GTX 770, 780 or 780 Ti

[Cryptic Llama]

I currently have a GTX 670 (see my profile desciption for my full PC specs) and would not have normally considered upgrading for a fair while yet. However my cousin is building his first gaming rig and wants to keep his budget down. I thought it could be a good value option for him to buy my GTX 670 at a large discount. He is interested in that deal, though still not sure.

If I do upgrade my GPU should I go with the GTX 770, 780 or 780 Ti? My monitor is 1920x1200 60Hz IPS. I'd like to stick with Nvidia for now due to gsync though feel free to (reasonably) agrue the case for AMD.

I don't have a fixed budget per se but would obviously prefer to spend less. However if I am going to upgrade my GPU "early" I would like a decent increase in performance. The 770 doesn't look that much faster then the 670 as it is basically an improved 680, though then again it is a lot cheaper. Are the sizeable jumps in performance between the cards worth the money? I know I'm not gaming at a very high resolution though I would like a degree of "futureproofing" (I know - there's no such thing as being futureproof but you know what I mean) for more demanding games which I'd like to be able to run and max setting (I'm already having to lower some settings in a number of games), especially with the new consoles arriving helping to push development.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post - just wanted to explan my thoughts so far.

Edit: Also I'm guessing only having PCIe 2.0 and not 3.0 won't have significant effect, will it? Also any suggested manufacturers' cards? The Gigabyte Windforce and MSI Twin Frozr seem good.

[Dr. Gregory House, M.D.]

Publicado originalmente por Gman:

This is lovely

Lol my thoughts exactly.

[Rommel]

yea 780ti is nice for you

[Cryptic Llama]

Wow, in the time I was away (ironically due to quite a big computer problem) this discussion became quite heated between DomCobb1 and V10club. Way too much for me to quote from both of you and it is helpful to have different opinions, though things could have been calmer. I do think that more than 2GB of VRAM is preferable for textures and AA.

Publicado originalmente por Trevor.shaw:

770 is 20 % more better then 670. You can't say card is more better buy Vram if you are only using a single moniter. the 770 shoude
last you 4 to 5 years no card can run games at max setting for that long anless you want to buy the the new titan wich is coming out some time next year there is big diffrence in speed between the 760 and 770. 2Gb you get 4 to 5 years out of it easy. if that worryed about vram thay do a 4 Gb verson of the 770.

The 4GB 770 is something to consider, it's just one of the points is that if I'm going to the trouble of upgrading now I might as well make it a larger upgrade.

This brings me to how some of the benhmarks have confused me - one set, those on guru3d for example, make the jump from 670 to 770 look larger and the gap between the 770 and the 780 look smaller while the reverse seems true on techpoweredup. Could I have some help judging which benchmarks to take the most guidance from? These[www.techpowerup.com] average techpowered up ones look sensible but I am not sure.

[Trevor]

Or maybe you will want to wait antill the 800 series comes out then the 770 will be cheaper or you might want to go with the 800 series card.

[Dr. Gregory House, M.D.]

Publicado originalmente por Cryptic Llama:

This brings me to how some of the benhmarks have confused me - one set, those on guru3d for example, make the jump from 670 to 770 look larger and the gap between the 770 and the 780 look smaller while the reverse seems true on techpoweredup. Could I have some help judging which benchmarks to take the most guidance from? These[www.techpowerup.com] average techpowered up ones look sensible but I am not sure.

The thing is, performance is relative. There's no such thing as aa best GPU, but rather a best all around GPU. For example, there are games where the Titan beats out the 780 ti, and there are games where the 780ti beats out the Titan. For example, the 780ti has 192 more CUDA cores than the Titan. Although CUDA cores don't affect gaming directly, they affect render time for 3D objects. So if you plan on game design, the 780ti would render images like character models and buildings faster. As well as the 780ti has a 7GB/S memory clock as opposed to a 6GB/s memory clock on the Titan, which affects gameplay. Right now that difference means nothing, but in a few years when games become much more intense on the GPU it will matter. So go to the Nvidia website and compare the GPUs you want, be sure to compare most of the stuff on the specs tab.

