Worth buying a 1080 at this point?

[NickOmega]

I'm in the process of part hunting for a new build and have found a couple places selling EVGA 1080 SC and Palit Super Jetstream for £470-£500. I've also found EVGA 1070 ti for about £415-420.

My head is telling me "it's only £60 and the 1080 will last you longer" (I don't plan to be upgrading regularly), but at the same time the GPU is over 2 years old and the new generation can't be too far off.

So as the title; Is it worth buying a 1080 now?

This would be the rest of the system:

PCPartPicker part list: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/MCW4YT
Price breakdown by merchant: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/MCW4YT/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor (£187.19 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI - B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard (£99.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk )
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£149.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£69.54 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£34.74 @ Aria PC)
Case: Phanteks - Eclipse P350X (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£64.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£86.39 @ Aria PC)
Total: £692.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-08-11 18:50 BST+0100​

 

[Dawelio]

I have and I’m actually also having these same thoughts, so this was a good thread to make.

 

[ThunderPrat]

If you need it now get it now, if you can wait a few months and be quick to buy once they drop then wait.

 

[WYP]

Well... Nvidia's "Geforce Gaming Celebration" is on August 20th. If Nvidia is going to announce new graphics cards, it is going to be then.

I'd wait the 9 days and see what Nvidia delivers. If they announce new stuff they will be sure to try and sell out their old stuff as quickly as they can, which could be through a price decrease.

9 days isn't that much of a wait. I doubt prices will increase in the meantime. I'd usually say "buy now if you need to buy now", but Nvidia's event is just over a week away.

 

[AlienALX]

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/evga...s-graphics-card-08g-p4-6183-kr-gx-298-ea.html

I would personally wait though. Not because I think the next gen will be cheaper but because this gen will see some pretty big price cuts by the time the next gen is ready and released.

If you have to buy *right now* and can't wait I would get this.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/powe...hbm2-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-190-pc.html

I think it will be the faster card going into the future. It is much better in DX12 than it is in DX11, and it is slightly faster than the 1080 too.

 

[Dawelio]

What if we talk a 1080 Ti instead of a 1080 then?...

 

[AlienALX]

What if we talk a 1080 Ti instead of a 1080 then?...

Then you can add £200 or so, meaning it's not even in the same price bracket.

 

[Dawelio]

Then you can add £200 or so, meaning it's not even in the same price bracket.

Yeah, that’s true, but I meant more if it’s worth getting a 1080 Ti or wait for the next gen cards?... As the principle is the same as this thread.

 

[AlienALX]

Yeah, that’s true, but I meant more if it’s worth getting a 1080 Ti or wait for the next gen cards?... As the principle is the same as this thread.

Absolutely not. If any one is buying right now they should buy the best value they can get, as it will take less of a kicking when the new stuff arrives.

This is the time to buy. It's going to be a buyer's paradise man. I always used to buy around a new launch, and get the previous gen card. Mostly because you get such amazing value.

When it launched the GTX 470 was £350 or so. I waited until Nvidia released the 570 and 580, then got a 470 for £179 on OCUK. I threw on the best cooler you could get for it (Zalman, £25) and ended up with a hefty OC that was easy to keep in check.

I then bought a 6970 Lightning for the same price (£179, new) from OCUK when the 7970 launched because I needed more VRAM for BF3. The 470 was texture streaming from my paging file (on the hard drive, far from ideal).

I wish I had stuck to those principals over the years to be honest. I wouldn't have wasted so much god damn cash. The funny thing is I have totally stuck to those principals when it comes to CPUs and Mobos, just not GPUs. I bought a 10 core Xeon that performs way higher than the current cost of perf - price (I paid £140 IIRC, it easily beats any CPU at that price) and same with my 14 core. Paid £360, you still can't get a retail CPU to beat it for that price and I have had both for 15 months.

Yet for many years all sense went out of the window when buying GPUs.

And then I finally played a console that can put out a respectable image with an acceptable frame rate and sense was restored lol.

 

[BigDaddyKong]

Is it me or does everyone assume a hard launch when they announce something. There is a very good chance no matter what they announce, you will not see stock in stores until November or possibly even later.

 

[NickOmega]

Thanks for the replies.

Well... Nvidia's "Geforce Gaming Celebration" is on August 20th. If Nvidia is going to announce new graphics cards, it is going to be then.

I'd wait the 9 days and see what Nvidia delivers. If they announce new stuff they will be sure to try and sell out their old stuff as quickly as they can, which could be through a price decrease.

9 days isn't that much of a wait. I doubt prices will increase in the meantime. I'd usually say "buy now if you need to buy now", but Nvidia's event is just over a week away.

That's my thinking; if they announce new cards the 10 series prices should drop. Also I get to see what else is on the horizon.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/evga...s-graphics-card-08g-p4-6183-kr-gx-298-ea.html

I would personally wait though. Not because I think the next gen will be cheaper but because this gen will see some pretty big price cuts by the time the next gen is ready and released.

If you have to buy *right now* and can't wait I would get this.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/powe...hbm2-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-190-pc.html

I think it will be the faster card going into the future. It is much better in DX12 than it is in DX11, and it is slightly faster than the 1080 too.

That's one of the 1080s I looked at actually, and the one I was considering.
Don't really want to go Vega now if I can help it due to higher power draw, and I'm trying to stick to a neutral colour scheme.

