1070ti or 1080ti? What do I actually "Need" ?

[JCD69]

I'm looking to upgrade my PC soon and with the release of new GPU's I'm looking to buy someones used one. I was looking into either the 1070ti or 1080ti or even the 1080 but I'm not sure what would be best for me. My games have been struggling just a little bit on my current gtx 970 so I want an upgrade. I'm not looking to play games at 4k now or probably until it's extremely affordable because I just don't care that much. I love great graphics like anyone else but I don't need to be as extreme as 4k although I would be interested in 2k. I'm all for having maxed out graphics at 1080 with it being as smooth as possible with G sync though (: 

 

So my question is....Would it be worth it to buy a GTX 1080ti or should I just upgrade to a GTX 1070ti? Or maybe in the middle with a GTX 1080? I just want to have maxed out settings on games without having any sort of struggle. I play the mainstream titles like Battlefield, COD, Destiny, I also play league of legends, Hearthstone, OSRS, Rainbow Six and some other random titles I want to play in the future Red Dead 2, Halo infinite, Gears of War 5,  Nothing insanely demanding and I won't ever get to that point. FYI I'm looking to upgrade to an i-7 8700k in the near future as well

 

My current PC:

 

CPU: Intel i5 4690k

CPU cooler: Cooler master hyper 212 EVO

Motherboard: MSI-Z97 gaming 3 

RAM 16GB

SSD: PNY 240GB, PNY 1TB

HDD: 3TB Western digital

GPU: EVGA GTX 970 ACX 2.0

Case: Cooler master masterbox lite 5

Power supply: Corsair CXM 750W

 

 

 

TDLR: Should I get a 1070ti or 1080ti or 1080? I want to have maxed settings on mainstream titles and not have to buy a GPU for a few years to come. Not interested in 4k but have a little interest in 2k.

 

[Spotty]

3 minutes ago, JCD69 said:

TDLR: Should I get a 1070ti or 1080ti or 1080? I want to have maxed settings on mainstream titles and not have to buy a GPU for a few years to come. Not interested in 4k but have a little interest in 2k.

Depends what monitor you're pairing it with and if you're going for 1440p 60hz or if you want high refresh rate 144hz 1440p.

1440p 60hz = 1070ti
1440p 144hz = 1080ti

[JCD69]

1 minute ago, Spotty said:

Depends what monitor you're pairing it with and if you're going for 1440p 60hz or if you want high refresh rate 144hz 1440p.

1440p 60hz = 1070ti
1440p 144hz = 1080ti

I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to 1440p gaming and 60 vs 144hz and I'm not afraid to admit that but I'd like to get a little more knowledgeable about both.

 

When it comes to 1440p gaming you obviously need a 1440p monitor and then from there, it could either have a refresh rate of 60hz or 144hz right? 144hz being what all pro gamers use (not that it matters) and enthusiasts, right? As it's faster but maybe not even noticeable to most and 60hz is normal for most people? Am I close to understanding it a little bit? Anyways I'm not set on getting 1440p resolution and I don't even know if I'll invest the money and get a 1440p monitor but I just want to have a future-proof system that at the least can run 1080 144hz on ultra without problems for years to come. I would also like the option to maybe run 1440p in the future. Currently running an Asus 144hz 1080 monitor the ASUS VG248QE 24". 

 

I'm looking to buy a used GPU on ebay and it's looking like a 1070ti is about $330-$390 shipped, 1080 $400-$450 shipped, and a 1080 ti being closer to $600 shipped. How big of a difference is a 1070ti, 1080, and 1080ti?

 

 

[itisme911]

6 minutes ago, JCD69 said:

 

I'm looking to buy a used GPU on ebay and it's looking like a 1070ti is about $330-$390 shipped, 1080 $400-$450 shipped, and a 1080 ti being closer to $600 shipped. How big of a difference is a 1070ti, 1080, and 1080ti?

 

 

10-15% diff at most between the cards, go for 1070 or 1070TI, only got for 1080 if you would like to try 4k gaming in the future

[Ninjaguy1]

I love my 1080ti, 2k 144hz is butter smooth, 4k is doable.  Honestly I feel like 2k is enough visually at least for now.  I'm of the camp that the appropriate answer to any question regarding "how much hardware do you need?" is always MORE though......As to the 1440p 60hz vs 144hz, for me personally I could never go back to 60hz.  However it does seem likely that some people may be less sensitive to it and certainly what you play matters.  With your 144hz 1080p monitor you are probably experiencing a slight advantage in competitive FPS that you would give up if you went 1440p 60hz.  However, in games with less visual movement the differences should be smaller.  That said, a new monitor + a high end gpu to drive it adds up fast and as you already have a reasonable 1080p 144hz setup, I would expect the 1070ti to do you well for quite some time.  Maybe even step down to a 1070 for 1080p 144hz, with perhaps a few visual sacrifices to hit the fps target.  The new cpu will help dramatically in that goal as well.  Modern games are just starting to like more threads than the i5 delivers.  

[JCD69]

2 minutes ago, Ninjaguy1 said:

I love my 1080ti, 2k 144hz is butter smooth, 4k is doable.  Honestly I feel like 2k is enough visually at least for now.  I'm of the camp that the appropriate answer to any question regarding "how much hardware do you need?" is always MORE though......As to the 1440p 60hz vs 144hz, for me personally I could never go back to 60hz.  However it does seem likely that some people may be less sensitive to it and certainly what you play matters.  With your 144hz 1080p monitor you are probably experiencing a slight advantage in competitive FPS that you would give up if you went 1440p 60hz.  However, in games with less visual movement the differences should be smaller.  That said, a new monitor + a high end gpu to drive it adds up fast and as you already have a reasonable 1080p 144hz setup, I would expect the 1070ti to do you well for quite some time.  Maybe even step down to a 1070 for 1080p 144hz, with perhaps a few visual sacrifices to hit the fps target.  The new cpu will help dramatically in that goal as well.  Modern games are just starting to like more threads than the i5 delivers.  

