Wait for Pascal or get Maxwell now?

[Spookydoge]

So I basically wonder if it is worth it to get a 980ti now and then upgrade to pascal (1080ti) when it comes out or will it simply be better to just wait for the 1080ti. I currently have a 680 and if I was to get a 980ti it would be the gigabyte xtreme waterforce one.

Any support is appreciated, please elaborate on your answers.

[comefightme]

Get 980ti now, there will always be a new gpu on the horizon so unless a card is coming out tmr just get a current gen

[Rune]

I would wait. Its actually going to be a process shrink and they usually have bigger changes than just generational updates.

[Andrew Sh]

So I basically wonder if it is worth it to get a 980ti now and then upgrade to pascal (1080ti) when it comes out or will it simply be better to just wait for the 1080ti. I currently have a 680 and if I was to get a 980ti it would be the gigabyte xtreme waterforce one.

Any support is appreciated, please elaborate on your answers.

Normally I'd say go for it because waiting always sucks and will take ages, however, you already have a gtx 680 which is a very capable GPU for modern games.

If it was myself, I'd wait because the 680 is similar to a gtx960 or so? meaning you can easily play 1080p games for now.

If you're burning for 1440p then upgrade but I don't feel like it's worth the expense right now considering pascal is on the way

[noisebomb44]

hah, i remember this question just before maxwell came out, i would say wait because you can already play most games with a 680 like Andrew said

[Minzo]

I'd say go for it. But then again, I bought a 980 1 or 2 months before 980ti came out and felt like a dumbass.

[Spookydoge]

Normally I'd say go for it because waiting always sucks and will take ages, however, you already have a gtx 680 which is a very capable GPU for modern games.

If it was myself, I'd wait because the 680 is similar to a gtx960 or so? meaning you can easily play 1080p games for now.

If you're burning for 1440p then upgrade but I don't feel like it's worth the expense right now considering pascal is on the way

this pretty much answers it, I am really looking to get a 144hz 1440p monitor and thus I will upgrade now, thank you for all of the responses. 

[mapegl]

So I basically wonder if it is worth it to get a 980ti now and then upgrade to pascal (1080ti) when it comes out or will it simply be better to just wait for the 1080ti. I currently have a 680 and if I was to get a 980ti it would be the gigabyte xtreme waterforce one.

Any support is appreciated, please elaborate on your answers.

Honestly I would wait....I am doing the same thing right now. Super hard, but the next generation of GPUs might actually bring some change concerning power usage and heat output! I really want to go back to itx and apparently even AMD will make cooler GPUs happen. ;-)

[Kana]

Or just go with a 980ti and sell it when Pascal comes out...

[Spookydoge]

Or just go with a 980ti and sell it when Pascal comes out...

yeah that is what I meant.

[JebKerman]

 even AMD will make cooler GPUs happen. ;-)

^_/s

[BrightCandle]

The highest value point for a GPU is at release. Typically 1 year after its released its equivalent replacement will be out. When we are just before a release we get some discounting to clear inventory. The 900 series is pretty old already (well past a year).

[MrMaxheadroom]

My rule of thumb (not necessarily just for Maxwell-Pascal) is its better to buy the pinnacle of the last generation tech (in this case the 980ti) over v0.1 of the new generation

So in this case id say get a 980ti and then a couple of years or so down the road after Pascal has had a few revisions and a TI update go for an upgrade then.

 

For the record im in the same boat and about to do a new build which will probably have a 980ti (but my current pc (which has served me well) is like 5 years old now with a Radion 4960)

[PianoPlayer88Key]

My rule of thumb (not necessarily just for Maxwell-Pascal) is its better to buy the pinnacle of the last generation tech (in this case the 980ti) over v0.1 of the new generation

So in this case id say get a 980ti and then a couple of years or so down the road after Pascal has had a few revisions and a TI update go for an upgrade then.

 

For the record im in the same boat and about to do a new build which will probably have a 980ti (but my current pc (which has served me well) is like 5 years old now with a Radion 4960)

I essentially have the same question the OP posted, and your post got me thinking/wondering about something.

