20 replies to this topic

[Sybreed]

Playing games that just got released, I realized that my current graphic card (GTX580) isn't really cutting it anymore. I made some quick searches online and saw the 780GTX with the ACX cooler for the same price as the standard version, which is around 650$. Is this a good card, or should I go with another Nvidia product?

Please, don't come here to suggest an ATI card... I've had bad experiences in the past

[Meta 2013]

I just bought a EVGA 770 GTX 4gb card for 389.00 on amazon. Best price performance ratio. I upgraded from dual 480's ... so so quiet. runs cooler, and everything looks great.

[NuclearPanda]

Recently I read an article that said the above (the 770) was the "best bang for your buck" card at the moment.

Personally I bought a 760 earlier this year for around $220ish and I can run absolutely everything on max settings with no issues and great FPS.

I also prefer Nvidia cards to AMD.

[Sybreed]

hmm thx, I just checked the GTX 770 4gb and it's 620$ in Canada (yay Canada!). At this price, I might go for the 780GTX.

[Narcissistic Martyr]

AMD blah blah blah bang for buck blah blah better drivers now blah blah.

I'd suggest a GTX770.

Also the price for a GTX780 is about $500 these days and the GTX780Ti is coming out soon for $650-700 and it's the most powerful single chip gaming GPU in the world (for now).

*Edit* You're a Canadian so my prices are not what you'll pay. Sorry.

Edited by Narcissistic Martyr, 08 November 2013 - 10:52 AM.

[Blackfire1]

I run gtx 550 ti 2g in SLI. I can still run max everything no problem.

Just go buy another 580 and sli them. Would be cheaper.

[Durant Carlyle]

I run the EVGA 780 SuperClocked with ACX, and I heartily recommend it. It's overclocked out of the box and has such a great cooler that it can be further overclocked using EVGA's Precision X software. The cooler is so good that I've actually turned the fans down from the default speed while overclocking both the GPU and memory beyond the out of box overclock.

I run at 2560x1440 resolution with every in-game setting maxed out, and in most maps get 85-90 FPS with no 'Mechs on screen. Frame rate does dip a lot when looking certain directions in every map, sometimes down to 60 FPS or so. However, even in a big brawl with the screen filled with 'Mechs and explosions it doesn't go below 50 FPS or so -- even when looking in a "bad" direction. Every system experiences this, and the only improvement would be from the devs improving the game code.

[Troggy]

Perhaps you live in a different Canada?

The one I live in has 770s for ~$350 and 780s for as low as $500 (Can. Computers). Hell, even BestBuy has them for not much more...There are definitely some things you get gouged for in Canada, but generally speaking, video cards are not one of them. Here are some ideas (all these companies ship via mail or courier).

From NCIX:
770:
http://www.ncix.com/...rce%20GTX%20770
http://www.ncix.com/...GA&promoid=1360
870:
http://www.ncix.com/...rce%20GTX%20780
http://www.ncix.com/...acture=Gigabyte

From Amazon.ca
770:
http://www.amazon.ca...eywords=gtx+770
780:
http://www.amazon.ca...eywords=gtx+780

Canada Computers:
770:
http://www.canadacom...&item_id=061067
780:
http://www.canadacom...&item_id=060746 (CHEAP!!!!)

Best Buy:
770:
http://www.bestbuy.c...7763cf7755den02
780:
http://www.bestbuy.c...3e5d0f82ed4en02

EDIT: I realize the author indicated 4GB, the advantage is dubious, and besides its still less:
http://www.ncix.com/...acture=Gigabyte

Edited by Troggy, 08 November 2013 - 12:09 PM.

[Troggy]

Also, @ $650 you could pick up 2 x GTX770 which blows a GTX780 out of the water in any game that allows for SLI.

A 780 has ca. 125% the performance of a 770; 2x770 has ca. 150% of a 780.

--
Troggy

Edited by Troggy, 08 November 2013 - 12:16 PM.

[Tvrdoglavi]

Why rob yourself of the best deal possible by sticking to only one brand? It's not like nVidia never did anything shady, like selling defective GPU's that overheated and died. Right now is probably the worst possible time for you to buy a new card. If you absolutely don't have to get one right now, don't. AMD's R9 290 looks like it will mix things up and even if you don't want an AMD card you will probably be able to find a much better deal on an NVidia card. If you are looking to spend $650.00 go with the newly released 780 Ti, that is the fastest card on the market right now.

[ArmageddonKnight]

A GTX 780 is a beast, the new 780ti is even mroe so, if u can wait and have the money then EVGA has a 780ti Classified coming out soon, its up for preorder.
A reference 780ti can match and beat a 780 Classified just to give u an idea.

The GTX 770 is a boostef 680. IMO if ur gunan get a 700 series card, get one thats actually new

So yea 780 non reference (i.e Asus DCU2, MSi Lighting, EVGA Classified) or 780ti is what i recommend, they both rock.

[Sybreed]

Why is it the worst time possible?

[Sen]

the just announced 770Ti *IS* a beast. . but at $700 you'd have to be REALLY committed to you rig [or have money to blow]

By comparison, though you don't wanna hear this, the new AMD 290 is 95% of the performance of the 290x, beats out the GTX titan, and is only $400. The new 280x isn't bad either, but it *IS* just a clocked up 7970.

