GTX 1060 6gb vs 4gb RX 480

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matt167

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My Dell Precision T3500 needs a better graphics card than the Radeon HD 7790 in it. It is a card I had on hand so it went in, but won't play recent games well.

I originally limited my searches to cards less than 8.5" due to the hard drive door being a space confliction. I found out that since I can omit the top hard drive section ( un screws ) and I can install 2 2.5" drives in the lower bay ( will have 1 SSD/ 1 HDD ). I have about 12" to work with. I pretty much could use anything I want to up to a 500W/ single 6 or 8 pin connector ( I have 6 pin native )

Are AMD drivers still 'bad' in comparison to Nvidia? I know when I got the 7790 ( my first Radeon ) drivers were horrible but they at least worked for games I had

I'm more considering any RX480 in the $250 range, to the $250 PNY 6gb GTX1060. I know Zotac, XFX and MSI all make short versions around the same cost but I bet cooling or performance is better on the full size cards, otherwise there wouldn't be a need for a long card.. But which one do I get? I've read the reviews showing GTX 1060 a bit faster but I can't decide since they are SO close.


I won't loose anything by omitting the top hard drive bay. The box still has an unused 3.5" bay and unused 5.25" bay and I have 5.25-3.5" adapter brackets to use, so my storage solution won't change really
 
AMD drivers are fine. RTG has done an excellent job. What resolution are you gaming at? If 1080p I would recommend getting a rx470, it is one hell of a card. I got one power color devil edition for $161 at amazon on sale. Its unbeatable at that price. rx480 and 1060 are sort of equals if you average out all the games. look for the games you play and see which one performs better and grab that one. But for standard 1080p gaming, I don't see you needing anything higher than rx470.
 
My monitor will display up to 1920x1080 ( Samsung Syncmaster B2230 ) so all my gaming will be at 1080P. I want to be able to game near ultra settings. I know the CPU might bottleneck but it shouldn't be too bad ( Xeon X5670 ). But I want the CPU to be the bottle neck, not the GPU.
 
Not much difference between rx470 vs rx480. I was looking at both for my second computer. for 1080p I went with the best deal at the time. Mine overclocks to 1350 easy with 50% power limit and It sustains those clocks and comes out faster than rx480. But between rx480 and gtx 1060. I would go with gtx 1060 due to power draw but best bang for dollar rx 470 it is.
 
Funny thing is, I was looking at the RX 470's before the 480/ 1060's. Only reason I looked at the 1060's was they were shorter than any RX 470 and 1050 TI's are not as fast as a RX 470. So I essentially lost track

I just might go for an RX 470 after all. Compare the specs and it really is most of an RX 480 at a fair discount
 
Here you go,



1060 Kills the 480 by about 8-10% Eccept for Hitman, Ashes & ASS Creed, so if you're building your system around any of those mentioned games, you may want to consider a 480.
 
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GTA V and Fallout 4 are the 2 main games I want to play right now. Doom would be another I'd like to play on PC. i have it for Xbox one although I'm considering ditching the Xbox One.. I'm leaning to the RX 480 since cost difference is marginal between it an an RX 470. A power color RX 480 is $179.

Although I used to be a tried and true Nvidia gamer and I still can't shake the thought of a 1060. I'm not sure it's worth it. The idea of buying this old workstation was to do more for less money.
 
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matt167 said:
GTA V and Fallout 4 are the 2 main games I want to play right now. Doom would be another I'd like to play on PC. i have it for Xbox one although I'm considering ditching the Xbox One.. I'm leaning to the RX 480 since cost difference is marginal between it an an RX 470. A power color RX 480 is $179.

Although I used to be a tried and true Nvidia gamer and I still can't shake the thought of a 1060. I'm not sure it's worth it. The idea of buying this old workstation was to do more for less money.
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Another thing to think about is there is some new AMD cards coming out possibly this much. It is possible prices might go down, so if you wait its possible you can get a better deal.

To me its a toss up, but I would not get a RX 480 4GB, Get a 8GB 480 RX or a 1060 6GB. Games are starting to use more memory.

If you can pony a lil more cash look around for a used 980ti. I have seen them in the $270-$325 range.
 
Just as an idea btw, I put a GeForce 670 in a T3500. It's about 10" long and fit fine underneath the drive door.
 
