Ouch!! GTX 1080 Graphics Card

Terrysdelight

Hi

I promised my son a treat for good exam grades, not knowing the cost of the Graphics Card he wants. It's currently on sale at PC world for £669.

Does anyone know of a reputable supplier where I could buy it cheaper?

Many thanks
Terrysdelight

John_Gray

There would appear to be a whole bunch of versions of this card, with slightly different options, from £590 to £830. See this list from Scan (go down a bit for the List view).

jaydeeuk1

What monitor is he using? If it's just one monitor at 1080p then get a 1060, you'll notice sod all difference in frame rates for the next couple of years. even 1440p a 1070 will more than suffice.

Terrysdelight

jaydeeuk1 wrote: »

What monitor is he using? If it's just one monitor at 1080p then get a 1060, you'll notice sod all difference in frame rates for the next couple of years. even 1440p a 1070 will more than suffice.

I'll tell him - but I won't hold my breath :-(

Double_V

Just get him GTX 980 for around £280.

Cisco001

What is the set up of his existing PC?

Just want to double check to see if worth the upgrade


https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/3fvZxr/gigabyte-video-card-gvn1080g1gaming8gd

Johnmcl7

I'd agree with the posts above to find what his system is - I went for a 1070 as I have a 1440p monitor and while it's still a pricey card (particularly compared to the older 970's £250 price point) at around £400, it offers most of the performance of the GTX 1080 for much less money. Also high end graphics cards aren't great longterm as the next generation of cards will be out in 18 months or so and likely offer 1080 performance for a lot less money, run cooler and require less power just as the 1070's offer 980ti performance plus new features.

John

NewBe

As others have mentioned, you really need to consider the current CPU, RAM, HDD, and Motherboard in the existing PC. Any high-end graphics card will only perform if it is being powered by other high-end components. Otherwise, it will perform like a cheaper mid-range card.

It's like adding a turbo-charger to a standard engine without upgrading other bits to handle the extra power.

P.S.
As someone who used to build my own gaming PC's, I eventually realised it was much cheaper to buy a Xbox/PS than to try and keep up with the latest Graphics Card/CPU/RAM - an expensive hobby!

Terrysdelight

NewBe wrote: »

As others have mentioned, you really need to consider the current CPU, RAM, HDD, and Motherboard in the existing PC. Any high-end graphics card will only perform if it is being powered by other high-end components. Otherwise, it will perform like a cheaper mid-range card.

It's like adding a turbo-charger to a standard engine without upgrading other bits to handle the extra power.

P.S.
As someone who used to build my own gaming PC's, I eventually realised it was much cheaper to buy a Xbox/PS than to try and keep up with the latest Graphics Card/CPU/RAM - an expensive hobby!

My son is building a new gaming pc. Currently he has some Alienware but he wants to upgrade.

He's adamant he wants the 1080 :-(

Johnmcl7

Of course he wants the 1080, he's not the one paying for it! You must have had a budget in mind when you're surprised the 1080 costs more than that so I'd stick to it and get a lower card, even an RX480 or GTX 1060 is a high performance graphics card capable of 1080p at high settings.

£600 is about as low as the 1080's are going at the moment and I doubt it will drop much any time soon as supplies are still fairly low and the high price means the 1060/1070 will be the bigger sellers.

Hopefully your son doesn't find out the 1080 is only Nvidia's second most powerful graphics card below the new Titan.

John

John_Gray

This sounds like what I call an "MNO job" - Money No Object - on your son's part.

As the previous John has indicated, there will always be a better, faster, more desirable, graphics card coming along in a few days or weeks. You have to draw the line somewhere!