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Long overdue GPU upgrade - will something like a GTX 1060 perform noticeably better than my R7850?

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The PC that I built back in 2012 is beginning to show its age, especially for things like VR gaming. The specs are:

CPU: Intel Core I5 3570K
GPU: Radeon R7850 2GB 'Twin Frozr'
RAM: 8GB RAM
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77X-D3H

As you can see, pretty outdated by today’s standards, but believe it or not it still runs VR content for my HTC Vive pretty well.

I’d love to run more graphics-intensive VR games, though, as well as finally playing modern games like Red Dead Redemption 2 in 4K, so I’m thinking about just upgrading the GPU. I’ve seen Nvidia GTX 1060s (used) for as little as $100, so I’m wondering if buying something like that would give me a noticeable performance boost, or whether I should look to spend double that and get a 1070 or even a 1080?

I don’t really want to run everything totally maxed out, just looking to squeeze a few more years of use out of my current machine before completely rebuilding with a new motherboard/CPU etc...

What do people think?
 
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Thanks, I can probably afford between $100-200 (I'm in the USA now), so if I could find a 1070 for around $150 I'd consider that but I just didn't know if it was THAT much better than a 1060, especially jumping from a relatively underpowered card like my current R7850.

So are there multiple versions of the 1060s? And you reckon the 6GB is best bang-for-buck?
 
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Thanks, I can probably afford between $100-200 (I'm in the USA now), so if I could find a 1070 for around $150 I'd consider that but I just didn't know if it was THAT much better than a 1060, especially jumping from a relatively underpowered card like my current R7850.

So are there multiple versions of the 1060s? And you reckon the 6GB is best bang-for-buck?

You could probably find an RX580 in your budget, they're solid GPU's for a bargain price... The 1060 6gb is ideal as it's more powerful and has more VRAM over its 3gb version

What PSU is in the system?
 
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I'd grab a 1070 over a 1060 just due to the extra Vram and grunt offering around 980 Ti performance... if you can get a 980 Ti cheap also they're still cracking cards clocked up to 1450mhz+
 
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The PC that I built back in 2012 is beginning to show its age, especially for things like VR gaming. The specs are:

CPU: Intel Core I5 3570K
GPU: Radeon R7850 2GB 'Twin Frozr'
RAM: 8GB RAM
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77X-D3H

As you can see, pretty outdated by today’s standards, but believe it or not it still runs VR content for my HTC Vive pretty well.

I’d love to run more graphics-intensive VR games, though, as well as finally playing modern games like Red Dead Redemption 2 in 4K, so I’m thinking about just upgrading the GPU. I’ve seen Nvidia GTX 1060s (used) for as little as $100, so I’m wondering if buying something like that would give me a noticeable performance boost, or whether I should look to spend double that and get a 1070 or even a 1080?

I don’t really want to run everything totally maxed out, just looking to squeeze a few more years of use out of my current machine before completely rebuilding with a new motherboard/CPU etc...

What do people think?

You should go Radeon.

Review-results.png


Review-results-2.png

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/red-dead-redemption-2-benchmark-test-performance-analysis/4.html
 
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I don't mean to hijack the thread but though it better than to create a new thread for a similar question.

I've got a 1080p 144Hz Freesync monitor and currently running an ATi 5870 1GB paired with a Ryzen 3600, I've seen the RX 590 Red Dragon on the Black Friday deal for £149.99 but wondered whether to push the button on that or wait for the new 5500 cards that are coming out fairly soon?

I'm not in dire need of an upgrade as what I play still runs pretty well with the archaic card I'm running and I don't get much time to play anyway so I can wait but it does seem a pretty good deal at the sort of money I'd want to spend.

Cheers and apologies again
 
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I got a radeon R9 380, I've now starting to see problem playing my games (jedi fallen order), so I first upgrade my ram from 8GB to 16gb, still having some problem, but found major source was my r9 380 card. when I saw the offer for the rx590 I did some google search and deicide to get it as I current can't afford anything more and the new cards ain't out for while and will have high price tag so this will do the job for next 24+ months. for £149 you can't complain.
 
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I have a R 290 and a GTX 1060 6GB. Don't see any difference between the two in gaming. In benchmarks the R 290 is faster cos can't oc the GTX. It only has one fan and reaches 83c gaming.
 
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I don't mean to hijack the thread but though it better than to create a new thread for a similar question.

I've got a 1080p 144Hz Freesync monitor and currently running an ATi 5870 1GB paired with a Ryzen 3600, I've seen the RX 590 Red Dragon on the Black Friday deal for £149.99 but wondered whether to push the button on that or wait for the new 5500 cards that are coming out fairly soon?

I'm not in dire need of an upgrade as what I play still runs pretty well with the archaic card I'm running and I don't get much time to play anyway so I can wait but it does seem a pretty good deal at the sort of money I'd want to spend.

Cheers and apologies again

I've compared AMDs percentage benchmarks of the 5500 to Hardware Unboxed benchmarks and it pretty much bang on par with a 590. Although it will use less power. The 5500 won't be cheaper than £150 though and may cost more imo
 
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I’d love to run more graphics-intensive VR games, though, as well as finally playing modern games like Red Dead Redemption 2 in 4K, so I’m thinking about just upgrading the GPU. I’ve seen Nvidia GTX 1060s (used) for as little as $100, so I’m wondering if buying something like that would give me a noticeable performance boost, or whether I should look to spend double that and get a 1070 or even a 1080?

The RX 580 will age better than the 1060 in modern gaming engines - see the videos below. For VR you want a Vega or 5700 imo


 
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Since you are not in a rush schumi84 you should wait for the Radeon 5500.

I've compared AMDs percentage benchmarks of the 5500 to Hardware Unboxed benchmarks and it pretty much bang on par with a 590. Although it will use less power. The 5500 won't be cheaper than £150 though and may cost more imo

Thanks very much for the input, these are basically my trains of thought. I’ll have a think of what to do and see if there is any more news on release date for the 5500 and maybe toss a coin or something.

On a side note I did own an RX480 Red Devil when they first came out but realised a few months later that I couldn’t really afford it so sold it for profit during the mining boom. I found it a huge performance boost (to be expected) so anything of that level or a little more is fine by me.

Cheers again
 
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Thanks very much for the input, these are basically my trains of thought. I’ll have a think of what to do and see if there is any more news on release date for the 5500 and maybe toss a coin or something.

On a side note I did own an RX480 Red Devil when they first came out but realised a few months later that I couldn’t really afford it so sold it for profit during the mining boom. I found it a huge performance boost (to be expected) so anything of that level or a little more is fine by me.

Cheers again

Essentially the same card tweeked to be around 20% faster


 
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You could probably find an RX580 in your budget, they're solid GPU's for a bargain price... The 1060 6gb is ideal as it's more powerful and has more VRAM over its 3gb version

What PSU is in the system?

Thanks, it's got a 650W Antec PSU in it now. I might have to think of Radeon cards instead anyway as I run MacOS and it doesn't like nVidia cards....


Thanks, yeah I may well try a Radeon instead; I run MacOS which I forgot doesn't work well with nVidia cards so I'll look for an AMD equivalent of a 1070....
 
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Thanks, it's got a 650W Antec PSU in it now. I might have to think of Radeon cards instead anyway as I run MacOS and it doesn't like nVidia cards....



Thanks, yeah I may well try a Radeon instead; I run MacOS which I forgot doesn't work well with nVidia cards so I'll look for an AMD equivalent of a 1070....

Vega 56 is about the same as a 1070ti :)
 
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