Advice on a new GPU

[realCessnaBroon]

Hey!

So basically, my 980Ti died the other day, and once again I'm in the market for a GPU. I use it for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, GIMP, Davinci Resolve, and Autodesk Inventor. I don't play any other games. 

What I will be doing is buying a BRAND-NEW card. I've now had several bad experiences with second hand. Seeing as how my budget is pretty much £200-£400, that leaves me with either a 2060 6GB, or a 3050. MSFS doesn't have DLSS support yet, but it is due in July, and my target is for 40-ish fps+ at 1080p Ultra, ideally.

So, folks, do you have any suggestions as to what you think is the best buy? Also, if you have any other suggestions, recommendations or advice etc, please feel free to put them to me.

 

Many thanks

 

Other specs:

Mobo - ASUS TUF GAMING B550M-PLUS WI-FI

CPU - AMD RYZEN 5 5600G

RAM - 2x8GB CRUCIAL BALLISTIX 3600MHZ

PSU - CORSAIR CX750M 750W 80+ BRONZE

[Alireza]

9 minutes ago, realCessnaBroon said:

Hey!

So basically, my 980Ti died the other day, and once again I'm in the market for a GPU. I use it for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, GIMP, Davinci Resolve, and Autodesk Inventor. I don't play any other games. 

What I will be doing is buying a BRAND-NEW card. I've now had several bad experiences with second hand. Seeing as how my budget is pretty much £200-£400, that leaves me with either a 2060 6GB, or a 3050. MSFS doesn't have DLSS support yet, but it is due in July, and my target is for 40-ish fps+ at 1080p Ultra, ideally.

So, folks, do you have any suggestions as to what you think is the best buy? Also, if you have any other suggestions, recommendations or advice etc, please feel free to put them to me.

 

Many thanks

 

Other specs:

Mobo - ASUS TUF GAMING B550M-PLUS WI-FI

CPU - AMD RYZEN 5 5600G

RAM - 2x8GB CRUCIAL BALLISTIX 3600MHZ

PSU - CORSAIR CX750M 750W 80+ BRONZE

the 3050 is better in every way

better media engine

DLSS 2.0

2GB more VRAM

and its a newer better architecture

[Eigenvektor]

I would also check prices on e.g. the AMD RX 6600 XT, which should outperform both cards (otherwise the 2060 should slightly beat the 3050's performance). As far as I can see, FS 2020 should also be getting support for FSR 2.0, which is AMD's competitor to DLSS.

[realCessnaBroon]

 

9 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

I would also check prices on e.g. the AMD RX 6600 XT, which should outperform both cards (otherwise the 2060 should slightly beat the 3050's performance). As far as I can see, FS 2020 should also be getting support for FSR 2.0, which is AMD's competitor to DLSS.

Thanks for replying! So having checked the 6600XT, it seems that is most definitely my best option, but are there any drawbacks to going AMD over nVidia? I've never had a discrete AMD card before, so I just want to make sure it's the right option. Also, are there any particular vendors you'd recommend? Ideally, it needs to be a two fan design, as I can't physically fit a three fan, and a single fan ain't great as far as I know. Thanks!

[YoungBlade]

7 minutes ago, Alireza said:

the 3050 is better in every way

better media engine

DLSS 2.0

2GB more VRAM

and its a newer better architecture

Better in every way except for the fact that it's about 15-20% slower than the RTX 2060.

 

Also, the 2060 still supports DLSS 2.0, and while the 3050 has the newer version of the Tensor cores, it has fewer of them. It has fewer cores in general. The extra 2GB of VRAM isn't that helpful at 1080p - 6GB is still fine in almost all games at that resolution.

 

The OP also has to consider the fact that the 5600G only supports PCIe Gen 3, and because the RTX 3050 only has 8 lanes of PCIe Gen 4, there will be a slight performance reduction. The RTX 2060 has the full 16 lanes, even if they are only Gen 3. In a PCIe 4 system, the difference is moot, but in a Gen 3 system, there can be a difference.

[YoungBlade]

2 minutes ago, realCessnaBroon said:

Thanks for replying! So having checked the 6600XT, it seems that is most definitely my best option, but are there any drawbacks to going AMD over nVidia? I've never had a discrete AMD card before, so I just want to make sure it's the right option. Also, are there any particular vendors you'd recommend? Ideally, it needs to be a two fan design, as I can't physically fit a three fan, and a single fan ain't great as far as I know. Thanks!

The main disadvantage of the 6600XT in your case is that the 5600G doesn't support PCIe Gen 4, and the 6600XT only has 8 PCIe lanes. This will slightly reduce its performance - about 5% or so.

 

The main drawback to AMD right now is the lack of DLSS support and inferior ray tracing. The 3050 and 2060 aren't going to be doing much ray tracing anyway, so that's not really a big factor. The lack of DLSS does sting, but considering that the 6600XT is already so much faster than the 3050 or 2060, it isn't really an issue. You'll get comparable performance between a 2060 using DLSS Quality and the 6600XT running natively, with the advantage being that it's running natively.

[Eigenvektor]

1 minute ago, YoungBlade said:

The main drawback to AMD right now is the lack of DLSS support and inferior ray tracing.

AMD does support FSR however. While FSR 2.0 isn't quite as good as DLSS 2.0, the difference in visual quality isn't as big. And since OP said they only play FS 2020, ray tracing shouldn't matter.

[realCessnaBroon]

1 minute ago, YoungBlade said:

The main disadvantage of the 6600XT in your case is that the 5600G doesn't support PCIe Gen 4, and the 6600XT only has 8 PCIe lanes. This will slightly reduce its performance - about 5% or so.

