Did I get screwed?

[hyperj123]

So I bought a gtx 960 SSC 2GB FTW for about $211 like 4 months ago. I was approaching this in a way that would allow me to go sli in the future and squeeze a little bit more life out of my current setup. Now I see the GTX 1050 for around $130 bucks at a 2GB. Was I screwed over? Should I have waited for this card to drop? Side question can I SLI with my 960 of I get a 1050? I'm guessing probably not but I just figured I'd ask. 

[nicobombai]

960 is still above 1050 and is more or less on par with 1050ti.

I think you're fine, although if you wanna upgrade go for at least Rx470 or straight to Rx480 imo.

 

EDIT: I think 1060 cards and lower are not able to SLI, cos nvidia made it that way recently and they are forcing you to get at least 1070 if you want to SLI.

[HKZeroFive]

You bought a GTX 960 2GB for $211 four months ago? Even when there were much better options at the same price point? Man, that was an extremely bad buy. There's also no such thing as the EVGA GTX 960 SSC FTW. I'm guessing the FTW since you bought it at such a high price.

 

And no, you cannot SLI a GTX 960 with a GTX 1050. Two completely different architectures.

[SCHISCHKA]

its in the past. go play some games

[hyperj123]

3 hours ago, HKZeroFive said:

You bought a GTX 960 2GB for $211 four months ago? Even when there were much better options at the same price point? Man, that was an extremely bad buy. There's also no such thing as the EVGA GTX 960 SSC FTW. I'm guessing the FTW since you bought it at such a high price.

 

And no, you cannot SLI a GTX 960 with a GTX 1050. Two completely different architectures.

Scratch the FTW it was a SSC though. 

[sazrocks]

I don't understand, why did you buy that when there was the 1060 and rx 480/470?

[DailyProcrastinator]

15 hours ago, hyperj123 said:

So I bought a gtx 960 SSC 2GB FTW for about $211 like 4 months ago. I was approaching this in a way that would allow me to go sli in the future and squeeze a little bit more life out of my current setup. Now I see the GTX 1050 for around $130 bucks at a 2GB. Was I screwed over? Should I have waited for this card to drop? Side question can I SLI with my 960 of I get a 1050? I'm guessing probably not but I just figured I'd ask. 

 

The GTX 960 series is really good, I have the EVGA GTX 960 FTW ACX 2.0 4GB in one of my systems and it gives me great 1080p performance (but you do have the 2GB version). And it's definitely better than the GTX 1050, however, the GTX 1050 Ti 4GB is probably a bit better than your GTX 960 2GB. Although I'm fairly certain the 1050 series cannot run in SLI at all, even the 1050 Ti's. You bought that card right as the 10 series Nvidia GPU's were coming out so even to find another EVGA 960 card like yours to run in SLI might be very hard. But your card was probably as cheap as it would've ever been. My version of the 960 goes for like $100 more than its regular retail price now for a new one. I say keep that card for a while and then when you can move up to something like a GTX 1060 or RX 480 go for that.

[DailyProcrastinator]

14 hours ago, HKZeroFive said:

You bought a GTX 960 2GB for $211 four months ago? Even when there were much better options at the same price point? Man, that was an extremely bad buy. There's also no such thing as the EVGA GTX 960 SSC FTW. I'm guessing the FTW since you bought it at such a high price.

 

And no, you cannot SLI a GTX 960 with a GTX 1050. Two completely different architectures.

 

It was not an extremely bad buy, although there probably was some better options at the time that's fine. It still is a good performing card there's no need to kick a guy while he's down.

[HKZeroFive]

10 minutes ago, JM21 said:

It was not an extremely bad buy, although there probably was some better options at the time that's fine. It still is a good performing card there's no need to kick a guy while he's down.

The GTX 960 wasn't a good option from the very beginning when you had the R9 380 4GB which was usually cheaper, considerably more powerful and possesses more VRAM. The fact that the RX 470 and RX 480 were around those price point at the time makes his purchase even worse.

