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Why are most people here saying never to buy a 1060 3GB

farzher

I realize it's 5-10% slower than 6GB, but it's 30% cheaper!

My math says it's by far the best value card that exists

People here say "get RX 480 or 1060 6GB. never 1060 3GB"
Why...1060 3GB is way cheaper than both, and it's even slightly faster than RX 480
(If you don't know what I'm talking about just search "1060 3gb" on here)
 

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3GB not that much.

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Not everyone agress with that.

For 1080p gaming, I would acctually say that you should get 3GB version.

Those additional 3GB of VRAM won't help you that much in performance.

 

Like you said, maybe 10% performance increase, but that doesn't justify 30-35% higher price.

 

For 1080p gaming I would say that 3GB VRAM is enough for most modern games.

But hey, that's just my opinion :)

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4 minutes ago, Morgan Everett said:

Because 3 GB of VRAM is inadequate for such a card.

no it's not. not at 1080p. 6gb is irrelevant in 95percent of games.  3gb is more than you need. 

 

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I agree here. 1060 3GB version is likely to be enough for 1080p gaming for the next... 3 years or so? If you're doing things where the extra 3 GB matters (higher resolutions for example) I don't think you should be looking at the 1060 in the first place... you should go for the 1070 or 1080.

The 3 GB really is far better value; the difference is usually just 5%...10% tops... for at least 20% less cost.

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3 minutes ago, Simon771 said:

Not everyone agress with that.

For 1080p gaming, I would acctually say that you should get 3GB version.

Those additional 3GB of VRAM won't help you that much in performance.

 

Like you said, maybe 10% performance increase, but that doesn't justify 30-35% higher price.

 

For 1080p gaming I would say that 3GB VRAM is enough for most modern games.

But hey, that's just my opinion :)

 

Just now, farzher said:

no it's not. not at 1080p. 6gb is irrelevant in 95percent of games.  3gb is more than you need. 

 

I disagree. When I play GTA 5 and JC3 with max setting (GTAV MSAA X2), I use about 4.8-5.1GB of Vram at 1080p. 6GB is definitely nice to have especially at the rate games are being developed.

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Some games such as Assassin's Creed, or the new BF games are going to want 4+GB to run all graphics options. 3 isn't really enough for anything recent, and it's not going to be future proof. The 1060 is great, I have one in my laptop, but even that one has 6GB. Don't do 3, you need more.

I have a R9 380 4GB in my desktop, and it's RAM is maxed out with most new games.

Crippling the 1060 with 3GB VRAM is like getting a sports car, but only driving in a 25 MPH speed zone. It can do more, but it will be limited.

You're gonna need more cow bell.

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1 minute ago, Warning said:

 

I disagree. When I play GTA 5 and JC3 with max setting (GTAV MSAA X2), I use about 4.8-5.1GB of Vram at 1080p. 6GB is definitely nice to have especially at the rate games are being developed.

that's interesting. if you turn down a few VRAM intense settings you can still get high quality graphics under 3gb though right? 

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How on earth is it limited when it can still run BF4 at 1080p/ultra at 90 fps?! Honestly...just look at the benchmarks...

 

It's in Dutch, but I guess you can get the gist of it by just looking at the numbers. https://nl.hardware.info/reviews/6954/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-3gb-review-afgeslankte-1060

 

Whether the 3 or 6 GB is worth it is of course entirely dependent upon the price difference, but the 20-30% difference you usually see simply doesn't seem to be worth it.

Also, in regards to futureproofing: both of these are mid-range cards. Neither of them is likely to be able to run everything in 3-4 years without turning down at least some of the eye candy. Both of them are just as likely to still be able to run everything as long as you turn down a few of the settings.

Even my 760GTX can still run most games at ultra or very high settings, as long as you turn down the occasional option that eats 20 FPS. Games are far more tolerant to older cards these days.

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4 minutes ago, farzher said:

that's interesting. if you turn down a few VRAM intense settings you can still get high quality graphics under 3gb though right? 

When you turn down AA, Graphics quality, FOV, distance, shadows, and  lighting effects, sure.

Maybe I'm being a little extreme. But it's all about user preference. The 1060 is great. I would want it to be more supportive of current and future games.

 

High graphics in Assassin's Creed Syndicate for example uses about 3.5 Gb. The 1060 would do fine on Ultra, but that needs 4+. Just all example.

 

You've got to think about how complex games are visually. All of this is handled by the GPU. Even if your not looking at something (like behind you), it's loaded so u out can turn around and see it.  the more complex and busy the environment, the more demand on the GPU storage.

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17 minutes ago, farzher said:

I realize it's 5-10% slower than 6GB, but it's 30% cheaper!

My math says it's by far the best value card that exists

People here say "get RX 480 or 1060 6GB. never 1060 3GB"
Why...1060 3GB is way cheaper than both, and it's even slightly faster than RX 480
(If you don't know what I'm talking about just search "1060 3gb" on here)
 

becuase its a cut down 1060 also

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4 minutes ago, farzher said:

that's interesting. if you turn down a few VRAM intense settings you can still get high quality graphics under 3gb though right? 

Well It doesn't suffer any performance loss so why should I turn down settings to downgrade the look of the game. I won't touch anything until I max out my Vram.

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Imo 3gb of VRAM fit the 1060 perfectly. I've yet to see any game being ran at 1080p using up more than 3-3.5gb of memory, and the 1060 is a 1080p card.

 
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okay I think I understand now. 3gb might limit your ability to max out all the graphics which is silly because the card is so fast, it could handle it if it had more ram.

