GTX 470 for 1440p

[The Green Bean]

I am thinking of upgrading to one of the Korean IPS monitors. How will my GTX 470 fare at that resolution?

The (more demanding) games I'm going to be playing:

Mass Effect 3
Max Payne 3
Arkham City

How bad will the quality be if I play at a non-native resolution? Or should I buy a smaller monitor instead?

I don't want to spend $500 of a GPU to power a $300 screen; is a 7850 worth the upgrade?

 

[Destiny]

I am thinking of upgrading to one of the Korean IPS monitors. How will my GTX 470 fare at that resolution?

The (more demanding) games I'm going to be playing:

Mass Effect 3
Max Payne 3
Arkham City

How bad will the quality be if I play at a non-native resolution? Or should I buy a smaller monitor instead?

I don't want to spend $500 of a GPU to power a $300 screen; is a 7850 worth the upgrade?

In Order of best options:

Nvidia GTX 670 or AMD 7970 or AMD 7950
GTX 660Ti or AMD 7870

All above options have the power to do 2560x1440 at around 60FPS or better and all are at $400 or less... Good luck with your Korean Ebay IPS Monitor too! :thumbsup:

 

[Durvelle27]

an HD 7870 and HD 7950 will run great at that res

 

[JAG87]

I suggest a GTX 660Ti (or if you can afford, a 670), and play demanding games with FXAA only. Running non-native resolution is a no-no, unless you sit 3+ feet away from your monitor.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

The Nvidia cards fall short at high resolutions, get the 7950.

 

[JAG87]

The Nvidia cards fall short at high resolutions, get the 7950.

Don't generalize. Only the 660 Ti with lots of MSAA does.

Without MSAA (or using post-AA) the 660 Ti is a better choice, given that you can enable FXAA (which gives far better performance than MLAA) easily from NVCP.

And don't bother rebutting with how the 7950 is better with MSAA, because neither card can afford it at that resolution in the latest games, unless you like looking at slide shows.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

You need t least a 670 high oc or 7950 high oc

 

[lehtv]

None of the games need a higher end GPU like 7950/670 to run 1440p. Mass Effect 3 should be completely playable at max quality with a GTX 470: http://static.techspot.com/articles-info/507/bench/2560.png

In more demanding games, if you turn settings down, I think your 470 could achieve playable framerates. I suggest you buy the monitor, play the games and see what happens, then you will be better informed about what graphics card you should upgrade to if that is needed.

Turning down the resolution is an option as well, I've done it (1920x1080 -> 1600x900 or 1280x720) and it'll just look slightly out of focus which is OK if you're not sitting too close. I'd imagine 2560x1440 -> 1920x1080 to be even less of a problem than downscaling from 1920x1080.

 

[RussianSensation]

Just overclock the 470 to 750mhz using 1.087V in MSI Afterburner. If the performance is not satisfactory, then start looking at upgrades. No need to waste $ before at least trying out your old card.

Don't generalize. Only the 660 Ti with lots of MSAA does.

660Ti is slower card overall across 12 Reviews. It also doesn't have 30-40% overclocking headroom of say 7950 MSI TF3 for $317. Buying a 660Ti for 2560x1440 is just throwing $ away since it's only a 1.5GB card, craps out with MSAA (not everyone likes FXAA blur) and can't catch up to an overclocked 7950. It would be good for $250 but not for $300. Also, there is almost no difference in image quality in ME3 between MLAA and FXAA.

Even with 0AA, a factory preoverclocked 660Ti loses to the 7950 in Batman. Take 1.1-1.2ghz 7950 and it's game over for that 660Ti.

 

[Accord99]

I am thinking of upgrading to one of the Korean IPS monitors. How will my GTX 470 fare at that resolution?

The (more demanding) games I'm going to be playing:

Mass Effect 3

I had a GTX 470 at 800 MHz and ME3 was at 60FPS for virtually the entire game even at 2560x1440. The other two games though will probably be more challenging.

 

[hokies83]

Dont waste money on a 660ti that card is a huge let down..

I used to Run Gtx 470s in Sli @ 2560x1440

Id say grab another 470 overclock both and go at it..

They wont run everything at max settings but there good enough for most.

The biggest Limiting factor is the Vram you have 1.2gb I go over that in most Games with everything turned up @ 2560x1440.. If i had to put a Vram Avg use at this res id put it at 1.5gb

 

[toyota]

no way in hell would I run a hot power hungry 470 sli setup at this point.

forget about the 660ti though as that card is just not adequate for some games at 2560. an oced 7950 or oced gtx670 would be the minimum I would go with at that res.

 

[lehtv]

Buying a 660Ti for 2560x1440 is just throwing $ away since it's only a 1.5GB card

It's a 2GB card

 

[The Green Bean]

Dont waste money on a 660ti that card is a huge let down..

I used to Run Gtx 470s in Sli @ 2560x1440

Id say grab another 470 overclock both and go at it..

They wont run everything at max settings but there good enough for most.

The biggest Limiting factor is the Vram you have 1.2gb I go over that in most Games with everything turned up @ 2560x1440.. If i had to put a Vram Avg use at this res id put it at 1.5gb

The problem with getting another GTX 470 is 1) I will need a Sparkle which are hard to find here (Pakistan). 2) I only have a 600W PSU.

Is 7950 a worthwhile upgrade? I'm going to make my wife really angry spending $400 on a graphics card.

1080p on a 1440p will look shit right? I'm using a 1600x900 22" and non-native isn't great.

