Upgrade advice needed!

[THE ALBION]

Hi LTT friends, long time lurker, first time poster here!

 

I am looking to upgrade my GPU as I am looking to play the new Destiny at a half decent spec when it comes out. I would also like to be able to play Player Unknown Battlegrounds at a reasonable fps rate too. I am aware PUBG is in alpha and not yet optimised but i think my Processor may also not be up to the task... comments on this would be appreciated too.

 

I plan on building a new rig entirely in about 18 months so i don't mind spending somewhere around £300 to keep me chugging along at 60fps until then.

 

Cards I have been looking at are the GTX 1060 6GB and the AMD RX 580 8GB

 

I have attached screens of my current rig and would really appreciate advice as to whether this upgrade will actually be useful for the games i am looking to play.

 

Any questions please feel free to ask!

 

Thanks

Peter

[iRileyx]

That cpu will bottleneck a 1060/580.

[THE ALBION]

1 minute ago, RKRiley said:

That cpu will bottleneck a 1060/580.

Is there a graphics card that i could buy that won't bottleneck my CPU and still boost my FPS for D2 release?

[Jurrunio]

15 minutes ago, THE ALBION said:

Is there a graphics card that i could buy that won't bottleneck my CPU and still boost my FPS for D2 release?

Wait for Vega then buy GTX 1070. By then its price should drop to currently 1060 6gb territory, if not nearly. It WILL be bottlenecked by your CPU, but that means one less upgrade to do when your build a new system.

[THE ALBION]

49 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Wait for Vega then buy GTX 1070. By then its price should drop to currently 1060 6gb territory, if not nearly. It WILL be bottlenecked by your CPU, but that means one less upgrade to do when your build a new system.

How much of a bottleneck are we talking about? will it be a dramatic loss in frames?

[Jurrunio]

6 minutes ago, THE ALBION said:

How much of a bottleneck are we talking about? will it be a dramatic loss in frames?

The thing with high end graphics card matched with slower CPUs is that turning down graphical setting doesn't improve FPS. You can try run the game with lowest settings first with the current hardware with minimum settings and resolution as a test for the CPU. If the fps you get is on or above playable, then your CPU is fine and the lost frame rates aren't noticable (though the frames gain after rebuild is noticable)

 

You will need a monitoring software to make sure it's the CPU limiting the GPU in the test though

[JoostinOnline]

1 hour ago, Jurrunio said:

Wait for Vega then buy GTX 1070. By then its price should drop to currently 1060 6gb territory,

GPU prices don't really drop.

[Jurrunio]

Just now, JoostinOnline said:

GPU prices don't really drop.

why? Vega is expected to be much superior (the high end model at least) than the year old 1070. Price cuts will be made.

[JoostinOnline]

7 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

why? Vega is expected to be much superior (the high end model at least) than the year old 1070. Price cuts will be made.

Look at history.  A GTX 980 is about the same price as a 1080.  The prices usually stay the same, even when a new generation is released.  It's the same with CPU's.  A new i7-4790K is still sold at MSRP.

[Jurrunio]

23 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

Look at history.  A GTX 980 is about the same price as a 1080.  The prices usually stay the same, even when a new generation is released.  It's the same with CPU's.  A new i7-4790K is still sold at MSRP.

Don't check MSRP. Check prices in stores.

 

CPU is another thing. the competition in GPU market is always more serious than CPU market in past years

[JoostinOnline]

1 minute ago, Jurrunio said:

Don't check MSRP. Check prices in stores.

I am.  Look at the prices of a 980 and 1080.

[THE ALBION]

46 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

The thing with high end graphics card matched with slower CPUs is that turning down graphical setting doesn't improve FPS. You can try run the game with lowest settings first with the current hardware with minimum settings and resolution as a test for the CPU. If the fps you get is on or above playable, then your CPU is fine and the lost frame rates aren't noticable (though the frames gain after rebuild is noticable)

 

You will need a monitoring software to make sure it's the CPU limiting the GPU in the test though

Ok this is a very useful answer thank you. I have gone on a bottle necking website and indeed it appears anything 1060 and above will seriously bottleneck (also 460 and above). Interestingly the 1050TI only has a 5% bottleneck and is apparently well within the margin for error. Do you think that an investment in the 1050TI will help tie me over for the next 12-18 months on newer titles until i can afford a new Rig? 

