RX 480 Vs GTX 1060 (3-4 Years)

[J/C]

So recently I had a post up called "like new" GTX 970 or a new GTX 1060", I concluded that I was most likely going to get the 1060 (Many did recommend a RX 480). Now I'm aware that NVIDIA isn't always the best with their drivers and keeping up with their older cards, and this upgrade needs to last me around 3-4 years. My question being, is it WORTH getting the RX 480 still because of its driver support in the long run? Also I know pure performance wise the 1060 slightly beats out the RX 480 with lower temps and power draw. But I also completely understand the DX12/Vulkan optimizations and its strengths in future games. In future games how much of a performance difference do you guys actually expect between these cards? (using dx12/vulkan)
Would love to hear your thoughts, thanks  

 

Note: Prices, I am asking this question with the prices in mind at MSRP. (RX480 8GB at $240 and GTX 1060 at $250) as I am expecting to wait for prices to drop.

My budget is also ~$270 so yes I am willing to spend a little more on a 1060 if that is the better choice.

Also I do think I will benefit using CUDA in programs like premiere pro. 

[Enderman]

My 770 is 5+ years old and still works perfectly fine with new drivers.

[Darkseth]

There is no Vulkan optimization yet.

 

Only DX12, as there are like 7 games (and in 5 of them, the 480 pulls ahead).

 

Check out my Post in Mythbusting Thread, i made a Post about Doom@Vulkan.

Nvidias has a "bug" there under Vulkan, where you get strange frametimes, and some kind of triple buffer.

Nvidia is working on a Fix, so we know nothing about Vulkan right now. If something's there, Nvidia might fix it, and Nvidia GPUs might get a significant Boost under Vulkan, with much smoother Frametimes.

 

 

So.... All you can know now, is, how the situation now is: 1060 > 480.

 

The 480 CAN pull ahead in DX12 games, and even MAYBE (not sure yet!) Vulkan. But it also might stay behind.

 

So yea. Either is fine, as none will be far ahead of the other. They will probably remain in the <10% difference region.

 

Also.. MSRP shouldn't matter anything. The price you pay in the end for a Custom model (Reference is Crapshit. And Nvidias "Fanboy" Edition is also Crapshit, just less than AMDs) matters, or not?

 

Cheapest Custom designs are Listed in germany for 299€, while 1060 starts at 279€.

[J/C]

4 minutes ago, Enderman said:

My 770 is 5+ years old and still works perfectly fine with new drivers.

Yeah my 650TI on my htpc is doing fine as well no real issues. Just MANY reviews I've seen points out NVIDIA's "terrible" driver support in the long run and saying it can be a factor in choosing between the two. 

[79wjd]

6 minutes ago, J/C said:

Yeah my 650TI on my htpc is doing fine as well no real issues. Just MANY reviews I've seen points out NVIDIA's "terrible" driver support in the long run and saying it can be a factor in choosing between the two. 

A) people exaggerate

B) It's more than AMD has been using a VERY similar architecture since 2011, so all improvements to the newer cards often apply to the older generations as well. AMDs drivers were also crap and were seriously holding back their cards -- their older cards have gotten better over time as AMD has worked out a lot of that driver overhead. 

 

Honestly, my expectation is that the 480 will be better in the long run, but not by any game-changing amount. 

[Enderman]

7 minutes ago, J/C said:

Yeah my 650TI on my htpc is doing fine as well no real issues. Just MANY reviews I've seen points out NVIDIA's "terrible" driver support in the long run and saying it can be a factor in choosing between the two. 

Most of the people saying that are just AMD fanboys, so you can ignore them.

There are some people say that because in benchmarks it looks like the Nvidia cards perform worse than they did a while ago when compared to AMD, but that's due to AMD making driver performance improvements, not any kind of "gimping" nvidia conspiracies. What an nvidia card performs like today, it will perform like in several years, and probably a bit better too.

[CostcoSamples]

We actually do have a pretty good idea about Nvidia and Vulkan.  Currently Vulkan makes little to no difference on Nvidia, while the RX 480 can see up to 44% increase!  Even if Nvidia fixes their issues, they will never see that much of a boost on Vulkan.  The massive boost for AMD is due to the CPU overhead problem which has always been a thing on the GCN architecture.  Vulkan sidesteps that problem, allowing the game to make full use of the "hidden" performance.  

 

This is part of the reason why AMD cards always tend to get faster over time.  They have a lot more room for optimizations.

 

I think there is a reasonable chance the rx 480 will surpass the 1060 in performance over the 3-4 year life cycle.  But today, the 1060 is faster and that's all we know for sure.  So it is the safe bet to get the 1060, especially if you want CUDA for your other work.

[Monkey Dust]

Assuming your not running a MITX rig, the option to pick up a second 480 when the 580? comes out and retailers are selling off the old 480s cheap would definitely help you last 3-4 years. Other than that, it appears the 480 has a edge when it comes to DX12 & Vulkan, but it's too early to say for sure if it will maintain this gap. I think a card for the next 3-4 years the 480 is the better bet, though if you were buying for the next 1-2 the 1060 would probably be the better buy.