Budget card or wait?

[Serpentine]

Ok, so I'm planning on building my first actual system soon, as my 3yr old Samsung series 7 is starting to show the signs of age (and the not-so-careful treatment I've given it over the years). I wasn't really planning on compromising a huge amount, but still tried to stick to a budget of around £1300, and I came up with this as a parts list 

 

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/R7phCJ

 

pretty decent, I thought, as something to cut my pc-building teeth on. However my budget has recently been cut down by a fair bit, and I need to reduce the cost of the system for the time being. Would it be worth replacing the 980ti with another, cheaper card, such as a 970, and getting either another 970 or the full 980ti later; or just waiting a few months to save up the money for the original gpu?

 

My laptop doesn't need replacing immediately, as it still works, but I haven't been able to actually sit down with any of the games I want to play in months, as it just can't handle them any more. So what do you guys think?

[FloRolf]

at what res are you gonna play?

If 1440p or lower, get the 970.

You can also cut prices on the i7, just get an i5. You don't need thermal compund and neither a 500gb ssd (probably)

750w is also overpowered for a 970.

[RuLeZ]

at what res are you gonna play?

If 1440p or lower, get the 970.

You can also cut prices on the i7, just get an i5. You don't need thermal compund and neither a 500gb ssd (probably)

750w is also overpowered for a 970.

At 1440p R9 390 is way better.

[FloRolf]

At 1440p R9 390 is way better.

tell that my 970

[RuLeZ]

tell that my 970

[zlolslavez]

• You don't need thermal paste with the Hyper 212 EVO.

The fact that you're replacing a laptop with this PC means you probably don't need a 980TI. Kick down to a R9 380 or 390 and simply save money, or pickup a monitor.

Try to find a AC Wi-Fi card, even if you don't have 5 GHz wifi, you may in the future, and it usually isn't much more.

[App4that]

 

Too bad that 390's don't overclock very well and 970's do, which makes that test irrelevant.

[Serpentine]

at what res are you gonna play?

If 1440p or lower, get the 970.

You can also cut prices on the i7, just get an i5. You don't need thermal compund and neither a 500gb ssd (probably)

750w is also overpowered for a 970.

 

probably only 1080p for now, but I'll be using 2 monitors if that makes a difference. Can't afford the 1440p/4k stuff right now, but was thinking I'd rather have the extra pc hardware than the monitors, as I'm satisfied with how my 1080p one looks anyway. I was also considering streaming in my free time once I have my uni schedules and stuff sorted out, so I figured that the i7 was a better choice.

 

obviously 750w is overpowered for a single 970, but that was while I was planning on a 980ti (and isn't SLI 970s more power hungry than the 980ti?)

the SSD is a must for me however, I burn through storage space at an alarming rate, and have nearly 1TB of stuff held up on my laptop, a good chunk of which will need moving over.

 

Honestly not interested in AMD options, I've got one in my laptop, and I'm not a fan. I'm more into what Nvidia has to offer.

 

Also, zlolslavez, could you point me in the direction of the wifi card you mean? I really wasn't sure what to look for tbh, as the only other desktop pc I've had was sat right next to the router, so got a direct connection

[App4that]

probably only 1080p for now, but I'll be using 2 monitors if that makes a difference. Can't afford the 1440p/4k stuff right now, but was thinking I'd rather have the extra pc hardware than the monitors, as I'm satisfied with how my 1080p one looks anyway. I was also considering streaming in my free time once I have my uni schedules and stuff sorted out, so I figured that the i7 was a better choice.

 

obviously 750w is overpowered for a single 970, but that was while I was planning on a 980ti (and isn't SLI 970s more power hungry than the 980ti?)

the SSD is a must for me however, I burn through storage space at an alarming rate, and have nearly 1TB of stuff held up on my laptop, a good chunk of which will need moving over.

 

Honestly not interested in AMD options, I've got one in my laptop, and I'm not a fan. I'm more into what Nvidia has to offer.

 

Also, zlolslavez, could you point me in the direction of the wifi card you mean? I really wasn't sure what to look for tbh, as the only other desktop pc I've had was sat right next to the router, so got a direct connection

If you want a comparison between a 970 SLI configuration and a few 980ti's this video is worth a watch.

[RuLeZ]

Too bad that 390's don't overclock very well and 970's do, which makes that test irrelevant.

Not everybody overclocks, the most people dont.

[don_svetlio]

tell that my 970

Mr 970, at 1440p Ms 390 is better

[Serpentine]

can we not have an AMD vs. Nvidia argument guys? I'm not interested in the AMD side of things, sorry.

[rasesh]

at what res are you gonna play?

If 1440p or lower, get the 970.

