Should I choose GTX or RTX cards, if Ray tracing in games is not important for me?

[Sunny91]

Can we still go for GTX cards in 2021 (Like GTX 16 series cards), if real time ray tracing is not that important for me while playing games?

[DariusBiceps]

In my opinion, "older" GPUs like a 16-series nvidia card are still very capable, even the 10-series cards are still great, and someoff affordable.
I am running a TITAN X (Maxwell) and this card is waaay more than I need.
If you are not planning on using raytracing, playing on 4k 144hz and/or streaming at the sametime, safe a buck and find yourself a GTX 1660 Super.
But to be clear, it all depends on what you are planning to do with it.
This is just my opinion, would love to hear some others on that too.

[Moonzy]

20 minutes ago, Sunny91 said:

Can we still go for GTX cards in 2021 (Like GTX 16 series cards), if real time ray tracing is not that important for me while playing games?

Yes

[jaslion]

If you don't care about ray tracing in games then pick whatever nvidia or amd has to offer that fits your budget and needs.

[Biohazard777]

1 hour ago, Sunny91 said:

Can we still go for GTX cards in 2021 (Like GTX 16 series cards), if real time ray tracing is not that important for me while playing games?

You should keep in mind that DLSS uses Tensor cores, GTX cards do not have Tensor cores and so DLSS is not supported on GTX.
So if you plan on using the new card longer than 2-3 years you should consider an RTX card, better future proofing. For example, the year is 2023 and a new AAA game that you like is released, you can get stable frame rates at high quality but only in 720p, if you get an RTX card you can upscale to 1080p without a significant loss in FPS or visual clarity. but if you go for a GTX card you will either have to drop settings or resolution.

 

You might have heard about FSR, AMD's response to DLSS. It has the same goal as DLSS (upscaling) and will work on both AMD (RX 500+) and Nvidia (GTX 1000+ ) cards. AMD is claiming huge FPS boosts with FSR, but we still don't know enough about it as there haven't been any real world independent tests and by what little AMD has shown the image quality definitely doesn't look as good as DLSS... which is no surprise to be honest. DLSS is an upscaling system that relies on machine learning and specialized hardware to deliver performance enhancement without any obvious quality degradation. FSR at its core is just spatial upscale. 
These two classes of upscale are not comparable. To simplify it, resizing an image in photoshop (FSR) versus resizing an image using Gigapixel AI (DLSS).

Both will deliver performance increase for sure, but DLSS will come out looking better no matter what AMD does with FSR.

[Freakwise]

1 hour ago, Sunny91 said:

Can we still go for GTX cards in 2021 (Like GTX 16 series cards), if real time ray tracing is not that important for me while playing games?

Yes, 16 series is still Very capable card for 1080p gaming in mid to high settings depending on the title infact gtx 1060 still hold Pretty well, it was nearing its end of life for sure but it was nowhere near complete useless hardware

 

 

[Morrie Sells Wigs]

If you are not bothered about enabling ray tracing then you will be fine with a good GTX.

 

However, if you were ever interested in using it, and also want to maintain a decent frame rate, settings etc...you'll probably need a 2070 at bare minimum. 

I have a 2060, and turning on ray tracing dumps my fps into the low 30s (at best).

It seems a real performance hog, so it might be worth looking into it a bit deeper.

 

Personally, I'd go for a 20 series as it gives you the option in the future - that's if you can get a card that actually let's you enable it without an unacceptable performance drop.

 

A 20 series also let's you take advantage of DLSS, which is a definite bonus.

 

But, in answer to your question absolutely you can get by with a GTX series card if RT or DLSS is not particularly important to you.

[SteveGrabowski0]

RT isn't even the big feature of RTX cards, it's DLSS 2.0. If it's between a GTX 1660 Super for $500 vs an RTX 2060 for $600 I'd take the RTX 2060 for DLSS. I could kick myself for not paying $70 extra for an RTX 2060 instead of the GTX 1660 Super I got two summers ago.

[QuantumSingularity]

Depends also on how much time you think of keeping and using the card. If you plan to have it for about a year or so, sure GTX is excellent "low-cost" solution. But if you plan on keeping it for let's say 3-4-5 years.. well... Ray tracing isn't a big thing YET, but it for sure will be very soon. 

[CT854]

I feel like that while GTX is still an excellent option if you don't care for RT, RTX cards still have very strong rasterization performance if you want it to last for maybe a generation or two longer than a GTX card would. DLSS is also an amazing boost in performance, and not to be overlooked.

 

If the price difference between a 16 series card and a 20 series card isn't very large, I'd go with the 20 series just for the DLSS support. I hate using the term "future-proof", but a small investment in being able to squeeze a bit more performance out of a card for longer is worth it in my opinion.