Which is better to overclock?

[sniip]

Hey all,

I'm planing to buy a GPU in couple of weeks. I'll choose either MSI Gaming X rx480 8G or MSI Gaming X GTX1060 6G (thats the best i can choose from in my country). Both cards are very similar in performance, but i wonder which of these cards could overclock better?

[SteinerW]

1060 will overclock better.

[thewipyk]

I recommend geting the rx480 8G, because of the more Vram. Vram is a special animal, it won't affect performance unless you run out of it, after that it'll drop drasticly. I have a 970, and although I have the "horsepower" to run a game (DXMD), but my Vram limits me, which sux. 6 gigs might be enough for now, 4 gigs was enough when I bough mine. However, I have an ultrawide monitor, and on native 1920x1080 it runs like a charm, on 2560x1080 i get only ~35-45 fps, and the game warns me, that I ran out of Vram. 

So, IN SHORT the 1060 will run any game fine at 1080(lol), but if you want higher res, UW or whatever else, you might want to consider the 490.

Yes, I know DXMD is AMD-friendly title, but I had issues with AC unity and Syndicate as well, and when I played those, I only had a 1650x1050 monitor.

[Lawliet93]

Well... the gtx 1060 will achieve higher speeds, but the question is, are you going to get more performance out of it. Most of the gtx 1060s have a boost of 1800+ MHz... going to 2GHz is only like 11% more frequency (and therefore 11% more performance). As for the rx 480, well, you have to get the memory to 9GHz, that will give straight up like 7-12% more performance and after that you should dial in the core... going from the reference 1266MHz clock to 1380-1400MHz will give you another 10% of performance, just make sure, that the rx 480 is running cool (the core and the VRMs must be cooled properly). The ideal temperature for the core is about 70°C (well... less is even better). Using an aftermarket thermal paste like thermal grizzly is a great way to shave of a few °C.

[Alaa]

54 minutes ago, sniip said:

Hey all,

I'm planing to buy a GPU in couple of weeks. I'll choose either MSI Gaming X rx480 8G or MSI Gaming X GTX1060 6G (thats the best i can choose from in my country). Both cards are very similar in performance, but i wonder which of these cards could overclock better?

The RX 480 for dat extra VRAM

[sniip]

6 hours ago, Lawliet93 said:

Well... the gtx 1060 will achieve higher speeds, but the question is, are you going to get more performance out of it. Most of the gtx 1060s have a boost of 1800+ MHz... going to 2GHz is only like 11% more frequency (and therefore 11% more performance). As for the rx 480, well, you have to get the memory to 9GHz, that will give straight up like 7-12% more performance and after that you should dial in the core... going from the reference 1266MHz clock to 1380-1400MHz will give you another 10% of performance, just make sure, that the rx 480 is running cool (the core and the VRMs must be cooled properly). The ideal temperature for the core is about 70°C (well... less is even better). Using an aftermarket thermal paste like thermal grizzly is a great way to shave of a few °C.

Hmm. But what do you think in general, is it worth getting gtx 1060 over rx 480 despite rx 480 having more vram and 256bit memory interface? Or is it actualy better to get the 480? I'm really confused and cannot choose a card for a while now

[Lawliet93]

2 minutes ago, sniip said:

Hmm. But what do you think in general, is it worth getting gtx 1060 over rx 480 despite rx 480 having more vram and 256bit memory interface? Or is it actualy better to get the 480? I'm really confused and cannot choose a card for a while now

Well... back when gtx760 vs R9 280 was a thing, I chose the R9 280 for 50% more VRAM and for the fact, that I got 3 free games and where are those cards now? The gtx760 gets destroyed by the R9 280 (the difference is not even funny) same with the R9 280x vs gtx770 and the 780ti vs R9 290x. AMD cards get better with time due to the fact, that any of the driver improvements apply to all the GCN cards so... go for the RX 480.

 

P.S.: AMD drivers are now as good or better than Nvidias.

