What GPU should I get/do I need?

[Sin Stalker]

I've been posting alot lately. At one point I just need to replace a gpu, another point my entire system seems to have fried and then a few days later, everything works except blah blah blah.

 

Well now, my system is fine and I am looking for a replacement graphics card.

Current key specs:

i7-930

8gb of ram (going to upgrade to 16)

2x Geforce GTX 285

 

I have 4 displays. I don't believe any are 1080p. They are:

 

Asus vh196t

Dell 1907FP

Dell 2007FP

 

And the fourth isn't even forth mentioning, although I may remove the 4th monitor and plug in a 1080p TV that is right near in the room.

 

My uses:

Gaming

Photo editing

3D art

and then the average web browsing, streaming, etc.

 

I want to stick with Nvidia. I know the 10 series just came out and its amazing but I get the feeling that it may be more than I need, since I'm not pushing 4k or even 1k yet. I am thinking anything after a certain point (like maybe 785) will be better than my two 285s. I definitely want to go down to a single Gcard. I don't want something that'll be bad in a year. These two second series cards have served me well for over 5 years. Definitely have been noticing lag playing games like Southpark stick of truth, though.

 

Thoughts? Recommendations? 

 

 

[VerticalDiscussions]

1070. Or a 1060 smh.... if your taking those displays off.

[Sin Stalker]

2 minutes ago, VerticalDiscussions said:

1070. Or a 1060 smh.... if your taking those displays off.

Taking those displays off what?

[m0k]

whats your budget?

[Sin Stalker]

2 minutes ago, mok said:

whats your budget?

Practically non-existent at the moment. I'm looking for options to then weigh cost vs performance. If I say $200, but there's a better gpu (by leaps and bounds) at $250, I will hold off for a month and get the better.... maybe. Depends.

 

 

[CostcoSamples]

I know you said you like Nvidia, but you should consider the RX 470 as it is a fantastic value and seems to be getting faster with every driver update.  It would serve you very well for several years.  Otherwise I'd look into the GTX 1050 ti.  There is not much sense going for anything faster because the rest of your system needs upgrading first.

[CostcoSamples]

Another option would be to look for a used GTX 970, which is still a great card today.

[m0k]

8 minutes ago, Sin Stalker said:

Practically non-existent at the moment. I'm looking for options to then weigh cost vs performance. If I say $200, but there's a better gpu (by leaps and bounds) at $250, I will hold off for a month and get the better.... maybe. Depends.

 

 

well if youre only gaming on one of those monitors, and its not even 1080p
then a cheap 1050ti should be enough to drive all of them

[Biggerboot]

If  you stick to a first gen i7 I wouldn't go higher than a GTX 1060.  If your intent is just to extent the life of your system a little longer and drive multiple displays  (not necessarily while gaming) then a 1050ti would be fine.  It'll still far exceed two 285s.

[Triventular]

a 3gb 1060 maybe??

[Sin Stalker]

I was looking at the 1050 (and ti) and at least the ones I looked at, didn't have connections for 4 displays.

 

 

I don't plan to upgrade my GPU anytime soon. Seems fine. On par with the 6th gen i3's power, but still has hyperthreading and more cores. Was talking with Oculus display rep at Best Buy (the guy who does the demos) and says any gen i7 is good enough for it. Was he wrong? *Note, I am not getting an oculus. Was just a good point of reference.

[Sin Stalker]

4 minutes ago, mok said:

well if youre only gaming on one of those monitors, and its not even 1080p
then a cheap 1050ti should be enough to drive all of them

 

6 minutes ago, CostcoSamples said:

I know you said you like Nvidia, but you should consider the RX 470 as it is a fantastic value and seems to be getting faster with every driver update.  It would serve you very well for several years.  Otherwise I'd look into the GTX 1050 ti.  There is not much sense going for anything faster because the rest of your system needs upgrading first.

 

Blah this quote thing replaced what I said before...

 

This may be disjointed now. Anyways...

 

From what I've seen the 1050s don't have 4 ports, so I wasn't sure it could use 4 displays.

 

I'm only gaming on one monitor at a time. Other monitors are playing videos, displaying rendered 3d models, spreadsheets, coding, financial data and news, etc.

