The card in question was a GTX 560Ti, which i had going on three years. It served its purpose and then some through heavy gaming sessions and large amounts of video capture. I wasn’t surprised in the least that it finally decided to go, but as i said, the timing was terrible. The card was nothing special since it was a cost cutting decision for my first full PC build back in 2012. Going with the $200 range card allowed me to splurge in other areas while sticking to my budget. In hindsight, i probably should have stepped up to the next price range and cut something else, but the decision was made.

Luckily i had my old previous card sitting in a box in a closet as a temporary solution. For these past three months, I’ve been relying on my trusted GTX 260 to get by. I honestly can’t believe it’s still going and has managed to outlive the card that replaced it. It started as a one or two day replacement which managed to turn into three months of procrastinating. During that time i haven’t been able to capture any videos or play much else. I’ve pretty much missed the entirety of Blackrock Foundry which is a shame since it’s a much better raid than Highmaul was.

Well for the first time i stepped into the $300 price range and purchased myself a GTX 970. I contemplated possibly going with a 980 but i couldn’t justify the price tag since i play on a 24 inch monitor @1080p. Perhaps if i had something in the 27 inch @1440p range, my decision would have been different. For what i have, i felt this was the best bang for my buck.

So far so good as my performance has pretty much doubled from the 560, let alone the 260. Now i can get back to what i enjoy doing and grabbing some game footage and future boss kills. An added bonus being that my card came with Witcher 3, which i’m looking forward to, and Batman: Arkham Knight, which i may or may not play. For now i’ll enjoy my 200fps in WoW.