Old high end card or new mid range cards?

[cdawall]

It's a shame you don't fold then mate nice cards for it.

I couldn't afford the electricity. Those things are expensive to run.

 

[ASOT]

Get the 7970

 

[Apocalypsee]

I've been scouting for a month now, it looks like 2nd hand market are not worth the time. For the price of HD 7970 I could spend a little bit more for R9 290 but it's hot to begin with so I won't go that route again. Prices of GTX 670/680/760 are also in the same bracket but most of them are noisy reference cooler so I would avoid it since I already have experience them before. 2GB of VRAM are also insufficient for newer games thus buying 4GB version of this card is usually approaching RX 470 money.

Sigh. I would just hold off the purchase and just go all out and buy RX 480. Vega is going to be released next year anyway.

 

[qubit]

I've been scouting for a month now, it looks like 2nd hand market are not worth the time. For the price of HD 7970 I could spend a little bit more for R9 290 but it's hot to begin with so I won't go that route again. Prices of GTX 670/680/760 are also in the same bracket but most of them are noisy reference cooler so I would avoid it since I already have experience them before. 2GB of VRAM are also insufficient for newer games thus buying 4GB version of this card is usually approaching RX 470 money.

Sigh. I would just hold off the purchase and just go all out and buy RX 480. Vega is going to be released next year anyway.

Yup, there always seems to be more cons than pros when buying second hand, unless you get a really good price and the items is in excellent condition. So much uncertainty. Note that the situation improves somewhat when you buy from one of the trusted members of TPU though. I bought a Quadro FX 3700 to play with a while back from a TPU member and am very happy with it.

When you are ready to buy, I strongly recommend getting a new NVIDIA card of some sort though. AMD are now lagging so far behind that it's not even funny. Yes, you'll have to pay more than you should for it due to the lack of proper competition, but we can't do much about that unfortunately. At least you'll have a good product that performs well, not just in terms of framerate, but also in terms of features and support. Personally, I've found the new "Fast" vsync feature available on Pascal (backported to Maxwell) to be a killer feature. You can basically leave vsync off letting the card render as fast as it can and above the monitor refresh. With this, you can have your cake and eat it: no tearing, lowest lag and smooth, stutter-free animation. You don't get this with AMD afaik.

 

[Apocalypsee]

Yup, there always seems to be more cons than pros when buying second hand, unless you get a really good price and the items is in excellent condition. So much uncertainty. Note that the situation improves somewhat when you buy from one of the trusted members of TPU though. I bought a Quadro FX 3700 to play with a while back from a TPU member and am very happy with it.

When you are ready to buy, I strongly recommend getting a new NVIDIA card of some sort though. AMD are now lagging so far behind that it's not even funny. Yes, you'll have to pay more than you should for it due to the lack of proper competition, but we can't do much about that unfortunately. At least you'll have a good product that performs well, not just in terms of framerate, but also in terms of features and support. Personally, I've found the new "Fast" vsync feature available on Pascal (backported to Maxwell) to be a killer feature. You can basically leave vsync off letting the card render as fast as it can and above the monitor refresh. With this, you can have your cake and eat it: no tearing, lowest lag and smooth, stutter-free animation. You don't get this with AMD afaik.

Yup I agree, thing is I have hit and miss buying 2nd hand stuff. Some alt quite a long time some other it fail within few month of use so I'm not taking the risk here.

Even though I love to support AMD but I agree with you here. The few days I been using GTX 950 is being a lot of fun. Overclocking it is very simple and despite being the cheapest 950 I could get with single fan and simple aluminium fan the overclockability is amazing. The overclock makes it reach to 960 level and way WAY faster than RX 460 could reach. This is just me but generally nvidia cards seems smoother while gaming for example in GTA V the framerate is high on 290X but it still doesn't feel as smooth as I used GTX 970 despite the 3.5GB RAM people been mocking about (I own both card before). The software that supports nvidia is good and simple too, like nvidia Inspector. I've yet to find any AMD equivalent software. The fast vsync sounds great and tempting, I keep that in mind when buying new cards. GTX 1060 6GB is cheaper than RX 480 anyway and almost the same as RX 470

 

[Vayra86]

Yup I agree, thing is I have hit and miss buying 2nd hand stuff. Some alt quite a long time some other it fail within few month of use so I'm not taking the risk here.

