GPU for Warcraft @ 1920x1200, 1440?

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entropism

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OK, so those who still play WOW know, the demands on the GPU has gone up a ton since the game was released back in the stone age. I'm looking to replace my (VERY loud) GTX 570 with something A: more powerful and B: quieter. Right now I'm on a 1920x1200 monitor, but I can see myself *eventually* moving to a larger, 1440P display when there's room in the budget.

Right now I raid (a lot) and would prefer to keep the settings as high as possible. I'd also like to keep the price as low as possible. The 1060 and 470/480 caught my eye, but they might be overkill. I'm not sure.

Anyways, I'm using a 3570K @ 4Ghz, and the power supply is an EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G2. Just so we know what the system can handle. Any advice would be appreciated!
 
Thanks for the link! Sadly, he's testing in an unpopulated starter area, and doesn't really reflect in game experience.
 
Keep in mind that WoW runs faster on Nvidia cards. Take an Nvidia card and an AMD card that are neck and neck in almost every game, and the Nvidia card will be a good 15%+ faster in WoW.
 
oh sorry I know nothing more than the basics when it come to wow. I tried :) but even still I would lean on the higher side and the 1060 is way ahead of the 470/480 in wow. then your cpu speed would be the next question in a heavy mp area...
 
480 would be the best choice for the price now. I've been raiding consistently all this expansion. My 290x was still doing very well at mostly maxed settings and at 1440p. Raiding is a more even mix of CPU/GPU it seems. 10-12 people isn't very demanding on most cpu's, but 15-30 and effects turn on and lots of small mob spawns on fights or random shit going on, it gets pretty cpu intensive at times. 1060 if they were closer in price, but the price gap is too much right now.
 
It really depends on how long until you move to 1440p.

As a fellow mmorpg player (GW2, not WoW), a high res monitor really shines in mmorpgs as they allow you to see so so much more (i use 3440x1440). I like a high zoom unless im raiding/running dungeons (then I zoom in about half way).

On my two rigs I have a 1060 (mini 3gb version) and a 980ti. The 1060 is a beast of a little card and should suffice. While a 980ti/1070 would be better, especially if you plan on jumping to 1440p, i'm not sure if the 70% price increase justifies the jump when you don't know how long it will be until you move to 1440p.

EDIT: What kind of cooler you got on the cpu? Need to get that to 4.2-4.3. I've seen a lot even get to 4.5.

EDIT EDIT: NewEgg has a wind force for $180 after MIR.
 
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It's been a while since I played but they added SSAA/downsampling and some other advanced options. I played Legion a bit and my 980 Ti wasn't capable of "maxing" things out at 1080p.
 
I have a 1070 and a 4790k now and at 3840x2160 it's pretty playable at ultra settings with MSAA at 2x while just running around doing world quests.

I haven't really raided since I stopped in November, which was before I got the 1070 and 3840x2160 monitor so I haven't even done any real content since.
During launch to the start of November I was running GTX680 2GB SLI and a 2560x1440 monitor and 20 man mythics were not running too well unless I dropped a bunch of settings.

A 1060 6gb or rx480 8gb would be where I would want to be while playing at 1920x1200 as that would provide a lot of headroom for hectic raids while providing a very smooth experience out in the world.
I actually was running the game at 1920x1200 windowed on my 40" 3840x2160 monitor last time I was playing (running the game and some other apps tiled is awesome!) and the game was giving me overkill FPS.
 
doug_7506 said:
EDIT: What kind of cooler you got on the cpu? Need to get that to 4.2-4.3. I've seen a lot even get to 4.5.
Click to expand...

Cooler is a CM Hyper 212 Evo with 2 fans push/pull.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1N83YW8246
I'm also trying to keepo things cool & quiet, so I definitely haven't pushed things as hard as I could. The difference between 4.0 and 4.2/3/5 is barely noticable when just putzing around, and the only game I play is WoW.


As for the other questions: I don't need anything MAXED, just towards the top. I also have no problem toning things down in raids, especially effects, because the less distractions I have going on, the more I can focus on mechanics/DPS/getting shit done. Basically just need ground details turned up, and then turn down spell effects/sampling/etc.

One thing I WOULD like to do is make sure it doesn't sound like a windtunnel when I'm gaming. My 570 hits about 90c in raids, and it sounds like my computer is about to lift off.

As for when I'd be going to 1440... not for a while. Honestly, it's more important for me to get a bigger monitor (and ditch the TN screen) rather than higher resolution, at this point.
 
I have a 1070 and currently playing WOW at highest settings at 1080p. This card can dip sub-60 in the middle of raids so I'd not recommend anything less than the 1070 if you want max settings.
 
I would say get a 1060 GTX 6g or 1070 GTX. Biggest things to trim down that really kill your performance is shadows and water. The new water setting will kill your fps. I usually run shadows on good and water one step down. That's with dual 1070 @ 4k. Just finished my new build with dual 1080 gtxs but haven't had a chance to play yet.
 
doug_7506 said:
It really depends on how long until you move to 1440p.

