edit: I have just ordered a MSI GeForce® GTX 1060 GAMING X 6G for 362€ and should receive it on July 28-29.

As much as the 1070 was tempting, the other parts of my PC are getting quite old and I thought it might be better to get a cheaper one to extend its lifetime by a few years, and maybe get a whole new PC when the next generation of GPU will be out.

So it was either the 1060 or the RX 480.
A lof of people suggested a particular model for the RX 480 (Sapphire Radeon RX 480 Nitro+), but this wasn't available already so I would have had to wait an undetermined amount of the time and I wasn't really willing to. This card also made the price argument of the 480 a bit bogus since it was sold for 320€ where I could find it.
The other main argument in favour of the RX 480 was that it seemed more future proof, since at the moment it performs better in DX12/Vulkan games and had 2 extra GB of memory. However by the time this become really relevant, I might be looking to get a new PC soon.

This left me with the 1060. Models around 300€ were out of stock, so I had to pay a bit extra, but coming from a HD 6870, I should be more than happy once I get my hands on it.


This is pretty much a follow-up of my previous thread about my graphic issues. Odds are I'll be ordering a new GPU on Monday. But I'm completely clueless about this and I don't know what to get.

The 1070 is really tempting, but there's also quite a price difference (1070 starting at 500€, 1060 at 300€ and 480 at 260€). I'm not planning to do anything fancy, just playing on one 1080p monitor for now, I'm not particularly looking to get a 1440p soon but I might, especially if I end up getting the 1070.

So, should I go for the 1070 or is it more than I need ? Will the other cards cover my needs for several years ?
Also wondering how to choose a specific brand/model of card

Giveaways for bothering everyone with my newb questions today : ended

https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/aJVCl/satellite-reign
https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/PLC9D/hurtworld

edit: I forgot, but here's my config:

PSU: Be Quiet Pure Power L7 - 530W
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 1Go
RAM: G.Skill Kit Extreme3 2 x 4 Go PC15000 Sniper CAS 9
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K
MB: Asus P8Z68-V LX

I'll probably buy a SSD in the upcoming months, but anything else I should change ? Will the new card be fine on this config ?

8 years ago*

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Anything more powerful than the rx 480/1060 tier is going to leave you cpu bottlenecked to some degree at 1080p. And trying to future proof your gpu is a fool's errand, so unless you're up for upgrading the rest of your system and/or your monitor I'd stick to one of those.

The choice between the two of them won't matter as much. The 1060 will be slightly faster in dx11 but the 480 will counter in vulkan/dx12. The 1060 will be more power efficient but it'll suffer from driver degradation when nvidia launches their next generation of gpus. I'd personally go with amd, but that's largely because nvidias market share is already starting to show in their pricing and supporting the little guy in this scenario costs nothing.

Another option might be the fury, though it might be ever so slightly overkill for 1080p as well. But they've been going for just above 300 € on and off for a few weeks now.

8 years ago
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Well, if you can afford $500 for a 1070, you can also get 2xRX 480 for the same price (and way better performance)!

8 years ago
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Assuming XFire will work under everything normally. It (and SLI too) is still mostly limited from the games' side, but there is some hope that AMD could really find a way to circumvent it.

8 years ago
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Well, benchmarks are quite positive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMHJhP7Y7oM

Not only it is pretty much always superior to 1070, but it also matches the much costlier 1080 in some games (only 9% slower on average)

8 years ago
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Don't forget that in return they will eat a lot of power though. Still, if you live in a country where electricity is relatively cheap, it could be a good alternative. But maybe waiting for a 490X would be better in the long run.

8 years ago
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single cards are always better to focus on imo, rather than buying 2 cheaper cards and expecting similar/better performance

8 years ago
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wait for the custom rx 480 (mostly the sapphiere nitro). The ASUS custom is just 3% behind the 1060 and has more ram. Sapphiere normaly brings the best custom on amd...

If you only play on full hd i would not buy something higher than 1060 or rx 480.
Even if you say "but I'll buy a new monitor next year" it would not a good idea because amd will release vegas and maybe we will see a pricedrop and some new gpu releases.

8 years ago
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I'll be tossing between 1060 and 480 in half a year when have some $ - one thing, it won't be an XFX either way. Sapphire or Asus probably and yes, wait for custom coolers.

8 years ago
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The 300 line of XFX was surprisingly good. maybe they finally started making good cards again.

8 years ago
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530 watt PSU might need upgrading, especially if you are using GTX.

8 years ago
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NVidia cards are very power-efficient and need small PSUs. This is their only unquestionable and indisputable advantage over AMD.

8 years ago
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You are wrong. Every model and type of card has different requirements. The new 480's have 2/3 or less the usage of 970 / 1070. They require 350 watt whereas the 480 uses around 150-200. The amd 3 series used a lot of power too though. I have a 650 watt power supply and it's a concern enough for me to want the 480 over the 1060, unless it can work under 200 watts. Because I don't want to upgrade my PSU.

8 years ago
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Uhm, the GTX 1060 needs like 50 Watts less than the 480… this is one of the few disadvantages most any sites lists against that card and the fact many NVidia fanboys desperately hold onto.

8 years ago
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The 1070 requires one 8 pin power plug from the PSU, which supplies 150w in addition to the 75w supplied by the PCIE slot, for a maximum possible of 225w supplied to the card.

The 1070 is rated at 150w TDP, and the 1060 at 120w TDP.

