Larac

tshalev

dwachtve
So after waiting for months on end as I posted a while back I did finally hit the jackpot and got my card.  I thought and even started writing several times prior but always canceled before actually making the post.  I don't expect this will be a very popular post, but I just feel like, if I only knew then what I know now, so here goes.
 
First a bit of background.  I started out with a system that was pretty dated, but still ran quite well with dual r9 390x cards in crossfire with a strong CPU and tons of memory.  The system could run pretty much any game at high settings and from a performance standpoint I was still pretty happy.  The huge downside was the cards made a lot of heat and noise.  They would literally raise the temperature in the room 3 degrees above the rest of the house with any amount of extended play. 
 
My son decided he wanted a system to run VR on with his new Oculus 2.  He had nothing, so I thought OK, I'll upgrade my system GPU and CPU and give it to him for his gaming and get a new system for myself.  At the time graphics cards were just starting to get constrained (this was Oct 2020) so I ended up buying a system from Best Buy with an MSI 2070 super Gaming Trio X in it along with some better RGB memory and I was very happy with it as it was both silent and cool running.  As fate would have it, I couldn't really upgrade the CPU in my old system because of the old socket better CPUs were crazy money for it so I just built him an AMD system (this will be relevant later).
 
Now I have my new system and of course want to do 4k but my monitor will only do 2k.  The system was running great at 2K with FPS to spare on the highest settings on all the games I played but still my heart burned for 4K ;)   My old monitor was a 34" curved ultra wide 3440x1440 display so I could game at 1440p at 75Hz but hey that still isn't 4K.  I really loved the curved ultra wide monitor but when I looked for something similar in 4K of course I found nothing even remotely reasonable to buy.  In the end I decided on an AORUS FV43U 43" QLED UHD 4K 3840 x 2160 144Hz 1ms (MPRT) FreeSync Premium Pro monitor to the tune of about 1100 USD.  Ahhh success, I could now game at 4K and the games I played ran MOSTLY fine at 4k though at some rare times I would experience some poor frame rates and even dropped frames. 
 
 
My perfectionist brain absolutely could not stand it.  Even though my setup was doing just fine 99% of the time I just couldn't stand those occasional times when the system would react poorly.
 
So finally I get the notification from the newegg shuffle that I can order the Zotac gaming 3080.  Now running the games is flawless at 4K but I am back to having a noisy hot card.  Now it is not that the card is bad, it isn't more noisy or more hot (sits at 80 degrees C) than the average GPU it just isn't the super cool super quiet gaming trio x.   On launch day I did get lucky in the F5 game and got the 3080 TI hybrid.  
 
Then I decide to use my old PC that was going to go to my son to upgrade my Plex media server and pop the 2070 super in it and move the drives from the old machine to it.  This gave me a big boost from what I had, and I can now stream 4K video from it which was problematic before.
 
So by now you have to be wondering what is the point to all this rambling, and I'm sorry but I felt the backstory was important before I made the final statement I had to make.
 
I have buyers remorse in the most extreme way.  Is what I have cool?  You betcha!! Does it run well?  You bet zero complaints!!  Is 4K stellar?  Yes, the graphics are great.  So, what's the problem then, I got what I paid for right?  Yes I did.  The problem is that the cost/benefit ratio is way off.  
 
If I had it all to do again, I would have stuck with the 2070 super and the ultra wide 1440p monitor.  While I do now get 4K the difference between that and the 1440p I had coupled with the loss of the ultra wide, the RGB motherboard integration I had with the 2070, the lower heat generation and the silent running are not even close to being worth the time and money it took to get it.  The only reason I didn't just return the stuff and go back is by this point I had done too much switching and moving around to make that really a viable option.
 
So, if you have a system you are satisfied with now, be sure about upgrading.  Maybe go and see a 4K system somewhere to see if it is really money well spent for you.  While I was thrilled with the upgrade to the 2070 Super, the upgrades beyond that, meh, not so much.

I agree; a good rule of thumb is an upgrade every second generation, although all the rules are out the window at this point (I would also say a good rule is not spending over $1K on a GPU, but, well...). I would point out though that you went from a premium 2070 Super model (MSI Gaming Trio X) to a low-end 3080 model (Zotac). Sure, you'll get the performance of a 3080, but naturally the thermals and noise are just not going to be up to the same standards.

I was at a 970 so the 3000s are so much above that is is really amazing.

I tend to keep GPU about 4-6 years, CPU about 8.
When CPU change the whole system gets updated.
Tough the 970 did quite well, and I kept it longer than most GPUs I have had, but was really showing it's age.

Moving over seas soon, so getting system all spruced up ATM.

sherikan80
08G-P5-3797-KL 6/10/2021 6:30:00 AM PT

Stormharn
08G-P5-3797-KL 6/10/2021 6:27:40 AM PT Yes
Just got my notify - all that waiting to end up with a 3070Ti rather than 3080. But still happy to at least have a card to finish my build.

nomoss
I didn’t get an email today but I did sell a truck to a Forged in Fire Champion so that’s a win 🤣

Cats4Life
No drop on the 3785 today I take it?

phroze

Cats4Life
No drop on the 3785 today I take it?

No. Jacob tweeted yesterday that more on the way but no ETA

Cats4Life

phroze

Cats4Life
No drop on the 3785 today I take it?

No. Jacob tweeted yesterday that more on the way but no ETA

Ok thanks, we'll see what happens. My time was 9:08:54.

asianbob1
12G-P5-3967-KR3080 Ti FTW3 ULTRA6/5/2021, 8:18:42 PM
 
Someone messed up the queue list and marked this as a yes