 

I am only looking to maintain smooth frame rates on high-ish graphics settings on games like D2 and Doom (Steam sale whoop)

 

I figure the DX12 support might be good?

[Jurrunio]

5 minutes ago, THE ALBION said:

Ok this is a very useful answer thank you. I have gone on a bottle necking website and indeed it appears anything 1060 and above will seriously bottleneck (also 460 and above). Interestingly the 1050TI only has a 5% bottleneck and is apparently well within the margin for error. Do you think that an investment in the 1050TI will help tie me over for the next 12-18 months on newer titles until i can afford a new Rig? 

 

I am only looking to maintain smooth frame rates on high-ish graphics settings on games like D2 and Doom (Steam sale whoop)

 

I figure the DX12 support might be good?

Depends on what GPU you will use in the new rig. If you are planning a 1070 then why not get it now so there's one more part to reuse. If you are after the 1080 or 1080ti, then the 1050ti makes sense. Try look for used ones too since they aren't that old and won't have much problems/faults (most of them).

 

DX12 works with all new GPUs. Although Nvidia cards feel more like DX12 compatible and AMD's feel like built for DX12, most games available now can run with both DX11 and 12 (not at the same time).

Doom is an exception since it runs in Vulkan and OpenGL (last one is uncertain).

[THE ALBION]

1 minute ago, Jurrunio said:

Depends on what GPU you will use in the new rig. If you are planning a 1070 then why not get it now so there's one more part to reuse. If you are after the 1080 or 1080ti, then the 1050ti makes sense. Try look for used ones too since they aren't that old and won't have much problems/faults (most of them).

 

DX12 works with all new GPUs. Although Nvidia cards feel more like DX12 compatible and AMD's feel like built for DX12, most games available now can run with both DX11 and 12 (not at the same time).

Doom is an exception since it runs in Vulkan and OpenGL (last one is uncertain).

That's great then  I have my answer! I am planning on super high end on the next wig so the 1050TI will be a good budget option for me. Thanks

[w1nger1]

13 minutes ago, THE ALBION said:

Ok this is a very useful answer thank you. I have gone on a bottle necking website and indeed it appears anything 1060 and above will seriously bottleneck (also 460 and above). Interestingly the 1050TI only has a 5% bottleneck and is apparently well within the margin for error. Do you think that an investment in the 1050TI will help tie me over for the next 12-18 months on newer titles until i can afford a new Rig? 

 

I am only looking to maintain smooth frame rates on high-ish graphics settings on games like D2 and Doom (Steam sale whoop)

 

I figure the DX12 support might be good?

Bottle-necking doesn't mean it will run worst, just mean it's reach the limit of what the CPU can handle. So a 1060 or better card is still a better card than a 1050 Ti, especially after you have upgrade your pc. 

 

[THE ALBION]

3 minutes ago, w1nger1 said:

Bottle-necking doesn't mean it will run worst, just mean it's reach the limit of what the CPU can handle. So a 1060 or better card is still a better card than a 1050 Ti, especially after you have upgrade your pc. 

 

This card will not make it into my new rig though, so unless you think a 1060 will provide a serious upgrade in graphics and frame rate for the next 12-18 months i don't know if the extra money spent will be worth it?

[w1nger1]

3 minutes ago, THE ALBION said:

This card will not make it into my new rig though, so unless you think a 1060 will provide a serious upgrade in graphics and frame rate for the next 12-18 months i don't know if the extra money spent will be worth it?

There's two ways to go about it, either go for a low end card for now and get a high end when you buy a com, or you can buy a high end card now and reuse it on your new com.
I suggest, if you are going for the low end now, you can consider the 2nd hand market.