GTX 960 4GB vs. GTX 1060 3GB?

[DakotaDidYou]

Hello. I have been running an EVGA GTX 960 4GB SSC for years now. A friend of mine recently got a new card and told me I could have their old card. It is a GTX 1060 but I don't if it is the 3GB or 6GB version. Would losing that extra gig impact gaming performance at all since the 1060 is overall a better card?

[Moonzy]

Depends if the game uses that extra gig

[Voidus]

you will get lower grade textures but higher FPS, the 1 gig won't matter too too much but there will be a noticeable difference, You could also just sell both cards and get a 1650 super or 6500 xt

 

[DakotaDidYou]

On 4/17/2022 at 1:50 AM, Voidus said:

you will get lower grade textures but higher FPS, the 1 gig won't matter too too much but there will be a noticeable difference, You could also just sell both cards and get a 1650 super or 6500 xt

 

If I could find one in stock somewhere or for a somewhat reasonable price I would. 

[Nathanpete]

Well it would be possible to own both GPUs at the same time. So run a bunch of benchmarks using the 960, both in benchmark apps and in games that you play, record all the results. And then unplug the 960 and put the 1060 in. Re-run all those same tests (it's ok to do a spare test with changed settings if u exceed the 1060's VRAM) and then compare the results.

 

Once u have analyzed everything including stuff like does the 1060 fit well in your case and if there is any complications or problems with the 1060 (i.e. does it cause a black screen every once in a while, is it unstable), then it's your choice to keep the 960 or move to the 1060. 

 

But @Voidus's advice is also pretty good. 

[DakotaDidYou]

On 4/18/2022 at 10:16 AM, Nathanpete said:

Well it would be possible to own both GPUs at the same time. So run a bunch of benchmarks using the 960, both in benchmark apps and in games that you play, record all the results. And then unplug the 960 and put the 1060 in. Re-run all those same tests (it's ok to do a spare test with changed settings if u exceed the 1060's VRAM) and then compare the results.

 

Once u have analyzed everything including stuff like does the 1060 fit well in your case and if there is any complications or problems with the 1060 (i.e. does it cause a black screen every once in a while, is it unstable), then it's your choice to keep the 960 or move to the 1060. 

 

But @Voidus's advice is also pretty good. 

That is basically what I did. It has been a very lateral upgrade. I get slightly better performance in some games but its only a few frames. Some games I had to turn down some settings to keep the 1060 from stuttering when hitting the 3GB threshold. I added a slight overclock using MSI Afterburn and it hovered around 2.7GB of usage and ran fine. The games I play the most like Stardew Valley run great on both cards luckily enough lol.