A couple of questions about the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970

Barack Obama

1) Does anyone know when these go end-of-life? Looking at reviews on Amazon and a few articles, some are dated back as far as September 2014. Would you expect these cards to get updated every year? It would be a big pain to buy one only to see it superseded soon after!

2) Is one particular version better than another? I did find this good article which gave the MSI the winning medal. Would people go along with this? On Amazon UK, the Azus version is e15 cheaper.

Also, just as a sidenote, look at the EVGA version on Amazon USA. There are 10 different versions!! WTF?? :eek::D

SterlingArcher

Barack Obama wrote: »

1) Does anyone know when these go end-of-life? Looking at reviews on Amazon and a few articles, some are dated back as far as September 2014. Would you expect these cards to get updated every year? It would be a big pain to buy one only to see it superseded soon after!

2) Is one particular version better than another? I did find this good article which gave the MSI the winning medal. Would people go along with this? On Amazon UK, the Azus version is e15 cheaper.

Also, just as a sidenote, look at the EVGA version on Amazon USA. There are 10 different versions!! WTF?? :eek::D

Gpus get longtime support. Driver wise. And especially nvidia.

Msi version of 970 is a good one. I'd probably go with it. But as said below....

In the next few months real gpu changes are happening. So yes the cards out next year are going to be a big improvement over the cards now. This has not been the case for last few years. But with vr imminent this changed the game.

RoyalMarine

I bought this one
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00NQ862GY/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?qid=1451398031&sr=1-6&pi=AC_SX220_SY330_QL65&keywords=GTX+970&dpPl=1&dpID=51dc7gJfnAL&ref=plSrch

And I've not looked back since. Granted, I do want a VR build when it's optimised and available, so I might upgrade next year. But for now, it handles everything I throw at it.

Barack Obama

SterlingArcher wrote: »

Gpus get longtime support. Driver wise. And especially nvidia.

Msi version of 970 is a good one. I'd probably go with it. But as said below....

In the next few months real gpu changes are happening. So yes the cards out next year are going to be a big improvement over the cards now. This has not been the case for last few years. But with vr imminent this changed the game.

This is my big fear about buying a card now. With new ones coming out older ones (our current ones) will drop in price.

Any idea when this will happen? I'b obviously looking in the wrong locations!

Eoinmc97

Thing is, we haven't seen such a leap in nearly 5 years. PC Gaming is bigger now, so who knows if the prices will actually drop or not. I safely say 2nd hand cards will pop up more, but the other cards might be bundled with games or something to push old stock.
nVidia have recently had a supply issue of mid to high end GPUs, so their prices rose by 15% in the US. Perhaps their stock is running low, so their not making as much as before, because they know most will wait for 2016.
AMD have managed to recycle older chips by changing the power delivery and some other tidbits with the buses, but for the most part their stock is going , and I doubt they'd re-stock much when Arctic Islands are out in 2016.
So in the end, I feel that most will actually rise in price, to get those who want to XFire/SLI, as the supply runs low.

SterlingArcher

The real question is do you want to wait? Have you another card in mind to tide you over?

Are you planning on playing vr early or 1440p /4k.

If no and happy on 1080p, get your 970.

SterlingArcher

Eoinmc97 wrote: »

So in the end, I feel that most will actually rise in price, to get those who want to XFire/SLI, as the supply runs low.

I doubt this.

It's been so long since any real jump. Can see a big jump on the bandwagon. market will be flooded with second hand cards.

brady23

In terms of the newer GPUs coming out next year, will they specifically be desktop or will it be for laptops too?

Barack Obama

SterlingArcher wrote: »

The real question is do you want to wait? Have you another card in mind to tide you over?

Are you planning on playing vr early or 1440p /4k.

If no and happy on 1080p, get your 970.

Fair point. I want 1080p and am set on the 970. I just don't want it to reduce in price soon after I buy it because the next generations have come out!!

Barack Obama

There's some good info out there. It looks like it is a 2 year rotation and the current series of chips (Maxwell) will be superceeded by Pascal in 2016. You can even see that the next series (Volta) will be out in 2018, so you could just keep waiting I guess

Sorry - don;t know how to resize...

SterlingArcher

Barack Obama wrote: »

Fair point. I want 1080p and am set on the 970. I just don't want it to reduce in price soon after I buy it because the next generations have come out!!

Everyone is in that boat with trying to future proof.. I have a 970 myself. I run games I play on ultra and good fps and thats on 1440p so no complaints.

I only go nvidia for driver support and some other cool software. other than that amd win out for more ram cheaper options with freesync monitors. Probably best not to instill more doubt in your decision making :😂

CraigM84

was in a similar position before christmas, 500e and what card to get, ended up getting msi 970, and have to say, playing all games at 1080p on max setting, and getting well above 70 fps on all, well worth the buy, nice and quiet too

ShadowHearth

We all expect big jump each year,but we all are disappointed yearly.
If there is a jump, there is a massive price jump up with it, which makes price per performance same each generation.
I wouldn't be surprised it to happen in 2016 too.

Mr Blobby

I'm pretty much in the same boat. I really need an upgrade (Currently using a 6970 2gb) but i'm in two minds on if i should do it now or wait.

If i do upgrade i'll be getting either the 970 or 390. They're very similar but each has its advantages in 1080 & 1440p. If i could too 1440p then i probably should go with the 390 because of the extra RAM.
Just seems like everytime i'm ready to do a upgrade Nvidia/AMD are releasing a new line.

MarkAnthony

Bear in mind if you do buy a generation just as it ends there are cheap second cards a plenty on adverts as people upgrade.

Barack Obama

Great. Now you've got me thinking about having two 970's!!

MarkAnthony

Barack Obama wrote: »

Great. Now you've got me thinking about having two 970's!!

You have to wait until they're cheap!!! :pac: