1060 3GB or something else?

[Adam Jackson]

Think about buying a gpu to put into my new system and the 1060 3gb has gone to my attention for only 255€ it seems like a hell of a good buy. The 6GB version is almost 100€ more expensive in Spain. 

 

My main concern is as follows.... Is the 3GB of vram going to gimp my experience? I am already investing 255€ into a gpu is there something else worth considering?  

 

Thanks in advance

[Darkseth]

How much is a RX 470 8gb?

 

Or at least a RX 470 4gb?

 

3gb is a pretty huge Bottleneck today in 1080p Gaming, in a bunch of latest games. You will have to turn down Texture settings quite a lot, which makes it look awful.

[don_svetlio]

3GB is useless (coming from a person with a 3GB 280 and a 3GB 970M - I know what I am talking about)

[Adam Jackson]

Rx 480 285€

Rx 470 255€ 

 

for the Msi versions 

 

 

[Zyndo]

5 minutes ago, Darkseth said:

How much is a RX 470 8gb?

 

Or at least a RX 470 4gb?

 

3gb is a pretty huge Bottleneck today in 1080p Gaming, in a bunch of latest games. You will have to turn down Texture settings quite a lot, which makes it look awful.

what are you talking about? i play 1080p and unless you're using crazy graphical mods and shit, you rarely touch that much VRAM usage.

 

 

 

@Adam Jacksoncheck the price of an RX 480 4GB or 8GB tho. if they're not that much more you may consider one of those options. similar performance in DX11, better performance in DX12, and more/faster VRAM. You may also consider biting the bullet and just getting the GTX 1060 6GB. pretty awesome card. you're not gonna regret that.

[Darkseth]

4 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

what are you talking about? i play 1080p and unless you're using crazy graphical mods and shit, you rarely touch that much VRAM usage.

 

check the price of an RX 480 4GB or 8GB tho. if they're not that much more you may consider one of those options. similar performance in DX11, better performance in DX12, and more/faster VRAM. You may also consider biting the bullet and just getting the GTX 1060 6GB. pretty awesome card. you're not gonna regret that.

i'm talking about the Fact, that 3gb vram is a huge bottleneck in many latest games, and you WILL have to turn down Texture settings to medium (and some other big limitations), because 3gb Vram is just not enough.

Simple as that.

 

It has Nothing to do with crazy graphic mods. Just using Texture detail settings, that are above Medium.

Rise of the Tomb raider for example uses up 5gb+ when i just start the game (Textures on very high).

[Adam Jackson]

2 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

what are you talking about? i play 1080p and unless you're using crazy graphical mods and shit, you rarely touch that much VRAM usage.

 

 

 

@Adam Jacksoncheck the price of an RX 480 4GB or 8GB tho. if they're not that much more you may consider one of those options. similar performance in DX11, better performance in DX12, and more/faster VRAM. You may also consider biting the bullet and just getting the GTX 1060 6GB. pretty awesome card. you're not gonna regret that.

I'm not sure if I can justify paying nearly 100€ more for the 6gb but the rx480 is very considerable plus I would have crossfire if I really fancied putting a second card in the future just. My only concern with going crossfire is being in a warm country the ambient room tempature is already very high. 

[don_svetlio]

2 minutes ago, Adam Jackson said:

I'm not sure if I can justify paying nearly 100€ more for the 6gb but the rx480 is very considerable plus I would have crossfire if I really fancied putting a second card in the future just. My only concern with going crossfire is being in a warm country the ambient room tempature is already very high. 

It's a 150W GPU - not a 300W 290X. It'll be fine

[Darkseth]

But only Custom RX 480. The Reference one sucks pretty hard

 

And i wouldn't recommend Crossfiring those even if it were cold in your country.

Very bad performance scaling (sometimes only 30-50% more performance), way more heat/noise, you need a PSU that's big enough (at least 600w is fine, that CF Setup should consume <500w or so~), and maybe a Motherboard that supports x8/x8 Combination, instead x16/x4 or something like that.

In 1080p, even a GTX 1070 is better than 2 RX 480. But in my country, 1070 starts at 399, and 1 RX 480 at 270-300~.

 

But well, depending on Prices in your country, it would be a legit step in the future.

But keep in mind, if you plan to crossfire, you NEED the 8gb model, of your CF setup later will be a Vram cripple

[Adam Jackson]

3 minutes ago, Darkseth said:

i'm talking about the Fact, that 3gb vram is a huge bottleneck in many latest games, and you WILL have to turn down Texture settings to medium (and some other big limitations), because 3gb Vram is just not enough.

Simple as that.

it's funny you should mention tomb raider as it is one of the titles that I really want to play and get the full experience from. I may just save up another week and bit the bullet. 

[don_svetlio]

1 minute ago, Darkseth said:

But only Custom RX 480. The Reference one sucks pretty hard

 

And i wouldn't recommend Crossfiring those even if it were cold in your country.

