So, even though my PC is still pretty new, I am seriously considering upgrading the GPU to a GTX 1080 (I have a 980 at the moment). There are a number of manufacturers that make graphics cards these days. Are there any that I should avoid or are particularly recommended? Gigabyte? EVGA? ASUS? Does it really matter?
I am hearing about a lot of issues with EVGA 10*0 cards at the moment. I have an EVGA 970 but with all the bad press, I will not get an EVGA this generation. I am eyeing one of the MSI cards with a built in water cooler.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127946&ignorebbr=1
Iām not a hardware guy - but like @Fridge - I have heard of some issues with EVGA stuff overheating. Iāve had no problems with my ASUS Strix thus farā¦but that doesnāt mean much. My house hasnāt burned down yet thoughā¦so thereās thatā¦
I think the EVGA thermal issues are blown out of proportion and mitigated by now, and Iāve been impressed by EVGAās response to the whole deal. They gained a loyal customer here. That said, I also like ASUS and have had good experiences with their products.
What GPU do you have now, @PaulRix?
Thanks for the input guys. Iām going to go with a Founderās Edition card because I have read that it will fit just fine in my ASUS G20 PC, which has a compact form. The FE cards also blow the heat out the back which is important with the G20 case.
Erik, right now I have a GTX980. It is by far the most powerful graphics card I have owned to date, but it struggles in VR if I crank up the graphics settings in DCS. Iām running DCS with a pixel density of 1.8 for a sharper image. I would like to be able to do that without sacrificing things like shadows, nicer texturing etc. Itās still an amazing experience, but itās knawing at me knowing that it could be even better.
If we were talking about amateur astronomy you could simply say I have a bad case of āAperture Feverā. 
I just ordered a whole bunch of components for a new system build. I bought the Gigabyte 1070 G1 Gaming. for my video card. I had a Gigabyte before and it seemed okay.
Upgrading from a 980 to a 1080? 
In my old system, I have a 660Ti, so this will be quite a step up. Of course, I have a 22in 1680x1050 monitor, so a 1070 will be a bit of an overkill, but anyhoo.
You can never have too much graphical ooomph! 
You are going to be blown away by your upgrade Saghen. I jumped to the 980 from a 660M (my primary PC was a gaming laptop). It was an amazing jump up in performance, at least when playing on a flat screen.
I always went with EVGA with aftermarket cooling systemsā¦ It worked for me.
Got a 780Ti now and it runs just marvellously.
I am not sure that they are butā¦
ā¦this is very true: I have been impressed with their response. I am not harking on EVGA here but noting my hesitation to buying an āoldā version card that is sitting in the retail channel that might still suffer from the issue and having to RMA it at some point.
I will by EVGA again, for sure.
Well I threw caution to the wind and bought a EVGA 1070 card for $130 off. Just because I might note something critical about a product doesnāt mean I am not willing to buy it
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Black Friday prices for this stuff in Canada (at least the couple stores I buy at) are the same theyāve always been. Weak.
I think my wife said something about that in her wedding vowsā¦
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So, I just pulled the trigger on an ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Turbo Graphic Card TURBO-GTX1080-8G.
Prices are starting to fall a bit on the 1080 series. I got this one for $580 through Amazon.
So the next question, what is a 7 month old, used GTX980 worth these days?
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Thatās gonna be nice!
I hope so Chris. The 980 is already the most powerful card I have owned (I usually go for cards that cost much less), but I want to crank up the settings in VR (particularly the pixel density) while keeping everything smooth. What settings did you settle with in DCS World for VR?
I think Iām running 2.2 for pixel density - and I think about 75% of the way to the right on the vegetation and distance sliders or something. Iāll have to check when I get home.
That will be a great improvement then. Iām running at 1.5 with the 980 and the sliders mostly centered or to the left. I can crank it a little higher, but it depends on where I am flying and the airplane. For some reason, North Las Vegas in the F5 is very hard work for my setup right now.
Well, the 1080 is installed. There is a definite improvement in performance over the 980 that it replaced. I still need to tweak a few settings in DCS for optimum performance, but so far flight in VR is smoother, with fewer ASW artifacts.
I have one of the compact gaming PCās by ASUS (G20). Not the optimum for cooling by any means. Still, it surprised me that the āat restā temp was so high (62 deg C). After flying DCS 2.0 in VR over the temp peaked at 82 degrees C. It seemed to handle it well enough. Is that too hot though? Iām not sure of what else I can do to improve things as the case is so tightly packed.
I donāt have a clue what the temps were when I was running the 980.
Paul Rix,
Again great minds think alike. I got a 1080 and it just arrived today. My relationship with EVGA has been a long one. I have yet to be dissatisfied. ASUS is a great brand and you are sure to be happy with your purchase. Your temps seem a bit hot but reference cards might run that hot and be ok. Im not sure. Play with MSI afterburner and a fan curve. Ambient temperature in your room will make a big difference. I keep my room 21 deg C. with some tweaking you might be able to get your temps down.
Congrats on the new addition and good luck.
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Thanks Maico,
I have been playing with the fan curve and it helps, but Iām still sat at just under 60 degrees with the card idle. I topped out at 82 degrees (VR in DCS with plenty going on). I just ran X-Plane on my monitor and it barely raised above 65 degrees, so VR is a heat generator I think, especially when you crank up the pixel density. Iāll play with the fan some more. I donāt want to make the system too loud though ;).