[Cryptic Llama]

Publicado originalmente por Stymie™:

If your really want to decently "future-proof" and be patient, Nvidia Maxwell (GTX 800 series) will probably be release early this year, where there is a chance of a very good upgrade.

Publicado originalmente por Trevor.shaw:

Or maybe want to wait antill the 800 series comes out then the 770 will be cheaper or you might want to go with the 800 series card.

Yeah the waiting game is always awkward to judge, my cousin said he doesn't mind waiting a bit and use integrated graphics in the mean time but then he doesn't have much of a gaming rig really so I wouldn't want to make him wait too long (though perhaps it'll mean a good card is made available for him in his budget and I keep my 670). Seeing as nothing is certain about when they'll be released (significant delays can happen) and their performance I am very unsure what to do. At the moment perhaps it is best for him to sort out the rest of his rig (which I am advising him on). and leave the GPU until last. Hopefully that shouldn't take too long but if some announcements are made between now and then regarding the 800 series we might have a better idea. If not, well I'm not sure what to make of the prospect of the new series - any advise on that particular waiting game?

Publicado originalmente por {Unperceived}™:

My god Ffs just screw everything and go crossfire with quad R9 290x with no case Just open air
Lol

Lol indeed, I'm glad you were joking, at first I thought you were serious.

Publicado originalmente por DomCobb1:

Publicado originalmente por V10club:

There is no flaw in my argument. Your sarcasm makes no sense whatsoever.

I am talking about the near future. Games he will be playing in 2014 and 2015. I am not talking about the year 2020.

I think you're the one that can't read. I was saying the 780ti is a slim upgrade, I didn't say you're suggesting it. There are 3 cards, 3 cards he's looking at. So I was using the 780ti, which is also the most expensive and best performing card on the market, as an example of what price/performance says about this whole arguement.
Also: Your arguement about the 770 being a worse value isn't right. So that's a flaw. A bit more in depth:

So the way marketing a graphics cards works is this: They have the low, mid, and high end cards. They completely erased low end cards out of the 700 series, but they have 1 mid card and 3 high end cards. The 760 costs $250, the 770 costs $350, the 780 costs $500, and the 780ti costs $700. Let's look at a benchmark comparing the 3 high end cards: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-780-ti-review-benchmarks,3663-8.html
The 770 has an average of 50.5fps at 1080p, the 780 gets an average of 59.9fps at 1080p, and the 780ti gets an average of 71.1fps at 1080p. So when you buy the 770, each dollar buys you 0.14428fps. With the 780, each dollar gets you 0.1198fps, and with the 780ti, each dollar gets you 0.10157fps. So in reality, the 770 is the best value. Now hold on, you're saying, I just said the 770 is only a marginal difference from the 670. Thing is, OP is looking for a card to run games well. A 680 still runs anything you throw at it, 60fps max/near max settings. So please, let us end this stupid altercation with the fact we both have sizeable arguements. Neither of us are right nor wrong. That is it.

Well the price per performance is almost always best for lower end cards, you could use that to say buy one of the lowest end cards which is obviously a bad idea. The thing that I wish review factored in was how much above or below 60 fps the cards are as in many ways you are paying for the extra performance above a certain acceptable level (e.g. 30 fps) to get towards the desired fps (e.g. 60). I would also like a reasonable level of "future-resistance" (obviously one can't expect it to be "futureproof").

Interesting that review (see my previous post with differences between benchmarks) show a larger gap between the 780 and 780 Ti and a smaller gap going from the 770 to 780. Which if I took that to be the case might suggest to go with either the 770 or 780 Ti. Which differes from other impressions I've got. Argh - confusing.

Publicado originalmente por DomCobb1:

Publicado originalmente por Cryptic Llama:

This brings me to how some of the benhmarks have confused me - one set, those on guru3d for example, make the jump from 670 to 770 look larger and the gap between the 770 and the 780 look smaller while the reverse seems true on techpoweredup. Could I have some help judging which benchmarks to take the most guidance from? These[www.techpowerup.com] average techpowered up ones look sensible but I am not sure.