As a fellow mmorpg player (GW2, not WoW), a high res monitor really shines in mmorpgs as they allow you to see so so much more (i use 3440x1440). I like a high zoom unless im raiding/running dungeons (then I zoom in about half way).

On my two rigs I have a 1060 (mini 3gb version) and a 980ti. The 1060 is a beast of a little card and should suffice. While a 980ti/1070 would be better, especially if you plan on jumping to 1440p, i'm not sure if the 70% price increase justifies the jump when you don't know how long it will be until you move to 1440p.

EDIT: What kind of cooler you got on the cpu? Need to get that to 4.2-4.3. I've seen a lot even get to 4.5.

EDIT EDIT: NewEgg has a wind force for $180 after MIR.
Click to expand...
This is a good option. +1
 
Two other things to consider, Adaptive sync technologies (freesync/gsync) and new cards possibly dropping at the end of next month from both groups. 480 is proportionally cheaper then the 1060 in this instance so don't think you're getting a deal or screwed either way. FreeSync is cheaper then G-Sync no bones about it.
 
entropism said:
So would the 3GB be enough for my needs, or would I be better off with the 6GB (taking cost into consideration). Keep in mind, my current GTX 570 is 1280MB.
Click to expand...

I moved from a GT 640 to a 1060 3gb and it was a massive improvement.

I play Dota 2 at 100+ fps and SWTOR at about 60 in medium populated areas.
I'm a big proponent of the 3gb card as I think it gives unbeatable value at the price.
 
entropism said:
So would the 3GB be enough for my needs, or would I be better off with the 6GB (taking cost into consideration). Keep in mind, my current GTX 570 is 1280MB.
Click to expand...

I've done a lot of play with GPU-Z open and outputting a log and WoW never exceeded 2 GB of VRAM usage... Again, this is max settings at 1080p only.
 
Im guessing a 1060 OC version at 1080 is going to be pretty damn nice for most games.
 
entropism said:
So would the 3GB be enough for my needs, or would I be better off with the 6GB (taking cost into consideration). Keep in mind, my current GTX 570 is 1280MB.
Click to expand...

For MMORPG like GW2 (and I assume WoW) You'll be fine with 3gb. In GW2, on 3440x1440, with most setting on high, with a 1060 3gb I never went above 2gb usage.
 
Another vote for the 1060.
While no comparison I upgraded from a 6670 and it was amazing lol.
I have a rx460 in a dell 9010 and it handles things fairly well too.
 
similar to doug_7506 above, i raid on both a 980ti and 1060 6gb. i'd recommend a 1070, but 1060 does just fine. You will have to do a bit of tweaking and sacrifice some quality, unlike the 980ti/1070 which pretty much handles all ultra settings. for wow, 3gb version probably the better value (but you'll have to sacrifice a bit more quality as it has less cuda cores than the 6gb as well).
 
I say 1060 for 1080p and 1070 for 1440p.

I have experience with amd 290, 1060 and 1070 in the current version of WOW at 1080 and 3440x1440.

The 290 and 1060 dont have enough gpu power for 3440x1440. I am very happy with the 1070 thou!

1060 is prefectly fine for 1080p.


3gb is fine, I think the most I have seen wow hit is 2.3gb vram on the 64bit client.
 
For what it's worth I play WoW on ultra @ 1920x1080 on 2x 980 SLI and i5-3570k @ 4.6ghz.. I get 30fps in Dalaran on the low-end, 90ish on the high end
 
See, I don't mind occasional dips. I know a city is going to be rough (due to the sheer # of players). What I want, in this order:

A quieter damn card. My 570 goes into helicopter mode these days.
Higher settings than I'm using now
More power in reserve, for when they tweak the engine next expansion. Before I got my 570 3 years or so ago, I was using an 8800GT or some shit. I'll spend when I need to, but these days I'm [O]ld, not [H]ard.
The ability to play other games IF something catches my eye.

I know, I'm not asking for much.
 
entropism said:
See, I don't mind occasional dips. I know a city is going to be rough (due to the sheer # of players). What I want, in this order:

A quieter damn card. My 570 goes into helicopter mode these days.
Higher settings than I'm using now
More power in reserve, for when they tweak the engine next expansion. Before I got my 570 3 years or so ago, I was using an 8800GT or some shit. I'll spend when I need to, but these days I'm [O]ld, not [H]ard.
The ability to play other games IF something catches my eye.

I know, I'm not asking for much.
Click to expand...

I'd still throw in my vote for a 1070 (specifically the type I own). The fans don't spin up (on default settings) until it hits 60 C (remember that Pascal chips start the stair-step downclock starting at 52 C) and I almost never hear it spin up in WoW. I purchased the card with the intent on upgrading to 1440 so once I do that upgrade I'll almost certainly have to turn down some details from max settings. I don't have any demanding games in my queue at the moment but I know that a 1070 will be enough for the games I might pick up in the next two or three years. If it's not I might get another for SLI (or grab my wife's identical 1070 and upgrade her to the next thing, either Volta or Vega depending on price and performance).

