What temporary solution would you use?

DudefromHamburg · July 21, 2018

Once again i´d like to sponge of your knowledge here and maybe bounce some ideas around. (for pricing i went on and calculated everything from € to US$ due to the majority of the users are much more familiar with USD than Euro)

here is the situation. Due to a leasing option with my employer i was able to get a 4k Monitor for a total of under 130$ (about 5$ a month for 2 yrs). Therefore my faithful R280 isnt/wasnt gonna cut it anymore. After studying price tables, performance charts (you know, the sweet sweet foreplay of buying new stuff) i at first got a GTX1080 new for about 470$. (which was 100$ under the cheapest listing on our newegg) This was a PNY with Blower Fan Design. Needless to say, i returned it after i completed the first benchmark and this siren got up to 75% Fanspeed. Due to Vega Cards beeing the only sensible 4k Cards AMD had to offer i thought about them , saw the pricing, forgot about them.

After more research showd that the price diffrence (at that time) between a solid 1080 with aftermarket solution and a 1080Ti wasnt that high, but with all the mining crashing down hard and the strong rumors that the 11xx Gen will drop this Year it felt just wrong paying 1000$+ at that time for a 1080Ti. If i would spend top dollar on a GPU then it at least had to be released in the current year.

The used marked was flooded with untrustworthy and extremly overpriced ex-mining cards AMD-wise and 10xx cards were spare. So i set my sights on a 980Ti and i found a gamer who sold me his for 300$. Trustworty Nerd, like i am, so i got it and it runs for about 2 weeks now.

Yesterday a colleague of mine needed a card for his son-in-law (12yo) who killed his card. Its Summer Break so imageine a 12yo going full turkey with 90° outside (32°C) and made a ridiculous high offer on my card, if i bring it monday. So, well i had to accept.

Now, i got 2 Days to Decide wether to tough it out with my R280 untill 1080Ti reach a price which is worthy for a 2yo card or get another temporary solution. After 2 weeks i found some flaws with the 980Ti. There are the "coil whining" (sp?) issues which seem to be common and i might be particular sensible to high pitch noises (my gf doenst even hear it until she presses her ear on the car, well almost), and there is the power consumption and the rat tail coming with it. Much more hot air in my case, the PSU did not work that hard in a long time and an overall increase in noise due to the Card and PSU exhausting quite some hot air. Which was my own fault, i did not factor in the high tdp of the GPU.

Now, prices for a 1080Ti dropped to 800$ and pressuring the 1080 and 1070Ti prices also down and im in a whole new strungle because now the card prices are almost there.. Even Vega Cards dont seem so far off anymore, therefore Freesync could come back into play...

What would you do?

TL:DR

Had a 980TI, gave it away, unsure what to buy for 4kish Gaming (non FPS) on a 4K Freesync Display