Deciding on a new GPU - New or used...

[Scania]

I've finally decided I really need a new GPU.

I currently have an i9 9900K, 32GB DDR4 3000, Gigabyte Aorus Z390 Pro Wi-Fi Motherboard which supports SLi (not that this is a future consideration) I have a Dell 27” G-Sync 144Hz monitor and a 1200W Phanteks PSU.

I’ve just sold the second of my old 1080ti’s which I was previously using in SLI, I currently have a 1660 as a temporary stop gap.

Now, I don’t game much these days through work and family commitments, I rarely have the time but, I do have a huge Steam library of various titles (all the Battlefield games, numerous racing games etc) and have treated myself to Battlefield 6 over Christmas and have really enjoyed it so far, the 1660 is barely playable at low settings so I really need something better., I also enjoy Flight Simulation , I have FSX, X-Plane and FS2020 to name a few of many different simulators, I’d have to say Flight Simulation is my go-to…

I’m initially thinking of a relatively cheap used 3080/ti 12Gb which I think is achievable with a little patience for the £250-£300 ish ballpark, but of course, no warranty..

I’m then drawn to something like a 5060ti 16Gb which on the face of it isn’t that much slower than say a 3080 but much more recent, more VRAM and warranty albeit at a lot more money…

Then there’s the wildcard of something like a 3090 which again I’ve seen a few at reasonable prices, I’m not worried about their power consumption given my PSU and the 24Gb VRAM of the 3090 offers on the face of it more future proofing than say a 12Gb 3080ti…

A few fellow flight simulator enthusiasts have recommended the 3090 citing its 24Gb as a real plus point when using graphically intensive add ons as I do…

I have a budget of approximately £500, would prefer to spend less tbh, I’m very tempted by a 3090 I’ve been offered for £400 although I’m looking at a 4070 Super for the same price also.

What would be your preference?

TIA.

 

[heatonpkmassive]

I'd probably try put a bit more into the budget and get something more current like a 9070xt. You've only mentioned Nvidia cards, is that your preference?

 

[Scania]

I'd probably try put a bit more into the budget and get something more current like a 9070xt. You've only mentioned Nvidia cards, is that your preference?

Yes, I last had an AMD card back in the Ati days and while it was good then, I’ve been firmly in the green camp since, plus, I’m presuming given I have a G-Sync monitor, Nvidia would be the way to proceed?

Although tbh I’d rather not throw any money at these over valued charlatans!

 

[Tommy_Here]

I’ve got a 9070 Xt and a 9900KF with 32gb VRAM - I’ve played at 1440p and it handled the XT very well, I now play at 4k and honestly it’s near perfect. If you’re looking at £300 personally I’d look at the 6950 XT - another card I’ve had before and it’s a great card offering 3090 Ti performance outside of RT.

 

[Tommy_Here]

I’ve also had. 3080 & 3090 with my setup and it performed great. If you’re stuck on Nvidia look at the 3080 Non Ti 12gb - they’re rarer but I picked mine up a while ago for less than the standard 10gb model

 

[Scania]

I’ve got a 9070 Xt and a 9900KF with 32gb VRAM - I’ve played at 1440p and it handled the XT very well, I now play at 4k and honestly it’s near perfect. If you’re looking at £300 personally I’d look at the 6950 XT - another card I’ve had before and it’s a great card offering 3090 Ti performance outside of RT.

That’s interesting, 3090ti performance at a budget is very appealing to say the least!

I’ve only recently got my G-Sync monitor though (bought of a family member for a steal) and noticed a big improvement visually when I was using it with my old 1080ti, it was vastly more responsive (at least it seemed it to me) and the occasional stutter and lag I previously noticed was completely gone, I’m guessing I’d lose this with an AMD card? Or is this not a thing these days?

 

[Scania]

I’ve also had. 3080 & 3090 with my setup and it performed great. If you’re stuck on Nvidia look at the 3080 Non Ti 12gb - they’re rarer but I picked mine up a while ago for less than the standard 10gb model

I have to say I’m very tempted by a 3080/ti simply because they are out there for roughly half my budget give or take and given I don’t really have the time to game much these days I’m reluctant to spend money on something in all honesty won’t get much use….

 

[Personality+]

£500 is right on 9070XT Territory and I'd go with that if going to the max of your budget.

 

[heatonpkmassive]

That’s interesting, 3090ti performance at a budget is very appealing to say the least!

I’ve only recently got my G-Sync monitor though (bought of a family member for a steal) and noticed a big improvement visually when I was using it with my old 1080ti, it was vastly more responsive (at least it seemed it to me) and the occasional stutter and lag I previously noticed was completely gone, I’m guessing I’d lose this with an AMD card? Or is this not a thing these days?

Does your monitor have a G Sync module inside? If not and it's what they now call a G Sync compatible monitor, freesync should work fine on it.

Not sure if it would if there's a module present, but maybe the modern ones can also do freesync.

 

[Tommy_Here]

It’s just my opinion but I’ve never been too bothered about Gsync or Freesync, I don’t hear many people commenting on this technology these days (happy to be corrected ) but yes the 6950 I had was a great card. It was the Red Devil model and I noticed it was edging out my 3090 founders edition outside of raytracing and this was at 1440p. At 4k the 6950XT pretty much matched the 3090.. not sure why but the lower the res the Xt performed better vs the Nvidia cards. It’s the 16GB VRAM that would attract me

 

[Tommy_Here]

I have to say I’m very tempted by a 3080/ti simply because they are out there for roughly half my budget give or take and given I don’t really have the time to game much these days I’m reluctant to spend money on something in all honesty won’t get much use….

