 but that was just out of my price range at the time and now i've saved enough money to where I can actually buy a 980 if I want but I'm just going to keep saving for a new rig in general. Going cheap at first is never a bad decision, at least you have a rig that can play what you want and you have fun with it. That's what really matters. Satisfying the tech world by getting the best shit for your very first is just stupid. You never know you could keep saving and have enough to get the next big nvidia card whenever it comes out.

[rkcmd]

I feel you dude, I got a lot of shit when I built my pc because I put a 760 in it at the time. People told me I should have gotten a 770 or 780 but that was just out of my price range at the time and now i've saved enough money to where I can actually buy a 980 if I want but I'm just going to keep saving for a new rig in general. Going cheap at first is never a bad decision, at least you have a rig that can play what you want and you have fun with it. That's what really matters. Satisfying the tech world by getting the best shit for your very first is just stupid. You never know you could keep saving and have enough to get the next big nvidia card whenever it comes out.

This! Yeah, totally. Incremental upgrades are good, but whole system upgrade gives the best bang. And, really, gaming on my current rig is more than enjoyable. People say like, if I want ultra settings on 1080p, get the 970. Then I read 970 threads and they be like, yeah 970 is good but you'd have to lower the settings on 1440p. Like, when does it end? Now I'm even seeing 980 ti SLI threads. Haha. I guess I'm saying that I just have my standards set. And, hey, without all them high standard enthusiasts, technology wouldn't really be this good. [emoji4]

[Mistersprinkles]

A 960 is pretty close to being equivalent to a 680, but not quite. Honestly, at 1080P without going nuts with AA, AF and AO, you don't NEED anything better than a 960. Would a 280X or even a 280 have been better? Sure... but IDK what those cost in your country.

 

I suggest you keep your 960 and count your blessings, as I know a lot of people who don't even have something as good as your 960.

 

For example, in Spain, in the town I visit every summer where my grandmother lives, most kids don't even have a decent PC. they don't even have a smart phone. They use their parents crappy ipads at home and in the evenings they go to the internet cafe and pay 2 Euros to stay there all night playing WOW, LOL and CS GO. And these are crappy computers.

 

You're lightyears ahead and your computer is at home. Good stuff. 

 

I was using a 580 until last November and it was fine for 1080P. I'm starting to think I bought my 980 purely for the E-Peen. And now the 980Ti is out so I just lost 2" of E-Peen right there.

[mckrackin5324]

I started with an EVGA GTX 750ti...I actually liked it a lot.

I upgraded to an EVGA GTX 960 SC and didn't see a huge difference in Battlefield 4...As a matter of fact,it burned out on me.

 

Now I have an EVGA GTX 960 without the SC nonsense and it does a good job.

Battlefield 4 runs 60+ FPS on high settings and even The Witcher 3 runs a perfectly fine 45 FPS on high and medium settings.

 

Of course I want a better card someday but there is no necessity for it.

Enjoy what you have. It is for you and not the crowd.

 

One thing that I find funny is that the competitive Battlefield players lower their terrain and decoration settings as low as they possibly can for an advantage in gameplay.

It never dawned on me at first but when I lower my decoration settings...those bushes the snipers are hiding in to wax me...well,they disappear and there sits that sniper in the open on my screen

[mckrackin5324]

-snip-

Right...nonsense just like you described yourself.

You pay them to overclock the card.

 

I never said the burn out had anything to do with the OP...only stated the simple fact that my upgrade didn't survive.

 

Now go huff something yourself...or have you already?

Rude bastards and their keyboard balls.

[rkcmd]

-snip-

no need to be mean man. It's all good vibes here. [emoji28]

[rkcmd]

A 960 is pretty close to being equivalent to a 680, but not quite. Honestly, at 1080P without going nuts with AA, AF and AO, you don't NEED anything better than a 960. Would a 280X or even a 280 have been better? Sure... but IDK what those cost in your country.

I suggest you keep your 960 and count your blessings, as I know a lot of people who don't even have something as good as your 960.

For example, in Spain, in the town I visit every summer where my grandmother lives, most kids don't even have a decent PC. they don't even have a smart phone. They use their parents crappy ipads at home and in the evenings they go to the internet cafe and pay 2 Euros to stay there all night playing WOW, LOL and CS GO. And these are crappy computers.

You're lightyears ahead and your computer is at home. Good stuff.

I was using a 580 until last November and it was fine for 1080P. I'm starting to think I bought my 980 purely for the E-Peen. And now the 980Ti is out so I just lost 2" of E-Peen right there.

Thanks. I plan on keeping my 960 for a while. It works pretty well. What you described in Spain is actually pretty similar here. A lot of people stay overnight in computer cafés as they call them, to play MOBAs like DOTA 1... I have people I know who buy pre built PCs who play with integrated video cards. The PC I'm using right now is superb really. I'm super happy with it. I'd like to think that I want to draw the line between pc master race and pc enthusiast. 1 jillion frames, I need not. Quality AAA games at 1080/60fps with no AA and AO is heaven to me.

[rkcmd]

I started with an EVGA GTX 750ti...I actually liked it a lot.

I upgraded to an EVGA GTX 960 SC and didn't see a huge difference in Battlefield 4...As a matter of fact,it burned out on me.

Now I have an EVGA GTX 960 without the SC nonsense and it does a good job.

Battlefield 4 runs 60+ FPS on high settings and even The Witcher 3 runs a perfectly fine 45 FPS on high and medium settings.

Of course I want a better card someday but there is no necessity for it.

Enjoy what you have. It is for you and not the crowd.

One thing that I find funny is that the competitive Battlefield players lower their terrain and decoration settings as low as they possibly can for an advantage in gameplay.