I can undertsand your reluctance after having had a bad experience with AMD. I had some really bad experiences with Nvidia in the past: but these days, they're both about equally supported. I'd do some major reading before committing to any one brand.

[Peter2k]

Now is the best time to upgrade, 780 ti just came out
That includes price cuts on everything below

Be aware that everything beneath a gtx 780 is "just" a rebranded 600 line graphics card
While 780 and 780 ti are titan class graphics cards

The 780ti has more things enabled on the chip than even the titan and way higher clocks, if u seek absolut premium the 780 ti is quite good

Personally I don't regret buying my 780 half a year ago or so, no need to overclock, so nice silent

The standard reference cooler on the nvidia high end cards (780,780ti, titan) are quite good cooling solutions, run silent, and u can quench out more performance doing overclocking yourself quite well

But the new 780ti has more processing power, it has more hardware enabled in the chip itself than the titan itself
I think the 780 has a good price point right now, however the ti version is not just overclocked, and delivers 10 to 20% more performance(in real life means 10 to 15 more frames)

Please have a read here:

http://anandtech.com...x-780-ti-review

[Troggy]

What exactly are these "more things"? They have the same API support, and are the same series of card. It has a larger memory bus width, and more "SMX" units are enabled (more consistent manufacturing results in less defective units), but it is fundamentally the same tech - it doesn't do anything new.

In games that have SLI support (e.g. Battlefield 3), a 2x770 config beats it handily:
http://anandtech.com...780-ti-review/7

In games without, it's no contest in the other direction:
http://anandtech.com...780-ti-review/4

Considering SLI support is likely to increase in the future, and considering you can actually get 2x770s more cheaply than a 780Ti, I consider this to be the best bargain (assuming the motherboard supports SLI, and maybe even if you have to get a new MB).
--
Troggy

[Peter2k]

Troggy, on 08 November 2013 - 01:26 PM, said:

What exactly are these "more things"? They have the same API support, and are the same series of card. It has a larger memory bus width, and more "SMX" units are enabled (more consistent manufacturing results in less defective units), but it is fundamentally the same tech - it doesn't do anything new.

In games that have SLI support (e.g. Battlefield 3), a 2x770 config beats it handily:
http://anandtech.com...780-ti-review/7

In games without, it's no contest in the other direction:
http://anandtech.com...780-ti-review/4

Considering SLI support is likely to increase in the future, and considering you can actually get 2x770s more cheaply than a 780Ti, I consider this to be the best bargain (assuming the motherboard supports SLI, and maybe even if you have to get a new MB).
--
Troggy

Ya ya
I still like a single card a lot more than 2 cards
That's something everyone has to know for himself

Sli works wonders if it works n works well, I don't think MWO will support for a while
But that's just me thinking out loud and op asked for opinions

I posted the link to Anandtech on PURPOSE
If u wanna get technical: 780ti has more SMX units enabled, if OP knows what that means, and has higher clocks and higher boost clocks
And quite higher clocks on the RAM modules, making up for the less wide memory bus in comparison to the 290x
And you know yada yada yada, n stuff
Point being:
Read the review on Anandtech, find out which kind of card u want and know that PGI is probably quite some way from dx11 away, proper sli included (I guess here of course, but they got also UI2.0, n clans n maps n ..... Don't know what in the works, while being a still rather small team

Edit:
I'm not against sli, I know it's great, if it works
Haven't said anything against it, but I don't know how much OP understands of technical slang like SMX units n stuff
That's why I posted the Anandtech link
Everything u wanna know about Nvidia cards n alternatives are in there

That's the best advice right there isn't it?
Cuz I don't have that kind of hardware lying around to test it out myself

Edited by Peter2k, 08 November 2013 - 01:48 PM.

[Troggy]

@ Peter2k

I am in full agreement regarding Anandtech. They are an excellent review site. Probably the best. I do have some, second-hand, experience with 2 SLI'd 770s (a colleague is running this config to excellent effect).

With regard to SLI, "I know it's great, if it works" is very accurate. Two things to keep in mind: 1) It works more often than it doesn't in modern games, 2) The GTX 770 is a perfectly capable card in single-mode. It's not like you cannot run all modern games at reasonably high settings (including MWO) with a single 770. Even with one of them, it is only 20% slower than an 780, yet you pay a very significant premium for the 780. In my mind that is very difficult to justify, and the 780Ti even more so. The Titan, triply so.

--
Troggy

[Catamount]

If the budget is there, I also recommending two 770s. For games that actually are intensive enough to require that much power, SLI will work. SLI works in most games, these days.

No, MWO does not have official SLI support yet, but MWO also does not require a lot of GPU power. It's mostly a CPU hog.

[Sybreed]

well, I decided to go all in and buy the 780 GTX TI... I had money to spend

Thought of going SLI... but I keep hearing about games or programs not supporting it so I'd rather go solo card again.

[ArmageddonKnight]

Good choice, i maybe would have waited for the 780ti Classified, but the reference models CO like crazy it seems anyway so ur still getting a beastly CPU