Swap 3080 10G with 6900XT (Linux/Ultrawide)

[lopoetve]

2020/2021 I finally upgraded my entire home setup and built out all the things I always wanted to have - but with the GPU shortage, getting the right cards into the right spots turned out harder than expected. Wanted a 3080 in the gaming box, ended up snatching up a pre-blocked 3090 instead. Wanted a 6900XT in my Linux secure workstation (doubles as a gaming box during the summer), and that ended up with a 3080 FTW3 (it's on a Odyssey G9 Ultrawide, so 5120x1440 resolution). That setup has worked ~perfectly~ thus far - no issues, no complaints, no problems, other than Linux requiring a binary blob driver since the open source ones, well, suck. Windows side works just fine, of course, when booted there for gaming.

But I noticed recently (thanks amazon ads) that the 6900XT that it was originally supposed to get has come WAY down in price - $700 for the Speedster Merc, for instance (also saw that the 6950XT has come down, but at 1k that's not worth it compared to the slightly slower cards). Part of me is considering picking one up, as it would let me move the 3080 to my 4k HTPC (used also occasionally for gaming) and replace the old 2080TI in there, which could then replace my wife's 1080GTX, and free up a spare card for another build or a friend. The 2080TI hasn't been bottlenecked yet (x399 setup), and I don't use it for super-modern games really (currently playing through HZD, and did the first tomb raider reboot a few months ago), just things that really deserve to be played from a comfy seat with a controller.

I know RDNA3 is coming - these machines aren't used often enough to be jumping on the latest all the time - am I crazy considering this? They seem to be neck and neck in performance, overall, although the 3080 does seem to do better at near-4k resolutions. Or would you wait and see what pans out over the next few months?

 

[sc5mu93]

2020/2021 I finally upgraded my entire home setup and built out all the things I always wanted to have - but with the GPU shortage, getting the right cards into the right spots turned out harder than expected. Wanted a 3080 in the gaming box, ended up snatching up a pre-blocked 3090 instead. Wanted a 6900XT in my Linux secure workstation (doubles as a gaming box during the summer), and that ended up with a 3080 FTW3 (it's on a Odyssey G9 Ultrawide, so 5120x1440 resolution). That setup has worked ~perfectly~ thus far - no issues, no complaints, no problems, other than Linux requiring a binary blob driver since the open source ones, well, suck. Windows side works just fine, of course, when booted there for gaming.

But I noticed recently (thanks amazon ads) that the 6900XT that it was originally supposed to get has come WAY down in price - $700 for the Speedster Merc, for instance (also saw that the 6950XT has come down, but at 1k that's not worth it compared to the slightly slower cards). Part of me is considering picking one up, as it would let me move the 3080 to my 4k HTPC (used also occasionally for gaming) and replace the old 2080TI in there, which could then replace my wife's 1080GTX, and free up a spare card for another build or a friend. The 2080TI hasn't been bottlenecked yet (x399 setup), and I don't use it for super-modern games really (currently playing through HZD, and did the first tomb raider reboot a few months ago), just things that really deserve to be played from a comfy seat with a controller.

I know RDNA3 is coming - these machines aren't used often enough to be jumping on the latest all the time - am I crazy considering this? They seem to be neck and neck in performance, overall, although the 3080 does seem to do better at near-4k resolutions. Or would you wait and see what pans out over the next few months?

Frankly, i would wait. Worst case, that 6900xt is the same price. Its not going to increase in price AFTER the 7000 series launch, and will more likely decrease more. But I feel you. I run AMD exclusively in my linux box, and I have had to talk myself out of jumping for it. The past two years have scarred us via pricing.

 

[lopoetve]

Frankly, i would wait. Worst case, that 6900xt is the same price. Its not going to increase in price AFTER the 7000 series launch, and will more likely decrease more. But I feel you. I run AMD exclusively in my linux box, and I have had to talk myself out of jumping for it. The past two years have scarred us via pricing.

You know, I think that was a big part of it - last time around prices went nuts everywhere and I think my subconcious was worried about that again

 

[noko]

This time around, maybe the opposite. Price dives vice hikes.

 

[pavel]

This time around, maybe the opposite. Price dives vice hikes.

I doubt it. That's pretty rare - I read that the sales for the 4090s are going pretty well - or am I mistaken? If anything, the prices will stabilize - ppl who think the new gen coming out are too expensive will start snatching up used cards. If there's no future fad/phase increasing demand for cards (e.g. mining or something similar) - that is good for buyers?

2020/2021 I finally upgraded my entire home setup and built out all the things I always wanted to have - but with the GPU shortage, getting the right cards into the right spots turned out harder than expected. Wanted a 3080 in the gaming box, ended up snatching up a pre-blocked 3090 instead. Wanted a 6900XT in my Linux secure workstation (doubles as a gaming box during the summer), and that ended up with a 3080 FTW3 (it's on a Odyssey G9 Ultrawide, so 5120x1440 resolution). That setup has worked ~perfectly~ thus far - no issues, no complaints, no problems, other than Linux requiring a binary blob driver since the open source ones, well, suck. Windows side works just fine, of course, when booted there for gaming.

But I noticed recently (thanks amazon ads) that the 6900XT that it was originally supposed to get has come WAY down in price - $700 for the Speedster Merc, for instance (also saw that the 6950XT has come down, but at 1k that's not worth it compared to the slightly slower cards). Part of me is considering picking one up, as it would let me move the 3080 to my 4k HTPC (used also occasionally for gaming) and replace the old 2080TI in there, which could then replace my wife's 1080GTX, and free up a spare card for another build or a friend. The 2080TI hasn't been bottlenecked yet (x399 setup), and I don't use it for super-modern games really (currently playing through HZD, and did the first tomb raider reboot a few months ago), just things that really deserve to be played from a comfy seat with a controller.

I know RDNA3 is coming - these machines aren't used often enough to be jumping on the latest all the time - am I crazy considering this? They seem to be neck and neck in performance, overall, although the 3080 does seem to do better at near-4k resolutions. Or would you wait and see what pans out over the next few months?

I had a similar question as I use Windows 10 (but, I will use Linux again soon - when I get another nvme ssd) - but, plan on dual booting Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, OPENSuse - I'm not sure which one yet). The problem I had when considering AMD RX 6xxx XT cards - was the horrible performance (comparatively, speaking) in content creation/3D creation - i.e. video editing software, 3d content creation software - e.g. Blender etc. AMD cards, currently, aren't even close - in performance - to Nvidia in these tasks, work productivity etc. Gaming - either is good but I think the 6800 XT/6900 XT is a little lower in performance when using 4K, too? I have a 4K TV - and although, there's some serious issues compared to a monitor - I still have the option to use 4K. I believe the 30xx cards aren't great at 4K either - in some games, sure - but, the 4090 will excel here. I won't be buying one anytime soon. I can't justify that to myself.

I'm looking for a used card to upgrade a 3060. Although, I'll probably use Windows to do most of the video editing - I can game on either platform and I still like to boot Linux from time to time (I did it exclusively, for a while).

I am wondering whether to go with 3080 12GB, 3080 Ti or 3090 - I stopped considering a 6800 XT and 6900 XT because of reasons mentioned above - but, the prices are way lower than comparable Nvidia cards and the Linux factor makes me very disappointed - that AMD hasn't upped their game in the video editing/3D arena.

You know, I think that was a big part of it - last time around prices went nuts everywhere and I think my subconcious was worried about that again

That concerns me as well.