Budget friendly upgrading from 970?

[maiku41]

I've been looking to replace my GeForce 970. I play a mix of games - Space Engineers, Subnautica, Minecraft (Modded w/ shaders), Eve Online, BG3 - and also do some video work in Davinci Resolve. Display is 1080p. I don't forsee going to 4k.

I'd like something with a decent price/performance point. <$600-ish would be nice but could go a bit more if a good case could be made for it. Perferably not so old a model that it'll go out of support any time soon. Ideally it would wouldn't require replacing the current 750W power supply.

Any thoughts or recommendations would be welcome!

 

[Youseethis]

There are not many choices if you want a new gpu. You have the nvidia rtx 5060 ti 16gb,5070,5070 ti and the amd rx 9060 16gb, 9070 and 9070 xt. (Amd is OK in davinci resolve)
Your primary bottleneck is the cpu with gen3 pcie, it will hinder the 5060 ti a bit because it's only 8X and the 5070 ti because it is fast. Your main concern is the psu, 750w is enough but it has to be a good unit.

Based on those requirements, davinci and longevity taking maximum priority, probably the 5070 ti is best even if it costs 750$. 1) Tt has 16gb vram, 2) Nvidia supports their cards longer 3) Nvidia are better in professional applications+they support H.264/H.265 4:2:2 10-bit if you need it. Coincidentally it is the same class as the 970, it has almost the same die size and it is almost as cut down (same class except for the price ).

The games listed, will play fine with any current gen card at full hd.

 

[nomdeplume]

I've been looking to replace my GeForce 970. I play a mix of games - Space Engineers, Subnautica, Minecraft (Modded w/ shaders), Eve Online, BG3 - and also do some video work in Davinci Resolve. Display is 1080p. I don't forsee going to 4k.

RTX 3xxx are currently in that spot you mention for price and performance.

I doubt you would regret a solid display update following this change.

 

[Youseethis]

RTX 3xxx are currently in that spot you mention for price and performance.

They are perfect as used cards but they were abused in the mining boom. There is a card though that is safer than the others: the rtx 3080 12gb, because it was LHR v3 and it was released much later. So if you find one cheaper than a rtx 3080 ti, it's a good deal. Also the rtx 3080 ti itself must be cheaper than a 4070 super and this one must be cheaper than a 4070 ti and cheaper than a 5070. I am pointing this out because they are not cheaper sometimes if not most of the time.

 

[nomdeplume]

They are perfect as used cards but they were abused in the mining boom. There is a card though that is safer than the others: the rtx 3080 12gb, because it was LHR v3 and it was released much later. So if you find one cheaper than a rtx 3080 ti, it's a good deal. Also the rtx 3080 ti itself must be cheaper than a 4070 super and this one must be cheaper than a 4070 ti and cheaper than a 5070. I am pointing this out because they are not cheaper sometimes if not most of the time.

Pretty much, LHR wasn't quite impassable but the timing makes them less likely to be mined on for years.

Been awhile since I looked, but the steam survey probably still has 3060(ti) as most popular card. We are in the same territory as someone finally calling time on their 2nd gen Intel cpu. Awful point to be buying new at retail and anything semi-modern is technically an upgrade.

3xxx lets them use their current psu without adapters if transient response is up to the massive surges.
2xxx is not worthy of mention.
4xxx/5xxx not for small money or $/performance for light gaming.

 

[Caring1]

I've been looking to replace my GeForce 970. I play a mix of games - Space Engineers, Subnautica, Minecraft (Modded w/ shaders), Eve Online, BG3 - and also do some video work in Davinci Resolve. Display is 1080p. I don't forsee going to 4k.

I'd like something with a decent price/performance point. <$600-ish would be nice but could go a bit more if a good case could be made for it.

Any thoughts or recommendations would be welcome!

Intel Arc or Battlemage.

 

[Sammoonryong]

They are perfect as used cards but they were abused in the mining boom. There is a card though that is safer than the others: the rtx 3080 12gb, because it was LHR v3 and it was released much later. So if you find one cheaper than a rtx 3080 ti, it's a good deal. Also the rtx 3080 ti itself must be cheaper than a 4070 super and this one must be cheaper than a 4070 ti and cheaper than a 5070. I am pointing this out because they are not cheaper sometimes if not most of the time.

Exactly my thoughts. I actually did that, I had an RTX 2060 12GB and upgraded to an RTX 3080 12GB. At the time it
was around 40-45%% cheaper than a brand new RTX 4070 and came with a short 2 months warranty. My PC has good but older PSU with no 12Vhighfailure cable so I wasn’t considering anything higher than 4070. I got around 80% uplift in performance. The only downside of this plan is that 12GB versions are hard to find. Good luck

 

[MrBanana]

I've been looking to replace my GeForce 970. I play a mix of games - Space Engineers, Subnautica, Minecraft (Modded w/ shaders), Eve Online, BG3 - and also do some video work in Davinci Resolve. Display is 1080p. I don't forsee going to 4k.

I'd like something with a decent price/performance point. <$600-ish would be nice but could go a bit more if a good case could be made for it. Perferably not so old a model that it'll go out of support any time soon. Ideally it would wouldn't require replacing the current 750W power supply.

Any thoughts or recommendations would be welcome!

Get a 5060ti.

 

[Macro Device]

4070 is a no brainer if your second hand market is legit and it's priced right around 5060 Ti.

 

[CheteriagalenTriagalnik]

Well, the 5070 and 9070 appear to be right around your budget. Depends on whether or not you want to stick with nVidia. Both are a massive upgrade to what you already have. The 5070 is cheaper and has the nVidia features, but has 4GB less VRAM. Conversely, the 9070 is more expensive and has a slightly weaker feature set, but a full 16GB. Prices are good right now, so I don't see why you would have to go second-hand.

 

[Ruru]

Can you get an used 7900 XT with that price? I'm not sure of today's pricing.

 

[dgianstefani]

Used 4070 Ti Super or 5070 Ti if the budget can stretch.

If the budget can't, 5060 Ti 16 GB. The Gen 3 won't be an issue as long as you don't get the 8 GB.

I would strongly recommend avoiding used RTX 30xx. Lots of reasons, but chief among them is that they draw a lot of power for the performance offered, known for running quite hot due to Samsung 8 (10) nm and GDDR6X. Not good for older cards as heat kills electronics. Besides that, good chance they were mined on. Ada is a significant efficiency, node and technology leap, and Blackwell another slight jump above that, but primarily new architecture, no node improvement since Ada.

Less power hungry cards like a 3060 Ti or 3060 would also run fine, but avoid the higher end Ampere cards at this point.

TLDR used RTX 40xx or new RTX 50xx.