 

First, I'm having driver issues with the built-in HD 4600 in my Devil's Canyon i7 (sometimes it crashes, occasionally it BSODs).  So, I'm looking at a possible soon GPU upgrade, if I can't fix the issue.

When I first built my computer a year ago, I was thinking I'd add a GTX 970 later in 2015.  Well, that didn't happen, due in part to insufficient funds to spare, and the Pascal rumors.

 

If I upgrade within the next month or two, all I think I can afford is the 750 Ti, and that would be a stretch.  (I'm almost eyeing the Zotac that I sometimes see for around $100 or so.)

 

When I do get a ~$300-350 GPU, I'll likely keep it I think 4+ years or so.

 

So, your post got me thinking ... should I maybe get the 750 Ti next month (or the 950 if I can get a really good deal on it), then wait for the next generation of NVidia?  Or should I maybe, if needed for my crash issues, get a GT 720 or GT 730 (or another $40-60 card) just to hold me over until the Pascal cards actually come out, then either get one of those, or if they're not all they're cracked up to be, get a hopefully-then-discounted 970 or 980?  (In case it matters, my mobo is the ASRock Z97 Extreme6, and PSU is the Corsair AX760.)

 

Also how much of an improvement would those options make on my FireStrike FPS over my iGPU?  I currently get around 3 fps on the graphics test, 25-30 fps on the physics test and about 1 fps on the combined test.

[MrMaxheadroom]

I would say wait till you can afford a card that lasts you 4+ years (personally I don't tend to upgrade, but rebuild from scratch every 5 years or so) but if your current card is failing you might be better off shopping around for a decent stop-gap bargain

 

I've found this chart very helpful in the past

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html

 

So long as the card you're looking at getting is at least 3 tiers higher than the one you currently have you should see some decent improvement. So use that to narrow your search then go looking for specific reviews for the benchmark scores

[PaulKolby]

So I basically wonder if it is worth it to get a 980ti now and then upgrade to pascal (1080ti) when it comes out or will it simply be better to just wait for the 1080ti. I currently have a 680 and if I was to get a 980ti it would be the gigabyte xtreme waterforce one.

Any support is appreciated, please elaborate on your answers.

Wait and get pascal it's not far out

[PianoPlayer88Key]

Thanks, @MrMaxheadroom.

 

My current "card" is the Intel HD 4600 iGPU on the i7-4790K.

 

I've seen those Tom's Hardware charts before, they're definitely interesting.  I don't see my HD 4600 on the Intel side, but I'm guessing it'd be somewhere between the HD 4000 and HD 530.  (And while I'm looking at the site trying to look at their best GPU for $ article, it looks like their site is down, getting 403 errors.  I've been getting the same thing on CPU-World for the last month or two as well.)

 

I still haven't decided of course, but if I was pressed, I'd probably be going for the 750 Ti now, or if I didn't have the $, picking up the cheapest 720 or 730 on Newegg that gets at least 4 eggs overall, at least 70% 5-egg score and no more than 10-15% 1-egg score.  As for the 750 Ti's, is this Zotac - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/zotac-video-card-zt7060510m - okay, or would this EVGA - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-02gp43757kr - be significantly better for the money?

 

Hopefully installing a new driver for my iGPU (I did download one, just haven't installed it yet) can cure the issues, so I could wait to buy a GPU.

 

One reason I'm a bit hesitant to buy a 750 Ti now, then a 970 or 1070 later, is in part because I could have just spent the same amount of $, plus maybe a few bucks more, on a 980 or 1080.  (And I'd rather not spend $500 on graphics cards in such a short span, like less than about 3 years or so.)

[App4that]

Just get an EVGA and use the upgrade program. Not that big a deal.

[LokiFire]

Pascal may be what the GTX 480 was from GTX 280, over double the performance... it has the hallmarks for it.

[Jaad]

keep in mind that unless theres a special promo for pascal, the step up program is only applicable within the first 90 days from your purchase.

 

http://www.evga.com/support/stepup/