Interesting, thanks for the response. I think I might just stick with something cheaper like a 1070ti or 1070 since I realize I don't care that much for 2k gaming and I know i'm not going to pay any more than $200 for a 144hz 2k monitor. I enjoy playing games on ultra at 1080 now. 

 

Thanks!

[Spotty]

14 minutes ago, JCD69 said:

I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to 1440p gaming and 60 vs 144hz and I'm not afraid to admit that but I'd like to get a little more knowledgeable about both.

 

When it comes to 1440p gaming you obviously need a 1440p monitor and then from there, it could either have a refresh rate of 60hz or 144hz right? 144hz being what all pro gamers use (not that it matters) and enthusiasts, right? As it's faster but maybe not even noticeable to most and 60hz is normal for most people? Am I close to understanding it a little bit?

1440p (2560x1440) and 1080p (1920x1080) are your monitors resolution. This is how many pixels make up the image on the screen. Having more pixels (higher resolution) will give a sharper, clearer image and allow for more detail. 1080p is 1440p is approximately 75% (1.75x) more pixels than 1080p.

Hz is the measurement of the refresh rate of the monitor - How frequently the image on the screen is updated. Hz is a measurement of cycles per second, so 60hz will mean the image on the screen is updated 60 times per second. 144hz will mean that the monitor is updating the image on the screen 144 times per second.

The monitors refresh rate is important when you are wanting to play at more than 60fps. With a 60hz monitor, even if you graphics card is able to play the game at 200fps, your monitor will only be updating the image 60 times per second, so you won't be able to see any difference above 60fps.
Higher refresh rate monitors (144hz/165hz/240hz) means that the monitors image is updated much faster, and you will be able to see the benefit of running the game at a higher framerate. Most people will notice a difference, and it does help in fast paced games where there is a lot of movement on screen, such as first person shooters where you're quickly looking around to spot the enemy, or racing games where you're flying along the track at 300km/h.

 

23 minutes ago, JCD69 said:

Currently running an Asus 144hz 1080 monitor the ASUS VG248QE 24". 

If you're already running a 144hz monitor you can see the difference for yourself. Go to this website https://www.testufo.com/ and on the homepage there is a test playing which shows an image updating at different rates. Top image should be displaying at 144fps, and then the next image below it will be at 72fps, and another test below it will show 36fps. You should be able to see a difference between the images in the way they move and how the 144fps test appears clearer, moves more smoothly and less stutter. Higher monitor refresh rate (coupled with higher framerate) gives a much more fluid and smooth gaming experience in fast paced games.

[JCD69]

6 minutes ago, Spotty said:

1440p (2560x1440) and 1080p (1920x1080) are your monitors resolution. This is how many pixels make up the image on the screen. Having more pixels (higher resolution) will give a sharper, clearer image and allow for more detail. 1080p is 1440p is approximately 75% (1.75x) more pixels than 1080p.

Hz is the measurement of the refresh rate of the monitor - How frequently the image on the screen is updated. Hz is a measurement of cycles per second, so 60hz will mean the image on the screen is updated 60 times per second. 144hz will mean that the monitor is updating the image on the screen 144 times per second.

The monitors refresh rate is important when you are wanting to play at more than 60fps. With a 60hz monitor, even if you graphics card is able to play the game at 200fps, your monitor will only be updating the image 60 times per second, so you won't be able to see any difference above 60fps.
Higher refresh rate monitors (144hz/165hz/240hz) means that the monitors image is updated much faster, and you will be able to see the benefit of running the game at a higher framerate. Most people will notice a difference, and it does help in fast paced games where there is a lot of movement on screen, such as first person shooters where you're quickly looking around to spot the enemy, or racing games where you're flying along the track at 300km/h.

 

If you're already running a 144hz monitor you can see the difference for yourself. Go to this website https://www.testufo.com/ and on the homepage there is a test playing which shows an image updating at different rates. Top image should be displaying at 144fps, and then the next image below it will be at 72fps, and another test below it will show 36fps. You should be able to see a difference between the images in the way they move and how the 144fps test appears clearer, moves more smoothly and less stutter. Higher monitor refresh rate (coupled with higher framerate) gives a much more fluid and smooth gaming experience in fast paced games.

Alright, so I already a decent understanding of it but you cleared up a lot thank you. I think I'm going to stick with 144hz 1080p monitors because It's just too expensive right now and on ultra every game looks great. Currently, I'm not able to run most big name games on ultra with my 970 and I would like to be able to run ANY game on ultra at 144hz. With that said I'm assuming the best option would be a 1070 or 1070ti?

 

Thanks for the response!

[Spotty]

19 minutes ago, JCD69 said:

Alright, so I already a decent understanding of it but you cleared up a lot thank you. I think I'm going to stick with 144hz 1080p monitors because It's just too expensive right now and on ultra every game looks great. Currently, I'm not able to run most big name games on ultra with my 970 and I would like to be able to run ANY game on ultra at 144hz. With that said I'm assuming the best option would be a 1070 or 1070ti?

1070ti would be the better pick between 1070 and 1070ti if you're aiming for ultra settings on everything. Probably not a huge benefit in going with a 1080ti since you're not pushing a higher resolution (1440p/4k).

 

I'd recommend searching for some benchmark reviews and youtube videos of people testing your favourite games with the 1070ti and seeing how it performs in the games that you like to play.