It seems any card that is as short as the bracket or just a little bit taller will clear under the drive door. The MSI Radeon 7790 that I have, lacks about 3/4" of running right into it.

I think I've settled on a PNY GTX 1060 6gb. It's $250 but does carry a lifetime warranty and I can get it for that price through Walmart with free shipping to the store. Bit more $$ than I was expecting but it seems like the right choice. I might change my mind between now and payday but pretty sure I'll land on that
 
matt167 said:
It seems any card that is as short as the bracket or just a little bit taller will clear under the drive door. The MSI Radeon 7790 that I have, lacks about 3/4" of running right into it.

I think I've settled on a PNY GTX 1060 6gb. It's $250 but does carry a lifetime warranty and I can get it for that price through Walmart with free shipping to the store. Bit more $$ than I was expecting but it seems like the right choice. I might change my mind between now and payday but pretty sure I'll land on that
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I believe they have the same one at Jet.com & if you're a new customer, you get 15% off your first order & free shipping for purchases over 35$. I ordered the same one from them for my dad for Christmas this year. The package was delivered to the wrong address(Carriers Fault) and they made it right. Their customer service from my experience is/was excellent. Also, I believe Walmart just bought them. But if you have gift cards for Walmart I don't think they work on Jet.
https://jet.com/product/PNY-GeForce...6-dvi-hdmi-3/885e9673216d4f639ae4f4f512375535
 
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1060 is faster in dx11
480 is faster in dx12

1060 runs much cooler than the 480. I vote for the 1060 since you have a prebuilt case with limited cooling.
 
skeeder said:
1060 is faster in dx11
480 is faster in dx12

1060 runs much cooler than the 480. I vote for the 1060 since you have a prebuilt case with limited cooling.
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They both run fine when it comes to temps. 480s don't heat up unless you really start to overclock them. But 1060 certainly uses a lot less power, I would probably go for 1060 as well especially when you can get those ones from evga with shorter profile.
 
I got thinking about this once again, so I don't get buyers remorse. My monitor displays 1920x1080 at 60hz. 60 cycles in 1 second= 60 FPS visable... I've never really thought about it but does that mean everything over 60 FPS is a wall that makes no difference?

Since even an RX 470 can get an average over 60 FPS or close in games I'd like to play, is there a reason to pay a premium for a GTX 1060/ RX 480 Or should I save $90-$100? I do only have the capability for DX11 ( Win 7 ) so will that have a large bearing?
 
matt167 said:
I got thinking about this once again, so I don't get buyers remorse. My monitor displays 1920x1080 at 60hz. 60 cycles in 1 second= 60 FPS visable... I've never really thought about it but does that mean everything over 60 FPS is a wall that makes no difference?

Since even an RX 470 can get an average over 60 FPS or close in games I'd like to play, is there a reason to pay a premium for a GTX 1060/ RX 480 Or should I save $90-$100? I do only have the capability for DX11 ( Win 7 ) so will that have a large bearing?
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Yeah over 60 isn't very helpful. I personally like 60 minimum, I like it to be smooth all the time, which takes way more power than 60 avg.

Even on games that are capable of DX12 I run DX11. Generally the difference is small and DX12 is usually more buggy so I don't even bother.
 
I usually try for the 60 frame average too but I'm ok with a little less. I've never been able to get much more than 60 frames on any of my other cards though, partly due to the games I play... The Unreal powered FPS seem to play great even on low power systems, but something like GTA IV takes my Radeon 7790 near it's max on high settings with 61 FPS average according to the in game benchmark.
 
Nothing to add except Doom plays very well on Ultra with rig in sig below. Switching to Vulkan API my frame rates nearly doubled and rarely go below 100fps.

This MSI gaming X was $179 with rebate so was surprised to see it is back up to $214 now. Will need 6 pin to 8 pin adapter for that T3500. $5 (free ship) at Amazon.
 