The thing is, performance is relative. There's no such thing as aa best GPU, but rather a best all around GPU. For example, there are games where the Titan beats out the 780 ti, and there are games where the 780ti beats out the Titan. For example, the 780ti has 192 more CUDA cores than the Titan. Although CUDA cores don't affect gaming directly, they affect render time for 3D objects. So if you plan on game design, the 780ti would render images like character models and buildings faster. As well as the 780ti has a 7GB/S memory clock as opposed to a 6GB/s memory clock on the Titan, which affects gameplay. Right now that difference means nothing, but in a few years when games become much more intense on the GPU it will matter. So go to the Nvidia website and compare the GPUs you want, be sure to compare most of the stuff on the specs tab.

Interesting. I don't think I would be unhappy with the 780 Ti, my wallet might cry though, that's the only thing against it really (along with the vague possibilty of buyers remorse being inflicted by the 800 series arrival, but that is tricky and vague to consider). Hmm... this is not an easy decision to make - again I apoligies for my indecisiveness and hope this is useful to others. If you are making a similar decision please let us know your thougts.

[LoTekRabbit]

Publicado originalmente por DomCobb1:

For example, there are games where the Titan beats out the 780 ti, and there are games where the 780ti beats out the Titan.

The Titan does not beat the 780ti in any game...

The 780ti is the faster card and the only reason the Titan costs so much more is because of its computational capabilities which has nothing to do with gaming.

[Dr. Gregory House, M.D.]

Publicado originalmente por Cryptic Llama:

Interesting. I don't think I would be unhappy with the 780 Ti, my wallet might cry though, that's the only thing against it really (along with the vague possibilty of buyers remorse being inflicted by the 800 series arrival, but that is tricky and vague to consider). Hmm... this is not an easy decision to make - again I apoligies for my indecisiveness and hope this is useful to others. If you are making a similar decision please let us know your thougts.

Don't apologize: I enjoy helping others with technical issues, and despite V10Club's premonitions, I'm not trying to be an opinionated ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, I'm trying to get you to see both sides of the arguement. At this point-I repeat, as of the day of 1/3/2014 in the EST in the US- the 780ti is much more than you need for typical 1080p gaming. If you just want something to play games, and most likely at highest settings, go with the 770. If you want a card to last longer than the 770 (Keep in mind there's a 4GB version) go with either the 780 or 780ti. I'd advise against the 800 series, although it's due to launch in the coming months prices will be inflated due to demand and they'll be iin low stock for a while.

Publicado originalmente por V10club:

Publicado originalmente por DomCobb1:

For example, there are games where the Titan beats out the 780 ti, and there are games where the 780ti beats out the Titan.

The Titan does not beat the 780ti in any game...

The 780ti is faster than the Titan and the only reason the latter costs so much is because of its computational capabilities which has nothing to do with gaming.

Maybe not at 1080p, but at higher resolutions/multimonitor hookups there will be significant FPS increase.

[LoTekRabbit]

Publicado originalmente por DomCobb1:

Don't apologize: I enjoy helping others with technical issues, and despite V10Club's premonitions, I'm not trying to be an opinionated ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

FFS get over it. You are holding a grudge over an argument with someone in the Internet. Last I checked you were the one who accused me of thinking my own opinions are fact. Not once did I call you an opinionated ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Drama queen much?

[LoTekRabbit]

Publicado originalmente por DomCobb1:

Maybe not at 1080p, but at higher resolutions/multimonitor hookups there will be significant FPS increase.

Nope

http://www.digitalstormonline.com/unlocked/4k-resolution-gaming-on-the-nvidia-gtx-780ti-gtx-titan-and-gtx-780-idnum102/#.UsdYcbRNOlI

780Ti is faster than a Titan @ 4K

"If you're gaming on a 4k monitor, you'll want the NVIDIA GTX 780Ti. It outperformed both the GTX Titan and the GTX 780 in almost all of our tests"

[Dr. Gregory House, M.D.]

Publicado originalmente por V10club:

Publicado originalmente por DomCobb1:

Maybe not at 1080p, but at higher resolutions/multimonitor hookups there will be significant FPS increase.

http://www.digitalstormonline.com/unlocked/4k-resolution-gaming-on-the-nvidia-gtx-780ti-gtx-titan-and-gtx-780-idnum102/#.UsdYcbRNOlI

Did you even look at those? The Titans outpace the 780tis in multiple games.