Yep agree with you mate, I’ve been in your position before, but I use my pc more now hence having the Xt. In fairness if you can get a good model 3080 for £250 like a suprim or FTW, it’ll still pack a punch considering you occasionally play games

 

[tamzzy]

I don’t hear many people commenting on this technology these days

it's not commented because practically all gaming monitors worth their salt will have freesync support (though it may not be officially "gsync compatible" certified, but it all runs the same)

I have a budget of approximately £500, would prefer to spend less tbh, I’m very tempted by a 3090 I’ve been offered for £400 although I’m looking at a 4070 Super for the same price also.

for comparison:
the 4070 super is basically a 5070 - which is currently £500
the 9070 (non-xt) is £520 and is slightly faster than a 5070

out of the lot, i would consider the 3090 as long as:
1) you have an appropriately sized PSU (it draws 350w at load, and it's peak transients is in the region of 650w) - realistically you'd want something in the region of 1kw to run it
for comparison, the 4070 super is 220w, the 5070 is 250w, the 9070 is 220w - all of these have better transient control as well
2) you are satisifed your leccy bill will be higher
3) the 3090 has 24gb vram and will likely age better as long as nvidia continues to provide driver support for it
4) as it is, unfortunately the oldest out of the lot and the hottest by a fair margin as well...the 3090 has the greatest risk of going kaput. if it does go kaput and you have no warranty, are you in a position to replace it (same question if you get a used 4070 super)

 

[Gray2233]

What is the exact model of your monitor? I ask because many support more than just G-Sync.

AMD GPU's have less driver overhead than Nvidia, and while your 9900K is still a solid CPU it's going to limit your performance with modern cards in the £500 range.

 

[Scania]

Does your monitor have a G Sync module inside? If not and it's what they now call a G Sync compatible monitor, freesync should work fine on it.

Not sure if it would if there's a module present, but maybe the modern ones can also do freesync.

It has a G-sync V II module according to this review…

Dell S2716DG Review - TFTCentral

It’s a Dell S2716DG monitor, fairly old but it was very cheap - and way better than the triple 1080p screens I had previously…

 

[tamzzy]

Dell S2716DG

yeah that monitor has a proper g-sync module (not nvidia's freesync implementation that they call "gsync compatible")
if you want to continue to run variable refresh rate, and i assume you have done with your 1080ti, you are stuck with the nvidia ecosystem if you want to keep the monitor

 

[Scania]

it's not commented because practically all gaming monitors worth their salt will have freesync support (though it may not be officially "gsync compatible" certified, but it all runs the same)



for comparison:
the 4070 super is basically a 5070 - which is currently £500
the 9070 (non-xt) is £520 and is slightly faster than a 5070

out of the lot, i would consider the 3090 as long as:
1) you have an appropriately sized PSU (it draws 350w at load, and it's peak transients is in the region of 650w) - realistically you'd want something in the region of 1kw to run it
for comparison, the 4070 super is 220w, the 5070 is 250w, the 9070 is 220w - all of these have better transient control as well
2) you are satisifed your leccy bill will be higher
3) the 3090 has 24gb vram and will likely age better as long as nvidia continues to provide driver support for it, as it is, unfortunately the oldest out of the lot, and by a fair margin as well

An interesting post, thanks.

PSU wise, I have a 1200W Phanteks so that’s not a problem, as for the electricity bill being higher, frankly for the little time I get gaming, I can’t see that being an issue either…

As I said in my OP, a few of my flight sim friends have specifically mentioned the 3090 as the one to seek out for its VRAM…

Driver support I’d like to think would be around for a few years to come, I believe they’ve only recently dropped the 10 series from current drivers and that hails from 2017, assuming the 30 series has similar levels of support a few more years of driver updates would be fine by which time I’ll either be dead or able to afford something much newer anyway!

 

[Tetras]

If it wasn't for the VRAM you're interested in having, then for a £500 budget I'd say 5070 non-Ti or 9070 non-XT.

Is the VRAM for the mods really worth sacrificing the warranty? I guess if it gives you a much better gaming experience in the type of game you're most interested in, but for me, those cards are too old now to buy used without a warranty.

 

[heatonpkmassive]

yeah that monitor has a proper g-sync module (not nvidia's freesync implementation that they call "gsync compatible")
if you want to continue to run variable refresh rate, and i assume you have done with your 1080ti, you are stuck with the nvidia ecosystem if you want to keep the monitor

Thanks for confirming what I thought tamzzy.

@Scania Yeah I looked at AMD cards specifically for this monitor because I used to use it with this PC. It's a great monitor, really great. It got me into 1440p gaming. In your case though, best sticking with team green.

 

[Scania]

If it wasn't for the VRAM you're interested in having, then for a £500 budget I'd say 5070 non-Ti or 9070 non-XT.

Is the VRAM for the mods really worth sacrificing the warranty? I guess if it gives you a much better gaming experience in the type of game you're most interested in, but for me, those cards are too old now to buy used without a warranty.

This is my ultimate dilemma, I’m extremely wary of dropping £250+ on any electronic device sans a warranty and that’s where I’m finding myself drawn towards the 5060ti 16Gb, it’s current I’d have a warranty of at least two years - up to five if I opted for a Zotac and that’s appealing although at the higher end of where I wanted to spend, then again it’s 16Gb VRAM is going to offer decent headroom for the future and of course I’d be kicking myself if say I bagged a £400 3090 and it went pop a year later….

Decisions decisions!

 

[Minstadave]

Went from a 3090 to a 9070XT and it was a solid upgrade. The drop in VRAM was a non issue for me.

A second hand 3090 doesnt seem a sensible play.

With your budget I'd only really be considering a 9070 or 9070XT.