graphics upgrade

[kcihtred2]

so my friend has a:

a8-5600k

12 or 16gb ram (i forget which)

dual 1080p monitors

 

he wants to play star citizen, and his current most demanding game is the division.

 

and he is planning on a graphics card upgrade. He is insisting he needs r9 390x/gtx 980/980ti level graphics for VR.  I showed him benchmarks from similar rig with gtx 970 and how it did well with steam's benchmark.

 

I tend to think that the 390x/980/980ti level is over kill and he is better on saving the difference for 2-3 years down the road for next upgrade.

 

thoughts opinions

[suicidalfranco]

if he got the money let him spend it

[KezzaMcFezza]

2 minutes ago, kcihtred2 said:

so my friend has a:

a6-5600k

12 or 16gb ram (i forget which)

dual 1080p monitors

 

he wants to play star citizen, and his current most demanding game is the division.

 

and he is planning on a graphics card upgrade. He is insisting he needs r9 390x/gtx 980/980ti level graphics for VR.  I showed him benchmarks from similar rig with gtx 970 and how it did well with steam's benchmark.

 

I tend to think that the 390x/980/980ti level is over kill and he is better on saving the difference for 2-3 years down the road for next upgrade.

 

thoughts opinions

He should get the 970, then when pascal comes out he should sell it and buy the 1070 or something.

 

hope this helps

[Frosty]

I feel like that cpu of his would probably bottleneck any GPU of that caliber.

[kcihtred2]

2 minutes ago, Frosty said:

I feel like that cpu of his would probably bottleneck any GPU of that caliber.

it can but money is a limiting factor

[Adreyu]

he absolutely needs to upgrade his processor, tell him to go for the 970 instead of a 980 ti and pick up a good i5 and new motherboard. when pascal comes out he should sell the 970 and get a 1070

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, kcihtred2 said:

so my friend has a:

a8-5600k

12 or 16gb ram (i forget which)

dual 1080p monitors

 

he wants to play star citizen, and his current most demanding game is the division.

 

and he is planning on a graphics card upgrade. He is insisting he needs r9 390x/gtx 980/980ti level graphics for VR.  I showed him benchmarks from similar rig with gtx 970 and how it did well with steam's benchmark.

 

I tend to think that the 390x/980/980ti level is over kill and he is better on saving the difference for 2-3 years down the road for next upgrade.

 

thoughts opinions

I agree with the CPU needing an upgrade, but my opinion for the GPU is going to differ from most on this thread; I say investing in something like a 980Ti isn't a bad idea. Yes, Pascal is just around the corner and yes it looks extremely promising but it's not like Maxwell stuff is going to be magically obsolete. A 980Ti will still dominate most games for several years to come. There's a grain of truth that if he gets Pascal he's more future resistant and will have many more fancier features, but frankly it's not like he's loosing that much sticking with the latest Maxwell card.

 

And truth be told, I'd never wanna be the first to hop on the Pascal bandwagon anyway for fear of early major bugs being discovered. I'd wait for Pascal to be released and let Maxwell cards drop in price and then snag a 980Ti. Then, after a couple years or so when Pascal becomes mainstream and there are more options and varieties available, sell the 980Ti and switch to Pascal. Just my two cents though, I'm sure others will pounce on me for even suggesting it, but I think it's not a half bad approach assuming time is on your side. If it's not, do what @Adreyu says.

[Adreyu]

3 hours ago, Stylized_Violence said:

I agree with the CPU needing an upgrade, but my opinion for the GPU is going to differ from most on this thread; I say investing in something like a 980Ti isn't a bad idea. Yes, Pascal is just around the corner and yes it looks extremely promising but it's not like Maxwell stuff is going to be magically obsolete. A 980Ti will still dominate most games for several years to come. There's a grain of truth that if he gets Pascal he's more future resistant and will have many more fancier features, but frankly it's not like he's loosing that much sticking with the latest Maxwell card.

 

And truth be told, I'd never wanna be the first to hop on the Pascal bandwagon anyway for fear of early major bugs being discovered. I'd wait for Pascal to be released and let Maxwell cards drop in price and then snag a 980Ti. Then, after a couple years or so when Pascal becomes mainstream and there are more options and varieties available, sell the 980Ti and switch to Pascal. Just my two cents though, I'm sure others will pounce on me for even suggesting it, but I think it's not a half bad approach assuming time is on your side. If it's not, do what @Adreyu says.

I was only suggesting the 970 in the interest of not breaking the bank having to change everything.

[Guest]

Just now, Adreyu said:

I was only suggesting the 970 in the interest of not breaking the bank having to change everything.

Yeah it's a good point but I have no idea what the OP's budget is or what kind of timeline he wants things accomplished. Just pitching my own idea in case he can wait and maybe wants to take a different route. But hell, even a 970 ain't that bad of card and probably could last him awhile too.

[kcihtred2]

13 minutes ago, Adreyu said:

he absolutely needs to upgrade his processor, tell him to go for the 970 instead of a 980 ti and pick up a good i5 and new motherboard. when pascal comes out he should sell the 970 and get a 1070

well budget wise he has like $500 for the foreseeable future. current graphics being a radeon 7770