Very bad performance scaling (sometimes only 30-50% more performance), way more heat/noise, you need a PSU that's big enough (at least 600w is fine, that CF Setup should consume <500w or so~), and maybe a Motherboard that supports x8/x8 Combination, instead x16/x4 or something like that.

In 1080p, even a GTX 1070 is better than 2 RX 480. But in my country, 1070 starts at 399, and 1 RX 480 at 270-300~.

 

But well, depending on Prices in your country, it would be a legit step in the future.

But keep in mind, if you plan to crossfire, you NEED the 8gb model, of your CF setup later will be a Vram cripple

Scaling depends on the game - games like Tomb Raider and Battlefield see 80-90% scaling.

 

Just now, Adam Jackson said:

it's funny you should mention tomb raider as it is one of the titles that I really want to play and get the full experience from. I may just save up another week and bit the bullet. 

New Tomb Raider literally used all 4GBs on my 860M with low settings. Trust me, it can use a LOT of memory on max.

[FMPirate]

4 minutes ago, Adam Jackson said:

it's funny you should mention tomb raider as it is one of the titles that I really want to play and get the full experience from. I may just save up another week and bit the bullet. 

Rise of The Tomb Raider can allocate more than 8GB of VRAM @ very high settings. It does not use 8GB VRAM tho. Runs just fine with 4GB @ very high. I believe 1060 is not good enough to lock 60 fps @ very high settings in ROTTR anyway.

[Darkseth]

my 1060 plays rise of the tomb raider Maxed out.

Exceptiosn:

- AA set to FXAA (because for me, that looks better, less edgy)

- Ambient Occlusion set to ON (=SSAO. HBAO+ does look better in some cases, and worse in others. Not much difference overall when you start playing, so i stick to the lighter one)

That's it basicly. In almost all cases, i can keep smooth 60 fps locked via VSync, and have some breathing room, since GPU usage is not full 100% here (i personally prefer having always smooth 60 fps, over some drops and 1 setting higher).

 

And regarding Vram usage: https://www.computerbase.de/2016-09/grafikkarten-speicher-vram-test/2/

 

You're totally right, how much is USED and how much is NEEDED are different things. For example, Very High textures use up 6.2 gb in their setup, while only taking 2.9gb in High.

However, in that Link, scroll to the bottom, there is the Rise of the Tomb Raider diagram.

Texturen Hoch = Textures High

Texturen Sehr Hoch = Textures Very High

 

As long it's set to high, you see no difference between the 3gb and 6gb model. Because 3gb is fine here. Frametimes, and framedrops are very similar on both.

But when you set Textures to very high. The 3gb model has a few more framedrops / frametime spikes than the 6gb model

 

But still, it's not that much worse.. a few more stuttering here and there.

 

But look another game, like Mirror's Edge Catalyst. Even ultra settings (2nd highest texture setting) runs a bit worse on the 3gb model. Not fps wise, but pure frametime wise. More stutter, more drops.

But set Textures to Hyper (highest), and boom. 6gb model still runs fine, while the 3gb model has drops over and over.

 

In these cases, the Performance would be there. But the Vram not.

 

Higher Textures are an easy way to let everything look better. It doesn't cost performance, it only costs Vram ^^

Thats why, even on a slower card, you can always set some settings down. Detail, reflection, shadows etc, but use very high resolution Textures. The Game will still look awesome.

But set everything to Ultra, but the Textures down to medium because low Vram... well.

 

Let's take that Vram eater, Deus Ex mankind devided.

 

For a 3gb Card, they recomment Medium Texture settings (otherwise, the framedrops are getting too much). Medium = 4th highest setting

That looks like this: https://www.computerbase.de/bildstrecke/74558/6/

 

For a 6gb Card, they recomment Very High Texture settings (that is 2nd highest).

That looks like this: https://www.computerbase.de/bildstrecke/74558/8/

 

Okay, those games are a few exceptions..

Witcher 3 shows the other extreme. 1080p, everything Ultra except Object distance, and Vram usage is at 1700-2300 mb only. And it still looks fantastic.

 

But well, you might want to play those other games too. And in the future, they might dominate. since most cards come with 8gb already, and game developers get lazy, and just put in high res textures instead of optimizing.

 

That's why i think, you could work with a 3gb model, while turning down textures 1-2 levels down, but in the long run.. Maybe next year, maybe 2018, you might regret not having bought a 6-8gb Card ^^;

[FMPirate]

16 minutes ago, Darkseth said:

That's why i think, you could work with a 3gb model, while turning down textures 1-2 levels down, but in the long run.. Maybe next year, maybe 2018, you might regret not having bought a 6-8gb Card ^^;

In 2 years gtx 1060 may not be enough to run medium settings, who knows ^^

Also Mirror's Edge's developers and Deus Ex's developers are Ubisoft of 2016 if you know what I mean  

[Prysin]

1 hour ago, Zyndo said:

what are you talking about? i play 1080p and unless you're using crazy graphical mods and shit, you rarely touch that much VRAM usage.