 

 

 but personally I don't care about graphics at all, I just want the FPS power. I want consistent 144hz. 3gb is the perfect card for me because I don't care about the ram. thanks for helping me understand.  I just realized 3gb is the best competitive gaming card! (:

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20 minutes ago, Jovidah said:

How on earth is it limited when it can still run BF4 at 1080p/ultra at 90 fps?! Honestly...just look at the benchmarks...

 

It's in Dutch, but I guess you can get the gist of it by just looking at the numbers. https://nl.hardware.info/reviews/6954/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-3gb-review-afgeslankte-1060

 

Whether the 3 or 6 GB is worth it is of course entirely dependent upon the price difference, but the 20-30% difference you usually see simply doesn't seem to be worth it.

Also, in regards to futureproofing: both of these are mid-range cards. Neither of them is likely to be able to run everything in 3-4 years without turning down at least some of the eye candy. Both of them are just as likely to still be able to run everything as long as you turn down a few of the settings.

Even my 760GTX can still run most games at ultra or very high settings, as long as you turn down the occasional option that eats 20 FPS. Games are far more tolerant to older cards these days.

I couldn't agree more.

 

Sure 3GB might not be future proof, but for 1080p it will be just fine.

Turn down some settings from ultra to high and you are all set with 3GB VRAM.

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I decided to get it

I just bought the 1060 3gb for 153$

it's like 1$ per fps 

I think it'll also keep the best resell value, so I can trade it in for a small loss when I want to upgrade again.  now that's futureproofing 

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1 hour ago, farzher said:

no it's not. not at 1080p. 6gb is irrelevant in 95percent of games.  3gb is more than you need. 

 

Tell that to my 4GB 980 that maxes out VRAM with basically any new game. This was true 2+ years ago, it's no longer the case.

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2 hours ago, KOMTechAndGaming said:

becuase its a cut down 1060 also

By that reasoning no one should buy a 1070 because it's a cut-down 1080, or an i5 because it's a cut-down i7 cpu...

From a price / performance they both make total sense.

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IMHO you should always buy the most powerfull GPU with the features you want within your budget.

 

If you like nvidea and only can afford the 1060 3gb, go for it

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8 minutes ago, QBtech said:

IMHO you should always buy the most powerfull GPU with the features you want within your budget.

 

If you like nvidea and only can afford the 1060 3gb, go for it

Really that also depends on your budget. On low budgets, yes it makes sense. All the bargain basement cards suck and are pretty much obsolete at the moment of purchase. 

However, once you hit that level where you can afford a 1060 it really...depends. Going from a 1060 to a 1070 is already paying a premium on the extra performance. Going towards the 1080 it gets even worse... This really only makes sense if you can leverage that performance because you have a fancypants 4K screen or something like that and actually NEED it to get acceptable framerates.

However for those still rocking HD screens... nope. Financially it usually makes a lot more sense to just buy 'mid-range' cards and upgrade more often.

 

For example, for the price of a 1080 (700ish?) I can buy a 1060 now... and get a 1260 in a few years that'll blow the 1080 out of the water...and still have money to spare. Given the large inflation & development in the field of graphics cards it makes a lot more sense to spread your investment. So buy a 375 dollar/euro card every 3 years instead of a 750 dollar/euro card every 6 years.

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9 minutes ago, Jovidah said:

Really that also depends on your budget. On low budgets, yes it makes sense. All the bargain basement cards suck and are pretty much obsolete at the moment of purchase. 

However, once you hit that level where you can afford a 1060 it really...depends. Going from a 1060 to a 1070 is already paying a premium on the extra performance. Going towards the 1080 it gets even worse... This really only makes sense if you can leverage that performance because you have a fancypants 4K screen or something like that and actually NEED it to get acceptable framerates.

However for those still rocking HD screens... nope. Financially it usually makes a lot more sense to just buy 'mid-range' cards and upgrade more often.

 

For example, for the price of a 1080 (700ish?) I can buy a 1060 now... and get a 1260 in a few years that'll blow the 1080 out of the water...and still have money to spare. Given the large inflation & development in the field of graphics cards it makes a lot more sense to spread your investment. So buy a 375 dollar/euro card every 3 years instead of a 750 dollar/euro card every 6 years.

Yeah but spreading your money lowers your current budget now,  doesnt it? ;)

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9 minutes ago, QBtech said:

Yeah but spreading your money lowers your current budget now,  doesnt it? ;)

Which is why I added the few caveats. I agree 'spreading your investment' isn't viable when your budget is too low. If you only have 200 bucks there isn't much of a point in getting a bargain basement card that's obsolete before you even take it out of the box.

It also isn't viable when you want to drive 4k screens that simply need the better performance right now.

But for everyone still using mainstream 1080p screens I think this is still the way to go. 

 

Also it makes more sense given how most people save up money over time... so essentially it tackles the "should I save up for 5 more months just so I can get the 1080 and be more futureproof" issue.

Admittedly this does not make any sense with parts that due not suffer much inflation (CPUs in the last few years, PSUs, cases, etc.)

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1 minute ago, Jovidah said:

Which is why I added the few caveats. I agree 'spreading your investment' isn't viable when your budget is too low. If you only have 200 bucks there isn't much of a point in getting a bargain basement card that's obsolete before you even take it out of the box.

It also isn't viable when you want to drive 4k screens that simply need the better performance right now.

But for everyone still using mainstream 1080p screens I think this is still the way to go. 

 

Also it makes more sense given how most people save up money over time... so essentially it tackles the "should I save up for 5 more months just so I can get the 1080 and be more futureproof" issue.

Okay okay, 

 

If you have a low budget, buy the best card your money can buy. If you have a high budget, buy the cheapest card that can drive your screens as fast as you want them and get an upgrade in the near future.

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Isn't the 3gb version also a cutdown version as in less Cuda cores ?

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