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GTX 1060 Vs RX 480 - head to head showdown

I was a bit down earlier after a very good friend died last night, but won't let that stop my enjoyment, as it wouldn't have stopped his :)

My commiserations, sorry to hear that.

Both the 480 and 1060 seem good cards. At the same time my brother has a 2GB 680 I sold him 3 years ago for £100 when I bought my 780 which is now dying (he overclocked it mildly a month ago and it's started black screening at random) and as such is looking at a replacement. He wants a decent card that'll last a few years without much outlay. In his case I've now recommended the 480 after seeing 1060 reviews as with it's DX12 advantage it will undoubtedly age better (as is usually the case with AMD cards anyway). For regular upgraders the 1060 may represent better value. I must say from a pure performance perspective I'm somewhat underwhelmed by both releases. The efficiency gains are decent though.
 
Cards which can do 1440 at high quality settings are not exactly low end and I wouldn't put 1060 or rx 480 in this category. What is low end? No idea to be honest, 970 is not low end either. Maybe my old 660 TI is low end these days :)

Low end i would call, entry level pc gaming. APU for example and GPUs around same performance. 480 and 1060 is medium to low highend.
 
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From what I can gather the RX480 seems more like a better bet on the long run while the 1060 is more aimed at the short\medium term.

Maybe I'm coming from the wrong angle but if one's aims are to keep a build going unaltered for a good while the RX seems like a better choice while the 1060 would be more aimed at people who look to upgrade every year and offload their old stuff on eBay and the like?
 
From what I can gather the RX480 seems more like a better bet on the long run while the 1060 is more aimed at the short\medium term.

Maybe I'm coming from the wrong angle but if one's aims are to keep a build going unaltered for a good while the RX seems like a better choice while the 1060 would be more aimed at people who look to upgrade every year and offload their old stuff on eBay and the like?

In fairness, either will do you proud. The 1060 is slightly better in the majority of games and the 480 has better Vulkan support as of now, so either either.
 
In fairness, either will do you proud. The 1060 is slightly better in the majority of games and the 480 has better Vulkan support as of now, so either either.

+1 the 1060 is a little better in DX11 titles than the reference 480 but is beaten handsomely in DX12 and Vulkan titles
 
In fairness, either will do you proud. The 1060 is slightly better in the majority of games and the 480 has better Vulkan support as of now, so either either.

Let's not forget the 480's lovely dedicated Video encoding HW.
It's another reason I'm personally leading towards it.
 
Let's not forget the 480's lovely dedicated Video encoding HW.
It's another reason I'm personally leading towards it.

No SLI on the 1060 either, i also don't like the power wires soldered to the PCB on the 1060.
It just looks cheap and like something that could dry up and work its way lose.

bd4b0_nvidia_geforce_gtx_1060_power.jpg
 
Heh, yea, my main point of contention is the OC potential as it *appears* the 1060 has more of it than the RX480 but it's hard to be sure with no benchmarks for the custom 480s yet.

Tried checking Reddit out and, funnily enough, on the Nvidia sub I find more people saying the RX is a better buy while on the AMD sub people seem to be going for the 1060.
 
Let's not forget the 480's lovely dedicated Video encoding HW.
It's another reason I'm personally leading towards it.

If you use Sony Vegas, it is a must in my opinion. It has actually got me back to thinking of buying both a 1060 and a custom cooled 480 for running some side by sides.
 
Heh, yea, my main point of contention is the OC potential as it *appears* the 1060 has more of it than the RX480 but it's hard to be sure with no benchmarks for the custom 480s yet.

Tried checking Reddit out and, funnily enough, on the Nvidia sub I find more people saying the RX is a better buy while on the AMD sub people seem to be going for the 1060.


Don't know about that, those 1060 reviewed are already running at 1850 to 1950Mhz, thats already pretty close to the maximum Mhz

The RX 480 is a little throttled with it reference cooler and AIB card are averaging a 7 to 10% factory overclock, the potential is they could be quite a bit faster.
 
I think which is better depends on the customer.

If you're the kind of person who likes to play just a few games for a really long time or buys games a year or two after they come out (for discounts), then the 1060 is the smart buy. If you're buying the newest stuff though, I would go for the 480. Either Dx12 or Vulkan will likely be the future, and either way, the 480 will be the better choice.

It will interesting to see what the aftermarket 480s add to the calculus.
 
I think AMD expected the new process to allow much higher clocks but so far it's been a bit poor. From the overclocks we've seen, the card can go past to 1500MHz+ when water cooled. If any of the custom 480's can reach close to 1500MHz on air then it should be a no brainer for most people in this market segment.

Hopefully we will see some benchmarks for the Nitro, Red Devil, etc soon.

Is it possible that 480 AIB have been delayed due to such cards having better binned chips and the need for yields of such to be at the level to sufficiently have better OC than the reference cards? Although really the 1400+ Limits seem likely as what will be possible. 15% general improvement over reference could be realistic.

Do not see this as wishful thinking but a query as to why none of the AIB were available at launch and why even yet we do not have Mhz figures listed for ANY of them.
 
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Don't know about that, those 1060 reviewed are already running at 1850 to 1950Mhz, thats already pretty close to the maximum Mhz

The RX 480 is a little throttled with it reference cooler and AIB card are averaging a 7 to 10% factory overclock, the potential is they could be quite a bit faster.

I suppose so. This, to me, highlights a big failure on AMD's strategy, whether it's marketing or production issues or something else I do not presume to know. Yet, the 1060 is out in force with specs ready, customs on sale and with reviews pouring in while everything we have on the RX customs is speculation\leaks.

With prices being roughly equal on many countries I wouldn't be surprised if many take the safer route of grabbing the card that's already been reviewed instead of holding out for a big question mark.

Funny coincidence: I have a work mate who hasn't been keeping track of GPUs at all and he IM'd me just now asking which 1060 custom I think best, he didn't even realize the 480 is a thing, since every online store and review site is covered with a gigantic Nvidia banner and 1060 reviews.
 
I suppose so. This, to me, highlights a big failure on AMD's strategy, whether it's marketing or production issues or something else I do not presume to know. Yet, the 1060 is out in force with specs ready, customs on sale and with reviews pouring in while everything we have on the RX customs is speculation\leaks.

With prices being roughly equal on many countries I wouldn't be surprised if many take the safer route of grabbing the card that's already been reviewed instead of holding out for a big question mark.

Funny coincidence: I have a work mate who hasn't been keeping track of GPUs at all and he IM'd me just now asking which 1060 custom I think best, he didn't even realize the 480 is a thing, since every online store and review site is covered with a gigantic Nvidia banner and 1060 reviews.

Agreed, AMD need to rethink their strategy and get far more aggressive not just in marketing but also their GPU's.
It seems to me they keep gimping their own cards with weak coolers to give as they always put it "Something for Vendors to add value" or words to that effect and its wrecking their own reputation and sales.
 
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