Recommend me a new GPU for Christmas :)

[abillybob]

Hey Guys

 

So I quite like the 970 and have heard very good things and I don't want to spend more than £300. My worry is that just around the corner Nvidia may release their Next Gen Pascal series GPU's. I don't want to spend a lot of money on a GPU for it to be the old one in 2-3 months!

I'm not sure about AMD GPU's as I haven't used them since a HD 7770 due to consistent driver problems I was having with them - but I'm open to suggestions if they've gotten better. It also needs to be a GPU that supports HDMI 2.0 as my TV is 4K and I'd like to browse the internet and do picture edits at a 4K resolution.

 

I currently have a 770 so would like some decent performance gains at the same time. What would you all pick?

 

Thanks!!

[sonofsanta]

I currently have a 770 so would like some decent performance gains at the same time. What would you all pick?

 

I'd wait. 770 -> 970 is only a single generation (800 was mobile only) so you'll get something like 30-40% improvement, which isn't huge enough for the investment. Compare here: GPU 2014 Benchmarks - Compare Products on AnandTech

 

If you want to double your performance, which is the rule of thumb I tend to go for, the 980 nearly gets you there depending on the game (GPU 2014 Benchmarks - Compare Products on AnandTech), but you need at least a 980Ti to be certain of that doubling (compared here using the 680 as a stand in for the 770, as the 770 was a rebranded and slightly-better-clocked 680: GPU 2015 Benchmarks - Compare Products on AnandTech)

 

Given that even the 980 starts at about £370, I'd say it's not worth it. Nothing wrong with a 770 at all.

 

What resolution is your monitor? wait ignore me you said 4k, and @LosOjos has covered that topic below. 4k is a struggle even for high end dual setups at the moment.

Edited November 17, 2015 by sonofsanta

[LosOjos]

It also needs to be a GPU that supports HDMI 2.0 as my TV is 4K and I'd like to browse the internet and do picture edits at a 4K resolution.

 

There's not really a single GPU setup that can handle 4K gaming at the moment, and I wouldn't really advise your use case as being worth shelling out for.

 

Websites aren't going to look any better in 4K, in fact they'll likely look worse as they'll either be cramped up one edge, full of white space or have text so tiny you can't read it and end up zooming in to a point it's somewhat comparable to 1080 (or lower, depending how far you sit from your screen - I have my HTPC set up to zoom pages to about 150% on resolution 1080 so I can read them from the couch!)

 

Viewing photos in 4K might be nice if you've got a good camera, editing won't make a fat lot of difference though (apart from the UI probably being too small to use easily)

 

What I'm saying is, don't use 4K for the sake of using 4K. It's awesome if you get a set up capable of true 4K gaming (which you currently can't on a £300 budget) or for viewing 4K movies (which there's a serious lack of), but it's awful for general computer use.*

 

IMO, you'd be best waiting for another generation when 4K gaming at decent quality on a single, sub £300 GPU might be a reality.

 

* unless we're talking a monitor sat a few inches from you on a desk, then depending on your eyesight you might prefer it - I don't!

[CAM]

Are you running at 60fps? If yes, don't bother upgrading anything.

[XTMercenary]

Sell your 770 use the extra cash to upgrade.

[abillybob]

I'd wait. 770 -> 970 is only a single generation (800 was mobile only) so you'll get something like 30-40% improvement, which isn't huge enough for the investment. Compare here: GPU 2014 Benchmarks - Compare Products on AnandTech

 

If you want to double your performance, which is the rule of thumb I tend to go for, the 980 nearly gets you there depending on the game (GPU 2014 Benchmarks - Compare Products on AnandTech), but you need at least a 980Ti to be certain of that doubling (compared here using the 680 as a stand in for the 770, as the 770 was a rebranded and slightly-better-clocked 680: GPU 2015 Benchmarks - Compare Products on AnandTech)

 

Ok Thankyou I may hold off then until the next generation of cards come out. It's a shame though they're not out for the Christmas Season!

 

There's not really a single GPU setup that can handle 4K gaming at the moment, and I wouldn't really advise your use case as being worth shelling out for.

 

Websites aren't going to look any better in 4K, in fact they'll likely look worse as they'll either be cramped up one edge, full of white space or have text so tiny you can't read it and end up zooming in to a point it's somewhat comparable to 1080 (or lower, depending how far you sit from your screen - I have my HTPC set up to zoom pages to about 150% on resolution 1080 so I can read them from the couch!)

 

Viewing photos in 4K might be nice if you've got a good camera, editing won't make a fat lot of difference though (apart from the UI probably being too small to use easily)

 

What I'm saying is, don't use 4K for the sake of using 4K. It's awesome if you get a set up capable of true 4K gaming (which you currently can't on a £300 budget) or for viewing 4K movies (which there's a serious lack of), but it's awful for general computer use.*

 

IMO, you'd be best waiting for another generation when 4K gaming at decent quality on a single, sub £300 GPU might be a reality.

 

* unless we're talking a monitor sat a few inches from you on a desk, then depending on your eyesight you might prefer it - I don't!

 

Cheers mate. Though I won't be gaming in 4k. Some games though like Talos principle with 4k textures can be pushed easily with a 770 because I have done and with v sync off it'll get 30 - 40 FPS. I think it's possible but it depends what games you're going to play, obviously the l;likes of Fallout 4 and GTA V aren't going to run 4k but some indie games will

 

I normally set my game resolutions to 2560 x 1440 but my desktop experience is in 4k with 200% scaling. This works brilliantly for me and I don't have any of the problems you are listing above on my 49" TV. It's just real nice to have the screen real estate with 4k pixels and now when I do my editing in photoshop or premier I have much more room and when looking at a 4k picture/video I have taken I can see exactly how it would playback on a 4k screen.

 

My main problem isn't the performance of the GPU I currently have but more because it doesn't have HDMI 2.0 meaning I only get 30Hz (I think it runs 1.4) so everything is a laggy, it's not due to the GPU not being able to handle it but more because it's a limitation of the HDMI output it uses, means that the mouse cursor is jittery. I have tried it via it's display port on a separate monitor and it's as smooth as butter, shame really!!

Do you reckon if I get a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter would this enable me to run 4k at 60hz?

 

Thanks again peeps