Forced GPU upgrade

[pauloforte]

Hi everyone,

 

First of all apologies if this is the 100001th post about the best GPU upgrade, but I really couldn't find another post that fits my use case, so here goes.

 

I purchased my PC in 2014 with the following specs:

• SEAGATE Barracuda (1000 gb, sata/600, 7200 rpm, 64 mb, 3.5") (ST1000DM003)
• ASUS RADEON R9 270X DirectCU II Top (1120 mhz, 4096 mb, 5600 mhz, fan) (90YV04U3-M0NA00)
• Samsung 840 series EVO 250 GB
• INTEL Core i5 4690K (4c, 4t, 3.5 ghz, 6 mb, 88 watt, boxed) (BX80646I54690K)
• ASUS Z97-PRO(WI-FI AC) (90MB0I10-M0EAY0)
• G.SKILL 8GZH (8192 mb, 2400 mhz, CL10, 1.65 v, non-ecc, unbuffered, kit of 2) (F3-2400C10D-8GZH)
• XFX PRO650W (650 watt, atx) (P1-650S-NLB9)
• COOLERMASTER Hyper 412S (s775, sAM2, s1366, sAM3, s1156, s1155, sFM1, s2011) (RR-H412-13FK-R1)
• FRACTAL DESIGN Define R4 Black Pearl (black, no psu, atx) (FD-CA-DEF-R4-BL)
• upgraded later with a Samsung 970 EVO PLUS M.2 500GB

I chose all the components myself after a lot of research (thanks LTT!! ) and I chose that particular GPU at the time thinking about the best possible cost/potential lifespan ratio, with a higher than usual amount of vRAM for that time. This setup has been more than suitable for playing all the titles I wanted for the past 8 years now (things like WoW, Anno 1800, Tomb Raider series, The Witcher series, Overwatch, etc). Lately I have only been having problems with CoD Warzone. For other, heavier games I tend to use Geforce Now more often nowadays, though I am not a huge fan. I have been thinking of updating for a while now but I couldn't justify the budget for that until now, especially when the PC still holds up pretty well and it's definitely NOT a buyers market out there (yet...).

 

However, after serving me faithfully for 8 years, my GPU appears to have finally died... So I'm kind of forced to shop around.

The question is:

Which is the best card for my use case that I can buy at this moment with a budget of 400-500€?

I play at 1080p/144Hz on a 24" screen I just upgraded to, though quite soon I will upgrade my living room to a 4k TV which I would very much like to stream to via NVidia Shield (using AMD Link or Geforce GameStream, doesn't matter). And I would also preferably want a GPU which allows me the same sort of lifespan I had with my R9 290x 4GB - that is: that will potentially still hold up in, say, 8 years.

 

Thanks a lot in advance for your help!

Cheers,

Paulo

 

 

[EnderTheK]

I can currently talk for the EU prices currently but I'd say an RX6600 XT or the non XT version is what you're looking at for that price.

Its somewhat equivalent to an RTX3060 without the RTX part of things.

You can also check for the bottleneck situation of your CPU / GPU ex : 

https://pc-builds.com/bottleneck-calculator/result/0AQ19G/3840x2160/1/general-tasks/

[pauloforte]

2 minutes ago, EnderTheK said:

I can currently talk for the EU prices currently but I'd say an RX6600 XT or the non XT version is what you're looking at for that price.

Its somewhat equivalent to an RTX3060 without the RTX part of things.

You can also check for the bottleneck situation of your CPU / GPU ex : 

https://pc-builds.com/bottleneck-calculator/result/0AQ19G/3840x2160/1/general-tasks/

Thanks a lot!

I would have to check what I'm missing out on by not going RTX (I've seen a lot of good stuff about it...) or even by going non-XT. I know that talking in future terms is kind of risky but I can justify spending a bit more for a card which will give me acceptable performance for a longer period of time.

Mind you, I will not upgrade any other part of my setup, only the GPU at this moment, so I'm not that concerned with bottlenecks for now (I know they'll be there). Also, the whole setup must be compatible with that 650W PSU. (I check this with PCpartpicker)

I'll be sure to check out both the RX6600(with and without XT) and the RTX3060.

 

[pauloforte]

Tempted to go for the RTX3060 mainly because of the extra vRAM (12GB vs 8GB), DLSS (which means I can potentially render at 1080p and upscale to 4K when streaming to my TV, for those extra FPS...).

Thoughts?

[EnderTheK]

Nvidia is the superior option if you can find an affordable one.
As for the VRAM I rarely saw a game to use up to 8GB of VRAM.

 

Generally speaking it shouldn't impact performance in most games, but it could help in some newer titles.

DLSS I would say is the main selling point of the RTX3060.

AMD has a similar technology though called AMD FidelityFX™ Super Resolution | AMD. DLSS is superior however as it uses AI to upscale resolution.

 

As for RTX, it works, decently so but I would not expect 4k or 2k resolutions at high framerates, and as Linus proved in a video the difference from RTX on/off is barely noticeable in general. Newer titles may start implementing it properly.

