For 1080p60: Nvidia 1060/70 or rx480?

[Raduque]

Planning out a new system build for modern AAA titles, high to ultra settings.

Rest of the system will be an i5 7600 (maybe K?) and 16-32 gb 3200 ddr4.

It'll be replacing my overclocked gtx970m/i7-4720hq laptop.

 

[Mopetar]

When are you planning to buy? NVidia is going to release an updated version of the 1060 with faster memory clocks and AMD is releasing a 580 in the near future so you may want to hold off for a few more weeks.

A GTX 1070 is going to be overkill for 1080p60, so it comes down to the 480/1060 which trade blows and come out roughly even on average. If you plan on keeping the card for a long while, the 480 might be a better buy just because it tends to do better in DX12 which will only become more prevalent and important in the future. Otherwise, whichever you can find a good deal for is probably the best.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Is a 1070 truly overkill for 1080p60? A 1080/1080-MKII sure.

 

[tential]

Dude don't buy an i5....
Either buy an i7 or get Ryzen 5.
4 threads is pathetic.

 

[linkgoron]

I'd go for a 1070. A 1070 is definitely not overkill for 1080/60p.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Hell, with the right deal, even a Ryzen 7 1700 is about the same price as an i7 7600K ($249.99 on that eBay deal a week or so back).

 

[Raduque]

How does a gpu get considered overkill? Does that mean low usage? If so, why is that a bad thing?

As for the CPU, well I can't afford an i7 unless I want a lower end gpu, my budget on the CPU is $250.

A 480, if on par with a 1060 is a better bet then, at around $40 cheaper.

 

[tamz_msc]

Ryzen 5 1600 (6C12T for 220$) + GTX 1060/RX 480 for 1080p 60fps high. 1080p on these cards at high settings would almost always give you 60+ fps. On well-optimized games ultra is possible at 60fps as well. Though it is always best to tinker with the settings to get the highest possible quality at an acceptable performance tradeoff.

If you have the money to spend a bit more and want 1080p ultra with no compromises then get a GTX 1070 iff it is around 350$ or less.

You might also want to wait for a few days and see how the RX 580(refreshed RX 480 with higher clocks) performs before you make a decision. Though if you take the plunge now, the RX 480 is better than the GTX 1060 in terms of price.

 

[2is]

Depends on how much money you want to spend. 1060 is a better card but it's also more expensive. It's very hard to beat a 480 in terms of price/performance with some of the rebate deals out there right now. I needed to setup another machine capable of gaming in another location, wanted to keep the price as low as possible but still have it perform well. Running a 1080p display and I went with the 480. It performs about as well at 1080p as my 980Ti does at 1440p which was plenty good enough for what I'll be using that box for.

 

[unseenmorbidity]

How does a gpu get considered overkill? Does that mean low usage? If so, why is that a bad thing?

As for the CPU, well I can't afford an i7 unless I want a lower end gpu, my budget on the CPU is $250.

A 480, if on par with a 1060 is a better bet then, at around $40 cheaper.

https://youtu.be/5GhoYs2VDns

As you can see the 5ghz 7700k isn't fully utilizing the gpu in some games. The cpu cannot keep up, but it's the game engine that is the bottleneck.

 

[Mopetar]

Is a 1070 truly overkill for 1080p60? A 1080/1080-MKII sure.

I'd go for a 1070. A 1070 is definitely not overkill for 1080/60p.

Yes, it is overkill for 1080p60 gaming. I don't understand how people can claim that it isn't. Go look at benchmark numbers and the 1070 is going to pull over 60 FPS in just about anything out there today with everything cranked to the maximum where there's very little visual difference.

Here's TPU's 1070 review: https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_1070/

All games were run at highest settings (i.e. Ultra or Very High)

Anno 2205: 59.1
AC Syndicate: 71.2
BF3: 187
BF4: 129.1
Batman AK: 139
COD BO3: 91.1
Crysis 3: 69
FO4: 114.7
FC Primal: 88.1
GTA 5: 101
Hitman: 71.8
Just Cause 3: 110.7
R6 Siege: 156.4
RoTR: 98.9
Witcher 3: 81.5
WoW: 184.5

So in all but one game (Another site gets 100 FPS in that game for the 1070, so dunno if there was a patch or just not having the AA cranked to max does it), the 1070 has vastly more than 60 FPS and that is running at the highest possible graphical settings, which typically don't look noticeably better than High, but will usually get you at least 15% more frames unless there's a CPU bottleneck.

So instead of spending an extra $150 on a GPU that is massive overkill, get a 1060/480 and put the extra money towards a better CPU or see what the Ryzen R5 chips can due as those should have reviews up on Monday and they'll be priced similar to an i5, but have a massive thread advantage that will probably be significantly better than any clock speed advantage of an i5, especially going forward.