 

I agree with the sentiment that it's in the past and he shouldn't worry about it... but some research would have been wise before making the purchase.

[DailyProcrastinator]

2 minutes ago, HKZeroFive said:

The GTX 960 wasn't a good option from the very beginning when you had the R9 380 4GB which was usually cheaper, considerably more powerful and possesses more VRAM. The fact that the RX 470 and RX 480 were around those price point at the time makes his purchase even worse.

 

I agree with the sentiment that it's in the past and he shouldn't worry about it... but some research would have been wise before making the purchase.

 

 

I don't disagree but it’s still not a terrible card by any means, and it will still give pretty good performance. We live and we learn, next time some more research can be done but it’s nothing to feel “screwed” over about.

[WaikikiSailor]

Anything that is not affiliated with AMD is good. nVidia is good. You did good. As someone else mentioned.. move forward and get back to gaming! 

[vanished]

16 hours ago, hyperj123 said:

So I bought a gtx 960 SSC 2GB FTW for about $211 like 4 months ago. I was approaching this in a way that would allow me to go sli in the future and squeeze a little bit more life out of my current setup. Now I see the GTX 1050 for around $130 bucks at a 2GB. Was I screwed over? Should I have waited for this card to drop? Side question can I SLI with my 960 of I get a 1050? I'm guessing probably not but I just figured I'd ask. 

You cannot SLI a 960 with a 1050, or even two 1050s, or even two 1060s, so if you want SLI you made the right choice.

[aisle9]

16 hours ago, hyperj123 said:

So I bought a gtx 960 SSC 2GB FTW for about $211 like 4 months ago. I was approaching this in a way that would allow me to go sli in the future and squeeze a little bit more life out of my current setup. Now I see the GTX 1050 for around $130 bucks at a 2GB. Was I screwed over? Should I have waited for this card to drop? Side question can I SLI with my 960 of I get a 1050? I'm guessing probably not but I just figured I'd ask. 

The 960 is a solid 1080p gamer. Did you pay too much? Yeah, but the plus side is that your card will use less power, and unlike the 380 and 380X (which are, objectively, better cards), your rig won't sound like a vacuum cleaner when the fans kick in to keep the thing not-on-fire. You can still do a whole lot worse than a 960. Go play some games on it. Just don't shoot for a maxed-out Witcher 3 or look at Firestrike scores and you'll be fine.

29 minutes ago, LuckyDuck69 said:

Anything that is not affiliated with AMD is good. nVidia is good. You did good. As someone else mentioned.. move forward and get back to gaming! 

Thank you for this useful, intelligent contribution to the thread. Unless you were just trying to make the OP feel better, please log out and don't log back in until you've actually used a few AMD cards and can objectively analyze their merits and shortfalls as compared to their NVIDIA equivalents.

[WaikikiSailor]

11 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

Thank you for this useful, intelligent contribution to the thread. Unless you were just trying to make the OP feel better, please log out and don't log back in until you've actually used a few AMD cards and can objectively analyze their merits and shortfalls as compared to their NVIDIA equivalents.

I've been building machines in their current form since 1999. Before that, I was a tech a world of 5.25" floppy drives. I'm at CES every year and I'm a former Asus employee. 

Currently, I'm a Network Engineer / Sys Admin for an international engineering company. So yeah, I think I've sampled the fruit of both companies. My statement is based on a few observations:
1. Drivers are much better on the nVidia side.
2. nVidia cards from Asus and eVGA show much better manufacturing quality. When you compare the boards themselves, side by side, you can see a difference in quality.
3. Performace. Much like Intel vs AMD, nVidia has dominated for quite some time. So there is a proven track record.

I could go on but I need to finish a O365 migration for one of my users. But if you would like to learn a thing or two about computers, feel free to message me.