I'm not in dire need of buying a GPU (I can continue to use the RX 470 for now) so I can wait and see what happens I guess. I've just spent the past 3 weeks trying to work out the best performance I can manage while balancing the budget to allow for a 1080 and realised that might be a stupid decision at this point in time.

 

[AlienALX]

Is it me or does everyone assume a hard launch when they announce something. There is a very good chance no matter what they announce, you will not see stock in stores until November or possibly even later.

True say. They still need to shift all of the Pascal stock.

I'm not in dire need of buying a GPU (I can continue to use the RX 470 for now) so I can wait and see what happens I guess. I've just spent the past 3 weeks trying to work out the best performance I can manage while balancing the budget to allow for a 1080 and realised that might be a stupid decision at this point in time.

If you can wait, wait. Seriously, I have seen emails from companies saying they have tons of Pascal stock left.

Nvidia did send it to mass production for mining, only they left it far too late (sniggers to himself) and as I and many others predicted mining crashed hard and now all of the companies who made lots of cards are indeed left holding the baby like I said they would be.

Now Nvidia obviously know this, so from a release perspective they have definitely cut them some slack (because there is still no real hard info on Volta/Ampere/whatever they are calling it this week. However, that stock from Nvidia has sold (to MSI, Giga etc.. I know Asus were terribly apprehensive) and some one needs to sell it.

I ain't gonna lie, I have bought most of my GPUs from Overclockers. Mostly because some one always seems to crack, and sells them a crap load of gear on the cheap (like my MSI 6970L and GTX 470). Maybe because they have the buying power? IDK. But yeah, I have had some amazing deals out of them on GPUs over the years.

One thing I will say for certain is that not only have GPU prices come back to where they were, but it is now back to being very much a buyer's market again. The prices have not come down yet (tbh they should have, with "deflation" and age*) but tbh I don't really feel like celebrating the fact that you can now get a Pascal GPU for what you could at launch. That is kinda like turkeys celebrating christmas.

* What I mean by this is technology deflates. It releases at inflated prices, then it levels off, then it drops. Pascal really should have dropped by now, given how old it is. What? two years? something like that.

So yeah if you can wait wait. Mostly because Nvidia really need a reality slap. After the way they and AMD have behaved (and I am not singling any one out, they both behaved atrociously) the last thing I would do is reward either of them by paying launch prices for old crap. That said, Vega 64 has dropped massively, and I still feel it is the better tech going forward. Mostly from a raw hardware level. I would hazard a guess and say that it will be better at RT than Pascal also, but that is for another day (and probably will be split into two types of RT so no one wins, as usual).

 

[NeverBackDown]

Is it me or does everyone assume a hard launch when they announce something. There is a very good chance no matter what they announce, you will not see stock in stores until November or possibly even later.

While true it will still have the affect of lowering prices because everyone will be preparing for next gen cards. So prices will fall down more and more as we get closer to launch.

 

[WYP]

While true it will still have the affect of lowering prices because everyone will be preparing for next gen cards. So prices will fall down more and more as we get closer to launch.

People will also try to sell their graphics cards to help pay for the upgrade, making it a great time for the used market. Only problem is used mining GPUs

 

[NeverBackDown]

People will also try to sell their graphics cards to help pay for the upgrade, making it a great time for the used market. Only problem is used mining GPUs

Yeah but I don't think it'll be that big of an issue honestly

 

[NickOmega]

People will also try to sell their graphics cards to help pay for the upgrade, making it a great time for the used market. Only problem is used mining GPUs

I've found a few already (mining GPUs) on the bay.
The issue isn't the cards themselves though, it's the honesty of the sellers.

I did also find someone selling 2 reference 1080s for £419 each that state brand new and sealed

 

[reactor_au]

I'm holding for the new cards, I expect further bargains on Pascal GPUs then, might be worth getting a RTX instead of GTX as well. Just wait until next weekend, you can do it

 

[Dawelio]

I'm holding for the new cards, I expect further bargains on Pascal GPUs then, might be worth getting a RTX instead of GTX as well. Just wait until next weekend, you can do it

Isn’t this when they will be announced? It will then add some time before they are launched and ready to be shipped etc.

 

[RobM]

couple of things to consider.
There are a lot of cards on t he market now thanks to mining boom being over.
nVidia have a lot of unsold stock that has been returned from AIBs.
So when they do release the next gen cards they will either price them a fair bit higher than 10 series so they can still shift them out or they will drop the 10 prices.

 

[NickOmega]

I have pretty much commited to waiting until after the reveal/announcements to see what happens with pricing. I'm also keeping an eye on EVGA's EU store pages. I figure, probably incorrectly, that since they're the biggest nvidia-exclusive AIB partner their prices are likely to be one of the first change.

EDIT: Well that screwed the pooch. EVGA's EU site actually increased prices (and ditched rebates) a couple of days ago, as well as OCUK bumping the price back up on the EVGA 1080 SC. The only decently priced 1080s I can find now are Gigabyte Windforce, MSI Armor and Inno3d
With the confirmed pricing for the RTX 20 series, I don't foresee any vendors feeling the need to reduce prices of GTX 10 series cards as they're still going to be selling just fine.

Looks like I'm sticking with my RX470 for a while longer. Maybe just settle for a Palit 1070 JS or say "f**k it" and go Vega.