Need help choosing which GPU to buy (1060 6GB/2060/1660 Ti)

[TsubasaLi]

Hey guys,

 

I've been looking to upgrade my GPU. I built my PC in December of 2017 with what was basically "available" to me. Even though I had a job during that time (I took some time off after having graduated in June 2017 to start studying at a uni in the summer semester) I couldn't get the GPU I, necessarily, wanted/needed. My build came up to 835 or 875€ in total.

 

This was also the during the time of the big hype and attention around cryptocurrency. I know that people always advise others to buy cheap used parts but as legit of a "strategy" that is, I don't really like it myself (a bit of stubbornness really). That build hasn't really changed at all except upgrading the two 4 GB sticks of Samsung RAM to two 8 GB Corsair Vengeance RGB (not pro, the "old" model with the metal fence on top of it). Back then it was more than sufficient for the games I played as I also had and still have my Xbox One (traded in at GameStop for the One X Division 2 bundle) for other games that I don't want to play on PC.

 

To not make this post too long, the GPU I have atm is the MSI Aero ITX 1050. Even though this card comes OC from the manufacturer itself, 2 GB of RAM is not sufficient for me or rather for the games I play. This becomes very apparent in games like Batman Arkham Knight or even in newer titles like Apex Legends. Those two only work mid to low settings (Apex works on some high settings on 40 to 60 FPS but 60 is the outlier) but while they work, they don't look good as they should (first world problems, I know). Now, I don't know really know which of the three cards (1060 6GB, RTX 2060 or 1660/TI) I should buy.

 

Spec-wise I should be pretty good:

• i5-7500
• 16 GB DDR4 RAM
• 550W 80+ Gold Corsair TXM PSU
• if the mobo is of any importance --> Asus Prime Z270-K

 

1080p gaming, single monitor. I tend to lean toward the 1060 and 1660 (Ti) because I don't know whether "ray traces" would make such a huge impact in gaming for me that it would justify buying that one. Money itself is not that big an issue as I can set off 100€ to the side each month and I'm in no rush that I absolutely must have either of the three by tomorrow. Oh, almost forgot. The build is not an ITX build despite having the ITX 150, it's just the best I could afford with the money I had left but 6 GB is a must.

[DrMacintosh]

3 minutes ago, TsubasaLi said:

1080p gaming, single monitor.

Why not consider an AMD card? An RX 570/580 8GB card would do very well. 

[Firewrath9]

Budget?

If ~150$, rx 570 4/8gb

if 200$, a nice aftermodel 580 8gb (no msi armor or gigabyte or asus dual)

if 260-280$, best 1660 ti in your budget, don’t spend over 300$.

300+$ rtx 2060.

[Princess Luna]

Considering you have an i5 7500 I'd say it's between the GTX 1660 and RX 580.

[LukeSavenije]

1 minute ago, DrMacintosh said:

Why not consider an AMD card? An RX 570/580 8GB card would do very well. 

except if op cares about the free games, the 1660 would be better

 

tho I've seen v56 go for around 300 bucks, so consider that too, a txm should be able to hold it

[DrMacintosh]

3 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

except if op cares about the free games, the 1660 would be better

 

tho I've seen v56 go for around 300 bucks, so consider that too, a txm should be able to hold it

Last I checked AMD cards come bundled with more or better games than Nvidia options. 

 

And yeah I just checked, both the RX 570 and 580 come with 2 free games. 

 

An RX 580 seems like a no brainier to me at $190 USD. But this is euro so idk what prices are like in the EU. 

[LukeSavenije]

2 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Last I checked AMD cards come bundled with more or better games than Nvidia options. 

 

And yeah I just checked, both the RX 570 and 580 come with 2 free games. 

 

An RX 580 seems like a no brainier to me at $190 USD. But this is euro so idk what prices are like in the EU. 

yeah, but some people simply don't care about those games and rather have the 10% performance increase

that's all i wanted to say with it

[MeatFeastMan]

Considering you are talking about the 1660ti and 2060, I'd throw those in the bin and instead go for Vega 56. It's on killer prices right now, gets 3 amazing games, 2 gb more vram, hbcc, and with the asus vega cards you get an extra 3 games on top of the 3 games you're already getting. If you live in Europe (Which you do) they have good prices on vega right now so I'd go and have a look at those.