[vanished]

2 minutes ago, LuckyDuck69 said:

I've been building machines in their current form since 1999. Before that, I was a tech a world of 5.25" floppy drives. I'm at CES every year and I'm a former Asus employee. 

Currently, I'm a Network Engineer / Sys Admin for an international engineering company. So yeah, I think I've sampled the fruit of both companies. My statement is based on a few observations:
1. Drivers are much better on the nVidia side.
2. nVidia cards from Asus and eVGA show much better manufacturing quality. When you compare the boards themselves, side by side, you can see a difference in quality.
3. Performace. Much like Intel vs AMD, nVidia has dominated for quite some time. So there is a proven track record.

I could go on but I need to finish a O365 migration for one of my users. But if you would like to learn a thing or two about computers, feel free to message me.

1. For a long time I would have agreed with this but imo AMD has made great strides in the last little while (since around when they started the whole Crimson thing) and I don't know if I would say they're "much better".  They do manage to install without rebooting - something AMD has yet to figure out - but "much" is a stretch imo.
2. Can't comment on this
3. Yes, their best cards are in the lead but how does that matter when we're talking 960 / 380 level cards which are well within what both companies can produce?

[WaikikiSailor]

7 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

1. For a long time I would have agreed with this but imo AMD has made great strides in the last little while (since around when they started the whole Crimson thing) and I don't know if I would say they're "much better".  They do manage to install without rebooting - something AMD has yet to figure out - but "much" is a stretch imo.
2. Can't comment on this
3. Yes, their best cards are in the lead but how does that matter when we're talking 960 / 380 level cards which are well within what both companies can produce?

You bring up a couple of valid points here.

 

The first being... you should always utilize DDU from Guru3D when removing old video card drivers. And you should always reboot. The driver issues I'm referring to go back to a time before the Crimson campaign that you mentioned. So yeah, there's that.

 

Number 2.. well there are a lot of people that are quick to wave the fanboy flag on either side and defend what they love. Which is fine. But how many people are really experienced enough to do so? I mean.. really experienced enough. Hardly any. Most have never even removed the cooler from their video card and looked at the board. Most don't even have 10 years of experience as an Electronics Tech in the Navy like I do and understand basic circuit design, logic gates, etc. Most have not completed 8 years at a university and obtained an accredited degree in EE.

And while you're right that we're only talking about dated, lower end cards here.. doesn't it make sense to buy from the leading card maker just the same? Clearly, they're doing something right. 

[vanished]

1 minute ago, LuckyDuck69 said:

The first being... you should always utilize DDU from Guru3D when removing old video card drivers. And you should always reboot. The driver issues I'm referring to go back to a time before the Crimson campaign that you mentioned. So yeah, there's that.

I always advise using DDU when switching brands, or if you run into any issues, but I've never rebooted unless I had to and in 10+ years I haven't ever had issues with just installing the new ones without using DDU. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Good luck I guess  

1 minute ago, LuckyDuck69 said:

Number 2.. well there are a lot of people that are quick to wave the fanboy flag on either side and defend what they love. Which is fine. But how many people are really experienced enough to do so? I mean.. really experienced enough. Hardly any. Most have never even removed the cooler from their video card and looked at the board. Most don't even have 10 years of experience as an Electronics Tech in the Navy like I do and understand basic circuit design, logic gates, etc. Most have not completed 8 years at a university and obtained an accredited degree in EE.

Yeah that's fair enough.  People fanboy over lots of things in tech and beyond and ignore logic far too often.

1 minute ago, LuckyDuck69 said:

And while you're right that we're only talking about dated, lower end cards here.. doesn't it make sense to buy from the leading card maker just the same? Clearly, they're doing something right. 

I'm not sure it does actually.  Unless you need something only one brand can offer (ie, that top tier of performance), I'd look at the other factors and decide based on that - price, heat, software features, etc.  But that's just me.

