1060 3GB or 480 4GB?

[stahlhart]

The next time I see grade school level taunting like DamZe has been posting in this thread, it's going to be time off.
-- stahlhart

 

[tential]

They have the reference design Sapphire of RX 470 with 4GB, which are significantly cheaper, but they don't come with DVI-D, which my monitor has, its an older monitor, also its only got 6pins, so limited OC headroom.

The Nitro 470 8GB is more expensive than the 480 4GB and from what I've seen in most benches 480 4GB beats 470 8GB by about 10% if we take slightly manufacturer OC versions like the MSI's Twin Frozr for example. So far the extra 8GB seems to help the RX 480 over the 4GB a bit, due to the higher clocks by default.

So the question is will in the future ram bottle neck more than core? And again if the 470 8GB was cheaper, even slightly I would have probably mentioned it here and possibly went for it, but its about 15 euros more expensive.



470 4GB and 480 4GB are very similar in price here, about 10 euros difference, if it was like in the USA where you can find literally $170 470 4gb, with rebates even $160 or whatever, compared to $200, of course it makes more sense, but at about 10 euros difference, I'd rather go for the faster option.

They have a reference design one from Sapphire at about 20 euros cheaper, but it doesn't have DVI-D output, it also has 6pin only and since its blower style from the reference designs which from all reviews hovers at about 90C degrees, I'm not comfortable getting it and having it throttle due to temps, use hdmi to dvi-d converters and increasing input lag and maybe even possible issues with the converter cables, etc... So its not an option.

In that case it's pretty obvious to me get a 4gb 480.
The reasons to get the 3gb card are few and far between. In general I would shy away from the mid to low end Nvidia cards (does not include the 1070 which is a "midrange card but with no competition it gets to reign Supreme and rightfully so). Without getting into the nitty gritty, Nvidia shines when you plan on turning over your cards faster. Which to me is the ideal anyway.

I can't recommend a 1060gb 3gb card now. You're welcome to believe it will be enough in the future. But that's basically like saying you believe there will be no technical progress.

So ya, given everything I'd go 480 4gb.

I only really like the 1060 3gb for gamers who play multi-player games only and don't intend on cranking graphics but want a decently capable card. Otherwise it's just hard to get behind Nvidia cards at that price bracket.

Another general rule. Buy Nvidia closer to launch of the product. Buy amd if the performance is right for the price. Nvidia, even at a price premium at launch is worth it for many many reasons (biggest being no competing product).

Edit : to be clear the vram advantage may help very little in many many cases. But it won't hurt you. There is no reason to not take more vram. When you're above 6+ gb that's a different story.

 

[raghu78]

OP the Sapphire Rx 480 Nitro 4GB and Rx 470 Nitro 8GB are roughly same performance. The main reason is Rx 480 Nitro 4GB has GDDR5 memory at 1700 Mhz while Rx 470 Nitro 8GB has GDDR5 memory at 8000 Mhz. The higher bandwidth on the Rx 470 Nitro 8G allows it to match the Rx 480 Nitro 4G even with 11% lesser shaders.

https://www.computerbase.de/2016-07/sapphire-radeon-rx-480-nitro-oc-test/3/
https://www.computerbase.de/2016-08/radeon-rx-470-test/3/

You can see the Rx 480 8G ref is 3% faster than Rx 480 4G Nitro Boost running at 1290 - 1300 Mhz and 5% faster than Rx 480 Nitro 4G Quiet running at 1266 Mhz. In comparison the Rx 480 8G ref is 4% faster than Rx 470 Nitro 8G running at 1200-1250 Mhz. Its clearly evident that Rx 470 Nitro 8G at same clocks is definitely on par with Rx 480 Nitro 4G if not slightly faster. The higher bandwidth on the Rx 470 Nitro 8G is the reason for it to perform on par or slightly better than Rx 480 4G Nitro at same clocks.

http://www.sapphiretech.com/productdetial.asp?pid=D3B743BC-5311-40E7-9537-43CB10AA150A&lang=eng
http://www.sapphiretech.com/productdetial.asp?pid=A471FEC5-AAA9-482B-81C3-4A7E059A3574&lang=eng

IMO its a no brainer to go with Rx 470 Nitro 8G given the faster GDDR5 memory and the massive 8GB VRAM which is a significant advantage as games are using higher VRAM than 4GB even at 1080p.

 

[William Gaatjes]

OP the Sapphire Rx 480 Nitro 4GB and Rx 470 Nitro 8GB are roughly same performance. The main reason is Rx 480 Nitro 4GB has GDDR5 memory at 1700 Mhz while Rx 470 Nitro 8GB has GDDR5 memory at 8000 Mhz. The higher bandwidth on the Rx 470 Nitro 8G allows it to match the Rx 480 Nitro 4G even with 11% lesser shaders.

https://www.computerbase.de/2016-07/sapphire-radeon-rx-480-nitro-oc-test/3/
https://www.computerbase.de/2016-08/radeon-rx-470-test/3/

You can see the Rx 480 8G ref is 3% faster than Rx 480 4G Nitro Boost running at 1290 - 1300 Mhz and 5% faster than Rx 480 Nitro 4G Quiet running at 1266 Mhz. In comparison the Rx 480 8G ref is 4% faster than Rx 470 Nitro 8G running at 1200-1250 Mhz. Its clearly evident that Rx 470 Nitro 8G at same clocks is definitely on par with Rx 480 Nitro 4G if not slightly faster. The higher bandwidth on the Rx 470 Nitro 8G is the reason for it to perform on par or slightly better than Rx 480 4G Nitro at same clocks.

http://www.sapphiretech.com/productdetial.asp?pid=D3B743BC-5311-40E7-9537-43CB10AA150A&lang=eng
http://www.sapphiretech.com/productdetial.asp?pid=A471FEC5-AAA9-482B-81C3-4A7E059A3574&lang=eng

IMO its a no brainer to go with Rx 470 Nitro 8G given the faster GDDR5 memory and the massive 8GB VRAM which is a significant advantage as games are using higher VRAM than 4GB even at 1080p.

That nitro seems doable.

https://www.heise.de/preisvergleich...-470-8g-d5-1260mhz-11256-02-20g-a1483282.html

 

[crisium]

He said he will order the 480. Good choice. I guess the discussion could continue for any drive through lurkers interested, but the polling and evidence presented so far leaves little room for doubt.

 

[DooKey]

Definitely the 4gb card over the 3gb card.