Even though I love to support AMD but I agree with you here. The few days I been using GTX 950 is being a lot of fun. Overclocking it is very simple and despite being the cheapest 950 I could get with single fan and simple aluminium fan the overclockability is amazing. The overclock makes it reach to 960 level and way WAY faster than RX 460 could reach. This is just me but generally nvidia cards seems smoother while gaming for example in GTA V the framerate is high on 290X but it still doesn't feel as smooth as I used GTX 970 despite the 3.5GB RAM people been mocking about (I own both card before). The software that supports nvidia is good and simple too, like nvidia Inspector. I've yet to find any AMD equivalent software. The fast vsync sounds great and tempting, I keep that in mind when buying new cards. GTX 1060 6GB is cheaper than RX 480 anyway and almost the same as RX 470

Fast Vsync is useless if you run 60 fps and with mid range cards, that is all she's gonna do anyway unless you're full on CS:GO'er, but then you wouldnt have to upgrade anyway.

2nd hand markets are more than fine for me in Netherlands, but you need a techsite's 2nd hand section, not some random marketplace or Ebay - the latter is a total disaster with regards to reliability.

Since 2012 I've traded up from 2x GTX 660 > GTX 770 > 780ti all through second hand and the last card is still running more than fine. End result was paying 50 euro below the original MSRP for the 780ti spread across 3 years time with 3 upgrades in my system. Not a bad deal ^^

 

[qubit]

Yup I agree, thing is I have hit and miss buying 2nd hand stuff. Some alt quite a long time some other it fail within few month of use so I'm not taking the risk here.

Even though I love to support AMD but I agree with you here. The few days I been using GTX 950 is being a lot of fun. Overclocking it is very simple and despite being the cheapest 950 I could get with single fan and simple aluminium fan the overclockability is amazing. The overclock makes it reach to 960 level and way WAY faster than RX 460 could reach. This is just me but generally nvidia cards seems smoother while gaming for example in GTA V the framerate is high on 290X but it still doesn't feel as smooth as I used GTX 970 despite the 3.5GB RAM people been mocking about (I own both card before). The software that supports nvidia is good and simple too, like nvidia Inspector. I've yet to find any AMD equivalent software. The fast vsync sounds great and tempting, I keep that in mind when buying new cards. GTX 1060 6GB is cheaper than RX 480 anyway and almost the same as RX 470

No, it's not your imagination about the gameplay smoothness. There's something called frame pacing, which aims to smooth out the large difference in frametimes and leads to a subtle, but noticeable improvement in smoothness.

I noticed this back in 2009. I was an AMD user then, having a HD 4870 which had good performance for the time. I did notice little glitches during gaming though, usually nothing too serious, but niggling. I then bought the legendary GTX 8800, used, for a small price, to play around with.

Compared it to my AMD card and couldn't believe what I saw. Sure it benched a fair bit slower, but the game still ran better for most of the time, feeling more fluid and even and I noticed much less glitches. I also liked the NVIDIA control panel with its superior features. And that was it, the HD 4870 ended up on eBay while I replaced it with the GTX 285. This was faster than the HD 4870 and did all that the GTX 8800 could and then some. Never looked back since. No wonder NVIDIA cards cost more.

I'm not normally into overclocking my graphics cards as the GPU is stressed out enough as it is (especially heat) but overclocking continues to work well with NVIDIA cards, even though the extent is now limited by NVIDIA. My new Palit GTX 1080 GameRock, runs so cool and quiet that I'll be giving it a go.

Definitely get a new Pascal card of some description and enjoy Fast vsync and other benefits like lower heat etc. Just check out the NVIDIA reviews on TPU and you'll see what I mean about their performance - just jump straight to the conclusion for an overview and then stretch to the best NVIDIA card that you can afford. You won't regret it.

Fast Vsync is useless if you run 60 fps and with mid range cards, that is all she's gonna do anyway unless you're full on CS:GO'er, but then you wouldnt have to upgrade anyway.

No it's not. The GPU's framerate varies dramatically from second to second so will (hopefully) be above 60fps a lot of the time. Fast vsync then does its thing and animation looks great. Your argument only works if it's managing a maximum of something like 55fps, but that's gonna give crap performance regardless and should be either upgraded or details lowered to bring it above 60fps.

 

[Recon-UK]

No, it's not your imagination about the gameplay smoothness. There's something called frame pacing, which aims to smooth out the large difference in frametimes and leads to a subtle, but noticeable improvement in smoothness.

I noticed this back in 2009. I was an AMD user then, having a HD 4870 which had good performance for the time. I did notice little glitches during gaming though, usually nothing too serious, but niggling. I then bought the legendary GTX 8800, used, for a small price, to play around with.

