Upgrade Time, RX 480 or GTX 1060 with my PSU?

R

Ryankirsch13

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 11, 2015
Messages
391
Time to upgrade my GF's GPU.. currently an AMD R9 270.. works great and all, but looking for a little more horsepower... the limiting factor? I have a Seasonic G-360 PSU.. Awesome PSU, but low output. I figured a 1060 would work fine, but the RX 480, I have doubts. I'm leaning towards the 480 but what does everyone think?

Thanks everyone!
 
You will probably be fine with a RX480 if you are fine with a R9 270. That is only going up around 14watts.

That said, performance wise the two cards are pretty much a coin toss (If we are talking about 6GB 1060), and the 1060 will definitely be fine if the 270 worked.
 
4GB or 8GB on the 480? 3GB or 6GB on the 1060? If you can find a 480 8gb for 200, I'd go for that. The 1060 is way overpriced on performance per dollar right now.

RX 480 8GB 179.99 after rebate at the Egg right now.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150770&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Video+Cards+-+AMD/ATI-_-N82E16814150770&gclid=CL-j3fi_rNICFdgKgQodD58PpQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

Keep in mind those reference ones run a little hot though. Pretty good performance per dollar there though.

Then again, you can get a 1060 3GB for that same price & it will beat the 480. I guess it all comes down to what kind of games she plays and does she need the VRAM for mods or texture packs. If she plays WoW, I have heard of some issues like stuttering with the RX 480's.

I got my dad a PNY GTX 1060 3GB and it plays games really well at 1080p on high settings.
 
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360W PSU? Go for the GTX 1060. The RX 470 has a TDP of 110W and the RX 480 164W (despite the company claiming 150W), an additional 54W over the RX 470; the GTX 1060 has a TDP of 120W. The 480 and the 1060 are much of a muchness performance-wise, so go for the one with the lower TDP.
 
Thanks for the responses everyone. Looks like I will wait around for a 1060 at the right price. That should be more than enough for us. Cheers!
 
Krenum said:
4GB or 8GB on the 480? 3GB or 6GB on the 1060? If you can find a 480 8gb for 200, I'd go for that. The 1060 is way overpriced on performance per dollar right now.

RX 480 8GB 179.99 after rebate at the Egg right now.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150770&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Video+Cards+-+AMD/ATI-_-N82E16814150770&gclid=CL-j3fi_rNICFdgKgQodD58PpQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

Keep in mind those reference ones run a little hot though. Pretty good performance per dollar there though.

Then again, you can get a 1060 3GB for that same price & it will beat the 480. I guess it all comes down to what kind of games she plays and does she need the VRAM for mods or texture packs. If she plays WoW, I have heard of some issues like stuttering with the RX 480's.

I got my dad a PNY GTX 1060 3GB and it plays games really well at 1080p on high settings.
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This is a good deal for a 480 if the OP can grab a better PSU. Otherwise, it may be better to hold out for a 1060 deal when one comes along. The only thing I'm not a fan of for this particular model is that it's the reference design and AMD reference designs have a history of running hot and loud.
 
Awesome deal! But psu swap is not an option, I love that little seasonic G360 and the upgrade is only considered if possible with current PSU. I'll try and hold out for the 1060 deals. They may be pricy but that's an impressive card
 
I'll chime in here with my experiences with the 470 which supposedly has a lower TDP then the 480. I have a SeaSonic 400 watt platinum, I3 6100, 8GB DDR4, and a 1TB evo in a secondary system. Picked up the ROG Strix 470 for 164.00 with a 20 dollar rebate. Installed it, and immediately ran into hard shutdown issues playing any game . Tried at stock clocks and undervolted with the same results. Tested with a 6 year old X650 and resolved the shutdown issue completely. I sent it back and picked up a 1060 and been happy ever since.
 
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Creig said:
You're limiting your upgrade paths because you refuse to part ways with a beloved 360w power supply? That's a new one.
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Something tells me that if the teams were reversed you wouldn't have made this comment. Having to buy a new PSU in addition to a new GPU throws any value proposition out the window.
 
Algrim said:
Something tells me that if the teams were reversed you wouldn't have made this comment. Having to buy a new PSU in addition to a new GPU throws any value proposition out the window.
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yes and no? Considering you can get a very solid 500W on sale for 30$ ish? I'd be tempted towards a bigger PSU myself.
 
The person I quoted and responded to is, despite a rather low post count, quite prone to promote AMD over nVidia at pretty much any opportunity; thus the first part of my post.

The OP specifically requested advice in regard to working with current PSU, thus suggesting that he's well aware that he could upgrade his PSU but is choosing not to. Personally, I try to give advice that is helpful to the OP and not necessarily to what I believe my own needs would be. But whatever floats your boat.
 
Algrim said:
The person I quoted and responded to is, despite a rather low post count, quite prone to promote AMD over nVidia at pretty much any opportunity; thus the first part of my post.
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And what exactly do post count numbers have to do with anything? You have an even lower post count than I do. So do I win?

