Gfx Card upgrade time...or not?

Voicy

Voicy

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Hi friends,

I'm currently sporting an NVidia GTX 960 4GB card that I bought back in 2016 I think it was.

It's been working fine, but I was thinking it might be time for an upgrade.

I've been told that apparently there will soon be split between Gfx cards for gaming and dedicated crypto farming cards, so I should wait until the new batch is released. Not sure how much water this rumour holds.

Other than that I'm currently considering the MSI Geforce GTX 1060 6GB. (R6,200)

1060.jpg


Futureproofing the buy would probably point towards the 1070 8GB, but at R2k more.

The alternative is going for the ASUS range:

ASUS GeForce GTX 1060 6GB ROG Strix OC

asus1060.jpg


Here's a list of what's available for me locally and my budget.

Otherwise my PC currently has 16GB ram on an i5 6500 running SSD drives...I think.

Any thoughts and/or recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
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No, I'd personally wait for the new cards. You will end up waiting 6 months or so, but they will be much faster.
 
I personally wouldn't upgrade from a 960 to a 1060. Rather wait for the new cards, or for a 1070/1080 on sale for close to the 1060 price.
 
As long as you can run Doom Eternal, you're fine.
 
Voicy said:
I've been told that apparently there will soon be split between Gfx cards for gaming and dedicated crypto farming cards, so I should wait until the new batch is released. Not sure how much water this rumour holds.
Click to expand...

There is already a split, but I think the only difference between gaming and crypto cards is the back plate. I could be wrong.

Waiting for Nvidia's new cards though, I have mixed feelings about that. You might see the 10 series prices drop a bit, but the new cards will be expensive AF, and everyone will want them.

The 1060 is a great card, I think it has around the same power as a 980, maybe a bit more? Not 100% sure. But it's a definite upgrade from the 960. Bear in mind that the 1060 is midrange, so perhaps check some benchmark results for current games you intent on playing to see if it'll meet your needs.
 
mr_norris said:
The 1060 is a great card, I think it has around the same power as a 980, maybe a bit more? Not 100% sure. But it's a definite upgrade from the 960. Bear in mind that the 1060 is midrange, so perhaps check some benchmark results for current games you intent on playing to see if it'll meet your needs.
Click to expand...

Not quite. It's somewhere in the middle of a 970 and a 980. A 975, if you will.
 
mr_norris said:
There is already a split, but I think the only difference between gaming and crypto cards is the back plate. I could be wrong.
Click to expand...

This is correct, but the warranty is also only 3 months on crypto specific cards. Most miners just go for regular cards as they are freely available, carry a better warranty and have a better resale value (due to there actually being I/O at the back).

The difference between the new cards, effectively something like 2060, 2070, 2080 - is that there will be a GTX line and an RTX line for gamers. The RTX will support ray tracing in games which is the next big thing graphics wise:
https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/14/17687512/nvidia-geforce-rtx-2080-teaser-gpu-gamescom

These cards are supposed to be launched within the next couple of weeks.

Note that there are 3 main focus areas for GPU manufacturers right now:

1) Gaming (regular and premium)
2) Deep Learning, Autonomy and Scientific Platforms
3) Workstation/Professional - CAD, Design, GIS, etc

Miners will still continue to flock towards the gaming cards as they give the best TCO/ROI for most algorithms.

My advice would be to wait for the new cards to be released. Either pick up a last gen card for a better price, or pick up the latest technology.
 
The Nvidia announcements just continue being delayed, can anyone guesstimate possible landing of their mid range cards 2050/2060/2070 in ZA ?

I'm thinking 2019 the earliest.

As for Ray tracing, how long before game developers actually start designing for the tech or will it just enhance all games up to date ?

mmm....I wonder....
 
Nishano said:
As for Ray tracing, how long before game developers actually start designing for the tech or will it just enhance all games up to date ?

mmm....I wonder....
Click to expand...

Games and game engines will have to cater for it, it's not going to enhance existing games. So it will probably take a year or two, still have not seen much wrt the promises of dx12 and vulcan so I I would not base my purchasing decision on raytracing if you're a person that regularly upgrades. Will probably only be more prominent by the time the 30x0 series cards are released...
 
For context, the 1070 launched at $379 and the 1080 at $549.

AdoredTV says someone leaked him info that the 2070 is 40% faster than the 1070 so there's that to soothe the burn (if accurate).
 
I've got the 1070. Happy with it and probably use it for another 5 years unless my requirements change. The new cards will probably also be much more. And when they are released, the next series will be on its ways......
 
RedViking said:
I've got the 1070. Happy with it and probably use it for another 5 years unless my requirements change.
Click to expand...

Also...sold an RX480 mid-2017 for as much as it cost me (miners are dumb :p) and then added the difference.

I'd like to move to 4K at some point but I've gotten used to 144hz so that's going to take some time to come down to affordable.
 
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