8 years ago
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what cpu do you use that you only have 200watt left with a 650 psu? most cpu just use up to 90w. 450w should be enough for 480 and 1060

8 years ago
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I've been debating the same question myself and am torn between the EVGA 1060 SC and the Sapphire RX480 Nitro. I don't think you can go wrong with either card for 1080p performance though if pure performance is the deciding factor I think 1060 probably wins. I'm leaning towards the sapphire nitro though simply because I like its features more than the performance differences like freesync (more affordable monitors than gsync), the nitros easy replace fans, the metal backplate, and ability to crossfire in the future (the NVidia 1060 does not support SLI). I doubt I will ever use SLI or crossfire but I like having the option down the road. I'm not sure when the nitro will actually be available although overclockers UK is already taking preorders.

Edit: Forgot to say thanks for the giveaways!
and... Good luck on the hunt for your card.

8 years ago*
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This is echoing my thoughts exactly. Looking to buy in the next fortnight and the Sapphire is my current pick over a 1060 at the same price.

8 years ago
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1070 price is fair, I want sli 1080 but must wait forever.

8 years ago
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Please update us and let us know which one you decide to go for. :)

Since I'm running a 1080 144Hz monitor, I'm considering a GTX 1070, but not at the current price levels (which are still well above Nvidia's 3rd-party MSRP due to supply and demand). For a 60Hz monitor, I think it would be overkill and not worth the "future-proofing" price premium unless you intend to hold onto the card for a fairly long time (or do plan on upgrading your monitor).

The GTX 1060 vs RX 480 is an interesting choice, as they both offer a good value for the money. The 1060 uses less power and generally performs better with current DX11 titles, while the 480 is slightly less expensive and may perform better in upcoming DX12 and Vulkan titles due to its better asynchronous compute implementation. I don't think you could really go "wrong" with either one for the money, but if I had to choose between them right now, I think I'd take my chances with a 3rd-party 480, since Vulkan may become a game-changer going forward.

Here's a brief clip on Vulkan in case you're interested: What Is Vulkan & Why Should Gamers CARE?

8 years ago*
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+1 for being updated^^

8 years ago
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I have a 1070 and a 1080p 144Hz monitor, and the money for a 1070 is worth it. You can play with downscaled higher resolutions which looks amazing and that 144 FPS is great. The 1070 is also the best value, the price won't go down too much either unless you want a crappier version of the 1070

8 years ago
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The smoothness of getting such high frame rates is certainly addictive, but the trade-off is that you need a little more horsepower in your GPU to get there. The GTX 1070 certainly seems like an awesome card, and at the $379 price point that Nvidia announced for partner boards it would be tempting, but the currently selling price of $50-70 more makes it a bit less appealing to me from a performance/dollar standpoint. Since I don't need to upgrade my card right at this moment, I think I'm going to hold off a little longer for now.

8 years ago
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That sounds fair enough, but honestly I don't expect it to ever go down to that price, since it's just the suggested price and by the time that price is matched there will be a new gen of cards out. It's a good value but it still is a lot of money, I know when I bought it I was really stressed about spending $430 (not including tax) on a graphics card. At least it's still better than the 1060 and 1080 from a performance to dollar standpoint, despite the high price.

If you've got a card that's not super old though, there really is no need to upgrade like you said. If you have the money though, it's very worth it :)

8 years ago
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Fun fact: i too have both a quite similiar mobo (ASUS P8Z68 DELUXE) and cpu (same 2500k) along with a 500W PSU.

No GPU currently. Looking to get one though. :)

8 years ago
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Definitely the GTX 1070. I have a 1080p monitor too but you can still play at higher resolutions, just scaled down and it still looks really good and you'll get 60+ FPS most of the time. For the price, the best value is the 1070 too (best performance per dollar). Especially with newer games, the 1070 can play them all at max settings on 1080p, the 1060 not so much. I would just fork over the money for the 1070, it's a beast.

Your components won't bottleneck the card either so there's no reason you shouldn't go for the 1070 since it's even better than the Titan X :)

8 years ago
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rx 480. cheaper

8 years ago
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The amount of misinformation in this thread is too damn high, everybody thinks they're a damn tech expert because they read something on some forum :P.
Just get 1060 for 1080p or 1070 for 2k gaming, you need to decide if you wanna switch to that higher resolution AND invest in a proper 2k monitor. Get OC versions from either Asus or EVGA.

8 years ago
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1070 eyes closed!

8 years ago
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The specs on the new Sapphire rx480 Nitro+ are looking a lot better than the reference cards. It has an added DVI connector, uses an 8-pin power plug with much less draw from the motherboard, and has excellent cooling. It has nice L.E.D. lighting and looks sleek. There's also a "boost" feature which seems to work well according to reviews. Benchmarks are putting it in the GTX 1070 range in most instances and exceeding in a select few. For the lower wattage draw and price I would at least check it out. PCWorld tested it and compared it to other cards. Their benchmarks and final results are here - http://www.pcworld.com/article/3098825/components-graphics/sapphire-nitro-rx-480-review-polaris-rethought-and-refined.html

8 years ago
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Now that you ordered your new graphic card, you should be alright for some time.
More RAM would help future-proof your machine even more, but considering that you'll need to change motherboard+CPU soon,
it wouldn't be wise to invest in DDR3 memory, as you wouldn't be able to reuse it on a new DDR4 platform.

Anyway, be aware that you might be CPU-limited, on some new AAA games. Nothing too bad, though.

8 years ago
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