Will you guys be upgrading when next gen GPUs hit?

I don't know how often the water cooled crowd updates their hardware on average.

I've got a thread going in the nVidia forum, so this is a slight cross post, but you guys might be better able to answer my question. I have a pair of air cooled GTX 260s right now. When I planned my loop 3 years back, I wanted the cards under water, but never got around to it and 55nm 260 blocks were hard to find. Then the cards got "old", then my finances changed.

Currently there's a deal available for two GTX 470s with DD blocks. It's a decent deal, but GF100 isn't exactly renowned for its efficiency, and Kepler is coming Soon™ (Q1 2012 if you put any faith in the rumor mill, AMD's later).

The question becomes, take the deal at hand now, or wait for Kepler and hope people start upgrading their GTX 500 series stuff for the new GTX 600 or AMD 7000 series shinies? There's always something better "just around the corner" with tech, I know, but Kepler should be less than 4 months out. I've waited this long, I can probably hold out a bit longer. I just don't know if the GTX 500 series stuff with water blocks (which is what I really want) will be hitting the used scene or not when the next gen parts are released.

Opinions appreciated. Go ahead, smack me around if you think I deserve it.

I myself will not be upgrading. I recently received my 3rd 6970 to add along with my 6950s to last me all through next year...

One thing i have realized is when your water cooling you need to make what you have last as long as it can... Which is the reason i got the 3rd card. everything played fine on 3 screens with 2 cards, so i added the 3rd to help it last.

When its all said and done the 6970 I just bought will cost almost $465...


I have no experiance with 470's so all I know is the 470 is a pretty good card, and I would think 2 of them would pretty much demolish every game out currently on one screen.

I also have a slight feeling that the new GPUs that are coming out are too the point that unless your playing on multiple screens that one Nvidia or AMD card will be able to play every game out easily. Even CRYSIS!!!
Maybe I am being too optimistic...

yeah, may be best to keep it to one thread...

Anyone with water cooled GPU's has to go through this conundrum when new technology comes out. That or get a universal block which has more chance of being compatible with more cards than a full cover.

EarthDog said:

Anyone with water cooled GPU's has to go through this conundrum when new technology comes out. That or get a universal block which has more chance of being compatible with more cards than a full cover.

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Yea, but there's always a few that always have to have the latest and greatest and sell their old stuff and buy the new shinies when the new generation comes out, right? Or am I dreaming on that count? That's the question I need to answer in my head.

How available/affordable are watercooled GTX 570/580 (maybe 560ti) parts likely to be when the next gen GPUs hit the scene?

I don't mind being one generation back, I have a first gen Droid and buy used cars for this exact reason. My "Geek Pride" might not survive the hit if I were to be two full architecture designs behind and a step back on DX though, lol.

Its not going to drop by much. If this is your wish.. to make it worth it (IMO) you need to jump on the new gen ASAP and get a block for it ASAP. That way you can ride that card for a year or two. Sure its likely a $500+ investement, but... pay to play as they say.

The worst part about full coverage blocks is that they depreciate in value so much since they're really tough to sell...

I ended up getting an EK universal block, I haven't used it yet since I'm still figuring out the layout and modding the case.

So I can take advantage of said depreciation, can't I? No? I'm still figuring out how to ask the right question apparently, lol.

How available/affordable are USED watercooled GTX 570/580 (maybe 560ti) parts likely to be when the next gen GPUs hit the scene?

They are there... but its not something I would hold my breath for.

Research. Look at the SOLD section and see how many full cover blocks you see roll through.. there isnt that many. Most people just eat it, a rare few sell it, and if you are me, you leave the 470 full cover block in the loop attached to nothing.

You could take advantage if you can find them for sale. Usually sellers will only sell their cards with the full cover block included since they know they won't be able to sell it separately. So, if you're looking to buy GTX580s when the HD7xxx and/or GTX6xx cards are released, then you may have some luck.

One thing i have noticed is that if you want a 580 or 570 with a FC block the EVGA forums would be the place to buy them... I would even go as far to say that 50-60% of the users on that forum are hard core Enthusiasts that always want the latest greatest.

So I am pretty sure that when the 6xx series is out there will be many many posts with 5xx series cards with blocks on them..

as far as the classys here, I dont have access so I do not know...

I might not, I went from 775 to 1155 so I might keep that pattern and skip the next "tock" I might however buy some more GPU power.