P.S. Is there any way to have table formatting? It would make information above much easier to read.

 

[TeknoBug]

Is a 1070 truly overkill for 1080p60? A 1080/1080-MKII sure.

A 1070 is more meant to do 1440p120/144 on most games, so yeah it's overkill for 1080p60, a 1060 or the upcoming 1060Ti would be the choice.

 

[linkgoron]

Yes, it is overkill for 1080p60 gaming. I don't understand how people can claim that it isn't. Go look at benchmark numbers and the 1070 is going to pull over 60 FPS in just about anything out there today with everything cranked to the maximum where there's very little visual difference.

Here's TPU's 1070 review: https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_1070/

All games were run at highest settings (i.e. Ultra or Very High)

Anno 2205: 59.1
AC Syndicate: 71.2
BF3: 187
BF4: 129.1
Batman AK: 139
COD BO3: 91.1
Crysis 3: 69
FO4: 114.7
FC Primal: 88.1
GTA 5: 101
Hitman: 71.8
Just Cause 3: 110.7
R6 Siege: 156.4
RoTR: 98.9
Witcher 3: 81.5
WoW: 184.5

So in all but one game (Another site gets 100 FPS in that game for the 1070, so dunno if there was a patch or just not having the AA cranked to max does it), the 1070 has vastly more than 60 FPS and that is running at the highest possible graphical settings, which typically don't look noticeably better than High, but will usually get you at least 15% more frames unless there's a CPU bottleneck.

So instead of spending an extra $150 on a GPU that is massive overkill, get a 1060/480 and put the extra money towards a better CPU or see what the Ryzen R5 chips can due as those should have reviews up on Monday and they'll be priced similar to an i5, but have a massive thread advantage that will probably be significantly better than any clock speed advantage of an i5, especially going forward.

P.S. Is there any way to have table formatting? It would make information above much easier to read.

Both the 480 and 1060 will go below 60 fps in multiple games on that list. Also note that an average of ~60 fps means that you will probably go below that quite often.

A 1070 would provide a really smooth experience and a 480/1060 will occasionally dip. Is it a must? No, but it definitely isn't overkill.

 

[unseenmorbidity]

Yes, it is overkill for 1080p60 gaming. I don't understand how people can claim that it isn't. Go look at benchmark numbers and the 1070 is going to pull over 60 FPS in just about anything out there today with everything cranked to the maximum where there's very little visual difference.

Here's TPU's 1070 review: https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_1070/

All games were run at highest settings (i.e. Ultra or Very High)

Anno 2205: 59.1
AC Syndicate: 71.2
BF3: 187
BF4: 129.1
Batman AK: 139
COD BO3: 91.1
Crysis 3: 69
FO4: 114.7
FC Primal: 88.1
GTA 5: 101
Hitman: 71.8
Just Cause 3: 110.7
R6 Siege: 156.4
RoTR: 98.9
Witcher 3: 81.5
WoW: 184.5

So in all but one game (Another site gets 100 FPS in that game for the 1070, so dunno if there was a patch or just not having the AA cranked to max does it), the 1070 has vastly more than 60 FPS and that is running at the highest possible graphical settings, which typically don't look noticeably better than High, but will usually get you at least 15% more frames unless there's a CPU bottleneck.

So instead of spending an extra $150 on a GPU that is massive overkill, get a 1060/480 and put the extra money towards a better CPU or see what the Ryzen R5 chips can due as those should have reviews up on Monday and they'll be priced similar to an i5, but have a massive thread advantage that will probably be significantly better than any clock speed advantage of an i5, especially going forward.

P.S. Is there any way to have table formatting? It would make information above much easier to read.

This. Also note that dropping a couple settings, which have very little impact on the graphical fidelity of the game, will drastically increase performance.


I personally use a rx 480 4gb card on a 1440p monitor, and no issues playing games at a high fps, 60+ avg.

Here is a good video that summarizes what I am talking about,

The 480 4gb card is a good choice. This would a superb 1080p 60hz gpu, and you can usually catch them on sale for about $150. Sometimes they are even bundled with games.

 

[Mopetar]

Both the 480 and 1060 will go below 60 fps in multiple games on that list. Also note that an average of ~60 fps means that you will probably go below that quite often.

A 1070 would provide a really smooth experience and a 480/1060 will occasionally dip. Is it a must? No, but it definitely isn't overkill.

