Faster GPU or Adaptive Refresh Display?

[UnbendingNose]

My R9 290 is not cutting it in The Witcher 3 at 2560x1080. I get too many dips under 60fps with a combination of medium and high settings. I've tried all forms of optimization and .ini tweaks to squeeze as much fps out of the 290 as I can with good IQ. Should I look at getting a faster GPU, GTX 1070 or should I pick up at Freesync version of the 2560x1080 monitors? Like an LG 29um68/67. The freesync option will be the cost effective, but I'm worried it won't help that much with frame dips. Any suggestions?

[SageOfSpice]

GPU.

 

Getting a new GPU is like putting a new engine in your car.

Getting an adaptive refresh display is like buying an expensive pod filter and using it as a cold air intake.

 

You can either make a sliver more power with your current motor, or you can just install a new one that makes twice the power. In that regard, buying a new GPU IS more cost effective.

[DXMember]

1 minute ago, SageOfSpice said:

GPU.

 

Getting a new GPU is like putting a new engine in your car.

Getting an adaptive refresh display is like buying an expensive pod filter and using it as a cold air intake.

 

You can either make a sliver more power with your current motor, or you can just install a new one that makes twice the power. In that regard, buying a new GPU IS more cost effective.

but what if you change the oil??

[UnbendingNose]

Just now, SageOfSpice said:

GPU.

 

Getting a new GPU is like putting a new engine in your car.

Getting an adaptive refresh display is like buying an expensive pod filter and using it as a cold air intake.

 

You can either make a sliver more power with your current motor, or you can just install a new one that makes twice the power. In that regard, buying a new GPU IS more cost effective.

My only concern with this is I can only really get an Nvidia GPU right now since AMD isn't making anything worthwhile over the 290 and fast enough. Meaning I'd be locked into only being able to get a gsync display in the future and all gsync ultrawides are crazy expensive.

[SageOfSpice]

3 minutes ago, UnbendingNose said:

My only concern with this is I can only really get an Nvidia GPU right now since AMD isn't making anything worthwhile over the 290 and fast enough. Meaning I'd be locked into only being able to get a gsync display in the future and all gsync ultrawides are crazy expensive.

Egh. In my opinion, any propriety BS implementation is a waste of money.

V-Sync really isn't that bad.

[WereCat]

I play on only 1080p 16:9 and with GTX 1060 at everything ultra, hair works off and grass detail reduced to high and the fauna visibility to high I am pinned at 60FPS 95% of the time and the drops under 60FPS happen rarely and only in certain conditions.

Card is overclocked to 2063MHz core, 8900MHz memory.

[don_svetlio]

5 minutes ago, UnbendingNose said:

My only concern with this is I can only really get an Nvidia GPU right now since AMD isn't making anything worthwhile over the 290 and fast enough. Meaning I'd be locked into only being able to get a gsync display in the future and all gsync ultrawides are crazy expensive.

Keep in mind. Unless you have an i7, your CPU is likely to bottleneck the 1070

[jjohnthedon1]

If man was you

then he would consider savings and expenditures to get another 290 for cross fire and a multi refresh rate monitor 

for a small premium 

and destroy all games every for the foreseeable 

[UnbendingNose]

13 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

Keep in mind. Unless you have an i7, your CPU is likely to bottleneck the 1070

i5 4670k

[don_svetlio]

Just now, UnbendingNose said:

i5 4670k

Pretty significant bottleneck

[UnbendingNose]

15 minutes ago, SageOfSpice said:

Egh. In my opinion, any propriety BS implementation is a waste of money.

V-Sync really isn't that bad.

V-sync doesn't bother me at all. It's the stuttering that happens when my frame-rate dips to 58, 55, or 45ish fps. Which happens a lot in the Witcher 3,

[don_svetlio]

Just now, UnbendingNose said:

V-sync doesn't bother me at all. It's the stuttering that happens when my frame-rate dips to 58, 55, or 45ish fps. Which happens a lot in the Witcher 3,

That's caused by V-sync. V-sync locks you to 30fps as soon as you go below 60 due to you having a 60Hz display. Disable it and you won't have such issues. Also disable hairworks.

[Heavygun1450]

14 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

Pretty significant bottleneck

Its not that significant at all if you overclock it, only game in my library so far to hit 100% cpu usage is Witcher 3.

[CostcoSamples]

13 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

Pretty significant bottleneck

Really not that significant and it depends on the game, but worst case would be like 15% when compared to anything running at 4.5 ghz.  He can OC his i5 and regain any lost fps.

[don_svetlio]

Just now, Heavygun1450 said:

Its not that significant at all if you overclock it, only game in my library so far to hit 100% cpu usage is Witcher 3.

We've had this discussion on LTT and a few members tried it. A 6600K at 4.5GHz was still bottlenecking a 1070 by 10% in multiple games. 4690K bottlenecks by about 15-20%

[Heavygun1450]

Just now, don_svetlio said:

We've had this discussion on LTT and a few members tried it. A 6600K at 4.5GHz was still bottlenecking a 1070 by 10% in multiple games. 4690K bottlenecks by about 15-20%

If I where really bugged by this (which im not) you can just throw in a I7-4790K on the LGA1150 socket.

[don_svetlio]

Just now, Heavygun1450 said:

If I where really bugged by this (which im not) you can just throw in a I7-4790K on the LGA1150 socket.

That's what I usually recommend.

[Heavygun1450]

Just now, don_svetlio said:

That's what I usually recommend.

I could modify my machine and could make it a 4k machine by adding in a I7-4790K and another 1070 in SLI but thats a crazy amount of money lol. 1440p is the sweet spot.

[don_svetlio]

Just now, Heavygun1450 said:

I could modify my machine and could make it a 4k machine by adding in a I7-4790K and another 1070 in SLI but thats a crazy amount of money lol. 1440p is the sweet spot.

AT 1440p the bottleneck is smaller. Btw, you may want to look into a PSU upgrade. CX750 (rebranded GS750) has a reputation of failing randomly and killing components.

[Heavygun1450]

2 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

AT 1440p the bottleneck is smaller. Btw, you may want to look into a PSU upgrade. CX750 (rebranded GS750) has a reputation of failing randomly and killing components.

Nope not worried. I have had it for 3 years and not a single issue other then a small amount  of coil whine.

[don_svetlio]

Just now, Heavygun1450 said:

Nope not worried. I have had it for 3 years and not a single issue other then a small amount  of coil whine.

Your call.

[UnbendingNose]

1 hour ago, don_svetlio said:

That's caused by V-sync. V-sync locks you to 30fps as soon as you go below 60 due to you having a 60Hz display. Disable it and you won't have such issues. Also disable hairworks.

No. That's double buffered v-sync that locks down to 30fps. Witcher 3 uses triple buffering which doesn't do that. I've never turned on hairworks lol.

[Praesi]

Buy a better GPU now and safe Money for a Future Display Upgrade.

[don_svetlio]

13 minutes ago, UnbendingNose said:

No. That's double buffered v-sync that locks down to 30fps. Witcher 3 uses triple buffering which doesn't do that. I've never turned on hairworks lol.

Any type of V-sync does that.

A note of advice - character density, foliage density and foliage distance are the main culprits. Those and AA. Most other settings don't affect performance almost at all.

[SteveGrabowski0]

A stock i5-4690k does bottleneck a 1070 a little bit in Novigrad in Witcher 3, but in this video you can see they're only very briefly ever under 60 fps. If you have even a mild overclock no way you'd ever drop below 60 fps in that scene. I'd just get the 1070.