 

No plans to update the first gen i7. Seems to be fine. Also, I was at best buy and the oculus rep doing demos there mentioned any gen i7 could run the system. Not getting an oculus but it was a good point of reference. Was he wrong?

[Guest]

RX 480 would be my bet.

[LabRat]

7 minutes ago, CostcoSamples said:

I know you said you like Nvidia, but you should consider the RX 470 as it is a fantastic value and seems to be getting faster with every driver update.  It would serve you very well for several years.  Otherwise I'd look into the GTX 1050 ti.  There is not much sense going for anything faster because the rest of your system needs upgrading first.

1050ti's are really crappy cards.

having said that, the cpu isn't much better than a core2 quad 775 processor so.................. wouldn't put too big a card on it.

[Sin Stalker]

1 minute ago, LabRat said:

1050ti's are really crappy cards.

having said that, the cpu isn't much better than a core2 quad 775 processor so.................. wouldn't put too big a card on it.

Benchmarks have it up to the 6th gen i3, but more cores and hyperthread... So I don't see how its crap.

[Biggerboot]

10 minutes ago, Sin Stalker said:

From what I've seen the 1050s don't have 4 ports, so I wasn't sure it could use 4 displays.

My bad.  You're looking at a 1060 3gb or used 970 at the minimum if you want more displays and to stick with nvidia.

 

If you think you'll be upgrading the rest of the system in the near future, invest in the 1060 6gb or RX 480.

[CostcoSamples]

4 minutes ago, Sin Stalker said:

Benchmarks have it up to the 6th gen i3, but more cores and hyperthread... So I don't see how its crap.

Tom's Hardware has put together a very nice CPU performance hierarchy chart that places the i7 930 in the 4th tier from the top.  It will get the job done for any game at 720p.

[Sin Stalker]

2 minutes ago, Biggerboot said:

My bad.  You're looking at a 1060 3gb or used 970 at the minimum if you want more displays and stick with nvidia.

 

If you think you'll be upgrading the rest of the system in the near future, invest in the 6gb or RX 480.

Actually I found one: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KUADE3O/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

But I can't find a 970 on there, for below what a 1060 would be. I looked up the RX 480 and its in the same ball park, aswell. 

[Biggerboot]

10 minutes ago, CostcoSamples said:

Tom's Hardware has put together a very nice CPU performance hierarchy chart that places the i7 930 in the 4th tier from the top.  It will get the job done for any game at 720p.

And as a side note too, your gaming performance will definitely vary depending on how well optimized the game is.  Sometimes it'll beat a skylake pentium and others it'll get beat badly.  Generally there's still a bias towards high IPC chips.  Look it up for the games your specifically interested in, there's still plenty of folks rocking 920/930s.  To say it'll play any game at 720 may be a bit optimistic though.

[LabRat]

10 minutes ago, Sin Stalker said:

Benchmarks have it up to the 6th gen i3, but more cores and hyperthread... So I don't see how its crap.

well, having lived through the era of these processors.......... I wouldn't brag too much about having one. and here we are 6 or 7 years later....... suppose the software changed any to really put a hurtin' on'em?

costcosamples above had it right............ 720p. laughed when I saw that. at least somebody gets it.

[Biggerboot]

4 minutes ago, Sin Stalker said:

Actually I found one: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KUADE3O/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

But I can't find a 970 on there, for below what a 1060 would be. I looked up the RX 480 and its in the same ball park, aswell. 

Yeah, you won't find it on retail sites/stores.  If you're comfortable buying local or on ebay, some 970s will go for under $150.  I personally got mine through r/ hardwareswap.

[CostcoSamples]

Also, don't feel like your only options are a brand new card or used 970.  There are a ton of other used cards that will give you a huge upgrade on the cheap.  Check out the GPU Hierarchy Charts.  Anything 3 tiers above your current GPU will provide a very noticeable upgrade.

 

When looking at a budget upgrade you must throw brand loyalty out the window.  Price/Performance is the only thing that should matter.

[LabRat]

I could have swore in a newegg email this morning there was a 480 for under $200.....?? I'll get back to you on that.

a 1060 wouldn't be a bad card for your set up either. 970;s are drying up and getting expensive again.

here's one........... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202270&ignorebbr=1

plus theres a rebate.