 

[Durvelle27]

The problem with getting another GTX 470 is 1) I will need a Sparkle which are hard to find here (Pakistan). 2) I only have a 600W PSU.

Is 7950 a worthwhile upgrade? I'm going to make my wife really angry spending $400 on a graphics card.

1080p on a 1440p will look shit right? I'm using a 1600x900 22" and non-native isn't great.

the HD 7950 is great and it cost way cheap can be had for around $330 ?

 

[Wall Street]

the HD 7950 is great and it cost way cheap can be had for around $330 ?

I guess people don't actually read the threads. This guy is in Pakistan, making GPUs harder to source and more expensive. Also the default advice is for him to upgrade, but it isn't like any of the games won't run or anything.

Personally, I would spread out your purchases by buying the monitor this year and getting a GPU when the new consoles come out. This way your wife won't get mad for spending $700 at once.

 

[MTDEW]

1080p on a 1440p will look shit right? I'm using a 1600x900 22" and non-native isn't great.

To actually answer this question for you since you've asked several times and nobody answered.
The Catleaps look great at native 2560x1440 resolution.
But look terrible at non-native resolutions, and be aware you'd be using GPU scaling, but regardless you won't be happy at non-native resolution at all.

Also, the GTX 470 does struggle at 2560x1440 with the more demanding games like BF3, Skyrim with mods, Crysis 2 DX11, Metro etc..etc.. and you'll need to lower some settings to keep playable frame-rates.

So, yeah, you'll have to decide for yourself whether or not a GPU upgrade is worth it to you.
Not just Now but also having to upgrade the GPU more often in the future to "keep up" with the demanding games, because its not like 2560x1440 is suddenly going to get easier on GPU's over 1920x1080/1200 in the future either.

BTW:I do own a Catleap and have tried it with a GTX 470, my wife has a GTX 470 in her rig, so I figured i'd post since I know the GTX 470 + 2560x1440 = No AA and turning down settings in more than a few titles just to stay above 30fps, forget 60fps.
Her rig....2500k@4.6ghz / 8GB DDR3 / GTX 470 / 1080p Monitor

 

[The Green Bean]

In demanding games, would it be possible to display at 1080 without scaling with a black border?

 

[MTDEW]

In demanding games, would it be possible to display at 1080 without scaling with a black border?

Yeah, but i honestly never gave that an honest try it because the window was too small.
Give me some time, i'll lug my Catleap out to her rig and hook it up and see what actual numbers i can give you.
Its going to be a bit though, because i have to install the games, since she only keeps 1 or 2 installed at a time.

 

[The Green Bean]

Yeah, but i honestly never gave that an honest try it because the window was too small.
Give me some time, i'll lug my Catleap out to her rig and hook it up and see what actual numbers i can give you.
Its going to be a bit though, because i have to install the games, since she only keeps 1 or 2 installed at a time.

It's alright. I'm pretty sure 1080p is going to be fine. I was just wondering if GPUs can scale images that way.

 

[MTDEW]

In demanding games, would it be possible to display at 1080 without scaling with a black border?

My Catleap has tempered glass, so these measurements might be a hair off.
The Catleap viewing area is 23.5" wide by 13.25" height.
When choosing 1080p with no scaling, the windows size is 17.5" wide by 9.75" height.
She does have Skyrim currently installed, so i'll check the 2560x1440 framerate vs her 1080p framerate, but I do have some mods installed on her Skyrim, but nothing too taxing like ENB or anything.
But that wont matter since we're comparing 1080p vs 2560x1440 on the same setup/pc and Skyrim install.

 

[MTDEW]

It's alright. I'm pretty sure 1080p is going to be fine. I was just wondering if GPUs can scale images that way.

Yep, you just turn off GPU scaling in the Nvidia Control Panel.

 

[MTDEW]

Her Skyrim gets a steady 60fps at 1080p at the top of the Dragonsreach steps In Whiterun looking down at that central tree by the merchants.
(obviously v-sync is on because of the strange physics without it)
So, this isnt really a good indication of how much performance you'll lose at 2560x1440.

But it gives an idea of what a GTX 470 can do at 2560x1440 In Skyrim anyway, so i'm posting it.

In the same spot at 2560x1440 it gets 45fps.
Not too bad, I even scaled 1080p fullscreen just to see how that looked on a Nvidia card, since i have AMD, it it didn't look to bad.
Either the scaling looks better on Nvidia cards vs AMD or Skyrim is just an exception.

OOPs: i forgot to add her Skyrim settings, that is with 16x aniso, 4x AA and everything on ultra except shadows one notch down to high.
Skyrim runs really well on Nvidia cards.

 

[The Green Bean]

My Catleap has tempered glass, so these measurements might be a hair off.
The Catleap viewing area is 23.5" wide by 13.25" height.
When choosing 1080p with no scaling, the windows size is 17.5" wide by 9.75" height.
She does have Skyrim currently installed, so i'll check the 2560x1440 framerate vs her 1080p framerate, but I do have some mods installed on her Skyrim, but nothing too taxing like ENB or anything.
But that wont matter since we're comparing 1080p vs 2560x1440 on the same setup/pc and Skyrim install.

Thanks. That's 20 inches diagonal which is not too small. Perhaps I will be able to play most games at the native resolution turning some of the eye candy down.

BTW, does you panel have any dead pixels?

 

[MTDEW]

BTW, does you panel have any dead pixels?

No, i paid extra to Greensum(ebay seller) to check mine before he shipped it.
But he ended up having a delay for a week before he could ship, so he offered doing it for me for free.