[WaikikiSailor]

1 minute ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

I'm not sure it does actually.  Unless you need something only one brand can offer (ie, that top tier of performance), I'd look at the other factors and decide based on that - price, heat, software features, etc.  But that's just me.

Awesome. Looks like the only real difference in our views is price. I don't care how much something costs.. if I want it I'll buy it. That's just a personal view though. haha

[VagabondWraith]

I'll be blunt, yes you got ripped off. $211 for a 960 2GB is a total loss on your part, especially with the 1060/480/470 options available. You asked for an opinion and I gave it to you.

 

In the future, be sure to research more or ask here on the forums for help. You def overpaid for the card. It happens. I say forget about it and enjoy some games, and if you are ever unsure in the future, ask. That's what we're here for.

[hyperj123]

57 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

The 960 is a solid 1080p gamer. Did you pay too much? Yeah, but the plus side is that your card will use less power, and unlike the 380 and 380X (which are, objectively, better cards), your rig won't sound like a vacuum cleaner when the fans kick in to keep the thing not-on-fire. You can still do a whole lot worse than a 960. Go play some games on it. Just don't shoot for a maxed-out Witcher 3 or look at Firestrike scores and you'll be fine.

Thank you for this useful, intelligent contribution to the thread. Unless you were just trying to make the OP feel better, please log out and don't log back in until you've actually used a few AMD cards and can objectively analyze their merits and shortfalls as compared to their NVIDIA equivalents.

Internet points for pointing out the fan boy lol. Thanks for your input 

[aisle9]

23 minutes ago, LuckyDuck69 said:

And while you're right that we're only talking about dated, lower end cards here.. doesn't it make sense to buy from the leading card maker just the same? Clearly, they're doing something right. 

Well, no.

 

There's a long, documented history on this forum and elsewhere on the interwebz of AMD cards being further optimized with age, and NVIDIA drivers ruining that optimization for older cards to the point that many will argue that NVIDIA is actively sabotaging its old cards to sell new ones.

 

I skew NVIDIA when buying new cards. That may well change as AMD's drivers improve and NVIDIA continues to shove two fingers down their throat and turn whatever comes out into the latest "Game Ready Driver". The GTX 1060 started life with a pretty sizable lead on the RX 480, but now? The RX 480 8GB has caught up. Why? Drivers. AMD is getting better with their drivers, and NVIDIA has put on a football helmet and is running headfirst into a brick wall.

 

I also won't argue that NVIDIA's "exclusive" AIB partners do generally interest me more than AMD's. Not to knock Sapphire or XFX, but I'd picked up four EVGA cards in a row because of their quality and customer support. Then cards like the fourth one started exploding and I decided it was best to sell it and go for an MSI for this generation, but I really don't doubt that I'll be rocking EVGA again in the future.

 

All that said, if I'm buying a used GPU, I'm probably looking at AMD first. Again, drivers. The R9 270X that I just sold for some inexplicable reason is probably going to be a useful 1080p gamer long after the three GTX 750 Ti's I have lying around are...makes me wonder why I didn't sell those instead. And yes, there's a performance gap between the two regardless, but the point remains that if you're buying a card with the idea that it's going to last you 3-4 years (or longer), AMD is the better buy today. These things are cyclical, of course, and in a year we'll all be suckling NVIDIA's teet and shitting on AMD again, but it's how I view the landscape at current. I don't think it's fair (or even wise) to discount AMD's modern products based on their past performance. Their track record since Polaris demands that they be paid attention to.

 

My apologies for underestimating you. Usually when someone comes in here with sub-100 posts speaking fanboy, it's a good sign that they have no clue what they're talking about.

[samiscool51]

yea

[ivan134]

Ahahahahahahha

[Biggerboot]

Not worth SLI-ing due to the 2gb of vRAM.  You'll have more GPU power but still 2gb of vRAM.  A 1050 would be like a side-grade though.  Just wait until you can afford a better card OR wait another generation.