Compared it to my AMD card and couldn't believe what I saw. Sure it benched a fair bit slower, but the game still ran better for most of the time, feeling more fluid and even and I noticed much less glitches. I also liked the NVIDIA control panel with its superior features. And that was it, the HD 4870 ended up on eBay while I replaced it with the GTX 285. This was faster than the HD 4870 and did all that the GTX 8800 could and then some. Never looked back since. No wonder NVIDIA cards cost more.

I'm not normally into overclocking my graphics cards as the GPU is stressed out enough as it is (especially heat) but overclocking continues to work well with NVIDIA cards, even though the extent is now limited by NVIDIA. My new Palit GTX 1080 GameRock, runs so cool and quiet that I'll be giving it a go.

Definitely get a new Pascal card of some description and enjoy Fast vsync and other benefits like lower heat etc. Just check out the NVIDIA reviews on TPU and you'll see what I mean about their performance - just jump straight to the conclusion for an overview and then stretch to the best NVIDIA card that you can afford. You won't regret it.



No it's not. The GPU's framerate varies dramatically from second to second so will (hopefully) be above 60fps a lot of the time. Fast vsync then does its thing and animation looks great. Your argument only works if it's managing a maximum of something like 55fps, but that's gonna give crap performance regardless and should be either upgraded or details lowered to bring it above 60fps.

Exactly my experience except i ran a 9800GTX+

I swear my 4870 was alien it lagged so hard in lot's of games visually yet FPS was so high? almost like the FPS counter was fake and lying to me.

I modded GTA IV at 1080P on both cards and the 4870 was faster, the 9800GTX+ would drop as low as 16FPS, but guess which one was smoother? yeah the 9800GTX+ lol.

 

[Jetster]

I always go the new route Especially with GPUs

 

[Apocalypsee]

One final question, the prices in Malaysia is really messed up so GTX 1060 3GB and RX 470 4GB is going for ~USD250 (RM1000) and to step up to GTX 1060 6GB and RX 470 8GB/ RX 480 4GB is ~USD300 (RM1200), should I wait and spend more for a better card or I should be good with RX 470 4GB/GTX 1060 3GB?

 

[Ungari]

One final question, the prices in Malaysia is really messed up so GTX 1060 3GB and RX 470 4GB is going for ~USD250 (RM1000) and to step up to GTX 1060 6GB and RX 470 8GB/ RX 480 4GB is ~USD300 (RM1200), should I wait and spend more for a better card or I should be good with RX 470 4GB/GTX 1060 3GB?

Neither of them, especially the 3GB 1060 which has less CUDA cores than the 6GB.
The MSRP pricing of the RX 470 doesn't make sense as even the Sapphire reference model is in RX 480 4GB territory at $199 USD.
If you can wait and save, I'd look to see what Vega has to offer as it will be Future Proof over the Pascal cards which will be obsolete when Volta comes next summer, but if you need a video card right now go full Polaris with the RX 480.

 

[Kanan]

Save money for a 1060 6GB or rx480 8gb (I like the latter more). Vega is a highend gpu for different users has nothing to do with rx480 and 1060.

 

[Jeffredo]

The few days I been using GTX 950 is being a lot of fun. Overclocking it is very simple and despite being the cheapest 950 I could get with single fan and simple aluminium fan the overclockability is amazing. The overclock makes it reach to 960 level and way WAY faster than RX 460 could reach

I picked up a very nice Galax GTX 950 EXOC White for $99.99 on sale and their US web store for a secondary PC and its be very nice, as you said. Mine has dual LED zero RPM fans and a metal backplate (although that really doesn't affect OCing much if at all). I spent an evening OCing mine and its doing pretty well on high settings in WoW Legion and Fallout 4 @ 1200p (about the only games I play at the moment). I'm pleasantly surprised. I feel like I got my $100 worth.

 

[Apocalypsee]

Neither of them, especially the 3GB 1060 which has less CUDA cores than the 6GB.
The MSRP pricing of the RX 470 doesn't make sense as even the Sapphire reference model is in RX 480 4GB territory at $199 USD.
If you can wait and save, I'd look to see what Vega has to offer as it will be Future Proof over the Pascal cards which will be obsolete when Volta comes next summer, but if you need a video card right now go full Polaris with the RX 480.

I agree the price is messed up for AMD cards since none of them ever reach MSRP prices, but weirdly nvidia prices were better in my country. Go figure... some GTX 1060 6GB is cheaper than reference RX 480 8GB and there are no reference RX 480 4GB at all, confirmed by various shops and distributor.

If I ever thinking of Vega I can't buy any of these new GPU, I don't think I can save enough till Vega comes but I don't know how long I can handle without any GPU and only playing old games...