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I couldn't wait. Went to best buy after an RX 470. They only had Rx 480 for $20 more, so I grabbed the xfx rx 480 4gb. Its the best buy version with white led fans, so they wouldn't match newegg with black fans.. I had to cut the blue card latch down because of the back plate. Have not got drivers yet so its down at the moment.. I picked up a pny 120gb ssd so I'm just gonna fresh install everything
 
A friend asked me to look at his PC because it had become unstable.
It would occasionally lock up and have artefacts.
Turns out he had updated his 290x drivers recently.
The new Relive versions screw with his PC.
fyi

I sold that card because I was struggling to get audio out working properly on multiple HDMI devices, AMD did squat to sort it.
The driver problems continue it seems.
 
Cool deal. The XFX seem like decent cards. 8 pin connector, right?

Interested to know how the SSD performs in your system.
 
I uninstalled the 7790 drivers and installed 480 drivers but windows reinstalled 7790 drivers and created a conflict. Its not worth sorting out since the install is so new and I have the ssd anyway.

I grabbed a second ssd for the banking computer which is just a dell optiplex 760 usff, and installed it. Now boots win 7 32 in half the time. I think it runs sata 1 but for $39, why not. Its still faster than a spinner
 
Can't really comment on the RX480, but just installed the 3GB 1060 and it is niceeee....
I'm a casual gamer, so getting every last iota of extra performance isn't my primary motive.

I think the value of the 1060 card is great for those of us in the price range- and if you lean towards Nvidia like I do, it's a no-brainer.

Edit- oops, I see you already bounced on the AMD- I'm sure you will be happy with it. Sounds like you got a good deal
 
I briefly looked into the 1060 3gb but didn't want to have to turn textures down due to ram limitations
 
matt167 said:
I briefly looked into the 1060 3gb but didn't want to have to turn textures down due to ram limitations
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I haven't had it installed for more than a day, but I certainly haven't had to turn anything down yet.

Of course, I upgraded from a GT640 :D
 
Both cards are really good but it really depends on games you play, some are a toss up on either camp{Dx11 1060gtx vs 480 DX12} backlog on NV will run better vs buying for Future. I have had AMD cards for last couple of generations and drivers overall have been pretty good.
 
Spoke too soon. Card is unstable on this machine at least, so I'm gonna return it and grab the 1060..
 
I was not impressed at all with the RX 480. It could not even maintain 60 fps in Mafia 3 or Dishonored 2 even on medium settings. And some older games run like garbage and have issues with AMD. Heck even my 750 ti could run Wolfenstien Old Blood and New Order just fine at 60 fps on high settings where the RX 480 flat out crapped itself dropping framerates left and right on same settings.
 
matt167 said:
Spoke too soon. Card is unstable on this machine at least, so I'm gonna return it and grab the 1060..
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Sorry to hear that. What Crimson driver are you running? Used a 6 to 8 pin adapter, right?

misterbobby said:
I was not impressed at all with the RX 480. It could not even maintain 60 fps in Mafia 3 or Dishonored 2 even on medium settings. And some older games run like garbage and have issues with AMD. Heck even my 750 ti could run Wolfenstien Old Blood and New Order just fine at 60 fps on high settings where the RX 480 flat out crapped itself dropping framerates left and right on same settings.
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That would irritate me too. Wonder what causes the issues. Those particular games perhaps? This RX 480 has been flawless in this old T3500 so far. Can play Doom on ultra settings and still maintain 70-80 fps. Rarely go below 100 fps using Vulkan.
 
misterbobby said:
I was not impressed at all with the RX 480. It could not even maintain 60 fps in Mafia 3 or Dishonored 2 even on medium settings. And some older games run like garbage and have issues with AMD. Heck even my 750 ti could run Wolfenstien Old Blood and New Order just fine at 60 fps on high settings where the RX 480 flat out crapped itself dropping framerates left and right on same settings.
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Was Wolfenstien Old Blood Ogl or D3D? I can understand if it was in Ogl, the other games, Dishonored 2 runs better on nV hardware. not sure about Mafia 3 never played that one.
 
Wolfenstien Old Blood is OpenGL if not mistaken.

Game is on my Steam wish list and see it is on sale now. Going to purchase and see how it goes.
 
Similar performance issues with Wolfenstein: Old Blood here too. Workarounds listed on the net helped a lot.

We are not alone. Problems are associated with the idTech 5 engine and it's texture handling. Other games such as Rage and Wolfenstein: New Order suffer similarly and changing cards is unlikely to help.

So now they have moved on to id Tech 6 engine which Doom is based on. That works much better obviously.
.
 
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