I have a XFX 6870 that I've had for the last 4 years. I am considering upgrading to a nVidia 970. I usually upgrade every 4 to 5 years as the games become more taxing on my system. On most games I usually need to put the graphics on normal/medium. If I go high or ultra I do notice that the system lags pretty bad. I have also been disappointed with my Radeon card due to some of the bugs with the software releases they have had during the time I've had the card. This has made me only really focus on nVidia as an upgrade.
I have 3 questions:
1. Does the brand of nVidia make any real difference? (Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, etc). If so who do you recommend and why?
2. Should I look at a different card other than the 970? The 980 looks like it's intended for 4K gaming, which I probably won't do for 4 or 5 years, however I found one on Newegg for $409.99 after rebate:
MSI GeForce GTX 980 DirectX 12 GTX 980 GAMING 4G 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support G-SYNC Support Video Card - Newegg.com
The comparable 970 card is currently $299.99 after rebate. Looks like the main difference is 1920x1080 and one less display port, which is fine by me. I only want to have 2 monitors on my desk anyways.
MSI GeForce GTX 970 DirectX 12 GTX 970 GAMING 4G 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support G-SYNC Support Video Card - Newegg.com
3. I also noticed that some of the 980s have 6GB and 384-Bit GDDR5 vs 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5. Is the the performance of the Card more in the memory or the Core Clock speed?
Thanks again for any answers/opinions.
I have 3 questions:
1. Does the brand of nVidia make any real difference? (Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, etc). If so who do you recommend and why?
2. Should I look at a different card other than the 970? The 980 looks like it's intended for 4K gaming, which I probably won't do for 4 or 5 years, however I found one on Newegg for $409.99 after rebate:
MSI GeForce GTX 980 DirectX 12 GTX 980 GAMING 4G 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support G-SYNC Support Video Card - Newegg.com
The comparable 970 card is currently $299.99 after rebate. Looks like the main difference is 1920x1080 and one less display port, which is fine by me. I only want to have 2 monitors on my desk anyways.
MSI GeForce GTX 970 DirectX 12 GTX 970 GAMING 4G 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support G-SYNC Support Video Card - Newegg.com
3. I also noticed that some of the 980s have 6GB and 384-Bit GDDR5 vs 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5. Is the the performance of the Card more in the memory or the Core Clock speed?
Thanks again for any answers/opinions.