If you're worried about longevity, pick up a 1080 now or wait until close to end of June for the launch of Vega. That's only four months away now. I spent over a year playing on the iGPU because I wanted to see how Pascal and the RX 480 shaped up before investing in a graphics card. You're already in a better shape than playing on an iGPU (I think) than I was. While I'm leery of the RTG hype train at least seeing where Vega ends up in a variety of games should make your choice easier, if not cheaper. (Yes, you could indefinitely play the waiting game but when you know that new cards are coming out in a short period of time the wait may be very well worth it. That, or buy what you need now and don't visit tech sites for the next two or three years so you don't know what you're missing. :LOL:)
 
Yeah man. A 1070 is WAY overkill for my needs, and it's about double my "comfortable" budget. I'm having a hard enough time justifying $250 for a 1060, let alone $400 for a 1070. Thanks though, but... Yeah. Not for me.
 
Both the RX 480 and RX 470 are great bang-for-the-buck cards if you're not interested in VR (and, based on your budget comment, you probably aren't). If VR is a consideration then I'd say the 1060 6 GB.
 
You exploring only brand new options? What about a used or refurbished 970 or 980? They can be had pretty cheap and will leave you some headroom for 1440p
 
Definitely don't care about VR. Open to used/refurbished devices as long as it's worth it as far as dollar/perf ratio. I'd hate to buy a used 980 for the same price I can get a new 1060, you know?

That being said, I might have an interesting option locally. An open box return MSI Gamer 1060 (only 3GB though) for $175. Full warranty and return policy.
 
Running on a 1440p w/ 1070gtx (stock) and 3570k @ 4.2ghz w/ 16gb RAM.

I really need to tweak my settings but I play with graphics slider at 7 and view distance dropped a bit since it was making a pretty big impact on fps. I was taking a hit but realized by Scaling in Advanced was on 200% so it was effectively scaling to 2x 1440p then rendering it back which was a huge hit.

I get above 60fps in most places except where there's a lot of traffic (ie Dalaran) and some raid situations.

WoW tends to love higher clock speeds and Nvidia graphics cards.
 
I run WoW with an i7 3770K @ 4.2 ghz and a 980 Ti classified at stock settings. 1440p, mostly ultra.. 60 fps locked in most areas. In populated city areas I'll go down to 40's occasionally..
Since a 1060 is about on par with a 980, I'd recommend that, otherwise the RX 480 looks promising and is on sale at Newegg and comes with Doom for free
 
Yeah, I'm down to two options right now, personally. I can get a Zotac Amp! 6GB 1060 for $225 from the Jet.com promo, or I can get a Gigabyte G1/Windforce RX 480 8GB for about $180 locally. Honestly, I'd be fine with either, I just want the quietest option of the two. Sadly, there's not many Zotac reviews out there that accurately measure accoustics. (And the build quality seems suspect)
 
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I've heard good things about zotac but I personally buy other brands. I can say gigabytes wind force cooler isn't necessarily noisy, but it is generally more noisy than the competition. But it's high performing and is a very good solution. Performance wise they trade blows, I usually lean nvidia as of late, but I don't usually have issues with AMD I just prefer nvidia myself
 
WoW is definitely Nvidia biased, that much is known. Guru3D did a review of the G1, and it looks like it's at 35 dB idle, 39dB at full load (off the top of my head). While they haven't reviewed the 1060 Amp! card, they've reviewed the 1070 and 1080, and those seem in line with other brands' noise level, so I'll assume the 1060 will perform about the same.

Sadly, I've been seeing more than a handful of people saying that Zotac's plastic shroud/fan holder just breaks off spontaneously at all 4 screw points. Sub par plastic, poor fit, who knows? I never actually SEE my cards, so if this happened I'd probably zip tie a pair of quiet 120mm fans to the heatsink and be done with it, but I'd rather it not fail in the first place.
 
I've owned an AMP! model before and the HSF was bullet proof. I highly recommend their products. Also did an RMA and it was easy as hell with very quick response. I wouldn't hesitate to own a Zotac card again.
 
entropism said:
Yeah, I'm down to two options right now, personally. I can get a Zotac Amp! 6GB 1060 for $225 from the Jet.com promo, or I can get a Gigabyte G1/Windforce RX 480 8GB for about $180 locally. Honestly, I'd be fine with either, I just want the quietest option of the two. Sadly, there's not many Zotac reviews out there that accurately measure accoustics. (And the build quality seems suspect)
Click to expand...

My last 3 cards have been Zotac.

I am very sensitive to noise. I have not been unhappy with them.

The only thing that even turns on the fan for my 980ti is ESO (and rarely with an intense moment POE)

Getting a more powerful card can mean less time with the fan on.

The 980ti and 1070 bench about the same. If it is budgetable I would go that way.

MMO's use a crap ton of textures. Get as much ram in the GPU as you can budget.
 
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