Are 900 and 10 Series Nvidia Cards Still Good?

[Faye LTT]

I’ve been looking into the used market and I see that 900 series cards like the 970 and up and the 1060 3gb and up fit my budget. Are they still worth getting in 2022?

[Eigenvektor]

Depends on what you want to do with them and how much you need to pay. Obviously they're not going to play the latest AAA games on max detail. You also have the issue that driver support will end sooner than for more modern cards. Take a look at their relative performance, then see which modern card would be equivalent and what you'd need to pay for that one.

[RONOTHAN##]

They're still pretty valid cards to be using, I'd be going for that 1060 3G over the 970 if you can, the 10 series was a pretty big step up over the 900 series both in general design and efficiency, plus it has the advantage of being able to have drivers for longer. 

[xAcid9]

Price? I suggest go with 1000 series.

[Bombastinator]

15 minutes ago, Faye LTT said:

I’ve been looking into the used market and I see that 900 series cards like the 970 and up and the 1060 3gb and up fit my budget. Are they still worth getting in 2022?

The 6600 is a “1080 card” as is the 5700.  so the 1080ti is faster than a 6600.  The 9xx series of cards were the last cards made with true analog so for some things 980tis remain the fastest usable card. A 970 is slower than a 580 though.  Maybe 570.  Not sure.  I am actually thinking about buying a 980ti specifically to run a monitor I have. 
a 980 is equal to a 1070 which is comparable to a 2060.  There are variances.  For specific stuff search reviews of the cards by GN and hardware unboxed, or google “ ‘card’ vs ‘card’ “ to get a possibly biased but less complicated idea.  As a general rule older cards are slower at newer games but faster at older ones because of optimizations in the drivers.

Edited August 27, 2022 by Bombastinator

[xAcid9]

4 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

I am actually thinking about buying a 980ti specifically to run a monitor I have. 

Get 1070 if you need G-Sync Compatible support.

[Bombastinator]

5 minutes ago, xAcid9 said:

Get 1070 if you need G-Sync Compatible support.

I don’t.  I’ve got a weirdass Korean grey market monitor from 2012.  Back then it was one of the fastest monitors on the planet, which means today it compares to stuff at the budget end of 1440p@144hz (though it was before the “p” scale so it doesn’t really fit.  Wrong aspect ratio.  even a 980ti won’t drive it like it needs to be driven, but a non analog card won’t drive it at all.

Edited August 27, 2022 by Bombastinator

[Eigenvektor]

Here's a video of Hardware Unboxed, where they compared a GTX 1080 with an RX 6600.

 

The 1080 holds up surprisingly well, but it's also interesting to see that a lower end card of today can beat it in many games. There are also some titles were the 1080 loses completely, due to a combination of lack of driver optimizations and potentially engine design that old cards weren't really designed for.

 

So do take a look at modern budget cards, they might actually outperform older high end cards at a reasonable price and have the advantage of current drivers

[xAcid9]

12 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

I don’t.  I’ve got a weirdass Korean grey market monitor from 2012.  

Oh, noted. Is it the QNIX that only have dual-DVI output? 

[Bombastinator]

31 minutes ago, xAcid9 said:

Oh, noted. Is it the QNIX that only have dual-DVI output? 

Crossover m5somethingorother. It’s got only dual dviD though.  There’s probably a more modern driver for it but while crossover is still a going concern, their website is a warren and it’s in Korean.  Google translate coughs and dies.  I’ve got to find an actual Korean to navigate it for me.

Edited August 27, 2022 by Bombastinator

[Mick Naughty]

If thats all you can afford and dont mind 30 frame gaming, it should be fine. Just comes down to the game I guess.

[xg32]

9 hours ago, Faye LTT said:

.

the 1060 3gb is comparable the 6500xt iirc for 1080p 60fps gaming, that card is 190usd new vs ~100usd used for the 1060 3gb, the used card should be worth 25-33% less at the very minimum so it depends on how much you want to "save"

 

i'd just save up more for a 6600 or 6600xt, it's a huge jump for 100usd~ more