I usually skip one or two generation..

My last card was a 8800GT that kicked a** for the longest time running every game at 1280*1024..

Last CPU was a Quad Core Q6600...

I'll probably skip the next gen Intel and the nvidia 6xx series, depending on how my tri SLI performs then, I might consider skipping another after that..

frank anderson said:

I usually skip one or two generation..

My last card was a 8800GT that kicked a** for the longest time running every game at 1280*1024..

Last CPU was a Quad Core Q6600...

I'll probably skip the next gen Intel and the nvidia 6xx series, depending on how my tri SLI performs then, I might consider skipping another after that..

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same here! 5 years ago give or take I bought the 8800 GTS from evga with 640MB ram when it launched. first dx10 card. and paired that with a q6600 quad core and later added another 8800 for sli. that rig lasted me a long time and is still in use by my little brother. I just recently (6 months ago) built my new rig with an i7 950 and 2 GTX 570s. I plan on running this rig for at least 3 years, especially since I just water cooled the damn thing. anyways, good luck! hope you can get some sweet 580's with water blocks for a good price!

The first 600-series parts to arrive will be a rebadged GF110 and a GTX 680. There won't be anything in between for at least a month.

My AMD machine is using two GTX260s, my Intel machine runs a solo GTX460. I haven't had any real interest in the 500-series to be honest. I'm hopeful for the 600 series, but it once again depends on performance. 30% to 50% over previous gen does not justify the expense for me. It's double or nothing. But maybe I expect too much.

EarthDog said:

...and if you are me, you leave the 470 full cover block in the loop attached to nothing.

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Oh god, you're one of those people. You are a rare breed, my friend. lol

grumperfish said:

I'll probably upgrade eventually if the 7000-series turns out to have massive performance increases.
I'm not really in a hurry though as I picked up my unlocked 6950 pretty recently, and it doesn't really slow down for anything.

I'm happy with the card so far and I'll be in no rush to upgrade anytime soon.

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nice! did you do the 6970 bios mod? I had a couple 6950's modded to the 70 for a short while before I took em back and bought my GTX 570's. nice cards nonetheless. my 6950's had a really neat feature I would like to see more often. they had dual bios and a switch to switch which on to use. that way if you ****ed up you could switch to the default and reflash the second bios. I ended up using that feature twice, once when doing the 70 mod and again when restoring to factory for the return.

evangs said:

nice! did you do the 6970 bios mod? I had a couple 6950's modded to the 70 for a short while before I took em back and bought my GTX 570's. nice cards nonetheless. my 6950's had a really neat feature I would like to see more often. they had dual bios and a switch to switch which on to use. that way if you ****ed up you could switch to the default and reflash the second bios. I ended up using that feature twice, once when doing the 70 mod and again when restoring to factory for the return.

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Yes, the BIOS mod. It's set at shaders being unlocked only, with a modified 6950 BIOS on the 2nd switch profile.

Edit: Deleted original post on accident (was trying to edit, as I didn't realize what subforum this thread was in - oops).

EarthDog said:

if you are me, you leave the 470 full cover block in the loop attached to nothing.

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That might be the future fate of my current CPU block!! I think the dT with SLi/Cross (of just about any variety) would be too much, but I'd have to try it to find out for sure, and who wants to re-plumb the whole damn loop just because you changed one little thing, right?

Sadly mine has been that way for several months... Im about to rebuild the loop though so its about to go in the trash.

Well my system is **** compared to anyone on this thread.... q6600 and a 9800gtx....

Quick question. Would a xfx 790i ultra still sell on ebay? Bought brand new last december

JeremyCT said:

Yea, but there's always a few that always have to have the latest and greatest and sell their old stuff and buy the new shinies when the new generation comes out, right? Or am I dreaming on that count? That's the question I need to answer in my head.

How available/affordable are watercooled GTX 570/580 (maybe 560ti) parts likely to be when the next gen GPUs hit the scene?

I don't mind being one generation back, I have a first gen Droid and buy used cars for this exact reason. My "Geek Pride" might not survive the hit if I were to be two full architecture designs behind and a step back on DX though, lol.

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I have 3 GTX580's with EK FC blocks I'll sell you when the new 6xx's are released

Edit: Or 3 GTX 480's with Koolance FC Blocks if you want to save some money