Help to upgrade from HD 7870 2GB on budget

[ilikefood]

Hello. I have a Sapphire HD 7870 2GB and I want to upgrade. My budget is around 250 euros. My first choice was a 1060 3GB but everyone suggests a 6GB instead. 

The cheapest option in my country is a Palit 1060 6GB StormX but I am not sure if it is a reliable model. 

On the other hand, many games that I like are AMD optimized and the cheapest 570 is an XFX 570 4GB but I don't think it competes with a 6 gb 1060.

What should I do? Maybe wait a bit?

System:
Windows 8.1
HD 7870 2GB
8 GB RAM
Intel i5-6600
PSU XFX TS 550W
1680x1050 screen (I know... Thats a reason I am also considering a 1050 ti) 

Any opinion appreciated. Thank you.

[Sakkura]

The RX 570 would be good if it's noticeably cheaper than the 1060 6GB.

[ilikefood]

4 minutes ago, Sakkura said:

The RX 570 would be good if it's noticeably cheaper than the 1060 6GB.

It is actually 5 euros less expensive than the Palit 6GB model right now (the palit is 265euros). And an XFX 580 4GB is 280 euros... 

[Sakkura]

4 minutes ago, ilikefood said:

It is actually 5 euros less expensive than the Palit 6GB model right now (the palit is 265euros). And an XFX 580 4GB is 280 euros... 

Well, then the 1060 and 580 are better value.

[Guest]

Please, get a 1060, I had an RX 480 (which died 8 months after purchase) and my relatively new 1060 beats it in every aspect. 

[ilikefood]

Ok thank you. With the 1050 ti I won't see much of a difference in performance right? Also, I've heard the Palit StormX doesn't have the best cooling and I can't find any proper reviews for it. Should I pay 30-40 euros more for a better manufacturer like EVGA or MSI?

[Guest]

Just now, ilikefood said:

Ok thank you. With the 1050 ti I won't see much of a difference in performance right? Also, I've heard the Palit StormX doesn't have the best cooling and I can't find any proper reviews for it. Should I pay 30-40 euros more for a better manufacturer like EVGA or MSI?

Yeah. I have a friend with a storm x and after a week the fans started squeaking. I personally recommend evga. 

[Darkseth]

Palit StormX is garbage, cooler wise. Extremely low performance cooler. That card WILL be loud and hot.

 

The much better Palit Dual even is still not very good, but just decent. But at least, it won't throttle becaus e it overheats ^^"

 

Check for Palit Jetstream / Gainward Phoenix, they are one of the best out there. How much are they in your country?

 

Zotac AMP! is also very good.

 

Or KFA²/Galax dual Fan model, or Inno3D Twin-blabla (2 fans also).

 

Stay away from EVGA models with 1 Fan. Both of them are bad. The Gaming basic model has the same shitty garbage cooler. the EVGA SC has an entirely different Cooling system, which is perfectly fine. However, VRAMs and VRMs are very badly cooled, and almsot overheat under Load (110-120°C vor VRMs....). Their Support is gread, their single Fan models are both suboptimal.

 

 

 

Btw, i had a 7870 2gb before, and upgraded to 1060 6gb. Do NOT upgrade to anything below that, trust me. it's not really worth. Your 7870 was lasting for 4+ years now, right? That's a very good lifespan for a Graphic card.

 

While 3gb might be fine for your Resolution, i personally say: Get 6gb, and that's it. you can still use DSR to simulate a higher res, or use ultra textures without worrying at all, and you have always 10% more fps~.

And of course, if you ever upgrade your Monitor, you won't have vram issues.

[ilikefood]

5 minutes ago, Darkseth said:

Palit StormX is garbage, cooler wise. Extremely low performance cooler. That card WILL be loud and hot.

 

The much better Palit Dual even is still not very good, but just decent. But at least, it won't throttle becaus e it overheats ^^"

 

Check for Palit Jetstream / Gainward Phoenix, they are one of the best out there. How much are they in your country?

 

Zotac AMP! is also very good.

 

Or KFA²/Galax dual Fan model, or Inno3D Twin-blabla (2 fans also).

 

Stay away from EVGA models with 1 Fan. Both of them are bad. The Gaming basic model has the same shitty garbage cooler. the EVGA SC has an entirely different Cooling system, which is perfectly fine. However, VRAMs and VRMs are very badly cooled, and almsot overheat under Load (110-120°C vor VRMs....). Their Support is gread, their single Fan models are both suboptimal.

 

 

 

Btw, i had a 7870 2gb before, and upgraded to 1060 6gb. Do NOT upgrade to anything below that, trust me. it's not really worth. Your 7870 was lasting for 4+ years now, right? That's a very good lifespan for a Graphic card.

 

While 3gb might be fine for your Resolution, i personally say: Get 6gb, and that's it. you can still use DSR to simulate a higher res, or use ultra textures without worrying at all, and you have always 10% more fps~.

And of course, if you ever upgrade your Monitor, you won't have vram issues.

The Palit models (non Jetstream) and the Zotac mini are the only ones under 300 euros. Everything else is 300-350 and I really can't spend that much right now.

 

Yes my 7870 is serving me really well until now (for 5 years actually) and at this resolution it still holds up with lots of compromises.

 

I guess I will have to wait for some price drops and squeeze some juice out of my 7870 until then. But damn 100 euros more than the 210 euro Zotac Amp! 3GB, I really don't think are worth it. 

 

Thanks for the info man, very helpful.

[Darkseth]

Which Palit? StormX and Dual both?

Because Dual > StormX by far ^^" If it has to be one of those 2, Dual > StormX.

 

Zotac Mini also has the same shitty Intel Box cooler on it, like the EVGA Gaming, and Palit/Gainward stormX.

See here: 

 

Just a super ass cheap heatsink. No heatpipes, lamellas, nothing. Despite teh GTX 1060 only has 120w tdp, that's way too low.

 

 

Palit/Gainward DUAL models: 

 

Still not that great, but useable (if it doesn't has to be SILENT), and much better cooling performance than above.

 

Anything else, you can just simply Undervolt + Downclock a bit.

I managed my GTX 1060 msi Gaming X to 0.8 Volt and 1876 Mhz core clock. Power consumption went from 130w down to 85w~, Performance difference <5%. 

 

But temperature went down by around 10°C, and fan speed also by a good margin. So undervolting is a very very good way to reduce the noise / temperature for free.

And it does make a huge difference.

 

While for the performance, it doesn't make much difference, if you OC it by 100-150 Mhz or not. You will simply not really notice it that much, if you have 4% more fps.