Upgrading from a HD7850 - Need Help!

[Sam25]

Hello,

I'm planning to upgrade from a Sapphire HD7850 (2GB) to a a new GPU. I have narrowed down the choices to the following 2 cards (with relevant prices in my country, India):

Asus/ HIS RX470 (4GB) - $269
Zotac GTX 1060 (6GB) Amp! Edition - $343

I will be gaming at 1920X1080 resolution only and looking forward to playing titles like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Far Cry Primal , Dishonored 2, Just Cause 3, etc. I've been away from gaming for the last year or so largely due to work and traveling but can now finally get back to gaming.

The remaining system specs of my gaming rig are as follows:

Processor: Intel i5-2500k (running at stock)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3R-B3
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80
Memory: 8GB G.Skill Sniper (4GB X2)
GPU: Sapphire HD7850 2GB (OC Edition)
Asus Xonar DX
PSU: Corsair GS800
Storage: 120GB X2 Samsung 850 SSD (OS and Games); 1TB X2 WD Green HDD's (Storage)
Case: Lian Li A70F Full Tower

Kindly recommend which amongst the 2 cards stated above will be a better choice to buy now for the coming 2-3 years of gaming.

TIA,
Sam25

 

[Erithan13]

Between those two I'd lean toward the 1060 for the extra vram, you might get away with 4GB for the next few years at 1080p but I wouldn't count on it. The 8GB 480 or 470 would also be worth consideration for the same reason.

The 2500k is getting very long in the tooth nowadays especially at stock speed. You may end up a bit CPU limited in newer games although you should still see a good increase over the 7850.

 

[nurturedhate]

Where does an 470/480 8gb slot in price wise with those two options?

 

[Sam25]

The RX 480 8GB is $358. I might just go with it since the extra VRAM as per suggestions will breathe more life into the card in the years to come.

As far as the i5-2500k is concerned, I plan on doing a motherboard and processor upgrade later this year.

 

[Mopetar]

Are you using the stock Intel fan for your CPU? Might be worth going with the 470 if you can use the savings on a better cooler and OC your CPU. SB has a lot of headroom and you can probably get a substantial OC.

Otherwise at those prices I'd get the 1060 as there isn't as much of a gap. You might want to shop around on the 470 to see if you can get one cheaper or just order abroad and eat the import duty as a 4GB 470 shouldn't be that expensive relative to a 1060.

If 8GB 480 is the same price or close to 1060 just look at benchmarks for the games you care about most. Otherwise they're pretty much a wash on average and I don't think the 2 GB memory difference will matter anytime soon.

 

[AtenRa]

Between the RX 480 8GB and GTX 1060 6GB i would get the 480, it gets faster and faster each month.

 

[Sam25]

Yes, I'm getting a RX480. Is the Asus ROG RX480 Strix 8GB Edition a good card to get? The one that has triple fans.

 

[greatnoob]

Are you using the stock Intel fan for your CPU? Might be worth going with the 470 if you can use the savings on a better cooler and OC your CPU. SB has a lot of headroom and you can probably get a substantial OC.

Otherwise at those prices I'd get the 1060 as there isn't as much of a gap. You might want to shop around on the 470 to see if you can get one cheaper or just order abroad and eat the import duty as a 4GB 470 shouldn't be that expensive relative to a 1060.

If 8GB 480 is the same price or close to 1060 just look at benchmarks for the games you care about most. Otherwise they're pretty much a wash on average and I don't think the 2 GB memory difference will matter anytime soon.

I think at this point it might be better to retire the 2500k and go for a soon-to-be-mainstream 8C or 4C-8T processor from either AMD or Intel.

 

[AtenRa]

Yes the ASUS STRIX RX 480 is one of the best RX 480 cards today.

 

[Sam25]

I think at this point it might be better to retire the 2500k and go for a soon-to-be-mainstream 8C or 4C-8T processor from either AMD or Intel.

I'll do that in a few months time. For now thought, it's just the GPU.

 

[SlickR12345]

Deux EX, Far Cry Primal, Dishonored 2 all run better on Nvidia hardware under DX11, Just Cause 3 does run better on AMD hardware.

I mean the 1060 6GB is up to 20% faster than the RX 470, so it's worth it to invest in it. Here is a channel with a RX 470 and an older CPU like your, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC51h9z2eGd65Z2qLIytoAJw

I'd definitely go for the 1060 over the RX 470.

As far as the 1060 6gb and RX 480 8GB, Its a toss up. I did ridiculous amounts of research back when I was buying about 2 weeks ago and went with the 1060 6GB. In DX11 titles the 1060 6GB is faster in the majority of the titles. Both reference and overclocked 1060 is faster than 480. I was looking at tests exclusively done in 2017 with the latest patches and drivers.

DX11 1060 wins in: AC: black flag, Unity, Syndicate, Far cry 4, Far Cry Primal, BF 4, BF hardlines, BF1, Civ6, Fallout 4, MGS the phantom pain, Dishonored 2, Xcom 2, Total War Warhammer, Quantum Break, Deux EX, GTA 5, Watch Dogs 1&2, Mafia 3, The Witcher 3, etc...

DX11 480 wins in: Just Cause 3, F1 2016, Titanfall 2, etc...

Vulkan 480 wins in: Doom

Too close to call: GOW, Forza 3, AOTS, Star Wars, The Division.

480 gains in DX12: Quantum Break, BF1, Civ6, Hitman. Fake internal benchmarks: Deus EX and Total War. RX 480 loses performance under DX12 in MOST cases in actual gameplay.

DX11 fake benchmark: COD: IW under actual gameplay 1060 6gb and 480 8gb are pretty much equal, too close to call.

As far as the RX 480 Strix, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orboOidNGqA&t=1156s

It seems that those cards have a bad thermal paste and don't actually cool properly because of it.

I don't know your choices there, but personally I'd go for an MSI or Sapphire card. MSI is probably overall better, but the sapphire is designed for speed at the cost of power. There hasn't been a sapphire that can't OC up to 1400, but they consumer the most as well out of any AIB partner cards.

 

[Headfoot]

I'll do that in a few months time. For now thought, it's just the GPU.

Definitely agree. Wait on the CPU update for Ryzen to become available, the mid-low end cards are already out on the table. That market is not going to get much more interesting for quite a while. We'll just see slow downward pressure on prices but thats about it. Maybe a Polaris refresh that wont be a big thing.

 

[Valantar]

Between those two I'd lean toward the 1060 for the extra vram, you might get away with 4GB for the next few years at 1080p but I wouldn't count on it. The 8GB 480 or 470 would also be worth consideration for the same reason.

The 2500k is getting very long in the tooth nowadays especially at stock speed. You may end up a bit CPU limited in newer games although you should still see a good increase over the 7850.

For gaming at 1080p, more than 4GB of VRAM has no use. Unless, of course, you really make an effort to use as much as possible, by playing hugely modded games and the like. For >99% of all new and upcoming games, 4GB RAM is plenty for 1080p Ultra. Heck, it's plenty for 1440p Ultra, which is nearly 2x the pixels.

 

[Sam25]

Thanks so much for all the help everyone, appreciate it! I bought the Asus ROG Strix RX 480 8GB card today.