I picked up a very nice Galax GTX 950 EXOC White for $99.99 on sale and their US web store for a secondary PC and its be very nice, as you said. Mine has dual LED zero RPM fans and a metal backplate (although that really doesn't affect OCing much if at all). I spent an evening OCing mine and its doing pretty well on high settings in WoW Legion and Fallout 4 @ 1200p (about the only games I play at the moment). I'm pleasantly surprised. I feel like I got my $100 worth.

I glad you liked it, I also enjoyed the few days I'm using it. If only if it have 4GB VRAM I would have kept it.

 

[Ungari]

I picked up a very nice Galax GTX 950 EXOC White for $99.99 on sale and their US web store for a secondary PC

You paid too much!

 

[Jeffredo]

You paid too much!

Not even close to too much considering its a new card. Especially with dual LED zero RPM fans, backplate, highest factory overclock available on a GTX 950 (I repeat it because you seem to have missed the extras you don't expect to find on a cheap card). Just because you personally don't want it doesn't mean it was a bad deal.

 

[Ungari]

Not even close to too much considering its a new card. Especially with dual LED zero RPM fans, backplate, highest factory overclock available on a GTX 950 (I repeat it because you seem to have missed the extras you don't expect to find on a cheap card). Just because you personally don't want it doesn't mean it was a bad deal.

The GTX 950 wasn't even a good upgrade at it's release for those with previous generation, i.e. GTX 750/Ti in that price point.
But at the present time, with the performance bar being raised to 970 and 980 levels for the $200-$300 mid range price point with the RX 480 and GTX 1060, you'd have been better off spending at least $100 more for a 4GB 480, or even the cutdown CUDA 3GB 1060.

 

[Jeffredo]

The GTX 950 wasn't even a good upgrade at it's release for those with previous generation, i.e. GTX 750/Ti in that price point.
But at the present time, with the performance bar being raised to 970 and 980 levels for the $200-$300 mid range price point with the RX 480 and GTX 1060, you'd have been better off spending at least $100 more for a 4GB 480, or even the cutdown CUDA 3GB 1060.

I didn't want to spend another $100, thanks. The cheapest GTX 950 is $140 ($110 after rebate) and the cheapest RX 460 is $110 on Newegg. Again, how did I pay too much at $99.99 for mine? That's what GTX 750 Ti or R7 360 are going for. The PC its in had a GTX 650 Ti so yeah, I'm rather happy with double the performance for a C note.

 

[ASOT]

@Jeffredo U go good with GTX 950 for 100 $

 

[Nergal]

You didn´t pay too much for the performance you are getting.

Budget for most people is more important than getting a "sweetspot-card" performance/dollar-wise.
Something which is hard to swallow for people who love GPU´s and post actively on a tech site about it. (myself included)
I would´ve advised on a Rx460 for that money thou (preference)

 

[Recon-UK]

GTX 950 is alright... i mean it's new too so 100 bucks? deal.

Second hand is always risky i guess.

 

[Ungari]

I would´ve advised on a Rx460 for that money thou (preference)

For Polaris you have to go full chip 480, or nothing, as the prices of the 460 and 470 make absolutely no sense.

 

[Apocalypsee]

For Polaris you have to go full chip 480, or nothing, as the prices of the 460 and 470 make absolutely no sense.

Right RX480, but would it be OK if I chose 4GB instead of more expensive 8GB?

 

[Nergal]

In my home country:

460 4GB = 139€ (129€ for 2GB)
470 4GB = 234€
480 4GB = 259€

I buy from Germany thou, slightly better pricing.
But if my budget is about 100€; I cannot afford a 470/480 now can I?

I would always advise on a 470/480 above a 460; but if the money ain´t there, you have to pick what is as close as possible to the best performance/cost ratio. (whilst not buying something that is way to slow). And that may be a NV or an AMD card

 

[Apocalypsee]

In my home country:

460 4GB = 139€ (129€ for 2GB)
470 4GB = 234€
480 4GB = 259€

I buy from Germany thou, slightly better pricing.
But if my budget is about 100€; I cannot afford a 470/480 now can I?

I would always advise on a 470/480 above a 460; but if the money ain´t there, you have to pick what is as close as possible to the best performance/cost ratio. (whilst not buying something that is way to slow). And that may be a NV or an AMD card

In my country the RX 470 4GB is under RM1000, for the 470 8GB and RX 480 4GB is around RM1200 while the cheapest reference RX 480 8GB is RM1249, other AIB RX 480 8GB costs at least RM100 more.

I've read tons of RX 460 review, the prices doesn;t make any sense and the performance is very poor. I don;t want to consider it, I'd rather buy RX 470 and get double the performance.