What to do.... what to do?

[Surfie]

Hi all,

I currently have a GTX 680, and some time ago, I was tossing up upgrading to the 780's (and didn't actually do it). Now that the 970/980's have been released, the question has come back - is it time for me to ditch my GTX 680, and upgrade to a GTX 970/980?

The salient points in the debate:

• I am not unhappy with the 680, but it is starting to tire
• I watercool, so would need to get waterblocks etc down the track - once available
• The above means that warranties mean NOTHING to me
• My budget is NOT unlimited
• I currently game at 1080p
• I am looking to eventually move to a 4K resolution monitor (not sure when however)
• My current PSU is a Corsair RM750
• Full spec details in the Project DSV thread. I would not be looking at upgrading anything else at this time

To that end, what do you all think I should do? 1 x 980 or 2 x 970 (SLI)? If I go the SLI option, will I need to update the PSU as well?

The 980s are ~$700 where I am (plus delivery costs)
The 970s are ~$450 plus delivery costs
Water blocks are unknown at this stage - but I am expecting ~$130 per waterblock, based on the price of 770/780 waterblocks.

Any and all assistance is appreciated.

 

[JR23]

If your happy with your 680 then I would definitely wait for a bit until the AMD stuff comes out, not so you can consider them but just so that the prices find their actual resting place. Also wait until you see what blocks come out and what combination is going to work best. Ultimately it seems like the right time to move from the 6 series though. If you contemplating 4k and your rig is working well for your current res I guess there is no point in moving until you know that your buying a card that is well capable of 4k. I don't know if the Maxwells are I haven't had any time to sit about reading reviews since they hit but you see my angle there.

I'm sure your PSU will handle two 970's easy and if your watercooling them that sounds like a good solution but it would mean you couldn't have two 980's then Their pricing seems a long way apart and it sounds a lot like nVidias recent tactical decision to make people poop money for the flagship card for a while, better than the £550 780 though

JR

 

[Excalabur50]

I would say go 2 970's in sli and they use that little power your current psu is more than enough so you will be laughing

 

[nepas]

the block from the 670/760 ref card will fit on the ref 970 btw

Has been confirmed by aqua computer and EK

So that will lower the costs for the block.

 

[remember300]

2 980s would be fine on that PSU lol

And with EVGA they do have warranty carry over when you remove the shroud

 

[BigBlue1]

As to your first point, that your card is starting to 'tire' what are the symptoms that make you say this, does it only work sometimes? does it freeze up a lot? is it glitchy? do you see stuttering at times?

 

[Surfie]

As to your first point, that your card is starting to 'tire' what are the symptoms that make you say this, does it only work sometimes? does it freeze up a lot? is it glitchy? do you see stuttering at times?

At times I am noticing some minor artifacting and stuttering during high load.

First I suspected inefficient heat transfer, but the temps under load are still fine, and there is no other obvious cause of such issues.

 

[Warchild]

At times I am noticing some minor artifacting and stuttering during high load.

First I suspected inefficient heat transfer, but the temps under load are still fine, and there is no other obvious cause of such issues.

If you have OC your card, overtime this OC will need more and more volts to maintain the same clock. I would guess this is the case now if you are seeing minor artifacts. Same applies to CPU, as time goes by your OC will eventually fail until you up the voltage a fraction.

 

[stampedeadam]

Another option would be to turn the clocks down on the 680 until the artifacting goes away and just add another 680 in SLI. That would make a potent rig, okay so it's a couple of generations old now but are you bovvered? I wouldn't be - the 680 is still a good card - unless it really is faulty - but I reckon it is likely just clocked too high

 

[CreatiXx]

if i was you i'd save your money for the moment and just keep your 680 or maybe buy one second hand to put them in SLI. I've got 2 GTX 680's running at the moment and if your only doing 1080p it will do the job for a few years. By the time your 100% sure you'd like to upgrade to 4k you might consider new cards. By now you should be able i think to find some cheap 680's and save some money for now. By the time you'd like to upgrade to 4k there may already be a new generation of cards.

 

[realneil]

I just put my two EVGA GTX-680s off of the shelf and into an i5-4690K system.
It's really snappy and I think that this box is good to go for a few years.

 

[Surfie]

I have not applied any further overclock beyond what the msi peeps put on it. So unless the power required by that has gone up beyond what the system's set to I don't think that will be the case.

Re: buying one (or two) second hand 680 s and sli that, that is an option, but I only have one waterblock, and I'm not too sure I can get a second easily.

 

[realneil]

I have not applied any further overclock beyond what the msi peeps put on it. So unless the power required by that has gone up beyond what the system's set to I don't think that will be the case.

Re: buying one (or two) second hand 680 s and sli that, that is an option, but I only have one waterblock, and I'm not too sure I can get a second easily.

You can still get W/Bs for 680s. I have two backplates and water blocks for mine, but haven't put them on yet.

 

[Warchild]

I have not applied any further overclock beyond what the msi peeps put on it. So unless the power required by that has gone up beyond what the system's set to I don't think that will be the case.

Re: buying one (or two) second hand 680 s and sli that, that is an option, but I only have one waterblock, and I'm not too sure I can get a second easily.

I have 2 680 waterblocks for reference boards that I may be willing to sell. They are the EK CSQ design. I also have the SLI bridged CSQ waterblock.

 

[realneil]

I have 2 680 waterblocks for reference boards that I may be willing to sell. They are the EK CSQ design. I also have the SLI bridged CSQ waterblock.

Surfie, just ask and ye shall receive,............