Upgrading from GTX 960 to GTX 1070, is it a good idea (performance wise)?

[Karuri]

Hi guys, I hope this is the right place to ask.

 

I am planning to replace my old Nvidia GTX 960 with Nvidia GTX 1070. So far, my PC can handle several games such as Skyrim (modded), Rise of Tomb Raider, Dragon Age Inquisitor, and several other games at high settings (not ultra settings because I realize my rig is not that sophisticated), but the performance is something far from I desire. For example, when playing my heavily modded skyrim (mostly 1k texture with Vividian ENB, without forgetting to compress textures etc), I could get a stable 50-60 fps in small locations, but upon entering open world and wide locations with a lot of trees and grasses, my fps reduces down to 35-50. This is also the same when I play other games that is mostly GPU intensive with awesome graphical features.

 

Thus I plan to get a new graphic card, and Nvidia GTX 1070 seems a feasible choice in terms of price and performance (based on online reviews of course).

 

According to this site (http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html), my Nvidia GTX 960 is ranked at 32nd, while Nvidia GTX 1070 is ranked at 5th. The price jump is also significant from $169.99 to $379.99.

 

The aim of buying new graphic card is that I want to achieve stable 55-60 fps with at least high settings.

 

But the questions are:

1.) Do you think its worth spending 3x more money on graphic cards?

(Note that I have no issue in terms of budget, but it never hurts to hear your opinions so that I know I wont be buying something that does not have significant effect on performance)

 

2.) Will I get a lot of performance with Nvidia GTX 1070? If not, what card should I get or maybe what should I do?

 

Any answer and insight will be most appreciated before I make a purchase (or cancel my purchase). I will be happy to read a long and detailed explanation.

 

Here is my rig if it helps.

CPU: Intel i5-6500

GPU: Nvidia GTX 960

RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4

Motherboard: Gygabyte GA-H170-Gaming 3

 

Best regards.

[bill8872]

I have been using 2 960s for while now, and was a top rated card when it came out.

 

Using what Nvidia considers optimal settings. I have no problems getting 60fps in Skyrim, or most other games.

I do not use ENB for Skyrim, but I do for FO4. ENB will drop your fps. Some presets are more performance friendly that other's.

FO4 I average about 50fps, but that is due to ENB, and other settings.

 

Depending on how much Vram the 960 has, the 1070 can make a difference. The more you have the better.

 

For my self since the 2 960s are working fine, I do not see the justification on spending 3x more for a newer card.

 

If your motherboard is not SLI compatible, it just might be worth the cost.

[Karuri]

I have been using 2 960s for while now, and was a top rated card when it came out.

 

Using what Nvidia considers optimal settings. I have no problems getting 60fps in Skyrim, or most other games.

I do not use ENB for Skyrim, but I do for FO4. ENB will drop your fps. Some presets are more performance friendly that other's.

FO4 I average about 50fps, but that is due to ENB, and other settings.

 

Depending on how much Vram the 960 has, the 1070 can make a difference. The more you have the better.

 

For my self since the 2 960s are working fine, I do not see the justification on spending 3x more for a newer card.

 

If your motherboard is not SLI compatible, it just might be worth the cost.

Thank you for your opinion.

 

my GTX 960 has 4gb vram, and the new GTX 1070 that i plan to buy has 8gb. Based on what you say, I presume the new card will obviously increase my performance while providing me more options to have higher graphical settings?

 

I also use the settings offered by NVIDIA, and it choses Ultra settings. Without ENB, this ultra setting gets me a stable 60fps, with dense grass mods and trees. The problem however, begins when I started using ENB (currently using Vividian ENB - High Performance settings) and it reduces my fps to 35-55 (depending on the location). As such I began using 1k textures and changed some options to medium settings. I have to say the result are somewhat good, but still not satisfied.

 

I dont think I will go for dual cards due to the hassle. I mean you have to make adjustments, check for compatibilities, additional maintenance, etc.

 

But what about my CPU? Is i5-6500 a good CPU or should I also replace that with a new one? Based on what i read from other posts,it seems to be a good CPU.

 

But thanks for the insight.

[Fatalmasterpiece]

The GTX1070 is a great card and will be a significant improvement over your GTX960. If money is an issue I can also recommend the GTX1060 6gb which is available for about $250. Of course, the 1070 is much better but it depends on if you have an extra $100 to spend. With a 1070 you could most likely run max+ENB without any problems.

 

In my opinion, SLI is not worth the money and is not always supported on every game. SLI does not double performance but does double the cost. You are much better off buying the most powerful single card you can afford.

[xpwnStarx]

Get the 1070 8GB for sure, the 8GB is super important. Save for an extra couple months if you have to. I suggest reading some insider websites such as anandtech.com and look for when they think the prices will come down a little.

 

I run a GTX970 with i5-3570k OC'd to 4ghz with SSD's and 16GB of RAM, I've been playing every game on Ultra settings for a couple years now. My next card will be a 1070 8GB for sure unless I can fall backwards into some money and get a 1080. Also the 1070 will let you play on ultra settings for years to come.

 

Your next upgrade would be your CPU.

Edited October 22, 2016 by xpwnStarx

[EyronYHO]

yes

[FMod]

Your CPU is almost as good as they get already.

 

For the GTX 1070, it's good value, although your 960 is a fairly fast card as well. No games currently use all the 8 GB, but the 1070s can be paired up in SLI.

 

In Skyrim, performance gains will be very limited, as it's bound by excessive single-threaded scripts. In modern games, you'll get higher framerates. Whether it's worth the price depends on how much its price means to you.

[Signette]

Not seems worth it to me to upgrade for anything other than upcoming GTX 1080 ti. Thing is, DX12 is out and most modern games suffer from bad performance under it, as time goes on, requirements for hardware will only raise, so for comfortable gaming with decent graphics in a year 1070 won't be enough already. 960 does it's thing just fine for now, I'd wait.