New card this weekend! But which one?

[Biggilus]

So I've been looking at a 1060 for the past few months, however in light of the OCUK AMD 480 sale at the mo, I'm leanign toward gettign one of those *today*. But which one? Or is there a 1060 out there I didn't know about that outshines those 480s on sale?

I don't mind the £36 difference or so between the 4 cards listed, my aim is to play 1080p fully maxed. Upgrading from a twin frozr 770 jobby froom over three years ago now...

So if the money was in your pocket, what's your poison?

 

[AiiR]

I would get a 480 personally, the sapphire ones aren't too bad.

 

[TheRealDeal]

I would get the RX480 even if they were the same price. With it being on sale atm it's an even easier choice. More Vram and it's pretty safe to say it's probably the faster card over dx11/12/Vulkan. It should last you longer as it looks again like GCN cards from AMD are well equipped for feature titles.

 

[Poneros]

I think it comes down to your monitor choice, simply because there's a lot more choice for AMD users than Nvidia, except the really expensive high end £1000 monitors.

First of all, you won't play 1080p fully maxed, ever, with any GPU. Least of all going forward with AAA titles.

Second, what's your CPU? AMD driver overhead is still a thing in DX11 games.

Third, do you plan to get a Freesync/Gsync monitor?

If you do get a 480, the XFX one is the best. For 1060s, I'd look at EVGA/Zotac just for warranty/CS reasons. Personally I just ordered the XFX 480 & a Freesync monitor because anything else would've been double/triple price for not so much extra gain (but I also lean towards AMD anyway).

 

[Biggilus]

Thanks for the input people.
I'm on an i5 4690k running at 4.3ghz, i'm under the impression this is still suitable? Monitor isn't anything fancy, some years ago got a 144mhz AOC one which I still plan on using.

This new card is just to run things nicely until I upgrade most of the rig in 18-24 months or so.

 

[Biggilus]

I see the Nitro+ has a better boost clock, I imagine only marginal/benchmark difference though during gaming sessions?
Also I do like things to run quietly...

 

[nashathedog]

So I've been looking at a 1060 for the past few months, however in light of the OCUK AMD 480 sale at the mo, I'm leanign toward gettign one of those *today*. But which one? Or is there a 1060 out there I didn't know about that outshines those 480s on sale?

I don't mind the £36 difference or so between the 4 cards listed, my aim is to play 1080p fully maxed. Upgrading from a twin frozr 770 jobby froom over three years ago now...

So if the money was in your pocket, what's your poison?

This is thought to be the best 480 on the market and it has significant improvements when compared to the Nitro and other aftermarket models.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/xfx-...s-graphics-card-with-backplate-gx-23i-xf.html

History shows that Sapphire have been the go to company with AMD but they seem to have dropped the ball with the 480 Nitro. So for this gen the XFX above is the one I'd be buying.

 

[fs123]

Thanks for the input people.
I'm on an i5 4690k running at 4.3ghz, i'm under the impression this is still suitable? Monitor isn't anything fancy, some years ago got a 144mhz AOC one which I still plan on using.

This new card is just to run things nicely until I upgrade most of the rig in 18-24 months or so.

The cpu is more than enough for the RX480. A freesync monitor would be a great choice to go with it but not a requirement.
I would go with a non-reference card whichever you go for. The XFX GTR black Edition is usually the recommended version with MSI Gaming X coming close but any of them would be ok.

 

[Teknobry]

First of all, you won't play 1080p fully maxed, ever, with any GPU.

Wut?!

 

[Apache14]

Thanks for the input people.
I'm on an i5 4690k running at 4.3ghz, i'm under the impression this is still suitable? Monitor isn't anything fancy, some years ago got a 144mhz AOC one which I still plan on using.

This new card is just to run things nicely until I upgrade most of the rig in 18-24 months or so.

The i5 4690k is fine for pretty much all modern games at 1080p / 1440p, paired with the RX 480 you will have a very nice setup for 1080p and most of 1440p games.

Personally id opt for the XFX GTR Black Edition (has the best boost clocks of all of them) here (https://www.overclockers.co.uk/xfx-...s-graphics-card-with-backplate-gx-23a-xf.html)

But either of these would be brilliant cards as well.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/powe...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-188-pc.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/sapp...-pci-express-rgb-graphics-card-gx-37b-sp.html

 

[Biggilus]

* and also to add even though I have a 144mhz monitor, I'm far from fussed about getting 144 fps. >60fps will do - never noticed any difference personally

 

[Apache14]

This is thought to be the best 480 on the market and it has significant improvements when compared to the Nitro and other aftermarket models.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/xfx-...s-graphics-card-with-backplate-gx-23i-xf.html

History shows that Sapphire have been the go to company with AMD but they seem to have dropped the ball with the 480 Nitro. So for this gen the XFX above is the one I'd be buying.