Turn the settings down to high, and stick with 4x AA/AF instead of running 8x or 16x and both of those cards will stay above 60 FPS. You're asking someone to spend upwards of $200 for performance they don't need. Better off putting that money towards a free/g-sync monitor that can be used again in the future instead of towards a card that will be an utter waste.

Otherwise, using your argument, OP should really buy a 1080 Ti for 1080p60 gaming because even the 1080 is going to have 1% and .1% low framerates below 60 FPS in 1080p.

Just look at that, 58 FPS .1% low. Shameful that you can't even do 1080p gaming on a 1080. Better go after NVidia for false advertisement. Or just drop the settings to high and get ~50% more FPS, probably without being able to tell the difference.

Unless you've already got a 120+ Hz g-sync monitor, the 1070 is a waste of money for 1080p gaming.

 

[Mopetar]

Here is a good video that summarizes what I am talking about,

Interesting video. I agree with the author and would really like to see more reviews for mid-range cards like the 1060 and 480 use lowered settings that still provide 95% of the visual quality to see what kind of results you can get.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Well, if that's the conclusion, I should be sitting pretty with Xfired 390s at 1200P then
Though things might get hairy when running 3x 1200P.

 

[Raduque]

Let's keep in mind right now, I'm open to everything out there. I have no bias to or against either manufacturer of cards or CPUs. Ryzen is definitely in the running, especially if the 1600x comes in at or under it's $260 MSRP.

The 1080P resolution is the only thing set in stone, as I already have two 24" 1080p monitors.

Though I was going to try and do a color theme build, with white/black components with dim blue LEDs inside a Corsair 460x RGB. I don't think I've seen a white AM4 motherboard yet.


Edit: Oh, oh, I just thought of a good reason to buy a card considered "overkill" for 1080p: DSR. Run a game internally at a higher resolution and then scale it down. It's worked well for some older games on my 970m.

 

[linkgoron]

Turn the settings down to high, and stick with 4x AA/AF instead of running 8x or 16x and both of those cards will stay above 60 FPS. You're asking someone to spend upwards of $200 for performance they don't need. Better off putting that money towards a free/g-sync monitor that can be used again in the future instead of towards a card that will be an utter waste

The 1070 is not overkill even when GameWorks is off, if you want very high/ultra settings.

Otherwise, using your argument, OP should really buy a 1080 Ti for 1080p60 gaming because even the 1080 is going to have 1% and .1% low framerates below 60 FPS in 1080p.

I agree that the 1080ti is overkill for 1080p/60fps as it will not provide noticeable smoother in general.

Just look at that, 58 FPS .1% low. Shameful that you can't even do 1080p gaming on a 1080. Better go after NVidia for false advertisement. Or just drop the settings to high and get ~50% more FPS, probably without being able to tell the difference.

I'm not saying that if there are dips under 60fps then it's unplayable. I did not say that the 480 and 1060 are not decent cards. I just said that the 1070 provides noticeably better FPS at some harder games, in very high/ultra settings and is not overkill. For example, in PCGH's benchmarks Witcher 3/Metro Last Light/Crysis 3/AC Unity are all noticeably better on the 1070 at max details without gameworks. If you want to lower settings - then yes, a 1060 and RX 480 are good enough. However at max 1070 basically gets you 60fps. It's not overkill. The RX480/1060 have you lowering settings and tinkering from day one.

I agree, however, that a 1700/X or even a 1600 would be a better option than the i5.

 

[Raduque]

Within the context of the discussion in this thread, the 1070 is not really worth ~$150 more than a 1060 6gb or 4808gb, correct?

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Let's keep in mind right now, I'm open to everything out there. I have no bias to or against either manufacturer of cards or CPUs. Ryzen is definitely in the running, especially if the 1600x comes in at or under it's $260 MSRP.

Keep your eyes peeled for a deal on the 1700 (non-X) as well. Was as low as $249.99 (even $22x.xx IIRC).

 

[Raduque]

Keep your eyes peeled for a deal on the 1700 (non-X) as well. Was as low as $249.99 (even $22x.xx IIRC).

That's a good deal, but I'd prefer to stay away from eBay.

 

[ConsoleLover]

I'd go for the 1070 if you can afford it, I don't consider it overkill at 1080p, especially since there are several games at least which even now can dip easily bellow 60fps and some even run at 40 average fps on max settings and using quality AA.

Heck even AC:Black flag would dip to 50fps in some areas on a 1060 6gb.

 

[richierich1212]

Here's a white AM4 motherboard: https://m.newegg.com/products/N82E16813144028

 

[Raduque]

Here's a white AM4 motherboard: https://m.newegg.com/products/N82E16813144028

Yes, I found that one previously, thanks. It's not listed on PCPartpicker, which is why I didn't see it sooner.