PC build thread

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Blue switches are the only switches you'll ever need. It's all about dat clickity clack.

[noiseredux]

I'd go for the 970 personally. Never settle when it comes to computer parts.

but actual real world in-game performance-wise... would I be settling?

[flex wood]

I think you should keep pushing with your card for a bit longer unless there is stuff you can't play with it currently. I was planning on upgrading but I've decided that I am going to wait until AMD get's their next cards out since there is a good possibility that they will be using 20nm chips and if they do they should be out doing Nvidia easily. Hell even if they don't it should force NV to drop the prices on the 900 series cards.

If you do get a 970 what brand are you thinking about?

[ZenErik]

Blue switches are the only switches you'll ever need. It's all about dat clickity clack.

I have them at work and hate them for gaming. Personal preference though. I really like the Cherry MX Black switches but figured I could use more time with Red switches as well. If I wanted tactile feedback I would get Brown switches.

I was trying to think about why I really like the linear switches for gaming, and I just linked it back to my love of arcade switches which usually seem to be pretty linear. Maybe that is it.

[noiseredux]

If you do get a 970 what brand are you thinking about?

sadly that depends to some extent on availability. Though the EVGA and MSI ones looked nice to me.


Trying to compare the 770 to the 990 I was looking at, and not sure what all this really means in real-world terms. But...

Memory Size 4GB, 4GB
Memory Type GDDR5, GDDR5
Core Clock 1.08Ghz, 1.05Ghz
TDP 230 Watts, 145 Watts

...that's a comparison of the EVGA 770 and a PNY 970 (the only one I can seem to find in stock only right now) and they seem pretty similar outside of power consumption - unless there's some specs I'm missing and should be looking at?

[flex wood]

The 770's are 2 gig cards unless you are looking at getting a 4 gig one, which isn't really all that comparable since the memory speeds on the 970 is much higher than on the 770.

Also I've read nothing but bad things about evga's new cooler on the 970's so stay away from that. The cooler on the 700 series are great though and one of the best in the series though.

[noiseredux]

The 770's are 2 gig cards unless you are looking at getting a 4 gig one, which isn't really all that comparable since the memory speeds on the 970 is much higher than on the 770.

Was comparing to a 4gb 770, see post above. Specs are 770, 970 in that example.

EDIT: I keep going back and forth on the matter, but I think ultimately it's best to forget about the allure of a free game and realize that a 770 4GB and 970 are in the same price range right now. So it just makes more sense to buy the better card in that price range.

This is the PNY I was looking at: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=7387

Like I said, not even easy to find 970's in stock right now. In fact, I'm not 100% certain that items is in stock (says it ships from 3rd party werehouse). I've used PNY RAM for years. No idea how their GPU's stack up? But PNY offers a lifetime warranty if you register.

[fastbilly1]

Ive used PNY GPUs almost exclusively since 2004. I have only had issues with one out of the four or five dozen I have installed. And that one I had issues with is the one I currently game on - the fan was defective and broke shortly after install. It has had a second fan on it and has for the last six years.

[noiseredux]

hmm, although I'm pretty sure that's not really in stock. Microcenter has the same one listed with a warning that it may be out of stock... So on the other side of the coin, it might be hard to decide on a 970 if I can't actually find one to buy. Haha. I mean if they're out of stock everywhere then the 770 with the free game and refund gets a lot more alluring, as it then becomes "the best card I could get at the time."

[fastbilly1]

Slow your roll. You dont need to upgrade. You can wait a few weeks for it to be back in stock. Dont throw money away.