Help me not pick an NV card

[SafirXP]

As per my specs (check my profile) the GTX 960 would be ideal for me PSU & budget wise. Plan to get a card from the US at the end of April; $230 max budget.

 

Any chance of the new AMD 14/16nm cards coming out by that time? The AMD DX12 fanfare is also making me hesitant. I've never bought a non Nvidia card, since the Riva128 back in 1998. Other than faith/trust/familiarity I prefer NV for mostly for performance/watt & their driver support.

[Castdeath97]

What is your CPU?

[SafirXP]

1 minute ago, Castdeath97 said:

What is your CPU?

CPU: Intel i3-4160

Mobo: Asus B85M Gamer

RAM: 8GB DDR3-1600

PSU: Gigabyte X430

[Castdeath97]

Just now, SafirXP said:

CPU: Intel i3-4160

Mobo: Asus B85M Gamer

RAM: 8GB DDR3-1600

PSU: Gigabyte X430

I don't see something wrong with getting the 960 with your CPU.  But do you already have the CPU? If you don't you can always get the newer i3 6100.

[SpiralTTGL]

I think a 960 would do fine anything you play with low fps would prob be because you have a dual core

and yes ik amd has cards around same price with better performance but he would have to upgrade his psu and would still have the dual core bottleneck

[mangeHD]

the new nvidia cards is said to be anounsed is april so wait some months and you can get a 970/980 for cheaper

[mikat]

8 minutes ago, SafirXP said:

As per my specs (check my profile) the GTX 960 would be ideal for me PSU & budget wise. Plan to get a card from the US at the end of April; $230 max budget.

 

Any chance of the new AMD 14/16nm cards coming out by that time? The AMD DX12 fanfare is also making me hesitant. I've never bought a non Nvidia card, since the Riva128 back in 1998. Other than faith/trust/familiarity I prefer NV for mostly for performance/watt & their driver support.

end of april? i don't know about that, but you should wait as long as possible since the prices of the old gpus drop when a new gpu is released

[Hunter-97-G]

It'll be fine. The first Pascal cards (GTX 1070-1080) are rumoured to be released on May 27th, but AMD Polaris will release in summer as sooner. If you are hesitant because DX12, you can get an R9 380X for exactly 230 dollars and enjoy better performance than what GTX 960 delivers.

[SafirXP]

1 minute ago, Castdeath97 said:

I don't see something wrong with getting the 960 with your CPU.  But do you already have the CPU? If you don't you can always get the newer i3 6100.

Yeah I already have it. Took me over a year just to save up for the graphics card. Can't afford to get anything better or wait any longer; always some unforeseen expenditure waiting round the corner. Lol, that was so middle class..

[Castdeath97]

Just now, SafirXP said:

Yeah I already have it. Took me over a year just to save up for the graphics card. Can't afford to get anything better or wait any longer; always some unforeseen expenditure waiting round the corner. Lol, that was so middle class..

Well then, since you already have nothing you can either:

 

1- Get a 960: Will do good in CPU bound games and if you give it a good overclock

 

2-Get a R9 380X: Stronger than a 960, but might not be much better in CPU bound games because of driver overhead differences.

 

3- Get a 950/750ti  and save up for polaris/pascal GPU later.

[SafirXP]

1 minute ago, Hunter-97-G said:

It'll be fine. The first Pascal cards (GTX 1070-1080) are rumoured to be released on May 27th, but AMD Polaris will release in summer as sooner. If you are hesitant because DX12, you can get an R9 380X for exactly 230 dollars and enjoy better performance than what GTX 960 delivers.

Thanks, looks like I'll have to stick with the 960. The R9 380X is over my power budget, checking them at http://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator

[Castdeath97]

2 minutes ago, SafirXP said:

Thanks, looks like I'll have to stick with the 960. The R9 380X is over my power budget, checking them at http://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator

Technically not: 

 

 

 

Power supply calculators love to over exaggerate load.

 

But of course you have to take the quality of your PSU as well, I personally never heard of gigabyte PSU so I have no idea.

[todead4life]

you really should get the 380x i have a 980sc running on a 500W psu with an i5 so don't worry about power (so long as your power supply is of decent quality)

 

Edited March 16, 2016 by todead4life
forgot

[astranger200]

I calulated and it said 331 watts... I think you will be fine with the 380x

 

[SafirXP]

331W? I'm getting a lot higher.

 

With 380X: http://outervision.com/b/Y3JdaS -> 443W

 

With 960: http://outervision.com/b/GDelvr -> 353W

 

Getting close to PSU limit scares me, esp considering its a quite cheap Gigabyte PSU.

[7850OC]

3 hours ago, SafirXP said:

CPU: Intel i3-4160

Mobo: Asus B85M Gamer

RAM: 8GB DDR3-1600

PSU: Gigabyte X430

cpu = dual core (...is fine... for now)

mobo = is cool

ram = is perfect (8GB at 1600mhz, oh yes, is perfect)

psu = is good (is not a cheap psu friend, is a good one)

[SafirXP]

Think I'll stick with a 960 4GB. On a slightly different note, which brand would be more reliable?

 

Its really hot in the summers, dusty all the time, humidity fluctuates, power surges, load shedding, etc. so the reliability/longevity factor is important. Because of the "dust+humidity=dirt" situation I'd prefer an open design so I can clean it regularly. Personally I'm leaning towards Asus Strix, MSI or EVGA. Any advice?

[Citadelen]

On ‎16‎/‎03‎/‎2016 at 9:00 AM, SafirXP said:

331W? I'm getting a lot higher.

 

With 380X: http://outervision.com/b/Y3JdaS -> 443W

 

With 960: http://outervision.com/b/GDelvr -> 353W

 

Getting close to PSU limit scares me, esp considering its a quite cheap Gigabyte PSU.

That calculator is exaggerating massively, there's a 60W difference between them, which is justifiable seeing as the 380X is a lot faster than the 960.

[i_build_nanosuits]

powersupply is not the issue...DX11 AMD driver CPU overhead is.

[SteveGrabowski0]

On 3/16/2016 at 3:40 AM, SafirXP said:

Thanks, looks like I'll have to stick with the 960. The R9 380X is over my power budget, checking them at http://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator

The GTX 960 is exactly the gpu to pair with an i3. Like nanosuits said above, AMD gpus are poor choices with i3s because of the DirectX 11 overhead that badly degrades their performance with i3s. Nvidia doesn't have that problem. There are still a few games games like Crysis 3 that suck on an i3, but even lots of very cpu heavy games such as GTA V play very well on i3s with an Nvidia GPU. Also, no point in waiting for Pascal, as only the 70 and 80 series cards are likely to come out soon. Nvidia will probably hold off on their 60 series cards like they did in the 900 series to spur sales of the 70 series card.

[SteveGrabowski0]

1 hour ago, SafirXP said:

Think I'll stick with a 960 4GB. On a slightly different note, which brand would be more reliable?

 

Its really hot in the summers, dusty all the time, humidity fluctuates, power surges, load shedding, etc. so the reliability/longevity factor is important. Because of the "dust+humidity=dirt" situation I'd prefer an open design so I can clean it regularly. Personally I'm leaning towards Asus Strix, MSI or EVGA. Any advice?

I'd go with EVGA, they seem to be awesome if something screws up. I can't count how many times I have heard stories of someone's EVGA gpu dying, they send it in for RMA, and get a better card back (and every AIB partner will have cards that die prematurely).