My computer uses this video card that’s about five years old. It’s worked well, but with the holidays coming on, a lot of the games I’m looking to buy on sale are too advanced for this card, and it’s time for an upgrade. I’m thinking of buying one over the next couple of days, if I can find a good deal through post-Thanksgiving sales, but really don’t know how to choose among all the options, especially while staying in my price range. Any suggestions?
If it matters, this is my motherboard. I know that, and my CPU, also need upgrades, but I think the card is my next priority.
The two big bargain video cards right now are AMD’s RX 480 and Nvidia’s 1060.
The RX 480 comes in two flavors: a 4GB card and an 8Gb card. The only difference between them is the memory. The 4GB card fits right in your budget, the 8GB card is slightly above your ceiling but if you could find the extra money it would be worth it. AMD’s cards tend to benchmark worse than Nvidia’s and suck up more electricity. On the other hand, they’re doing well with newer games running DirectX 12, better than Nvidia in some cases.
Nvidia has the 1060 in 3GB and 6GB flavors. The 3GB is already at the top of your range and, unlike the AMD cards, the 3GB has a weaker processor than the 6GB as well as less memory. The 3GB also suffers for having only 3GB of memory in a time where requirements are rapidly increasing. Still, in head-to-head tests against the 4GB 480, the 3GB 1060 usually comes out ahead.
There’s cheaper cards as well (the RX 460 and GTX 1050) but since you can get better in your price range, you might as well do that. All things being equal, I’d go for the 3GB 1060 for $200 unless your range is elastic enough to get a 6GB model. If it’s not enough to get the 6GB but IS enough to get the 8GB 460 then that’s a better card than the 3GB 1060 due to the vastly larger memory (the 1060 might have better hardware but chokes as it runs low on memory versus the 8GB card)
Also, I think NewEgg is currently offering $25 back on purchases over $200 with an AmEx card if that’s an option for you.
Any of those would be a huge upgrade for you and play modern games at 1080 resolution. Whatever card you get, be sure to check that you have an adequate power supply.
Do take a look at the GTX 1050 Ti ($140+) if you can’t afford the RX 480 or GTX 1060 as it easily beats the RX 460 and nears the performance of the RX 470. This 4GB RX 480 is $210, just outside your price range.
Thanks for these detailed recommendations! Given all the different cards out there that may go on sale in the next few days, am I right in thinking that the above details are all I really need to pay attention to–that any GTX 1060 3GB is basically the same as another? or is there something else I should pay attention to as well?
600W is more than enough for any of the GPUs listed in this thread…
Jophiel seems to be mixing the RX 460 - which is to be avoided - and the RX 480, which should be near the top of your list. It’s pretty much of a muchness between the 6 GB GTX 1060 and the 8 GB RX 480, though the GTX 1060 does consume less power.
Yep, you’re set worrying about the model numbers and VRAM size. Don’t worry about manufacturers. Get the cheapest, just make sure you look at their return policy and warranty (like you probably would for any piece of electronics). That’s usually their main/only difference.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you could find a GTX 1060 6GB during sales close to your budget, and maybe within if you factor in packed in games. I think right now you can get Watch Dogs 2 bundled in, if you’re interested.
Those details are good enough but digging deeper can show differences between 1060s. They can differ in terms of clock/memory speed, effectiveness of cooling, sounds levels and overclockability. Zotac seems pretty good about having high clock speeds and pushing them further still. If you really want to mess about with overclocking, EVGA will allow you to change the BIOS without taking the risk of bricking your GPU. EVGA also seems to put an emphasis on low sound levels.
I’ve found that overclocking the memory seems to produce better results than overclocking the cores although I don’t know just how much further GDDR5 memory can be pushed than its current 8000MHz. Pushing a 970’s memory to 9000MHz will certainly give interesting results.
There’s two general tiers of manufacturers: premium and budget. Premium is brands like Asus, Sapphire, XFX, EVGA and a few others. Budget is brands like PowerColor and Zotec.
Budget isn’t “bad” – you’ve been using a PowerColor card for five years – but they probably do have a slightly higher rate of getting a dud card or lack a lifetime warranty, etc. And the premium brands use higher manufacturing standards under the assumption that users may try to overclock them or otherwise push them harder than the typical user. Still, everyone starts with the same reference specification from AMD or Nvidia and goes from there. And PowerColor and Sapphire, two guys from different tiers, were the only ones to make an R9 290x with a cooling system worth a damn. Some manufacturers go above and beyond the reference spec with overclocking and the like but they also charge more for it.
By in large, I’d say you can probably go with whichever brand is on sale without too much concern. If you were a “power” user, trying to overclock and squeeze the most out of your cards then there’s value in paying more for a premium manufacturer. For most users, the value is mainly a slightly reduced chance of getting a bum card that needs to be returned.
Okay, just ordered this 1060 card for $179 after rebate. I’m a tiny bit concerned about the 3GB not being enough in coming years–but my last card served me for five years, so if I can get another five out of this one, I’m fine. And if I can’t, I’ll post another thread here in a few years :).
Thanks, everybody, for the help, with the biggest shout-out to Jophiel for his clear and precise explanations!
Consider cancelling your order. The 3 GB GTX 1060 is not a GTX 1060 with half the VRAM but a GTX 1060 with half the VRAM and 10% lower processing power. And I would be very concerned about lack of VRAM. Read this. It’s not a bad card; it’s just not as good a card as it pretends to be.
I disagree. Within the listed budget, it is the best card available and benchmarks better than the RX 480 4GB. Chances are, Left Hand of Dorkness plays at 1080 at best and your article shows modern games getting 50-70 fps at high/ultra/extreme settings at 1080. Honestly, at this point the processor is more likely to be the bottleneck than the GPU.
Unless someone can find an RX 480 8GB for $200 or less, LHoD got the best card available for the budget. Yeah, you can always spend more and get better but sometimes a price ceiling is there for a reason.
Keep in mind I don’t care about playing at max resolution AT ALL. I care about being able to meet the minimum requirements for games. I’d like this card to meet this need for some years going forward.
Card came today, beast of a card. Had to take out a second slot in the back of my case to fit it in, could barely squeeze it into the workings of the computer past all the cables. Closed the case, tried to hook up the monitor–
oops. No VGA input, the only monitor cable I had. A quick trip to Radio Shack and $20 later, I had an HDMI cable. Hooked it up, turned it on–
–to a terrible rattling sound. Opened the case up, found that one of the card’s fans was pressed tight against the cable to my DVD drive (tautology?) and rattled awfully against it. Fortunately, Apple came to the rescue, in the form of a small rectangular shim I cut from the plastic insert to an iPhone case. Wedged between the fan’s case and the wire, it kept them from intersecting.
Turned it on, and a bit of fudging around with monitor settings later, everything looks great! Now to find a game to put it through its paces…