[Kosenator]

6 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Last I checked AMD cards come bundled with more or better games than Nvidia options. 

 

And yeah I just checked, both the RX 570 and 580 come with 2 free games. 

 

An RX 580 seems like a no brainier to me at $190 USD. But this is euro so idk what prices are like in the EU. 

On XE dot com, you can check the exchange rate from USD to EUR. But you will probably need to figure in the import cost also, unless they are assembled in Europe?

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, LukeSavenije said:

yeah, but some people simply don't care about those games and rather have the 10% performance increase

that's all i wanted to say with it

Well you said unless the op cares about the free games. Sounds like you meant to say unless he doesn't care about the free games. Either way, saving money is saving money and the RX 580 saves money and tbh, unless OP has a > 60Hz monitor they won't be able to appreciate the performance improvements of Nvidia cards. 

[LukeSavenije]

2 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Well you said unless the op cares about the free games. Sounds like you meant to say unless he doesn't care about the free games. Either way, saving money is saving money and the RX 580 saves money and tbh, unless OP has a > 60Hz monitor they won't be able to appreciate the performance improvements of Nvidia cards. 

i won't say i dosagree, but i don't agree either

 

raytracing is coming to the rest of turing and pascal in april, it still has  better nvenc encoder, things like that

 

amd is great, but it still has differences (nvidia has their bad things too, don't get me wrong)

 

tho i would consider a v56 for around 300 too

[DrMacintosh]

Just now, LukeSavenije said:

raytracing is coming to the rest of turing and pascal in april,

Real time ray-tracing can be done on any GPU now

But lets be honest, real time ray tracing isn't something that people actually want. Nobody is going to willingly sacrifice so much performance just so they can have marginally better looking shadows. Also the NVENC encoder is great....if you plan on streaming......

 

You're right, AMD is great. That's why OP should get a 570/580. 

[Kosenator]

20 minutes ago, TsubasaLi said:

1080p gaming, single monitor. I tend to lean toward the 1060 and 1660 (Ti) because I don't know whether "ray traces" would make such a huge impact in gaming for me that it would justify buying that one. Money itself is not that big an issue as I can set off 100€ to the side each month and I'm in no rush that I absolutely must have either of the three by tomorrow. Oh, almost forgot. The build is not an ITX build despite having the ITX 150, it's just the best I could afford with the money I had left but 6 GB is a must.

From what I've seen from various sources, ray tracing seems be coming to the 1060 6GB and up in April anyway, and Crytec has demo'd AMD's version, Radeon Rays, on a Vega 56 (keep in mind, it is only a demo so far). So I recommend that, if you feel you must go Green, go 1660.

[LukeSavenije]

2 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Real time ray-tracing can be done on any GPU now

But lets be honest, real time ray tracing isn't something that people actually want. Nobody is going to willingly sacrifice so much performance just so they can have marginally better looking shadows. Also the NVENC encoder is great....if you plan on streaming......

 

You're right, AMD is great. That's why OP should get a 570/580. 

false, rt can only be done on nvidia cards (legally) because afaik it's a patented technology. and there are people that care, there are people that want that nvenc and don't want the bundled games, you can't speak for everyone, you're simply speaking for yourself right now

 

I'll end it here, i think I've given op enough info on this part, if he/she has questions, go ahead

[DrMacintosh]

9 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

rt can only be done on nvidia cards (legally) because afaik it's a patented technology.

You may be thinking that Nvidia's RT cores are pantented(they are), but Nvidia didn't invent ray tracing. 

 

Any GPU from any Vendor or manufacturer can run ray tracing with the correct APIs.

[LukeSavenije]

4 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

You may be thinking that Nvidia's RT cores are pantented(they are), but Nvidia didn't invent ray tracing. 

 

Any GPU from any Vendor or manufacturer can run ray tracing with the correct APIs.

I'm the guy that thinks that rt cores are dl cores, but okay

[TsubasaLi]

The one thing one should never forget is the budget and I forgot to add it.

 

As I said earlier I can put 100 to the side each month but I don't want to spend more than 350 to 360€ for a graphics card. My budget is basically that and free games don't really matter too much to me as I have plenty of games that I cannot play at an acceptable framerate without the game looking like mud.