Algrim said:
The OP specifically requested advice in regard to working with current PSU, thus suggesting that he's well aware that he could upgrade his PSU but is choosing not to. Personally, I try to give advice that is helpful to the OP and not necessarily to what I believe my own needs would be. But whatever floats your boat.
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I was simply commenting on the oddness of someone using an extremely low output power supply as the sole reason for limiting his choices for video card upgrades. As Guarana pointed out, with the money Ryankirsch13 could save by purchasing an RX 480 instead of a GTX 1060, he could probably also purchase a good quality power supply with a higher output, thus enabling other future upgrades as well. A 360W power supply is extremely low output for a gaming computer and most likely won't leave much headroom at all when adding in a GTX 1060. Especially considering that Nvidia themselves recommend a 400W PS as the absolute minimum requirement for a GTX 1060.

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-1060/specifications

The OP is free to purchase whatever he wants. But I fail to see how an RX 480 + new PS isn't a valid recommendation in this case.
 
Now that we're really OT, would you consider it polite if someone asked an opinion as to whether to purchase an RX 470 or RX 480 and other posters insisted on recommending variations of the 1060? Or is that called shilling?
 
Ryankirsch13 said:
I'm leaning towards the 480 but what does everyone think?

Thanks everyone!
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Algrim said:
Now that we're really OT, would you consider it polite if someone asked an opinion as to whether to purchase an RX 470 or RX 480 and other posters insisted on recommending variations of the 1060? Or is that called shilling?
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The OP asked for opinions and I gave him a valid upgrade path of an RX 480 + new PS that would most likely cost the same as just a GTX 1060 that would also enable future upgrades due to him now owning a higher output power supply. Perhaps it's actually you that is the one with the problem here.
 
Please feel free to look up my post history where I have no problem recommending an RX 480/470. I'll give you a day to find any overt bias towards either camp other than my usual passive/aggressive swings. :cigar:
 
Algrim said:
Please feel free to look up my post history where I have no problem recommending an RX 480/470. I'll give you a day to find any overt bias towards either camp other than my usual passive/aggressive swings. :cigar:
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I couldn't care less what your posting history is. What I would like to hear from you is why my recommendation to the OP does not make sense.
 
Because he's asking for a card that fits within the limits of his PSU. Suggesting that he replace his PSU is outside the bounds of his post. Of course, if he upgrades his PSU, why stop at recommending an RX 480? Why not a Fury, Fury X, 1070 (now that they're dropping to $349)? Or maybe his motherboard, CPU, memory? Where do you draw the line?

(Not to mention your overly derisive tone in regard to honoring the OPs request to make the decision in regard to his current PSU.)

With his PSU, between an RX 480 and a 1060, I'd get the 1060. If he had a better PSU, I'd give the nod to the RX 480, as any cursory glance at my posting history would support.
 
If he's dead set on keeping his PSU then I agree a 1060 is the best choice. But... For about the same amount of money, he could get an RX480 + higher output PS. I fail to see how pointing that out to the OP somehow equates to shilling in your mind.
 
I'm looking at NewEgg and the RX 480 4 GB / 1060 3 GB trade blows on price and the RX 480 8 GB / 1060 6 GB do likewise, depending on brand and configuration.
 
Well, I just looked and the cheapest full sized GTX1060 6GB was $240 AR while the cheapest RX480 8GB was $190 AR and comes with a free DOOM game code. So that's 2GB more VRAM and a $50 price difference which could also buy him a Seasonic S12II 620 Bronze (SS-620GB) 620W power supply after rebate. So my recommendation to him still stands.

I don't recommend the 1060 3GB card at all due to the low amount of VRAM. 4GB is the minimum to go with these days, IMO.
 
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I also wouldn't get the 1060 3 GB but not for VRAM issues; it's the neutered ROPs on it. I know you're recommending a Bronze PSU because of cost but there's a reason he likes his Gold-rated supply, no?
 
Whatever. I picked that one out at random because he seemed to like Seasonic. Personally, I would rather have a quality 620w Bronze PS than a quality 360w Gold PS if I were running either an RX480 or GTX1060. I made my recommendation to him and it's a solid one with good reasoning behind it. I'm done with your nitpicking. Go harass someone else.
 
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I'm not harassing you. Your refusal to answer a question posed with variables beyond what was asked is on you. (y)
 
Creig said:
You're limiting your upgrade paths because you refuse to part ways with a beloved 360w power supply? That's a new one.
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No creig.. I'm limiting my upgrade path because it is not that important, and if I can manage to get a slightly better GPU I'll be happy. Going for a 1060 is the pinnacle of an upgrade for me and I'm only considering it because, why not get the best available. I could go with a 1050 or even a 950 and be perfectly happy... on my main rig, it would be worth a PSU swap.
 
Creig said:
If he's dead set on keeping his PSU then I agree a 1060 is the best choice. But... For about the same amount of money, he could get an RX480 + higher output PS. I fail to see how pointing that out to the OP somehow equates to shilling in your mind.
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Also.. if I can get a 1060 right now for $150 barely used on the forums.. a 480 plus a newer psu (180 plus 40 or so??) I don't think I need to go further.... if I got a new PSU.. I'd pick up a 980 for 220 and call it a day
 
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