Upgrade card now or wait for 700 series?

[anamericangod]

Right now I'm using a GTX 460 SOC at 1680 x 1050. I've managed to get by with what I've played, (Crysis 2, Black Ops 2, The Witcher 2) but I'm wondering if there is a current card available that's a decent deal and would give me a very noticeable boost. Upcoming games I'm interested in are Crysis 3 and Aliens: Colonial Marines.

I can run most of those games at relatively high settings, but not with all the bells and whistles activated. I'll more than likely be upgrading to a 1080p monitor this year at some point, so I guess that's a factor to keep in mind.

I've been toying with the idea of getting a 660i, but haven't pulled the trigger since the 700 series might be coming relatively soon and will shake up current prices. Any recs? Thanks!

[lilbuddhaman]

Wait for the mid-gen refresh.

[Arclight]

GTX 700 mid range card might be launched near the end of the year......AMD's HD 8000 series should come this spring and maybe early summer there should be wide availability for the mid range lineup. I don't have any hard evidence, just my hunch from what i've read here and there. If you're ready to wait another 3 or 4 months i think you would be able at the very least to know what the performance of the next gen will be like.....

If not the GTX 660Ti is a very nice card for 1080p and knowing that Crysis 3 will be based on the same engine, i don't expect it to be a killer for such a card, provided that you have a good enough CPU.......Colonial Marrines might be a different beast.......iirc the series worked better on AMD cards due to their architecture but idk if the new installment will have a newer engine or not.....

At this point we can only speculate, but if you could wait you would most likely get a better deal if not a better card.

[wintermane666]

Always always wait.

[anamericangod]

I've got an i7-860 that's overclocked, so I don't think I'm being help back by my CPU.

[JustAnEngineer]

I'm using a GTX 460 SOC at 1680 x 1050...
I'll more than likely be upgrading to a 1080p monitor this year at some point, so I guess that's a factor to keep in mind.

Upgrade your graphics card after you get the new IPS LCD monitor. Don't limit yourself to just 1920x1080. Consider 1920x1200, 2560x1440 and 2560x1600 monitors, too.
1) The graphics card that you have is good enough for now at the low resolution that you're using.
2) Better, faster cheaper new stuff is always coming along (Radeon HD8000 series, GeForce GTX700 series, etc.) so the longer that you wait to upgrade your GPU, the better performance that you'll get for your money.
3) Once you've seen your current graphics performance slow down at 1080p or higher resolutions, you'll feel more justification for upgrading to a more powerful GPU.

[anamericangod]

I'm using a GTX 460 SOC at 1680 x 1050...
I'll more than likely be upgrading to a 1080p monitor this year at some point, so I guess that's a factor to keep in mind.

Upgrade your graphics card after you get the new IPS LCD monitor. Don't limit yourself to just 1920x1080. Consider 1920x1200, 2560x1440 and 2560x1600 monitors, too.
1) The graphics card that you have is good enough for now at the low resolution that you're using.
2) Better, faster cheaper new stuff is always coming along (Radeon HD8000 series, GeForce GTX700 series, etc.) so the longer that you wait to upgrade your GPU, the better performance that you'll get for your money.
3) Once you've seen your current graphics performance slow down at 1080p or higher resolutions, you'll feel more justification for upgrading to a more powerful GPU.

I'm probably going to be getting a Dell U2412M which is 1920x1200. I appreciate the recommendations.

[DeadOfKnight]

Always always wait.

Seconded.

[NovusBogus]

Seems like a fine card for that resolution, personally I'd wait until monitor upgrade to go card shopping. This isn't a great time to be buying a new video card as there's no new hotness driving down prices of previous generations and no massive holiday sales to keep the newer stuff competitive.

One of the nicest things about the nVidia 600 series is they finally did something about that ridonkulous power consumption, hopefully that will continue with the 700 series. But hey, if that's not the case the 600s will still get a price cut so everyone wins.

[MadManOriginal]

Always always wait.

Seconded.

Needs to include the caveat 'as long as what you've got is working well for your uses.'

Unless Nvidia does something odd and launches the 700 series all the way down to the midrange though, expect to see midrange (GTX 760) in Q3 2013. So if you were to either get a higher res monitor or these games came out in the next month, it would be worth upgrading. The thing about the 'always wait' mantra (aside from the fact that there is always something new coming) is that it doesn't take into account the utility you get out of an upgrade in the meantime.

[puppetworx]

Always always wait.

Seconded.

Needs to include the caveat 'as long as what you've got is working well for your uses.'

Seconded...

Six months is a long time in computer hardware, of course better things are going to be on the market then, and six months after that there will be even better things! There is never really a 'good time' to buy a new GPU (buying when a new launch is imminent is probably a 'bad time' however), the real question is 'can you wait?'.

