- Joined
- 7 Sep 2020
- Posts
- 107
Aight, bringing this back up — my 1070ti is confirmed dead, or as good as, at least processors become available in the market as spare parts.
So, I need to make a choice, and I've sort of narrowed it down to two major options: (1) 6650XT, (2) 3070.
The advantages of 6650XT are quite many, with some minor disadvantages:
- It's halfway between 3060 and 3060ti, often closer to ti.
- I can buy a nice three-fan version (XFX Merc) for £416 (equiv.) shipped, in contrast with cheaper 2-fan versions of 3070 in reasonable price ranges.
- Both sturdier and cheaper, this should be a natural overclocker. (Alternatively, there's a cheaper Sapphire Pulse version.)
- Should last me through my backlog of dated games like Divinity: Original Sin, Pathfinder, Grid 1+2, Dirt 4, not to mention NWN: EE modules. I could keep it until I had need of a stronger GPU, perhaps meaning a 4070 cheaper than 3070 is now.
- Recent driver updates bring a 3–17% performance boost in DX11, which is what I'll be playing for a long time.
- Much less potential for quick loss of value. Much smaller dent in my budget. I could resell it at two thirds of the current price and buy something better quite easily.
- Even on an overclocked rig and with dated games, the 6650XT would perhaps not deliver all the power these games could take advantage of, starting with 4K downsamping @ all ultra @ 75 fps. Which is not really but is simply nice to have.
- Obviously not RT to write home about.
- FSR < DLSS.
However, the 3070 also offers some advantages, countered by serious disadvantages to make this more complicated:
- No compromises, just slide everything to the right in older games in 1440p.
- Most of the time probably even with fine 4K => 1440p DLDSR downsampling (which usually looks gorgeous on my 32'' 1440p screen).
- Probably quieter operation than 6650XT with the same settings (lower load).
- And more future proof: (1) spare power; (2) actually usable RT; (2) DLSS already on the table as opposed to AMD's plans for FSR2.
- But less future proof in money terms: (1) bigger strain on my budget; (2) less easy to resell without taking a large loss; (3) more complicated upgrade; (4) perhaps a money sink if bought at a temporarily elevated price for games that don't really need its full power.
- Something like Inno3D Chill looks more fragile than something like XFX Merc. More expensive and yet more fragile, this could be a less good overclocker. And damaging it would be more of a problem.
- The single biggest downside is buying it for like £600 now, while it might cost 400 or less by year end. And by year end, I certainly won't get around to playing DX12 games released in 2020. I'll still be catching up on my backlog of older games.
- Last but not least, I'd probably be buying it from OC UK, so supporting this site
One thing is certain: the 6650XT would last me at least several months if not a year with like zero regrets. Regrets over not having gone for something more powerful would only start later. At which time we might see 3080 for £400 just as well as 3070 for £1500; it's a coin flip.
So, do I act like a stereotypical mature adult and settle on the 6650XT or do I make the bold decision and grab the 3070?
So, I need to make a choice, and I've sort of narrowed it down to two major options: (1) 6650XT, (2) 3070.
The advantages of 6650XT are quite many, with some minor disadvantages:
- It's halfway between 3060 and 3060ti, often closer to ti.
- I can buy a nice three-fan version (XFX Merc) for £416 (equiv.) shipped, in contrast with cheaper 2-fan versions of 3070 in reasonable price ranges.
- Both sturdier and cheaper, this should be a natural overclocker. (Alternatively, there's a cheaper Sapphire Pulse version.)
- Should last me through my backlog of dated games like Divinity: Original Sin, Pathfinder, Grid 1+2, Dirt 4, not to mention NWN: EE modules. I could keep it until I had need of a stronger GPU, perhaps meaning a 4070 cheaper than 3070 is now.
- Recent driver updates bring a 3–17% performance boost in DX11, which is what I'll be playing for a long time.
- Much less potential for quick loss of value. Much smaller dent in my budget. I could resell it at two thirds of the current price and buy something better quite easily.
- Even on an overclocked rig and with dated games, the 6650XT would perhaps not deliver all the power these games could take advantage of, starting with 4K downsamping @ all ultra @ 75 fps. Which is not really but is simply nice to have.
- Obviously not RT to write home about.
- FSR < DLSS.
However, the 3070 also offers some advantages, countered by serious disadvantages to make this more complicated:
- No compromises, just slide everything to the right in older games in 1440p.
- Most of the time probably even with fine 4K => 1440p DLDSR downsampling (which usually looks gorgeous on my 32'' 1440p screen).
- Probably quieter operation than 6650XT with the same settings (lower load).
- And more future proof: (1) spare power; (2) actually usable RT; (2) DLSS already on the table as opposed to AMD's plans for FSR2.
- But less future proof in money terms: (1) bigger strain on my budget; (2) less easy to resell without taking a large loss; (3) more complicated upgrade; (4) perhaps a money sink if bought at a temporarily elevated price for games that don't really need its full power.
- Something like Inno3D Chill looks more fragile than something like XFX Merc. More expensive and yet more fragile, this could be a less good overclocker. And damaging it would be more of a problem.
- The single biggest downside is buying it for like £600 now, while it might cost 400 or less by year end. And by year end, I certainly won't get around to playing DX12 games released in 2020. I'll still be catching up on my backlog of older games.
- Last but not least, I'd probably be buying it from OC UK, so supporting this site
One thing is certain: the 6650XT would last me at least several months if not a year with like zero regrets. Regrets over not having gone for something more powerful would only start later. At which time we might see 3080 for £400 just as well as 3070 for £1500; it's a coin flip.
So, do I act like a stereotypical mature adult and settle on the 6650XT or do I make the bold decision and grab the 3070?