The last time I cared about the state of computer hardware was in late 2011, when I built my last machine. And at the time, the Nvidia 560 Ti was the best bang-for-the-buck mid-tier vidya card.
But I've been out of the loop since. I have no idea what the hell is going on with AMD or Nvidia (and Intel just makes basic SoC vidyas, right?), and I have no idea how they compare to my 560 Ti or each-other.
How do I get up to speed on all this shit?
i5 6660k
GTX 1080
16GB 2400mhz
Good PSU
Good case with sound dampening.
SSD for meme speeds
That's all.
>>54958235
Everything but the video cards are basically common sense, anon.
But I'm not asking for the top-of-the line here... the 1080 in my region costs $930+tax. That's far too expensive, and not in-line with one looking for the best bang-for-da-buck mid-tier card.
And how do I orient myself in terms of performance? I have no idea how a 1080 compares to the 560 Ti.
If you're looking for dollars per fps, the 1070 is probably a good middle ground card. If you're a poorfag wait for AMD to release their new generation space heaters.
>>54958287
>>54958211
cpu - depends on budget, just something with 4 cores is what i recommend
ram - 16gb, it makes a world of difference to never have shit go to page, personally will be getting 32gb when i upgrade come october
case - i personally prefer horizontal mounted cases, and there are very few choices here and you do end up paying a premium. 150$ gets you something that will hold any cooler and gpu though... also, should mention i avoid water cooling like the plague, i can't keep spare pumps on hand incase mine dies, but i can keep spare fans as good ones can cost as little as 15$
as for video...
bang for buck is likely going to go to amd and the 480 till october, as nvidia put out an A0 stepping (no revision silicon) cpu and has poor quantities of gddr5x so they paper launched the fuck out of it, and because the 1070 is a cut down version of the 1080, that means you are bound to however poor or great the yields on not only viable chips is with nvidia, you are also bound to how many bad chips there are, on top of a 70-100$ price premium for "founders edition" and a yet unknown price for 3rd party... yes they can say the msrp is 380 or 600$ but what will retailers do? will they put them out at msrp or will they goudge you.
even then, 480 is 200-250$ (4gb and unknown price 8gb sku) may be the smart buy if you have a 1080p as a 1070 would be overkill for almost (and currently over) twice the price.
this is a wait one month and see kind of deal.
>>54958419
Already have everything but the video card covered. Following's from my old build (not planning on building a new machine any time soon; only replacing vidya card, maybe):
CPU: Core i5, performance has never let me down, still seems to be the CPU everyone uses
RAM: got 24 GB of dat shit. Way ahead of you man. And I actually do have practical needs for all that RAM.
Case: got that covered too, and it'll probably outlast my parts. Pic related.
Water cooling: I've always stayed away from that meme, and I'm happy with the fans air flow in my current case.
PSU: Already got a high quality brand.
Your advice on vidya cards has been really helpful. Thanks anon!
>>54958235
Exactly what I have right now, except I'll be using a 1070 for 2x1080p monitors.
>>54958509
if you are able to hold out, id honestly wait for october as thats when everything amd has this cycle is going to be out or shown off, you could get a 480 and then sell it if you want to move up to a higher end card as a stopgap, im considering that myself as i have use for the hardware decoders.
also, keep an eye out for the new amd cpu called zen, little is known outside of the design, and that its 8 core 16 thread and should be on par with sandybridge at worst, the chip also comes in at 1/2 the size of the current 8350, so the price range is also very widely speculated.
if you have use for 24gb of ram, you likely also have use for an 8core/16thread cpu if it comes in at the right price.
1080p 60fps on most games max settings : 970, or better
1080p 144fps on most games max settings : 390x/980
1440p/144fps or 4k 60 fps : 980ti, 1070, 1080
Anything lower than a 970 isn't worth buying as the new AMD 480 will probably be the new 1080p 60hz price/performance best gpu when/if it's as good as it says it is.
>>54958211
The RX 480 is about to become the best price/performance card in a long time at the end of the month. You should wait for that if you're thinking of upgrading.
>>54958656
Yeah, that's part of why I haven't upgraded in so long. Everything that's been going on with hardware has seemed incremental and not worth the trouble of building from scratch again.
Been waiting for some kind of revolution to come through where either price plummets or quality sky-rockets, and I can build a way, way better machine for a fraction of what it may have cost before.
The thing that prompted me to create this thread were all these "Nvidia BTFO" posts, since -- if the claims are true -- AMD's new card would be an example of waiting for a little bit and then saving a shitload of dosh.
>>54958711
>1440p/144fps
>1070
Nope. I wanted to get a 1440p/144Hz monitor with a 1070 too but nah that's not gonna happen without turning down some of the visuals.
>>54958806
From the benchmarks online a 1070 is the second best card out there, beating titan x and 980ti
http://www.pcgamer.com/the-geforce-gtx-1070-review/
For any game where having 144hz instead of 60hz actually means something it should run 1440p just fine, bf4 for exmaple you could max out 144hz 1400p on a titan x so you should be able to with a 1070.
>>54958711
depending on what you read, 480 is on par with a non x fury, or its slightly worse then a 390.
range is to wide to know till benches come out though, but is the synthetic is anything to go by, the 480 wipes out everything amd and 980 and below for performance (sure there is the fury x, but fuck it, that's a card no one will get now)
come the end of june, and until nvidia releases a lower end card, the 480 will likely be the go to card for 1080p and 1440p, and possibly the go to card for the high end 4k too. if amd steps up their crossfire efforts (they should be) you should be able to crossfire 2 480s and get better then a 1080 performance for 400$ (440-500 if you go 8gb version)
but then again, this is largely speculation based on amd benchmarks.
>>54958762
nvidia rushed the 1080 and 1070, and after the 480's showing, i can see why, it potentially beats out everything below a 980ti performance wise and shits on everything price wise. it should be out at the end of the month, and in a normal development cycle, the 1080/1070 would not have been out till christmas at earliest. now, another part of this is going to be in responce to the next guy
>>54958893
way to show off non oc versions of all nvidia cards as the moment you oc a 980ti it is within 5% of the 1080 and the titan x beats the 1080 soundly.
even when watercooled the 1080 can barely go above 2100, so its a poor ocer, and on the current setup, it can not maintain boost clocks for over 2 minutes, some games throttle the card even lower then the base clock.
i wouldn't touch these cards for founders edition version or prices, and there is a ligit fear 3rd parties will go for founder prices or higher, and if not the partners, then the retailers, because like nvidia fans always said about the 480 "why would you sell something better then X for less then X"
>>54958287
>bang-for-da-buck mid-tier card
do you also look at Ferraris when you're searching for a $50k car?
make up your mind
>>54959021
dude, all gpus fall into a category where they are all affordable, but not all are needed.
i have a few grand in my wallet, i could buy literally any card outside of the highest end pro cards, but i chose sub 300 most of the time because it gets the job done for the lowest price (max games out and give me headroom for a few years)
if amd comes out with vega and its leaps and bounds better than a 480 for just about double the cost, ill sell the 480 and buy a vega.
>>54958211
I bought this just today for £25
I was using a 295 before
It's quite the improvement, runs things nicely in medium at 1440.