[Firestarter]

I can run most of those games at relatively high settings

Then save your marbles for when you really want to upgrade. No one can reliably predict what the performance of future cards will be, nor whether they'll be great value for money. It could be that if you buy a 660Ti now, you find that the 700 series equivalent is like superawesome and you should've waited and woe is you. But as far as we know, it could also be that the 700 and 8000 series get released with a collective 'meh' and 'oh well', and you would've had your fun with your 660Ti for several months already with 0 regrets, had you bought one.

[yogibbear]

Wait till at least the PS4 and Xbox "Crap what do we call it" are officially announced at E3 this year as then you'll know what the new minimum requirements will be for a while.
Then wait some more for the GPU refreshes from Nvidia and AMD are to come out.
Then wait for the mid-range cards.
Then wait for them to have them in stock.
Then wait for the TR review.
Then wait for Krogoth to weigh in.
Then wait for 4k resolution 24" monitors.
Then wait for the Google GPU (aka AMD 9 series) and Nvidia 870GTX to come out.
Then consider buying one... though at this point you might want to wait for Half Life 3 to come out and the Apple tax on transistors to scale out of circulation.
Then just buy some crack.

[anotherengineer]

Wait till at least the PS4 and Xbox "Crap what do we call it" are officially announced at E3 this year as then you'll know what the new minimum requirements will be for a while.
Then wait some more for the GPU refreshes from Nvidia and AMD are to come out.
Then wait for the mid-range cards.
Then wait for them to have them in stock.
Then wait for the TR review.
Then wait for Krogoth to weigh in.
Then wait for 4k resolution 24" monitors.
Then wait for the Google GPU (aka AMD 9 series) and Nvidia 870GTX to come out.
Then consider buying one... though at this point you might want to wait for Half Life 3 to come out and the Apple tax on transistors to scale out of circulation.
Then just buy some crack.

Then wait for the Google GPU (aka AMD 9 series)

Yep I am waiting for that one, the 9850, and I am going to get my old AGP 9800Pro and take the sticker off it and stick on the new 9850

Sorry for the thread derail.

The Dell S2240m is also a nice little monitor for the money, I just wish it had a vesa mount, if it did there would be 3 of them in portrait eyefinity infront of me right now.

[DeadOfKnight]

Wait till at least the PS4 and Xbox "Crap what do we call it" are officially announced at E3 this year as then you'll know what the new minimum requirements will be for a while.
Then wait some more for the GPU refreshes from Nvidia and AMD are to come out.
Then wait for the mid-range cards.
Then wait for them to have them in stock.
Then wait for the TR review.
Then wait for Krogoth to weigh in.
Then wait for 4k resolution 24" monitors.
Then wait for the Google GPU (aka AMD 9 series) and Nvidia 870GTX to come out.
Then consider buying one... though at this point you might want to wait for Half Life 3 to come out and the Apple tax on transistors to scale out of circulation.
Then just buy some crack.

Waiting gives you the best price/performance. You can't complain when you've only spent $0.

[yogibbear]

Wait till at least the PS4 and Xbox "Crap what do we call it" are officially announced at E3 this year as then you'll know what the new minimum requirements will be for a while.
Then wait some more for the GPU refreshes from Nvidia and AMD are to come out.
Then wait for the mid-range cards.
Then wait for them to have them in stock.
Then wait for the TR review.
Then wait for Krogoth to weigh in.
Then wait for 4k resolution 24" monitors.
Then wait for the Google GPU (aka AMD 9 series) and Nvidia 870GTX to come out.
Then consider buying one... though at this point you might want to wait for Half Life 3 to come out and the Apple tax on transistors to scale out of circulation.
Then just buy some crack.

Waiting gives you the best price/performance. You can't complain when you've only spent $0.

Exactly.

Would you rather 20 fps today and infinite fps tomorrow for $0, or 30 fps today and 15 fps tomorrow for $300?

[flip-mode]

Always always wait.

Seconded.

Thirded. If you're asking if you should, that means you can wait. When you can't wait, you don't ask "if", you ask "which".

[Lazier_Said]

The 660Ti is a great 1080 gaming card, a next generation that's even faster won't make it any less great, and if that level of performance is $60 cheaper this summer so what?

Gaming - free time for, youthful reflexes to succeed at, interest in - is a fairly limited window. Don't waste it with the details turned down because you're waiting for more e-penis points.

[DeadOfKnight]

Always always wait.

Seconded.

Thirded. If you're asking if you should, that means you can wait. When you can't wait, you don't ask "if", you ask "which".

Exactly.

[michael_d]

I would wait because if nNvidia and AMD follow their previous release time span the new cards should be available in late March or early April perhaps even earlier. Besides there are 3 big GPU demanding titles scheduled to be released soon: Bioschock Infinite, Crysis 3 and Metro Last Light. I were nNvidia/AMD I would have released them just in time for the new games.