As the topic reads, I'm trying to decide which GPU would fit my use/needs best.
So for starters, here's my system:
http://pcpartpicker.com/list/yBHZf8
I am currently using a PNY GeForce 9800 GT that I purchased back in 2008, so regardless of my choice it will be a huge upgrade.
I am not a huge gamer, but the games that I normally play include Starcraft II, Cities: Skylines, Banished, etc (games that don't require a huge amount of juice to run), and I do lots of photo/video rendering/resizing. My current monitor will be upgraded soon and my plan is to hold right at the 1080p resolutions for everything. My system runs pretty quiet to start, so I would like the GPU to also be fairly quiet. I know most aftermarket cards have fans that only turn on after a certain temp threshold is met so my noise concern may not be very valid, but still just wanted to throw it out.
As of right now my budget is $300. Originally I was going to stretch and purchase an MSI 1070 Gaming X, but since the street price is so significantly much over the MSRP I am pursuing other options.
The 2 GPUs that I currently have my eye on are the Sapphire Nitro 480, and the MSI 1060 Gaming X. I have no interest in CrossFire or SLI and I will probably not do a ton of OC'ing if any (since the cards really don't push too much further, and the gains are marginal).
I think I've hit the point where I'm just overthinking a very easy question, but any feedback/direction that you could provide would be very appreciated!
What resolution and refesh rate is your monitor? Do you care about running maximum settings?
For $300 I would probably get an RX480 8GB or GTX 1060, unless you would buy used, and then get a 980ti instead.
Monitor will have a refresh rate of 1 or 2ms (still shopping around). I would like to run everything on maximum settings.
My focus is on the 480 8GB or the 1060, but I'm not sure which one (AMD vs GTX) would fit my situation better. I've read tons and understand that while the GTX will be faster out of the gate, I also understand that long-term the AMD will have better life due to updates, etc.
I did forget to mention in my first post, I will be using this GPU for the next several years - I do not intend to upgrade my GPU every year/every other.
I would recommend a RX480 too. It is more future-proof than a 1060 and the price/performance ratio is pretty good.
The RX480 is the better card.
If you can raise your budget by $50, this might be an option (as of right now):
www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-PCI-Express-Graphics-11247-03-40G/dp/B0196LWL3W/ref=sr_1_1
Then a more future-proof card (RX480) would make a lot more sense.
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@CrossCarbon
I'm not as familiar with older generations of GPUs - wouldn't the newer RX480 be a better choice than the Fury? Why would you recommend the Fury over the Sapphire RX480?
I think the reason could be that the Furys are AMD's flagships and in contrast to the 3xx series, they have a newer chip architecture (not sure which one though). Furthermore they have very fast memory (HBM).
The Fury has much more horsepower and a lot of bandwith too spare (thanks to the use of HBM instead of GDDR5). Back when it was released, it was a new architecture. It is one year old now and for the price, it is a very good deal.
Plus I am happy with mine in 1080p gaming and video editing/rendering.
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Okay, that's a very interesting recommendation that I didn't even consider. I was planning on just going with current gen technology (480 or 1060) and getting something that is good enough/fast enough for my needs that will last me the next 3-4 years. I had assumed that since my games were fairly low-key from a graphics perspective I wouldn't really need to consider a higher end card, but at the same time I didn't consider the video editing/rendering that I am doing. I will certainly look into the Fury though after your recommendation!
Any other thoughts or things I should consider?
I wouldn't bother with a Fury unless you can get it for very, very cheap.
4GB VRAM isn't a whole lot these days (how ridiculous it may sound) and for a somewhat futureproof PC I'd rather have 6 or 8 GB's.
Although yes, the Furu is a powerful card if it's being utilized well but 1080p isn't that. In 1080p the Fury at reference clocks is only ~7% faster than a factory overclocked RX 480.
Paying 350$ for that vs for example 269$ for the Sapphire RX 480 Nitro+ 8GB doesn't make any sense what so ever.
30% more money for very little gain.
Of course if you hammer the cards with 4K gameplay the Furu is 20% ahead in average but is that playable?
No, GTA V being 24.5fps vs 26fps or RoTR/Witcher 3 being 22.5fps vs 24fps. Ooo, so huge gains it's making me feel warm and fuzzy. If 4K is important then look towards the GTX 1080 or wait for the inevitable GTX 1080 Ti.
And if you're looking at RX 480 vs GTX 1060, the future is DX12 and Vulkan so RX 480 is the better choice in my personal opinion.
Nvidia's driver optimizations for previous generation cards hasn't been all that good and we've clearly seen how with old cards the tables have flipped.
Generally I've seen that AMD's cards tend to age better than Nvidia's.
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Thanks for the detailed response @Lagittaja
I think you guys have convinced me to pursue the AMD card opposed to the NVidia option.
From my reading and research I've found that Sapphire seems to be one of the best/most preferred AMD manufacturers due to quality, support, etc. I've also been looking at the PowerColor card and although it is getting good reviews it seems that the back plate would cause a compatibility issue on my board (especially considering that I'm using the Noctua tower which extends even beyond the ram slots). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZTwqfM_kmU
Most posts I've seen say "just pick whatever one you like the looks of best 'cause they're all the same for the most part", but at the same time I have seen (on TekSyndicate forums at least) that there are some cards such as the MSI that may not be the best options. I'm really leaning toward the Sapphire right now due to the reasons I just mentioned, but again as always feedback is always appreciated!
Depending on your location and monitor budget, you can easily get a Freesync as well...
As for the specific model:
I would go with the Sapphire for performance and the Powercolor for silence.
Keep in mind there are i believe 4 different Sapphire RX480 Nitro models - 2x8GB and 2x4GB models...
i fully support powercolor as a viable vender. and i also back the higher tier of sapphire cards. for the rx480 that means the 8 gig versions. as they are the highest binned chips that sapphire is getting. and the 4 gig cards are the not so good ones.
A 9800gt is a really old card 2008ish. By chance do you have a really old platform(CPU mobo, etc) as well?
If so spending $300 on a new gpu doesn't make a lot of sense if you want to run things at max settings. The wold's best gpu won't do max anything if you're rocking core duo.
I'm in a similar situation, trying to upgrade a hd5770, but I'm limited by my i5-750(even if its at 4ghz) so I'm not even considering a 1070 or greater. I just won't be able to use it.
For the things I do I could get away fine with a gtx 750ti, although I'll probably pickup a RX 470 or RX480(4gb) in the next week depending on which is available first.
So TLDR: consider your whole system before you drop $ 300 on gpu alone.
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@originalblu
The platform I just upgraded from was built in 2008, so yes that system is very old.
Here is the new system that I just built:
http://pcpartpicker.com/list/yBHZf8
Also...
This is the Sapphire model I'm looking at: 11260-01
You are going big right there!
I think some points could be optimised a fair bit.
Changed RAM, storage, PSU and added the Sapphire Nitro RX480 8GB
http://pcpartpicker.com/list/3yKV7h
@CrossCarbon
Thanks for your reply!
I looked at a few of those parts (RAM specifically) but due to using the Noctua my ram height was very limited which is the reason I went with the LPX low profile. As of right now the computer is built, running, and OC'd, but it's missing the newer video card (still running on the old PCIe 2.0 9800 from 2008).
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You could probably get a used 970 for about $150. Just get one with 4GB, i mean 3.5GB. LOL