 

The main drawback to AMD right now is the lack of DLSS support and inferior ray tracing. The 3050 and 2060 aren't going to be doing much ray tracing anyway, so that's not really a big factor. The lack of DLSS does sting, but considering that the 6600XT is already so much faster than the 3050 or 2060, it isn't really an issue. You'll get comparable performance between a 2060 using DLSS Quality and the 6600XT running natively, with the advantage being that it's running natively.

That's fantastic! At some point, I would be looking to upgrade my CPU, but right now it's fine for what I need, and at least the 6600 is futureproof, I guess! What is your go-to vendor for a reliable GPU? There's a fantastic deal on an MSI card right here that I am tempted by. Thanks for replying

[Eigenvektor]

11 minutes ago, realCessnaBroon said:

Thanks for replying! So having checked the 6600XT, it seems that is most definitely my best option, but are there any drawbacks to going AMD over nVidia? I've never had a discrete AMD card before, so I just want to make sure it's the right option. Also, are there any particular vendors you'd recommend? Ideally, it needs to be a two fan design, as I can't physically fit a three fan, and a single fan ain't great as far as I know. Thanks!

The lack of PCIe lanes would be a (slight) drawback. As far as I know, it's not really a deal breaker on the 6600 XT, compared to e.g. the 6500 XT, where it results in a big performance loss (due to only 4 lanes and too little memory on the card itself)

 

My past two cards were from Sapphire, but MSI should also be a solid choice. You can see some reviews here:

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/msi-radeon-rx-6600-xt-gaming-x/

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/sapphire-radeon-rx-6600-xt-pulse-oc/

[realCessnaBroon]

15 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

The lack of PCIe lanes would be a (slight) drawback. As far as I know, it's not really a deal breaker on the 6600 XT, compared to e.g. the 6500 XT, where it results in a big performance loss (due to only 4 lanes and too little memory on the card itself)

 

My past two cards were from Sapphire, but MSI should also be a solid choice. You can see some reviews here:

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/msi-radeon-rx-6600-xt-gaming-x/

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/sapphire-radeon-rx-6600-xt-pulse-oc/

Nice! I have one last question though - What is MSI's warranty like? I can't seem to find a listing anywhere.

[alphatessi]

26 minutes ago, realCessnaBroon said:

That's fantastic! At some point, I would be looking to upgrade my CPU, but right now it's fine for what I need, and at least the 6600 is futureproof, I guess! What is your go-to vendor for a reliable GPU? There's a fantastic deal on an MSI card right here that I am tempted by. Thanks for replying

Please note that the one in the offer is no XT Model.

This would be the XT:

Spoiler

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-Graphics-2602MHz-DisplayPort-Cooling/dp/B09C1XLYG9/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2BM7HURCZDYFT&keywords=6600+xt&s=computers&sprefix=6600xt%2Ccomputers%2C193&sr=1-1

 

[YoungBlade]

43 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

AMD does support FSR however. While FSR 2.0 isn't quite as good as DLSS 2.0, the difference in visual quality isn't as big. And since OP said they only play FS 2020, ray tracing shouldn't matter.

The issues with FSR are:

 

1. It is in very few games

2. It also supports Nvidia cards

 

The latter is an advantage from the perspective of the technology - broader support is great - but from the perspective of buying a graphics card, it makes FSR a moot point. You get the feature either way, so it isn't worth considering at time of purchase. DLSS, on the other hand, is only possible with Nvidia RTX cards, and so is a selling point.

 

DLSS is in over 150 games now, and dozens of those are popular titles. Battlefield V and 2042, COD Warzone and MW, SotTR and RotTR, Metro Exodus, Cyberpunk, F1 2020 and 2021, War Thunder, Wolfensein: Youngblood, Control, No Man's Sky, Fortnite, and on and on. And more DLSS games are getting added to the list than FSR games, so the disparity is growing, not shrinking at the moment. This may change, but it also might not - we don't have a crystal ball.

 

AMD has FSR 2.0 in only one game for now, Deathloop, and the only major games that support the original FSR are Far Cry 6, Cyberpunk, Resident Evil Village, and Anno 1800. Maybe there are a dozen titles in total that have FSR that are worth talking about, games like Godfall and The Riftbreaker, but it's nothing compared to DLSS in early 2022.

[Eigenvektor]

4 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

The issues with FSR are:

…

Agreed with all of that. But FSR 2.0 is supposed to come to Flight Simulator 2020, same time as DLSS 2.0, so at least in this case it shouldn't be a deciding factor.

[realCessnaBroon]

15 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

Agreed with all of that. But FSR 2.0 is supposed to come to Flight Simulator 2020, same time as DLSS 2.0, so at least in this case it shouldn't be a deciding factor.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is getting FSR support along with DLSS | PC Gamer - According to this, FSR 2.0 may come slightly later than DLSS 2.0, but that's fine, because I'll have FSR 1.0 by that point. To be honest, with the pricing on that MSI 6600 card, I'm probably just gonna roll with it, because the performance is so far ahead of the '5' level cards that it doesn't matter too much what enhancement features I get, although the more the merrier! Thanks for replying, all.

[realCessnaBroon]

Just to let everyone know, I've purchased an RX6600 Eagle. I'm really nervous about it, because this is my third attempt to have a GPU. Thank you for helping me!

[RMTM]

I'd go with an RTX 2060 Super OC if among those tight choices you'll have.