Just ordered PC parts: How long will SLI EVGA OC GTX 680's last me

[VaporX]

I have to agree with the 5 year estimate, there are a few factors in play to support this but the biggest is the gaming industry itself. There is a huge movement to creating games that are cross platform, the days of PC exclusive are rare. To create a game cross platform the game makers built toward the lowest common denominator, the consoles. Now even if the next generation consoles hit they will still, based on the info out so far, be a generation of so behind the current PC and then not even close to a high end PC setup.

 

This can be seen already today with single card setups where people are using video cards that are close to 4 years old still and gaming with them just fine. They may not be running top of the image quality graph but they are still using very respectable settings and getting great game results. Heck I play Skyrim at my in-laws on a GTS 450 at 1080 and that is a low end gaming card from almost 3 years ago. Your talking about dual top of the line cards, 5 years should be easy.

 

However as always take everyone's opinions on this with a grain of salt. This industry can suddenly surprise you and we could see something amazing in the next 6 months that changes everything.

[red1776]

However as always take everyone's opinions on this with a grain of salt. This industry can suddenly surprise you and we could see something amazing in the next 6 months that changes everything

Exactly. as Intel is demonstrating there is a lot of life left in Moore's law. My money is on the introduction of super high res/multi-monitor/ low cost setups to make 2560 the standard. Overall thje GPU industry (sales) have bucked the economic trend since the economy tanked. I don't think they will let it go without at least am attempt at a trend changer. $300 2560's? 3x1080P with stand for $ 400? 

[d6bmg]

3-4 years.

For next 2 years it would be killer rig even running at stock frequency.

[Waco]

 

 

However as always take everyone's opinions on this with a grain of salt. This industry can suddenly surprise you and we could see something amazing in the next 6 months that changes everything

Exactly. as Intel is demonstrating there is a lot of life left in Moore's law. My money is on the introduction of super high res/multi-monitor/ low cost setups to make 2560 the standard. Overall thje GPU industry (sales) have bucked the economic trend since the economy tanked. I don't think they will let it go without at least am attempt at a trend changer. $300 2560's? 3x1080P with stand for $ 400?

You can get 2560x1600 monitors for $300 every day from Korea.

[El_Capitan]

 

 

 

However as always take everyone's opinions on this with a grain of salt. This industry can suddenly surprise you and we could see something amazing in the next 6 months that changes everything

Exactly. as Intel is demonstrating there is a lot of life left in Moore's law. My money is on the introduction of super high res/multi-monitor/ low cost setups to make 2560 the standard. Overall thje GPU industry (sales) have bucked the economic trend since the economy tanked. I don't think they will let it go without at least am attempt at a trend changer. $300 2560's? 3x1080P with stand for $ 400?

You can get 2560x1440 monitors for $300 every day from Korea.

 

 

Corrected.

[Master Binky]

I would think that is going to last a long time at least (2 yrs) of max settings at 1080p. And longer into enjoyable playing, It's high quality lifespan will be shortened if you move to 2560x1440, but it is right that the engines aren't getting significantly heavier. Nvidia's latest drivers just boosted performance ~15%, showing where they are focusing their attention for now. Once the next set of consoles come out and the DirectX version that is most compatible with them is figured out, that's the base of the future engines as well, just like how almost all games are Dx9 because that's what goes smoothly with the Xbox.