Publicado originalmente por V10club:

Publicado originalmente por DomCobb1:

Don't apologize: I enjoy helping others with technical issues, and despite V10Club's premonitions, I'm not trying to be an opinionated ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

FFS get over it. You are holding a grudge over an argument with someone in the Internet. Last I checked you were the one who accused me of thinking my own opinions are fact. Not once did I call you an opinionated ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Drama queen much?

Calm down. Arguement's over and done. I was simply saying I'm not opinionated like you made me out to believe, which you did.

Publicado originalmente por V10club:

Jesus Christ...

I AM NOT TELLING HIM TO BUY A 780ti. CAN YOU PLEASE READ.

I didn't once mention you telling him to buy a 780ti, yet you seemed to think I did. Hmm.

[Cryptic Llama]

Publicado originalmente por DomCobb1:

Publicado originalmente por Cryptic Llama:

Interesting. I don't think I would be unhappy with the 780 Ti, my wallet might cry though, that's the only thing against it really (along with the vague possibilty of buyers remorse being inflicted by the 800 series arrival, but that is tricky and vague to consider). Hmm... this is not an easy decision to make - again I apoligies for my indecisiveness and hope this is useful to others. If you are making a similar decision please let us know your thougts.

Don't apologize: I enjoy helping others with technical issues, and despite V10Club's premonitions, I'm not trying to be an opinionated ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, I'm trying to get you to see both sides of the arguement. At this point-I repeat, as of the day of 1/3/2014 in the EST in the US- the 780ti is much more than you need for typical 1080p gaming. If you just want something to play games, and most likely at highest settings, go with the 770. If you want a card to last longer than the 770 (Keep in mind there's a 4GB version) go with either the 780 or 780ti. I'd advise against the 800 series, although it's due to launch in the coming months prices will be inflated due to demand and they'll be iin low stock for a while.

I think both you and V10Club can see eachother's perspective (you both made valid points) and probably just got off on the wrong foot. Hopefully you can both calm things down between one another.
Thanks for the advice about the 800 series, that does seem sensible as it is such an unknown. I think *if* I did go with the 770 it would seem sensible get a 4GB card as it isn't hugely more expensive.

[LoTekRabbit]

Publicado originalmente por DomCobb1:

Did you even look at those? The Titans outpace the 780tis in multiple games.

Did you?

Battllefield 4

780ti SLI = 41.8 FPS
Titan SLI = 36.4 FPS

Bioshock Infinite

780ti SLI = 64.6 FPS
Titan SLI = 60.4 FPS

Heaven Benchmark

780ti SLI = 38.2 FPS
Titan SLI = 34.6 FPS

Are you talking about the lone 1 FPS difference in Crysis 3 that can be attributed to margin of error? Or are you looking at the single 780ti going up against two Titans. I suggest you take another look at those benchmarks.

Publicado originalmente por DomCobb1:

I didn't once mention you telling him to buy a 780ti, yet you seemed to think I did. Hmm.

I think you need to get over it and stop being a drama queen. We had a debate on an Internet forum I didn't stab your cat.

[Dr. Gregory House, M.D.]

Publicado originalmente por Cryptic Llama:

I think both you and V10Club can see eachother's perspective (you both made valid points) and probably just got off on the wrong foot. Hopefully you can both calm things down between one another.
Thanks for the advice about the 800 series, that does seem sensible as it is such an unknown. I think *if* I did go with the 770 it would seem sensible get a 4GB card as it isn't hugely more expensive.

At this point just go with either the 770 4GB or 780ti like you said. When pretty much all of the previous series have launched there have been backorders and inflation months after launch.

[Joker]

The performance increase from 670 to 770 is not very big. The 770 is a beefed up 680. The 780 is a slower Titan. The jump from 670 to 780 is 10-20 fps. The jump from 670 to 780 Ti is about 30-40 fps. There is talk about a 790 coming out in February.

You should save & wait for the 800 series and get a 870 6GB or 880 8GB. Imagine the performance jump from 670 to an 880.