Hey guys, Haven't been around for a while due to being on my placement year at uni so I am a bit out of the loop when it comes to hardware.. Any way unfortunately one of my 3GB 580's died last night and rather than buy another I think I am going to sell the second and go for an upgrade! I now have 2x Dell u2711 with the intentions of getting another. On some games the 580's struggled to play at ULTRA and that is something that I would love to be able to do again. I am looking at 970's and 980's at the minute and I am wondering if they will be able to max games out at 2560x1440? Would I be better with a single 980 or a 970 (possibly x2 970's) as far as I know triple 1440p gaming is still difficult with decent fps so that's pretty much out of the question. is the improvement of a 980 over a 970 worth the extra cash or would I be able to reach the same performance with an overclock? I am still rocking the 2700k on the maximus iv extreme z, will this bottleneck new cards? Sorry for so many questions, I feel like a noob all over again haha! Thanks guys, Luke!
A pair of 970s in SLI will see you right Plus - a 2700K and an Extreme-Z is still very capable, especially OCd. Plus, the 970s are a bit 'greener' than 580s!
Hey man thanks for such quick reply, yeah I thought that was the best value for money option. They should perform a decent bit better than my 580's also? And im sorry to be a pest but how much is in it between a 970 and 980? Would it be reasonable to say an overclock could give the same performance? Thanks!
No worries! There's not a huge gap between 970 and 980 performance, and given the price difference between the two, I'd be going for a pair of 970s (despite the e-peen of a pair of 980s). Have a look at this thread for more details on the 970, the 970 v. the 980, and other useful stuff! Saves me regurgitating it haha! Oh, and yes. A pair of 970s will be somewhat faster than a pair of 580s!
One of the biggest draws of the 980 over the 970 (for me) was the performance per watt, which at single screen resolutions is nigh-on identical to the 750Ti - widely acclaimed as the most efficient GPU ever made. The 970 is second in line, and you're right that with a keen overclock it can snap at the heels of a stock 980, but as with every generation of Nvidia cards, the 980 is an overclocking beast in its own right (think around 20% core and about 10-15% memory), meaning that it can come close to and in many cases overtake the last generation dual card beasts whilst sipping a fraction of the power. Although the 295X2 is still out in the lead if you need a space heater... Having said all that the prices for the 980 have gone a bit silly since launch, with a stock EVGA 980 SC now tipping the scales at a ludicrous £508 on Scan - a full £100 more than I paid for the same card last September! With that in mind, the 970 is the only logical choice now unless a) money is no object, and/or b) you value your epeen. EDIT: I should probably add, the Nvidia stock cooler is epic, and was another BIG olive branch when I was shopping for new last year.
Thanks for the comment man, do you think I would be better of with 2x970's OC'd or a single 980 OC'd? Keeping in mind I am running multiple monitors and intend on adding a third u2711. I do value my epeen but I cant afford to drop over £1000 on cards when I could get myself two EVGA 970 Cheesecake ACX with water blocks for cheaper, as far as I can remember the Cheesecake cards have a decent overclocking potential? In saying that I have never actually overclocked a GPU, I did get my 2700k to 5Ghz though Besides epeen only lasts until the next generation anyway haha! Thanks, Luke.
This is one of those few times that I suggest SLI. The 980 is barely faster than the 970 - and if the toss up is between two 970s or one 980 the answer is easy - two 970s. It'll blast the single 980 out of the water and then some.
^ Totally this ^ I was lucky. I wasn't going to settle for anything less than a stock "Titan" cooler on my card, so my only options at the time were a £335 OCUK special 970 with stock cooler, or a 980. I managed to bag the latter for just £415 delivered. Given that this gave me ~15% better performance and 69% more e-peen for 24% more money, and it was a long term purchase, I was happy with that trade-off. But for over £500, they're having a laugh.
Why not just look at one of the custom cooler versions from someone? Just over £400 then for a 980. I say 'just' even though £400 is a lot of money, more than I can afford on a GPU, or anything. But it's still £100 cheaper than the stock cooler cards. If I were spending the money I'd go for the 970's, just because of the large gap in price. Two 970's for just over £500. You could add a third later on, your PSU and motherboard would take it (I think). Not that the benefits of tri-SLI are that great...