Well, after driver roll backs, updates, restarts and reseats I think I need to move on to replacement of my video card but I’m a little out of my depth here.
I’ve a 5 year old PC with a GTX 560 TI card. What I’d like to get is a decent replacement that gives an overall improvement to performance. I think I’ve a list of candidates but which is a better value escapes me so I turn to the Dope.
AMD has recently come out with the RX 480, nice price to performance ratio with that one. The nearest Nvidia card would be their recently released GTX 1060. Both of those would be a nice upgrade, then upwards in cost the GTX 1070/1080.
But even the previous gen cards from AMD and Nvidia, like a (AMD) FuryX or GTX 980Ti would be a step up if you don’t need latest/greatest
I have a GTX 970 and so far it plays everything I have on it pretty well. the newest games I’ve run on it are Fallout 4 and the new DooM. it replaced a Radeon 6870.
The roughest we get on the 560 is playing Skyrim or EVE, so I think almost anything would be an improvement. What’s good for the $130-180 that also wont kill my power supply? The 560 pulls 170W so do I need to be worried about that?
It looks like the sweet spot for price/performance right now is the Geforce GTX 1060, so that’s probably what I’d pick if I was looking for a new video card. I looked around a bit and saw that TomsHardware recommends the Radeon RX 480 4GB version at $200, but the GTX 1060 has better performance and comes with 6 GB video RAM for about $50 more, so that seems to make more sense to me.
The RX 480 and 1060 are, far and away, the best deals on the market right now. Both offer performance that would have needed to pay $350+ for a few months ago. They’re a little out of your price range (the 1060 more so than the 480) but it’s tech malpractice to not make them the primary recommendation.
If your price range is firm, my recommendation would be the GTX 950 which can be had in the neighborhood of $150
The $130~180 is going to be the kicker these days, video cards just seem to be trickling up in price a little every gen. I have a GTX 970 (card mentioned above) in my HTPC, but it was at least twice as expensive as what you are looking to spend. As with the GTX 1060, looks like it’s running in the $239~289 range.
So we’re saying I’m too frugal for my own good? 
Would the 1060 or 480 be too power hungry or am I worrying unnecessarily?
The GTX 1060 should work well, it’s one of the most power efficient gaming cards sold today. The RX 480 is closer to the middle of the pack, but not excessive. The difference between them is maybe 50W on full load.
And both well under what a 580 draws IIRC.
The RX 480 and the GTX 1060 are the best bang-for-the-buck cards right now.
The RX 470 may fit the bill. Reviews indicate that it overclocks very nicely. I note that you play Skyrim, so you’ll want to get as much VRAM as possible for all the add-on textures.
Do note that there are two versions of the GTX 1060. One has 3 GB VRAM and a cut-back GPU; the other 6 GB VRAM. Avoid the former.
You’re worried about power. The GTX 1060 draws less power than your 560 Ti. The RX 480 a bit more, but as long as your PSU is 450W+ then you shouldn’t worry.
Which power supply do you currently have?
I also have the GTX 970 (two, actually), and the prices are coming down, now that the next generation 10 series is here. If you do a bit of browsing, you can find people trying to dump them as they look to upgrade (they’re at top of your range, or a bit above, but it’s a solid performer).
ha! Found the old build receipt. Power supply is Corsair Builder CX600 V2 600W. Obviously the Canadian dollar was better back in 2012 - the 560 Ti came in at $255…which means I should be looking at a range of $250-280 if I’m looking for a replacement.
The 950 might be the one that fits I guess.
That PSU gets decent reviews and is plenty beefy enough for any single GPU.
Well thanks to everyone for helping out. Budget and time pressures pushed me to pick the 950 over the 1060 and 480.
But it was close. 