31 replies to this topic

[Scrawny Cowboy]

Been hearing things bout the GTX 970 memory architecture :x
The whole "4gb = 3.5gb + 0.5gb", still sounds like a great card and is very fixable with drivers

But dang, is it worth that extra $150 over the GTX 960?
Especially for only 1080p gaming on one of two 24" monitors?

Edited by Scrawny Cowboy, 02 February 2015 - 08:47 AM.

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Depends on the games your playing see if you can find reviews or tests of those games with a 960 and 970

But then you were building an insane system so why worry about a mid range gpu?

Edited by DV McKenna, 02 February 2015 - 09:15 AM.

[Smokeyjedi]

sys_budget_videomem = 3496

place this inside user.cfg file......for all users with 970, We need stats to see how much this helps.........cmon rich people, Were having our 3rd baby here in a month or less, I have no 970 fund rolling at the moment.

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Smokeyjedi, on 02 February 2015 - 09:15 AM, said:

sys_budget_videomem = 3496

place this inside user.cfg file......for all users with 970, We need stats to see how much this helps.........cmon rich people, Were having our 3rd baby here in a month or less, I have no 970 fund rolling at the moment.

I know that feeling or I would be buying two 960's to show people their misconceptions!

[Smokeyjedi]

DV McKenna, on 02 February 2015 - 09:16 AM, said:

I know that feeling or I would be buying two 960's to show people their misconceptions!

I would seriously like to know where 128 bit lanes topp out @, that the 960 carries. Crazy fast speeds, but still only 128 bit lane.....

[Kuritaclan]

DV McKenna, on 02 February 2015 - 09:16 AM, said:

I know that feeling or I would be buying two 960's to show people their misconceptions!

Since 2 960s doesn't get their VRAM Summed and have using in SLI the 2GB the reachable Performance is still worse than 970.

2 960 have more power but not enough VRAM for having hing Resolution/AA gaming. 970 has maybee not the performance and maybee with 3.5gb not enough VRAM. Anyhow. Multimonitor Setup like 3x 1920x1080 use more performance and VRAM as bot options will deliver.

[Scrawny Cowboy]

DV McKenna, on 02 February 2015 - 09:14 AM, said:

Depends on the games your playing see if you can find reviews or tests of those games with a 960 and 970

But then you were building an insane system so why worry about a mid range gpu?

Usually I buy a mid range first before I upgrade to a GTX x70 or x80, though money is a lil easier for me to get now so weighing the value of going ahead with a GTX 970
If the 970 can be smoothed out, I can feel comfortable dropping ~$360 for it
But if that GPU will always have an issue, then maybe I ought to go with my usual method and buy in at mid level?

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Kuritaclan, on 02 February 2015 - 10:03 AM, said:

Since 2 960s doesn't get their VRAM Summed and have using in SLI the 2GB the reachable Performance is still worse than 970.

2 960 have more power but not enough VRAM for having hing Resolution/AA gaming. 970 has maybee not the performance and maybee with 3.5gb not enough VRAM. Anyhow. Multimonitor Setup like 3x 1920x1080 use more performance and VRAM as bot options will deliver.

There in lies the fallacy the 960 doesn't have enough power to use the 2GB fully to up the resolution you have to compromise on the quality settings reducing the VRAM used to up the settings you compromise on resolution the same as any GPU to obtain playable frames.

The 970 is cheaper, slower and once you hit 3.5gb your gimped and reducing settings to compensate

[Golrar]

I'll try out the sys_budgetmem this weekend and post results. Although I have stopped running my FPS counter since I have had no issues, I will do this in the name of science!

Now for the rest of today, digging out of this mini-blizzard in Chicago.

[xWiredx]

DV McKenna, on 02 February 2015 - 10:51 AM, said:

There in lies the fallacy the 960 doesn't have enough power to use the 2GB fully to up the resolution you have to compromise on the quality settings reducing the VRAM used to up the settings you compromise on resolution the same as any GPU to obtain playable frames.

The 970 is cheaper, slower and once you hit 3.5gb your gimped and reducing settings to compensate

He isn't implying that the VRAM is too much for a 960 since the GPU isn't powerful enough to take advantage of it. He's implying that MWO will hit that 2GB cap the 960s offer and bottom out on VRAM performance before taking full advantage of 2 960 cores doing the work. For regular matches, it seems like the 2GB will barely be enough at 1080p with all the settings cranked. For CW matches, though, I saw well over 2GB being used at 1080p with the settings cranked. People wanting to SLI 960s and playing primarily MWO will want 4GB variants if they ever get made.

[Scrawny Cowboy]

xWiredx, on 02 February 2015 - 03:26 PM, said:

...
For CW matches, though, I saw well over 2GB being used at 1080p with the settings cranked. People wanting to SLI 960s and playing primarily MWO will want 4GB variants if they ever get made.

I have heard that those card variants with the more VRAM than stock aren't fully utilize because they weren't designed for it originally... any truth to that? : l

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Scrawny Cowboy, on 03 February 2015 - 06:46 AM, said:

I have heard that those card variants with the more VRAM than stock aren't fully utilize because they weren't designed for it originally... any truth to that? : l

Correct adding a 960 with 4Gb of VRAM won't achieve anything, because the 960 isn't powerful enough to use it.
2.5 or 3GB maybe but i doubt it.