Thats the XXX edition (https://www.overclockers.co.uk/xfx-...s-graphics-card-with-backplate-gx-23i-xf.html) is slower than the "GTR Black Edition" (https://www.overclockers.co.uk/xfx-...s-graphics-card-with-backplate-gx-23a-xf.html)

1288Mhz (XXX) boost vs 1338 (GTR)

Id go for the GTR

 

[Apache14]

* and also to add even though I have a 144mhz monitor, I'm far from fussed about getting 144 fps. >60fps will do - never noticed any difference personally

You wouldn't normally get near the 144FPS in most new AAA games at 1080p (even on a titan). To get an idea of the FPS you will be getting with the 480 on latest drivers have a look here. (http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...3945-gtx-1060-vs-rx-480-updated-review-5.html)

In games like fallout 4 (1080p & ultra settings) you will be averaging ~50-60fps. Just keep in mind your CPU is a little bit slower that their setup (but the difference will likely be minimal)

 

[Panos]

So I've been looking at a 1060 for the past few months, however in light of the OCUK AMD 480 sale at the mo, I'm leanign toward gettign one of those *today*. But which one? Or is there a 1060 out there I didn't know about that outshines those 480s on sale?

I don't mind the £36 difference or so between the 4 cards listed, my aim is to play 1080p fully maxed. Upgrading from a twin frozr 770 jobby froom over three years ago now...

So if the money was in your pocket, what's your poison?

Powercolor RX480 Devil.

 

[Poneros]

Wut?!

Why are you confused? I'm not gonna get into a semantic debate about max, and whether we count 4x MSAA or 8X or whatever, but if you look at the newest games (DX:MD, Watch Dogs 2, hell even Witcher 3 with .ini tweaks even tho it isn't a new game anymore) you'll see not even a 1080 will max it at 1080p and keep a healthy 60 fps (nevermind more).

And mind you these benchmarks are with VERY hefty CPUs, unlike OP's i5.
Example 1: Watch Dogs 2 1080p ultra (No MSAA, not fully maxed) does 76 - which means it will barely stay above 60 if not just below it once you do that, and it's hard to say MSAA isn't needed for 1080p (hell, you can barely say that for 4K).

Example 2: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, again not maxed, can barely do 63

Now, we can debate image quality settings, their impact and worth, modding or no, etc etc. but ultimately it boils down to: even within the confines of its normal settings a gtx 1080 can't max 1080p RIGHT NOW in all games, and it's not getting better & we're not counting mods nor extreme settings like SSAA or downscaling, etc.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Wut?!

That's news to me too! Playing Triple A titles maxed/ultra at 1080p with my OC'd 290.

 

[Griffildur]

even within the confines of its normal settings a gtx 1080 can't max 1080p RIGHT NOW in all games, and it's not getting better & we're not counting mods nor extreme settings like SSAA or downscaling, etc.

I must be doing something wrong, gaming in 1440p, maxing every game I play, no issue

 

[titaniumx3]

Depends how you define "max". My 1080 can play everything at 1440p at max detail/texture settings and get 60+ fps, but occasionally I'd have to turn off some extreme settings, stuff like gameworks effects, physics effects, special lighting and shadow effects (contact hardening shadows?) and of course intensive forms of AA like SSAA. Other than that, yes, I can run every game at 1080p and get 60+fps.

No one should ever expect to run everything at absolute max, it's unrealistic, pointless and probably not even intended by the developers. Why they allow these extreme graphical settings is probably for people with SLi/Crossfire setups or for the odd few who want that extra 0.1% increase in graphical fidelity for a 50% decrease in performance.

 

[Sasahara]

Why are you confused? I'm not gonna get into a semantic debate about max, and whether we count 4x MSAA or 8X or whatever, but if you look at the newest games (DX:MD, Watch Dogs 2, hell even Witcher 3 with .ini tweaks even tho it isn't a new game anymore) you'll see not even a 1080 will max it at 1080p and keep a healthy 60 fps (nevermind more).

(Examples remove, look up to the original post)

Even with the 2 rare examples you picked. I have issue with you use of the word "ever"?
So the Titan X Pascal which is already out can't do it? And any future cards won't be capable? Really?

 

[Apache14]

As always this all depends on your idea of max.

Personally I see it as the games default max / ultra preset while keeping FPS average around 50-60fps (with minimum above 35)

I know a lot of people that would hate "my definition" due to the minimum FPS part.


For the OP here the 480 will be more than capable of gaming at very good IQ setting and at a reasonable FPS (see the benchmark I linked for Fallout 4)