I want to cry. I want to kick myself. Or blame my son. If only his PC didn't die.... If only I could resist.... If only.... I tried not to come here. Really. But... yes, there is always a but.... but in the interest of exploring every upgrade avenue, here I am.
I initially planned to buy an i5 6600K, Gigabyte Gaming 7, Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB, and a Noctua NH-D15 cooler. I decided to add a Samsung 950 Pro 256GB M.2 drive, a iiyama 24" touchscreen (to upgrade my 22" iiyama touchscreen), and a modular PSU for better cable management. The first group (CPU/motherboard/RAM/cooler) I definitely need to replace his dead components. The second group was more of "Wow! New toys!"
Now I have to decide whether:
1. The benefits of the "new toys" outweigh the benefits of a new GPU
2. A build with a new GPU is within budget and is reasonable for the cost
However, I now run into the classic AMD vs. nVidia dilemma. I've seen numerous recommendations for the 980Ti to know without even reading many reviews that it is currently the leading GPU. Currently an AMD user, I had to see what it had to offer to compete. From what I have researched, it seems that the 980Ti outperforms the R9 Fury by anywhere from 9fps to 30-40fps depending on the title. The 980Ti also consumes less power by as little as 1W to 3-4W IIRC. Depending on design, the R9 Fury can sometimes be quieter. Seems like a win for the 980Ti. If not for the £550 vs. £460 price tag. Is the £90 enough to justify the benefits of the 980Ti?
The funny thing is that I mostly game on 1920x1080 resolution. I'm not much of a FPS player and I mostly play strategy games and simulations. The Witcher 3, Fallout 4, I play them on 1920x1080. For my simulations, however, I play them on 5890x1080. DCS, Falcon 4 BMS, IL-2, Project Cars, Elite: Dangerous, I play them on this resolution. My setup is actually 4 screens -- 3x 27" 1920x1080 screens in Eyefinity (5890x1080 res) for display and a fourth 22" 1920x1080 touchscreen for "cockpit controls" or just an extra screen for TeamSpeak and such.
Now on to point #1. "New toys" vs GPU. The cost of the new toys comes to around £450. The M.2 is an attempt to see if I can get faster loading times compared to my Crucial M4 and my Samsung 840. The advertised speeds are awesome but some reviews showed that it didn't really fully utilize that compared to SSDs (will need to read up a bit more now that its purchase is under scrutiny). The 24" touchscreen was hopefully to get me a bigger physical touch area for my "switches" in the cockpit and sell the old 22". The modular PSU was, well, I wanted a modular PSU for a while now, primarily for cable management. However, my current PSU is still going strong and with a little squeezing, I managed to get all cables tidied and kept out of the way in my case. Also, I'm not 100% sure my son's PSU is still good so I thought might as well get a new one. For £10 more, I could get a Gigabyte R9 Fury 4GB WindForce3 OC. For £100 more, I could get an EVGA GTX 980Ti FTW OC 6GB.
For point #2, I guess the question would only really arise if I decided to get the 980Ti. Which I'm really considering. My current 7970 3GB DD GHz Ed. card would then go to my son to replace my old 5770 that he's using... which is another plus (yeah, I'm trying to convince myself).
I'd like to hear what you guys think regarding this unique situation.
I would appreciate honest thoughts here, but please be gentle! 
Thanks!
I initially planned to buy an i5 6600K, Gigabyte Gaming 7, Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB, and a Noctua NH-D15 cooler. I decided to add a Samsung 950 Pro 256GB M.2 drive, a iiyama 24" touchscreen (to upgrade my 22" iiyama touchscreen), and a modular PSU for better cable management. The first group (CPU/motherboard/RAM/cooler) I definitely need to replace his dead components. The second group was more of "Wow! New toys!"
Now I have to decide whether:
1. The benefits of the "new toys" outweigh the benefits of a new GPU
2. A build with a new GPU is within budget and is reasonable for the cost
However, I now run into the classic AMD vs. nVidia dilemma. I've seen numerous recommendations for the 980Ti to know without even reading many reviews that it is currently the leading GPU. Currently an AMD user, I had to see what it had to offer to compete. From what I have researched, it seems that the 980Ti outperforms the R9 Fury by anywhere from 9fps to 30-40fps depending on the title. The 980Ti also consumes less power by as little as 1W to 3-4W IIRC. Depending on design, the R9 Fury can sometimes be quieter. Seems like a win for the 980Ti. If not for the £550 vs. £460 price tag. Is the £90 enough to justify the benefits of the 980Ti?
The funny thing is that I mostly game on 1920x1080 resolution. I'm not much of a FPS player and I mostly play strategy games and simulations. The Witcher 3, Fallout 4, I play them on 1920x1080. For my simulations, however, I play them on 5890x1080. DCS, Falcon 4 BMS, IL-2, Project Cars, Elite: Dangerous, I play them on this resolution. My setup is actually 4 screens -- 3x 27" 1920x1080 screens in Eyefinity (5890x1080 res) for display and a fourth 22" 1920x1080 touchscreen for "cockpit controls" or just an extra screen for TeamSpeak and such.
Now on to point #1. "New toys" vs GPU. The cost of the new toys comes to around £450. The M.2 is an attempt to see if I can get faster loading times compared to my Crucial M4 and my Samsung 840. The advertised speeds are awesome but some reviews showed that it didn't really fully utilize that compared to SSDs (will need to read up a bit more now that its purchase is under scrutiny). The 24" touchscreen was hopefully to get me a bigger physical touch area for my "switches" in the cockpit and sell the old 22". The modular PSU was, well, I wanted a modular PSU for a while now, primarily for cable management. However, my current PSU is still going strong and with a little squeezing, I managed to get all cables tidied and kept out of the way in my case. Also, I'm not 100% sure my son's PSU is still good so I thought might as well get a new one. For £10 more, I could get a Gigabyte R9 Fury 4GB WindForce3 OC. For £100 more, I could get an EVGA GTX 980Ti FTW OC 6GB.
For point #2, I guess the question would only really arise if I decided to get the 980Ti. Which I'm really considering. My current 7970 3GB DD GHz Ed. card would then go to my son to replace my old 5770 that he's using... which is another plus (yeah, I'm trying to convince myself).
I'd like to hear what you guys think regarding this unique situation.
I would appreciate honest thoughts here, but please be gentle! Thanks!
Last edited by a moderator:
