Itching to move to 1060 from 290x

3

302efi

Gawd
Joined
Oct 25, 2004
Messages
943
The upgrade bug has officially hit.. Lol

I only game at 1080 (60hz) on my BenQ and honestly the 290x only has 2 faults = extremely too loud and heats up the room a little to much. Graphics & performance wise the 290x is more then sufficient... I know the 1060 is a side step or even a slight downgrade compared to my current 290x.

My monitor is neither G-Sync or Free sync comptible.

My system is based around a 6700k.

Any input is appreciated.. Please no fan-boy responses
 
I've considered that strongly, but after I get the hg10 and the actual water cooler of some kind I'm getting close to that $130 range and that's close to a whole new video card.

Choices choices
 
atmartens said:
An RX480 would be less of a change on the software side (drivers etc.)
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Drivers and software are a non-issue .. I'm familiar with both companies drivers.

I do play quite a bit of Fallout 4 and I know there is gains to be made there.
 
I wouldn't recommend a side/down-grade. New games come out every month of every year and, if you get hooked on one that's a bit demanding, you'll be kicking yourself.

My advice: Save up the money and do a proper upgrade to at least a 1070 (or competitor equivalent).
 
I say save up a little more and get a 1070. Paying $250+ to have roughly the same compute power wouldn't fly with me. The 1070 can be had under $400 now, and I say the extra cost is probably worth it, unless you're planning on upgrading again in the next year or two.

I sympathize with the power/heat argument, though. That was one of the reasons I upgraded to my 1080 from a 290X. The difference is quite noticeable, especially on hot days.
 
DejaWiz said:
I wouldn't recommend a side/down-grade. New games come out every month of every year and, if you get hooked on one that's a bit demanding, you'll be kicking yourself.

My advice: Save up the money and do a proper upgrade to at least a 1070 (or competitor equivalent).
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The 1070 is what I was initially after, but only gaming at 1080, looks like the 1060 would be a nice fit.

I should have pulled the trigger on the EVGA 1070 SC at Best Buy when they had it on sale and I had some store credit to use up.. Dammit
 
RazorWind said:
I say save up a little more and get a 1070. Paying $250+ to have roughly the same compute power wouldn't fly with me. The 1070 can be had under $400 now, and I say the extra cost is probably worth it, unless you're planning on upgrading again in the next year or two.

I sympathize with the power/heat argument, though. That was one of the reasons I upgraded to my 1080 from a 290X. The difference is quite noticeable, especially on hot days.
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I know the 1070 is the "upgrade". I definitely see your point in not paying for something that's pretty much the same just for a couple better features.

My tower is on the right side (underneath) of my desk and it gets really uncomfortable as far as sitting for any extended period of time. The heat just radiates up all around the desk. Sucks when your trying to have a nice late night Diablo gaming session and you end up sweating in a 68 degree house.. Terrible
 
gigatexal said:
maybe instead of the 1060 you could get a h20 cooler for it like the corsair hg10
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302efi said:
I've considered that strongly, but after I get the hg10 and the actual water cooler of some kind I'm getting close to that $130 range and that's close to a whole new video card.

Choices choices
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What about something like this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1K64893710

Much less expensive but it's way cheaper than a side-grade and might afford you some more life out of your card (both in terms of performance and longevity), as well as being quieter.

Quick edit: As for the actual heat output, lowering the operating temp of a CPU/GPU by 10C will lower the TDP by ~3% on average, so it actually will end up outputting less heat. I'm just not sure the difference will be appreciable.
 
302efi said:
The 1070 is what I was initially after, but only gaming at 1080, looks like the 1060 would be a nice fit.

I should have pulled the trigger on the EVGA 1070 SC at Best Buy when they had it on sale and I had some store credit to use up.. Dammit
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My advice stands: Save up and get at least a 1070/equivalent. Even at 1080p, future games are not going to lighten up on demanding graphics. Do it. :)
 
I am in the save up for the 1070 crowd too. While you may not initially need it. You will soon need it.
 
For what it's worth, I game with a GTX 1080 at 1080P. (A founder's edition, if it matters). The card is, theoretically, way more powerful than I necessarily need to make games "playable."

I can enable regular vsync at 75Hz and turn on all of the eye candy in most games, and it never quite hits full utilzation. This means it runs even cooler and quieter, which would not have mattered to me ten years ago, but I'm old and fat now, and the quiet is nice.
 
You wouldn't believe how many years I worried about FPS and always monitoring temps when "playing" games. Now if I could just beat the new shiny upgrade bug when I see new gear I'd be set to enjoy playing games :D:D
 
I had a 290 thst was oced and water cooled and I first thought like you, get the 1060, I thought hey I play mostly nvidia games and even if it is a sidegrade I should still get 15% more fps...nope....It was like 1fps difference. The only thing the 1060 will give is more vram and a very cool running. I have to agree with the others, you want the 1070 (I returned the 1060 and got the 1070)
 
I am at 1080p and went from a 290x to a 980.
I moved to a 980ti after the 980 broke because the 980 was still limiting fps.
Even a clocked 980ti cannot max some games still at 1080p.

A 1070 is very close to a 980ti performance.
This is the minimum I recommend.
Why not eat really nice cake.
A gfx card is one of the least expensive hobby parts for the hours it gets used.
 
302efi said:
I know the 1060 is a side step or even a slight downgrade compared to my current 290x.
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Then don't buy it. There is having a upgrade bug and then there is effectively throwing your money away. Save your cash up until you can afford a real significant upgrade like a 1080 or (hopefully) Vega.

A 1070 would be a step up but IMO isn't enough of a difference vs a 290X to justify spending the money on. If you had a 280X or lower performing card it'd be a different story. You want BIG performance increases (ie. 30-50%+) when you buy a new video card otherwise that upgrade itch will be back in no time.
 
The 1070 will have a hell of a drop in power consumption vs a 290X (270-310W vs 380-410W) plus will run about 10-15C cooler under load...while providing an average of about 30-50% more GPU oomph in most games...a few games will see significantly less gains (Hitman DX11 and DX12, AoTS DX12), but a few will be even higher (BF4, GTA5, RoT Tomb Raider, Witcher 3 all see around 60%+).
 
mesyn191 said:
Then don't buy it. There is having a upgrade bug and then there is effectively throwing your money away. Save your cash up until you can afford a real significant upgrade like a 1080 or (hopefully) Vega.

A 1070 would be a step up but IMO isn't enough of a difference vs a 290X to justify spending the money on. If you had a 280X or lower performing card it'd be a different story. You want BIG performance increases (ie. 30-50%+) when you buy a new video card otherwise that upgrade itch will be back in no time.
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$600 on a 1080 is just not in the budget. not gonna happen. Like I said the 290x works great in all aspects except the noise and heat. I wanted to offset this. I not one of the PC people that just keeps holding out for new gear, as there will always be something better down the pipeline or waiting to be announced ect. I been over that waiting game for years with PC parts .The 1070 is 40-50% increase over the 290
 
There are a few brands/models at Newegg for around the $400 mark.

Haven't checked Amazon yet.
 
I'm actually in a similar position. I have a 290X and have been searching for an upgrade especially as I plan to pick up a 4K monitor, but feel that overall this year's offerings have been lackluster. For a new build, I'd go for an RX480 as its great price/performance with growing DX12/Vulkan performance and I personally feel that the AMD ethics/ methodology is preferable (including FreeSync - I really wish Nvidia cards could use FreeSync!) but from a 290X its a side-grade or minor upgrade at best, similar to NV's 1060. Which levels 1070 and 1080 for this year. I have a hard time recommending the 1080, especially as even at its price it isn't up to high performance 4K gaming so I don't really find it worth the investment. Which leaves the 1070 as probably the best buy, if you had to buy very soon. It is still a significant upgrade, but doesn't cost the fortune of the 1080. I'd double to check to make sure that Nvidia hasn't either had any sort of hardware or sofware flaw with the 1070 (ie I seem to remember VRMs on EVGA cards being problematic?), but if there's no frustrating hobbling (like there was last gen with the 970's "3.5gb VRAM" issue) issue it may be your best bet. Should EVGA not be advisable anymore (and someone more Nvidia aware than I could let me know if this is still a worry), I'd consider Asus, MSI and Gigabyte.

Of course, the other option is to hold onto things until next year. I really wish that AMD"s "Vega" could debut (or even the potential for that "other" Polaris chip?) but shouldn't it be appearing in Q1 2017? Likewise, both Nvidia and AMDs' 2017 cards are likely to be a step forward and targeting 4K gaming for the higher end, so I feel it may be a better investment than this year's stock. I think AMD is having a press conference pretty soon where they';ll release new info on their Zen CPUs, so maybe something on Vega will be mentioned too? Watching it before purchase would be a great incentive to save your money through the holiday and chug on a little longer, if the card looks worthwhile. Even if Vega only comes to 1080 level performance, if it can do it at low prices it may be still worthwhile. Then again, with ostensibly 16gb of HBM2 memory, maybe both offerings will be a big leap forward!

Just something to think on?
 
302efi said:
$600 on a 1080 is just not in the budget. not gonna happen.
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If you can afford to save $350-400+ (really more like $400+, the $350-ish 1070's are deals you have to wait on and tend to go fast) you can afford to save $600.

302efi said:
The 1070 is 40-50% increase over the 290
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Actually its more like 39% for the 290. And you have a 290X so in your case it'd be more like 35%.

Its a nice boost but you'll have the upgrade itch within 6 months to a year if you buy a 1070. And then you have to figure what the price of a 1070 + a new mid/high end card will be in your budget.
 
mesyn191 said:
If you can afford to save $350-400+ (really more like $400+, the $350-ish 1070's are deals you have to wait on and tend to go fast) you can afford to save $600.

Actually its more like 39% for the 290. And you have a 290X so in your case it'd be more like 35%.

Its a nice boost but you'll have the upgrade itch within 6 months to a year if you buy a 1070. And then you have to figure what the price of a 1070 + a new mid/high end card will be in your budget.
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why stop there? save 800 and get two 1070s at that point
 
I don't understand, how's anyone saving money by spending moar? Oh save up... That's not the OP's point though right?
 
thesmokingman said:
I don't understand, how's anyone saving money by spending moar? Oh save up... That's not the OP's point though right?
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He isn't trying to save money though. By going for a 1070 he has already indicated he is willing to spend moar. He also has a real upgrade itch issue if he was even vaguely thinking at all of moving to a 1060 from a 290X. That isn't rational.
 
Maybe "upgrade" was wrong terminology in my original post. I was really looking at something just to cure the 2 faults I have with the current 290x, heat and noise. Its preforms perfectly fine for the resolution I game at. I use V-sync, so 60 FPS is what I'm shooting for. I have no need for 150 FPS on a 60hz monitor. Wasted horsepower and money at that point. I'd really like to play with some new hardware, so maybe that "could" be considered and upgrade..but the 290x performance is totally acceptable. This is where I'm torn at. Anything I throw at my current setup plays great at 1080 great.

Having a new card to mess with would be nice...Also I actually PLAY games, I'm NOT a benchmark freak. Benchmarks scores and E-Penis points mean nill to me.
 
302efi said:
Maybe "upgrade" was wrong terminology in my original post. I was really looking at something just to cure the 2 faults I have with the current 290x, heat and noise. Its preforms perfectly fine for the resolution I game at. I use V-sync, so 60 FPS is what I'm shooting for. I have no need for 150 FPS on a 60hz monitor. Wasted horsepower and money at that point. I'd really like to play with some new hardware, so maybe that "could" be considered and upgrade..but the 290x performance is totally acceptable. This is where I'm torn at. Anything I throw at my current setup plays great at 1080 great.

Having a new card to mess with would be nice...Also I actually PLAY games, I'm NOT a benchmark freak. Benchmarks scores and E-Penis points mean nill to me.
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I wrote the post below talking only about gaming at 1080p 60Hz, I use a projector. They dont do 150Hz :p
Try putting quality settings to max even with low AA, it wont go well for lots of A games.
If you dont care about quality settings, you should have made that clear.
We are still unwise to your specifics. Assuming you want rational help that is.

Nenu said:
I am at 1080p and went from a 290x to a 980.
I moved to a 980ti after the 980 broke because the 980 was still limiting fps.
Even a clocked 980ti cannot max some games still at 1080p.

A 1070 is very close to a 980ti performance.
This is the minimum I recommend.
Why not eat really nice cake.
A gfx card is one of the least expensive hobby parts for the hours it gets used.
Click to expand...
 
Have you tried pointing a large low rpm fan at it to see if that would get temps/noise into a tolerable range for you? The 140mm fans work great for that application.
 
I've got a GTX 1060 6GB (the EVGA SC single fan), and an MSI RX 480 4GB. Both are excellent cards, and I'd recommend either one, without a particular preference. I run them at 1920 x 1200, and they do equally well. Either would be fine for your 1080 monitor, and would greatly reduce power consumption an heat.

The 1060 is a bit cooler, and really just sips power. The RX 480 isn't bad with power consumption either. And if you're already using a 290, then your PSU has plenty of power. Plus, the RX 480 after rebates, game codes and visa checkout was like $150. Hard to beat that, $100 less than I paid for the 1060. And the RX 480 is such a nice looking card, with the red shroud and nice backplate.

I think there's another visa checkout day coming up on newegg (12/12?) maybe time a purchase for that day, and pick up whichever card is the best deal on that day. i'd say go for an MSI gaming version, for either the 1060 or the 480...
 
If you really dont care for much more performance (bearing in mind that newer games wont make this better, quite the reverse),
get a Coolermaster Arctic Cooling Xtreme cooler.
I fitted the Xtreme III to my 290x and Xtreme IV to my current 980ti, they are bloody awesome.
They dont cost the earth, will improve your overclocks and make your card practically silent no matter what you do.

The Xtreme III cooler requires glueing of ram and VRM sinks, it cannot be reversed.
The Xtreme IV (if it fits the 290x) is reversible. The old cooler can be refitted.
 
If you sell your 290x on eBay it should more than make up the difference between the price of a 1060 and 1070. I've taken to selling all my cast-off hardware now. It's amazing how high resale values are these days.
 
Quix said:
If you sell your 290x on eBay it should more than make up the difference between the price of a 1060 and 1070. I've taken to selling all my cast-off hardware now. It's amazing how high resale values are these days.
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Exactly what I did with my 780s.

Took lots of pictures and screenshots showing both in device manager, NCP, and GFE, then posted on eBay.

Listed as a BIN for $520, and took a best offer for $480.

Purchased my 980Ti straight from eVGA for $720 shipped.

$300 out of pocket (after auction fees and shipping cost)...a little less than a 970 at the time.

Best dang move I made to get away from the space heaters the 780s were, considering I intended to just deal with them and wait for Pascal.
 
Quix said:
If you sell your 290x on eBay it should more than make up the difference between the price of a 1060 and 1070. I've taken to selling all my cast-off hardware now. It's amazing how high resale values are these days.
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Yeah resale prices are dumb as heck. A 290X will get $150-220 on ebay depending on how much time you're will to take selling it and if its in good condition or a hot brand (ie. XFX). If you want to go that route though I'd buy the Fury thats selling for $259 and then sell the 290X for $180-ish. That would give you around 20% more performance for $79.

Personally I'm trying to hold out for Vega, especially since I still do OK with a 290 on my games, but the bang for buck on a deal like that is awesome and makes it hard to resist.
 
mesyn191 said:
Yeah resale prices are dumb as heck. A 290X will get $150-220 on ebay depending on how much time you're will to take selling it and if its in good condition or a hot brand (ie. XFX). If you want to go that route though I'd buy the Fury thats selling for $259 and then sell the 290X for $180-ish. That would give you around 20% more performance for $79.

Personally I'm trying to hold out for Vega, especially since I still do OK with a 290 on my games, but the bang for buck on a deal like that is awesome and makes it hard to resist.
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The Fury certainly won't address the power draw and heat output issues that 302efi wants to curtail.
 
DejaWiz said:
The Fury certainly won't address the power draw and heat output issues that 302efi wants to curtail.
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It also looks like its days are over and will at best become a side grade with memory limitations.
 
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