 

 

 

@Adam Jacksoncheck the price of an RX 480 4GB or 8GB tho. if they're not that much more you may consider one of those options. similar performance in DX11, better performance in DX12, and more/faster VRAM. You may also consider biting the bullet and just getting the GTX 1060 6GB. pretty awesome card. you're not gonna regret that.

You're severely wrong.

 

 

[Darkseth]

1 hour ago, FMPirate said:

In 2 years gtx 1060 may not be enough to run medium settings, who knows ^^

Also Mirror's Edge's developers and Deus Ex's developers are Ubisoft of 2016 if you know what I mean  

Yup, you are totally right

 

But even if it's fast enough to barely use medium settings. With 6gb Vram you can still use high/very high / ultra textures, and still have everything sharp

With 3gb you will be limited to Medium textures, which can be much more muddy.

 

Like i said, high res Textures cost Zero performance, just Vram  And that's the thing.

That's why i would always chose a RX 470 8gb over a RX 480 4gb.

Or always take a RX 460 4gb > 2gb.

[FMPirate]

35 minutes ago, Darkseth said:

With 6gb Vram you can still use high/very high / ultra textures, and still have everything sharp

With 3gb you will be limited to Medium textures, which can be much more muddy.

I feel like in ROTTR very high vs high textures is no difference in quality at all @ 1080p, or maybe I am blind enough already? It makes me think very high textures were not meant for 1080p screen. Can you see any differences tho?

In games like GTA5 difference between highest textures and lower ones is huge.

36 minutes ago, Darkseth said:

Like i said, high res Textures cost Zero performance, just Vram  And that's the thing.

Not entirely true, however in most cases you would be right to say performance decrease is barely noticable.

[Darkseth]

You're not blind, i also see only very minimal differences. The same in those Deus Ex screenshots, between Ultra and Very High.

However, after the 3rd highest (high) or 4th highest (Medium), the difference are pretty clear  So that would be a scenario, where 3gb will bottleneck, since you can't use a higher setting, that would make it look better.

 

I have a theory about that. Those "Ultra" Textures are made with 2160p Resolution in Mind. In that huge resolution, you might see the differnces more clearly.

However, in 1080p, some Texture settings might be overkill, so you don't see the difference enough.

 

But still, Vram usage did quite explode in the last 4 years. And it should be more in the next 2-3 years, i guess.

[Nena Trinity]

I run out if VRAM on my GTX 970 so this is not BS...

[FMPirate]

@up

That guy is not reliable. He seriously compares worst possible GTX 1060 to one of the best RX 400 series cards? Please compare single fan vs single fan and you will see 1000MHz AMD clocks @ 90C -_-' . Red Devil is top RX card which makes it more expensive. Maybe prices are different where you live tho.

 

GTX 1060 3G is more of a budget card and that is why it should be compared to other cards using CPUs like i3-6100 which will make AMD fall far behind. That is where it really shines IMO. We still don't have any real DX12 titles too.

 

I still think Nvidia **** it up with 3G/6G variants. Maybe 6G is just too expensive.

[ace_cheaply]

30 minutes ago, FMPirate said:

@up

That guy is not reliable. He seriously compares worst possible GTX 1060 to one of the best RX 400 series cards? Please compare single fan vs single fan and you will see 1000MHz AMD clocks @ 90C -_-' . Red Devil is top RX card which makes it more expensive. Maybe prices are different where you live tho.

 

GTX 1060 3G is more of a budget card and that is why it should be compared to other cards using CPUs like i3-6100 which will make AMD fall far behind. That is where it really shines IMO. We still don't have any real DX12 titles too.

 

I still think Nvidia **** it up with 3G/6G variants. Maybe 6G is just too expensive.

The red devil @ $259.99 is literally the cheapest aftermarket RX 480 in the states.  Jayz evga sc (one fan, mini pcb) reaches 2100mhz, so the one fan design isn't really a limiting factor with the 120w tdp of the 1060.  

[Andrew Sh]

8 hours ago, Darkseth said:

How much is a RX 470 8gb?

 

Or at least a RX 470 4gb?

 

3gb is a pretty huge Bottleneck today in 1080p Gaming, in a bunch of latest games. You will have to turn down Texture settings quite a lot, which makes it look awful.

You've got to be smoking some good stuff if you think that.
98% of games won't get close to 3gb vram usage at 1080p.

There's only about 2 AAA titles atm that use over that, one of which is the aging Shadow of Mordor.

[Zyndo]

9 hours ago, Darkseth said:

i'm talking about the Fact, that 3gb vram is a huge bottleneck in many latest games, and you WILL have to turn down Texture settings to medium (and some other big limitations), because 3gb Vram is just not enough.

Simple as that.

 

It has Nothing to do with crazy graphic mods. Just using Texture detail settings, that are above Medium.

Rise of the Tomb raider for example uses up 5gb+ when i just start the game (Textures on very high).

annnnnd what resolution are you playing at? because it sure isn't 1080p

[Darkseth]

it IS 1080p.

 

Resolution has not much to do with Vram consumption Textures, shadows, Anti Aliasing settings have MUCH more impact.