You can also cut prices on the i7, just get an i5. You don't need thermal compund and neither a 500gb ssd (probably)

750w is also overpowered for a 970.

 

Why not just get a msi r9 390 or r9 390x?

They are better then the gtx 970 & are technically futureproof.

[RuLeZ]

can we not have an AMD vs. Nvidia argument guys? I'm not interested in the AMD side of things, sorry.

We are not having argument about AMD vs Nvidia, we are having GTX 970 vs R9 390, please dont be a fan boy AMD and Nvidia have great products.

[afyeung]

Why not just get a msi r9 390 or r9 390x?

They are better then the gtx 970 & are technically futureproof.

Please don't get the MSI 390x or 390 unless it's really cheap. I got mine for $150 and for what it is I'm still not satisfied. 

 

Too bad that 390's don't overclock very well and 970's do, which makes that test irrelevant.

True. I've seen a couple dud 970s that only got up to 1350mhz. But that's still 200mhz higher than the average 390(x).

[Serpentine]

I don't really have any intention of overclocking tbh, it's not something I'm comfortable doing myself at this point, and I have yet to even begin to understand the process

[rasesh]

Please don't get the MSI 390x or 390 unless it's really cheap. I got mine for $150 and for what it is I'm still not satisfied. 

 

True. I've seen a couple dud 970s that only got up to 1350mhz. But that's still 200mhz higher than the average 390(x).

 

Atleast a 390 & 390x can do 1440p & even 4k without a problem.  Gtx 970 struggles.

[afyeung]

Atleast a 390 & 390x can do 1440p & even 4k without a problem.  Gtx 970 struggles.

You're right at 4k. But I wouldn't say the 970 struggles to do 1440p. And if you're trying to game at full 4k 970 isn't a good option anyways. I like the 390x. It's just that it's hot and loud which isn't too fun. In games it does about 10-15% in optimized titles than the 970 but it depends on which titles. Some like dying light and JC3 run a lot better on Nvidia. Dying light is still really well optimized though other than the lack of borderless windowed mode. 

[rasesh]

You're right at 4k. But I wouldn't say the 970 struggles to do 1440p. And if you're trying to game at full 4k 970 isn't a good option anyways. I like the 390x. It's just that it's hot and loud which isn't too fun. In games it does about 10-15% in optimized titles than the 970 but it depends on which titles. Some like dying light and JC3 run a lot better on Nvidia. Dying light is still really well optimized though other than the lack of borderless windowed mode. 

 

Have to wait for the new amd's to solve those issues i guess.

[lior1111]

Too bad that 390's don't overclock very well and 970's do, which makes that test irrelevant.

True about the the mhz but not about performance, the 390 even if you overclock to a lower mhz than the 970 is still performing better than the overclocked higher mhz gtx 970, mhz is not everything! Like vram is not everything And so on..

Just watch jayztwocents gtx 970 vs r9 390 video

And about the topic, i would get the 980ti now cause literally (almost) every month there are new cards / new rumors.. You cant beat the hardware, you have to just buy what you can when you can.

[App4that]

Not everybody overclocks, the most people dont.

Look at my post count. Your post is officially the worst post I have ever seen on this forum, and you should feel bad.

If you're on this forum, chances are you're going to overclock. And if FREE performance doesn't appeal to you. Well I have nothing nice to say.

[Savir]

at what res are you gonna play?

If 1440p or lower, get the 970.

You can also cut prices on the i7, just get an i5. You don't need thermal compund and neither a 500gb ssd (probably)

750w is also overpowered for a 970.

What about getting an 980? 970 is a big downgrade 

[App4that]

What about getting an 980? 970 is a big downgrade

Have you checked out EVGA's B stock? They just updated it and there is just about everything in there including several 980. Including the Hybrid.

[Savir]

can we not have an AMD vs. Nvidia argument guys? I'm not interested in the AMD side of things, sorry.

Why don't you at least consider AMD? They have some good desktop GPU options 

[Serpentine]

Look at my post count. Your post is officially the worst post I have ever seen on this forum, and you should feel bad.

If you're on this forum, chances are you're going to overclock. And if FREE performance doesn't appeal to you. Well I have nothing nice to say.

 

rude...

 

I don't have any interest in overclocking, for a number of reasons tbh. Firstly because I just don't feel comfortable doing it myself, as from a couple of OC'ing videos I can't really wrap my head around the process, and really don't want to tinker with my hardware in a potentially destructive way. Secondly I don't want to spend the extra money on watercooling my system, which I would feel the need to do if I were potentially generating instability and extra heat in my system.

 

I might look into if further in the future, but I really doubt it.

 

What about getting an 980? 970 is a big downgrade 

 

a 980 is only about £100 cheaper than a 980ti, and if I had to cut my budget by that little I'd just go without food for a week instead