[sniip]

1 hour ago, Lawliet93 said:

Well... back when gtx760 vs R9 280 was a thing, I chose the R9 280 for 50% more VRAM and for the fact, that I got 3 free games and where are those cards now? The gtx760 gets destroyed by the R9 280 (the difference is not even funny) same with the R9 280x vs gtx770 and the 780ti vs R9 290x. AMD cards get better with time due to the fact, that any of the driver improvements apply to all the GCN cards so... go for the RX 480.

 

P.S.: AMD drivers are now as good or better than Nvidias.

But aren't games are being better optimized with Nvidia cards? Since both cards won't be performing as good with newest titles as they are now, so I assume it won't really matter what card I have after 4 years... Or am I wrong here...

[Reflecting]

I personally favor the 1060 over the 480. The 480 also does not over clock well, but to be honest that should not be a stipulation when considering which gpu to purchase.

[Reflecting]

1 hour ago, sniip said:

But aren't games are being better optimized with Nvidia cards? Since both cards won't be performing as good with newest titles as they are now, so I assume it won't really matter what card I have after 4 years... Or am I wrong here...

We have not seen what vulkan or DX12 will be doing really. So we don't know how each company will work with them as we do not have a large enough sample size just yet. In 4 years though, the 1060 will be easily replaced by much more powerful cards as we move further toward a GPU geared system instead of a CPU.

[DildorTheDecent]

RX480 would be heck of alot more fun to OC. 1400MHz-1500MHz or in the bin

 

Although the possibility of a 2200MHz 1060 would seem quite nice. 

[thewipyk]

8 hours ago, DildorTheDecent said:

RX480 would be heck of alot more fun to OC. 1400MHz-1500MHz or in the bin

 

Although the possibility of a 2200MHz 1060 would seem quite nice. 

I only saw $800+ 1080 cards to OC around 2200MHz, I highly doubt a $300-400 card could do the same.

[sniip]

10 hours ago, Reflecting said:

We have not seen what vulkan or DX12 will be doing really. So we don't know how each company will work with them as we do not have a large enough sample size just yet. In 4 years though, the 1060 will be easily replaced by much more powerful cards as we move further toward a GPU geared system instead of a CPU.

Obviously DX12 and Vulkan will be way more used in the near future and probably both companies will manage to make their products work as similar as they do now. Looking at todays games and benchmarks done on the games GTX 1060 wins mostly on every title, but now my only question is will a GTX 1060 have enough Vram compared with rx480 on upcoming titles plus rx 480 has 256bit memory interface and gtx 1060 has 192bit. I will mostly be gaming on a 1080p monitor (Which I have now, Dell U2412) and in the future I might be buying a 1440p, probably won't buy any ultrawide or 4k monitors. So now I am really confused should I go for more Vram (rx 480) or should I go for better processing power (gtx 1060)

[DildorTheDecent]

6 hours ago, thewipyk said:

I only saw $800+ 1080 cards to OC around 2200MHz, I highly doubt a $300-400 card could do the same.

With an attitude like that maybe not. 

[Reflecting]

7 hours ago, sniip said:

Obviously DX12 and Vulkan will be way more used in the near future and probably both companies will manage to make their products work as similar as they do now. Looking at todays games and benchmarks done on the games GTX 1060 wins mostly on every title, but now my only question is will a GTX 1060 have enough Vram compared with rx480 on upcoming titles plus rx 480 has 256bit memory interface and gtx 1060 has 192bit. I will mostly be gaming on a 1080p monitor (Which I have now, Dell U2412) and in the future I might be buying a 1440p, probably won't buy any ultrawide or 4k monitors. So now I am really confused should I go for more Vram (rx 480) or should I go for better processing power (gtx 1060)

The bigger issue would be the step up to 1440. If you want 60fps in most titles at 1080p then a 1060 6gb is just fine. However, the jump to 1440 really needs a 1070 to achieve the same fps.

 

To answer the vram question. Yes, the 1060 6gb will be just fine for a while yet.