It never dawned on me at first but when I lower my decoration settings...those bushes the snipers are hiding in to wax me...well,they disappear and there sits that sniper in the open on my screen [emoji14]

Haha. Heck yeah. Playing to have fun with all the graphics, and playing for more performance to beat other gamers is different.

Kind of reminds me of competitive eating (what???). Kobayashi et al were eating all those delicious hotdogs and hamburgers, but they were downing them real fast and drinking buckets of coke. I doubt they can even enjoy the taste of the food.

I bought a Zotac 960, it's factory overclocked higher than reference,but I think all partners overclocked their 960 anyway. I overclocked it more by a lot without increasing voltage, and it's quite stable. I'm really happy with my 960. [emoji4]

[SteveGrabowski0]

Hahaha. That's what I was saying when I heard that offer. But I'd have to not eat for a month, and maybe bunk in with someone else to get the extra money. Like I said, 960 is worth it for me. 

 

Good to hear. Don't get stuck in the constant upgrade cycle you see a lot of PC gamers in. I mean I think the GTX 980 Ti looks incredible, but I'm pretty happy with my card now and don't expect to upgrade until 1080p medium 60 fps becomes a problem in AAA games. If you want to max every setting out you're going to be constantly blowing money on upgrades for often unnoticeable gains in image quality. I'd rather spend my money on the games than on upgrading hardware all the time.

[sgloux3470]

There's nothing terribly wrong with the 960.  The 285 is just better.

[rkcmd]

There's nothing terribly wrong with the 960. The 285 is just better.

Yeah true, but the power consumption is like twice I think. I'd need to upgrade my psu just for that, or maybe use a molex adaptor. Plus I think the 285 runs hotter. I know it's not too big of a deal in colder countries, but here in the tropics, 35 to 40 degrees (Celsius) is just another day. I'd have to upgrade my cooling options, which, overall with the 285 power consumption, would increase my electricity bill and drain my wallet. I'd rather maybe not deny myself of any other luxuries that I can afford than getting a slightly better at 1440p card. But yeah, they're pretty equal in terms of grunt. I think the 285 actually beats 960 in most benchmarks.

[rkcmd]

Good to hear. Don't get stuck in the constant upgrade cycle you see a lot of PC gamers in. I mean I think the GTX 980 Ti looks incredible, but I'm pretty happy with my card now and don't expect to upgrade until 1080p medium 60 fps becomes a problem in AAA games. If you want to max every setting out you're going to be constantly blowing money on upgrades for often unnoticeable gains in image quality. I'd rather spend my money on the games than on upgrading hardware all the time.

Or maybe get a mechanical keyboard. And a g sync display... Someday... Someday...

[SteveGrabowski0]

Or maybe get a mechanical keyboard. And a g sync display... Someday... Someday...

 

I'd love a GSync display, but I'm too cheap for one right now. I'm not buying one until we're out of the early adopter phase of the technology and it starts getting cheap. Hell, I still don't see the use for an SSD yet until prices become somewhat competitive with mechanical drives. Until GSync becomes cheap I'll just tailor settings for the 60 fps target I want to hit to match my monitor's refresh rate.

[rkcmd]

I'd love a GSync display, but I'm too cheap for one right now. I'm not buying one until we're out of the early adopter phase of the technology and it starts getting cheap. Hell, I still don't see the use for an SSD yet until prices become somewhat competitive with mechanical drives.

Here here. I myself am using (looks around for flamers) a 900p screen that I recycled from a friend's office. It's doing really well. SSD though... I just couldn't resist it. I just bought the cheapest one I can find (a $60 Seagate 250gb ssd). It's like a bare minimum for me these days. Whenever I use my laptop with its 5200rpm HDD, I get mildly irritated by all the loading...

[david cassar]

There's nothing terribly wrong with the 960.  The 285 is just better.

Not really..The 960 is as fast as it, consumes less power and overclocks much better, is normally found cheaper and you get batman arkham knight with it...

[xAcid9]

Whenever I use my laptop with its 5200rpm HDD, I get mildly irritated by all the loading...

Try find a cheap old SSD with low host write, i replaced mine with an old Intel X25M 80GB that i bought from friend for $20. Best decision ever.   

[Nena Trinity]

Food > GPU!

[rkcmd]

Try find a cheap old SSD with low host write, i replaced mine with an old Intel X25M 80GB that i bought from friend for $20. Best decision ever. [emoji14]

I wanted to for the longest time, but reinstalling windows just rubs me the wrong way. Haha. And for what I'm using my laptop, which is mostly typing and maybe steamy solo time, the hard drive should suffice. [emoji28]

[rkcmd]

Food > GPU!

True that sister. Unless it's a bacon flavored gpu, in which case, I'll take it.

[Nena Trinity]

True that sister. Unless it's a bacon flavored gpu, in which case, I'll take it.

Bacon GPU! *drools* :Q

[maizenblue]

The 960 is not exactly what Id call a console killer. I don't think you'd see more than a minor difference in performance between it and a ps4.

[rkcmd]

The 960 is not exactly what Id call a console killer. I don't think you'd see more than a minor difference in performance between it and a ps4.

I don't know if your being serious brah... But at 1080p and 60fps by themselves, you got ps4 beat. I can also turn on some degree of AA and occlusion, plus other eye candy, and still have 60+fps average. You have to remember that PS4 and Xbox one both have amd APU systems... They're good, with some optimization from game devs. But by brute power alone, they're miles away from current Gen pc tech. Although price wise, my system would cost around twice an xbone

[xAcid9]

The 960 is not exactly what Id call a console killer. I don't think you'd see more than a minor difference in performance between it and a ps4.

960 don't need to kill the console, the console will automatically self ignite and burn to dust. /s