ASUS GeForce GTX 760 MARS review [Guru3D.com]

That's got to be one of the most illogical posts I've read for a long time! If you've already got a 760 that you're considering to sell on ebay for $100, then why don't you just buy another 760 from ebay for $100 and have the same performance as this Mars card (which is of course in itself just a 760 sli card, along with all the same issues as a normal sli setup pretty much)? How do you manage to find the ability to build your own computers?! haha, no it's ok, I don't hate you, but I just find it funny how you're approaching things.

 

Somebody has a Qnix!

VRAM usage varies depending on available VRAM. 2500MB usage in your case doesn't mean that 2GB cards would suffer, although they might. However I agree on 2GB not being enough for the forseeable future at high resolutions.

 

Don't really feel like buying a new PSU for that option. It is only illogical to you because you don't know all the facts of my set-up. 500 watt PSU is just not enough for 2 160w cards...

 

you know the mars draws around 300w so your psu will be toast no matter how you spin it. Especially if you even dreamed of overclocking the mars. That fact about your setup which "we don't know about", the one that you run a $45 500w psu is clearly visible from your spec btw :wanker:

 

owned yet again. Like clockwork haha

 

Well, that's fair enough I guess. Probably better options for you when Maxwell hits, so you're not bumping up against current supply limits.

 

When building a PC it's always a good idea buy a PSU with plenty of spare power....so you can upgrade later if need be. That way you can avoid the situation you're in now.

Just some helpful advice.

 

Yes I know, thanks for the tip!

 

I would never buy this because I like to have an upgrade path, and this leaves you without any kind of good path. If I spend several hundred dollars on a graphics card, then I like to be able to run it for two or three years and then buy another one for a lower price, because by then it's outdated and you can get it cheap. So then when you stick the second cheaper card in there you get a lot of extra performance for a low price. Even a year later you can get that second matching card a lot cheaper. Then if you overclock them you can avoid expensive frequent upgrades.

This is also why I buy a large decent quality power supply right from the start. I like good powerful hardware but I also like to spend my money wisely. For me this is why this card is a bad idea. Plus if you can buy a single GPU card for about the same amount of money, that also performs about the same then it will tend to feel and perform better on more games.

And to me using four GPU's is a no go. At three GPU's the scaling starts to get considerably worse and at four it gets downright awful. If this card had a total of two more gigs of ram, and if you could install a single 760 card for three way SLI, then this would be a possible option. But you can't and it's not a wise use of your money.

For the people who do a complete upgrade every year and who don't game at a super high resolution, then this may be a good choice if the price is considerably lower than a 780. But I don't think Asus can afford to sell it cheap enough. BTW anyone who is not rich and is doing complete upgrades every year or more, they should be taking that money and saving and investing it for their future anyway. The parents basement may not be there for them forever.

I'm just now ready to upgrade my ancient hardware after the next gen Nvidia and Intel come out. I may be waiting a little long this time around but when I do I'm getting a next gen 6 core Intel CPU and at least a 250 US dollar Maxwell GPU, and eventually a second one which will have me set again for quite a few years. This hardware that is coming out now days does not need to be upgraded as often as it used to.

 

thanks for the "tips" ^^^

:eek2:

 

While I agree with much of what you say, this paragraph comes across as a little condescending. There are plenty of people who enjoy upgrading each year who aren't rich or still living with their parents, although for the record I'm not one of those people. For some people it's just a major hobby, I've seen others who are on so-so wages spend large portions of their money on cars or cycling gear. Some people choose not to have kids and so have more money to spend on themselves. It's not really fair or polite to put everyone in the same boat.

 

It probably did sound a bit condescending, but I have seen too many people become too obsessed with a hobby and end up in a very bad financial situation while buying things that lose value at an alarming rate. Life is short and you should enjoy your self while you can. But it is so easy to get carried away with things like this.

I hope that at least one person reads it and thinks, maybe I can wait one more year for a new system and stick some cash back for a rainy day. Anybody who does not match my description of a person heading for financial ruin, over doing overly frequent upgrades that they can not afford, has no reason to be offended, because I'm not talking about them, but we know there are plenty of people who are on a slippery slope. Some people can actually afford the best and newest CPU and GPU every time a new one comes out and that's great, I wish everybody who wants to could afford it, but they can't and yet many of them do it anyway. This stuff is so fun and that's why I read all these interesting reviews and drool over all the new high end stuff.

If somebody is on a perpetual credit card payment plan of a significant amount, just to have the latest and greatest, and believe me they're out there. Then they need to hear the truth, weather it hurts their feelings or not. The need for instant gratification has become a way of life for so many people these days, at least in the United States. It's lead to people ending up homeless or losing their homes and cars to the bank or just not being able to leave mom and dads house. It happens and unfortunately it's really not all that rare of an occurrence these days.

 

Well put, I agree with everything you say (apart from the 'parents basement comment'). If I had a desktop, I'd upgrade in the same way that you do. (In fact I won't be upgrading my laptop until Maxwell AND the die shrink come about - a year and a half estimated I reckon).