[pauloforte]

59 minutes ago, EnderTheK said:

As for the VRAM I rarely saw a game to use up to 8GB of VRAM.

 

Generally speaking it shouldn't impact performance in most games, but it could help in some newer titles.

Yeah, that's what they said in 2014 about a card with 4GB.

 

Thanks for the input. I'm going with the 3060, I think, unless there's other feedback.

Now, just have to choose the brand...

[liberteus]

6 hours ago, pauloforte said:

Yeah, that's what they said in 2014 about a card with 4GB.

 

Thanks for the input. I'm going with the 3060, I think, unless there's other feedback.

Now, just have to choose the brand...

I guess it depends where you live, because for me 3060 is 25% more expensive than a 6600, so going with 3060 would make little sense for me. Regarding VRAM, it would help for high resolution eventually, and 3060 isnt a 4k card.

[PhantomChevron]

I had this dilemma as well, I ended up going with a Asus KO 3060 OC edition, since I couldn't find any AMD 6600 XTs for a decent price that were in stock, I got it at about 490 USD, which was cheaper than the alternatives. Some of the variants I can recommend is EVGA, they usually have solid customer service, I had actually bought one before they cancelled it due to no stock. Gigabyte also seem to make some good options. End of the day just see which brand ya can get cheapest.

[pauloforte]

Thank you all for the reactions.

5 hours ago, liberteus said:

I guess it depends where you live, because for me 3060 is 25% more expensive than a 6600, so going with 3060 would make little sense for me. Regarding VRAM, it would help for high resolution eventually, and 3060 isnt a 4k card.

Comparing the two, it would make much more sense for my use-case to go with either the 3060 of 6600XT, I think. As for performance at 4K, I've seen benchmarks that have both outputting solid 60fps at 4K. That's honestly great for me. Plus, in later years and with more demanding titles, that's where more vRAM and DLSS will tip the scales in favor of the 3060 for me, I think.

Like I mentioned, I prefer paying a bit more for a card from which I can reasonably expect solid performance for longer. (Considering I was very happy using a R9 270x 4GB for 8 years, until a couple days ago, I am quite happy with medium tier graphics at 60 fps...)

4 hours ago, captainlolz7 said:

I had this dilemma as well, I ended up going with a Asus KO 3060 OC edition, since I couldn't find any AMD 6600 XTs for a decent price that were in stock, I got it at about 490 USD, which was cheaper than the alternatives. Some of the variants I can recommend is EVGA, they usually have solid customer service, I had actually bought one before they cancelled it due to no stock. Gigabyte also seem to make some good options. End of the day just see which brand ya can get cheapest.

I've seen some complaining about clicking issues and loud fans from (I think it was) an EVGA card.... My card was ASUS (as my motherboard) and given my very good experience with that, I'd also go for ASUS again. But I've seen one of the lates Intel Extreme upgrades, with Sarah I think) and she took a Zotac 3060. Considering she got a LOT of advice from people at the office, I'm very inclined towards that as well. But like you mention, in the end, it's mostly about the one I can get with the specs I want for the price I want.

Does anyone know if there are squeues which are better binned than others, or have better specs?

[PhantomChevron]

3 hours ago, pauloforte said:

Thank you all for the reactions.

Comparing the two, it would make much more sense for my use-case to go with either the 3060 of 6600XT, I think. As for performance at 4K, I've seen benchmarks that have both outputting solid 60fps at 4K. That's honestly great for me. Plus, in later years and with more demanding titles, that's where more vRAM and DLSS will tip the scales in favor of the 3060 for me, I think.

Like I mentioned, I prefer paying a bit more for a card from which I can reasonably expect solid performance for longer. (Considering I was very happy using a R9 270x 4GB for 8 years, until a couple days ago, I am quite happy with medium tier graphics at 60 fps...)

I've seen some complaining about clicking issues and loud fans from (I think it was) an EVGA card.... My card was ASUS (as my motherboard) and given my very good experience with that, I'd also go for ASUS again. But I've seen one of the lates Intel Extreme upgrades, with Sarah I think) and she took a Zotac 3060. Considering she got a LOT of advice from people at the office, I'm very inclined towards that as well. But like you mention, in the end, it's mostly about the one I can get with the specs I want for the price I want.

Does anyone know if there are squeues which are better binned than others, or have better specs?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGZmK341Hrc&ab_channel=O!Technology

 I feel like this might help, he compared several different 3060 gpus from various brands.

[pauloforte]

4 hours ago, captainlolz7 said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGZmK341Hrc&ab_channel=O!Technology

 I feel like this might help, he compared several different 3060 gpus from various brands.

Great video, despite focusing a bit too much on overclocking and hardware mods for what I'm looking for. The considerations about VRM quality and cooling capacity sure help in making an informed decision on buying a card which won't be too stressed for long periods of time and therefore potentially last longer.