Upgrading a GPU in an inflationary environment ... new or used?

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harddud

Limp Gawd
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I am trying to help a friend upgrade their system piece by piece. He is VERY price sensitive because he has little (I am helping him a bit). I figure the best bang for the buck would be to upgrade his video card which is currently a GTX 950. My friend is a light to moderate gamer and realistically has not yet been constrained by his current GPU. I am also focusing on the power the GPU pulls because of heat. The GTX 950 pulls a max of about 90W. I made the following "upgrades" to him with the current pricing that I have found plus the power draw of each:

GTX 1660: About $125, power draw of 120W, about 220% more capable than the GTX 950

GTX 1070: About $150, power draw of 150W, about 250% more capable than the GTX 950

GTX 2060: About $225, power draw of 160W, about 260% more capable than the GTX 950

I am going to recommend a 1660 class card due to the cost and the relatively small differences in capability between cards. Am I missing anything here? Are there any other GPUs that you would consider adding to this comparison, and why?

Thank you ...
 
harddud said:
I am trying to help a friend upgrade their system piece by piece. He is VERY price sensitive because he has little (I am helping him a bit). I figure the best bang for the buck would be to upgrade his video card which is currently a GTX 950. My friend is a light to moderate gamer and realistically has not yet been constrained by his current GPU. I am also focusing on the power the GPU pulls because of heat. The GTX 950 pulls a max of about 90W. I made the following "upgrades" to him with the current pricing that I have found plus the power draw of each:

GTX 1660: About $125, power draw of 120W, about 220% more capable than the GTX 950

GTX 1070: About $150, power draw of 150W, about 250% more capable than the GTX 950

GTX 2060: About $225, power draw of 160W, about 260% more capable than the GTX 950

I am going to recommend a 1660 class card due to the cost and the relatively small differences in capability between cards. Am I missing anything here? Are there any other GPUs that you would consider adding to this comparison, and why?

Thank you ...
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Any reason for Nvidia only? I think you can find rx6600s for around $200 nowadays.
 
I kinda wanna say 1070 instead of the 1660 (esp. if it isn't a Super variant)
 
The 2060 while not really powerful enuff to use Raytracing , does have DLSS capability which might come in handy and stave off future upgrades for awhile. I recently picked one up and it's a noticeable improvement over the GTX 1060 it replaced.
 
Toconator said:
The 2060 while not really powerful enuff to use Raytracing , does have DLSS capability which might come in handy and stave off future upgrades for awhile. I recently picked one up and it's a noticeable improvement over the GTX 1060 it replaced.
Click to expand...

I'd tend to agree but the difference of $25 for a 1070 vs $100 for the 2060 (even with DLSS and let's not forget the potential 6GB/8GB VRAM difference)

The 1070 for $150 is what I'd do.. OP
 
Right now on newegg there is a $200 RX 6600 8gb apparently (according to partpickers when all said and done with the promos, mail-in rebate being fishy so..... not sure how legit one would consider):
https://www.newegg.com/msi-radeon-rx-6600-mech-2x-8g/p/N82E16814137690?Item=N82E16814137690&nm_mc=AFC-RAN-COM&cm_mmc=AFC-RAN-COM&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_source=afc-PCPartPicker&AFFID=2558510&AFFNAME=PCPartPicker&ACRID=1&ASID=https://pcpartpicker.com/&ranMID=44583&ranEAID=2558510&ranSiteID=8BacdVP0GFs-CJuXq_8.9qBs.YKvt1us0g

About 10% more powerful than a 2060, not cheaper depending on taxes but it is new, with HDMI 2.1 and full warranty, and should have full driver support for a giant while being a fall 2021 RDNA 2 card.

And considering heat being an important factor:
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/powercolor-radeon-rx-6600-fighter/37.html#:~:text=Gaming power draw of just,graphics card we ever tested.

Maybe the best idle power ever with 3w and 120w like a 1660ti while gaming
 
I guess it really depends on power consumption and how big of an objective minimizing it is for your friend. If 160W is not a problem than the RTX 2060 is the card to get. It's the fastest on your list and you will get DLSS + ray tracing support which I am sure will provide at least some degree of future proofing that goes beyond the other options.

One thing to keep in mind though is that the GTX 950 uses a 6 pin connector while all of the cards on your list will use 1x8 pin (even the GTX 1660). Does your friend's PSU have an 8-pin connector? The main reason why my 2022 build below has a GTX 1650 Super is because my Shuttle PSU only has a 6-pin connector and I was afraid of pushing a 300W PSU with a video card that uses more than 100W. The 1650 Super is the best gpu you can buy right now that doesn't go beyond a 6-pin connector.
 
LukeTbk said:
About 10% more powerful than a 2060
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Source on that? Everywhere I look it's significantly more than 10% uplift.

*Edit* Fairly similar RT performance (they both suck at it and will need DLSS/FSR to be any good with it.
 
Thanks to all who contributed to my quest. After reading each post I may have to refocus to the 6600 or 2060 ...
 
NightReaver said:
Source on that? Everywhere I look it's significantly more than 10% uplift.

*Edit* Fairly similar RT performance (they both suck at it and will need DLSS/FSR to be any good with it.
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Was simply going by :
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/radeon-rx-6600.c3696

With the 2060 being 90% of the relative performance according to them:

average-fps_2560_1440.png


11% more at 1440p, exact same 4k (but little revelance there), +15% at 1080p being maybe the more relevant metric for those cards.
 
The 1660 Super is simply a killer card in that price range.

If you want to buy new and "cheap" (relative word for new cards) then the choice is super easy. The 6600 XT.

Look at this: $250 with $40 off instant code. $250!!! The performance in ANY game is JUST FINE. It puts you between a 3060 and 3060 Ti for a fraction of the money of either.

It's got enough guts to game at 1440p.

https://www.newegg.com/asrock-radeon-rx-6600-xt-rx6600xt-cld-8g/p/N82E16814930063?Description=6600 xt&cm_re=6600_xt-_-14-930-063-_-Product&quicklink=true

EDIT - Just so you know, after looking this up for you I put up my own money and bought one of these for myself as a secondary gaming card. I have not seen a deal this good on a new lower-cost gaming card in a long time. This reminds me of the insanely low prices the RX570 and 580 went for before they disappeared from the market. They were just value kings for their time when you needed a little "real" 3D performance but minimum cost.
 
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Ok ok, the 6600 xt has a rated 160w max power draw and I think a single 8 pin connector. If that blows the limits of whatever power supply you are dealing with that could be a deal breaker... but a $50 power supply would fix that too.
 
Advil said:
Ok ok, the 6600 xt has a rated 160w max power draw and I think a single 8 pin connector. If that blows the limits of whatever power supply you are dealing with that could be a deal breaker... but a $50 power supply would fix that too.
Click to expand...

I currently have a 3060 Ti and while fast, it really heats up my gaming room! The 6600 XT is slightly less capable (about 20% lower) than the 3060 Ti. I am going to focus on the 6600 XT, especially with BF right around the corner. Thanks!
 
Had friend pick up one of those $200 RX 6600s as an upgrade to an aging RX 470 4GB that was struggling to run Far Cry 6 on his triple monitor Eyefinity setup, and yeah even on an aging Haswell setup the RX 6600 is a budget beast. Took him from unplayable at minimum settings, to 60 FPS vsync at a combo of medium/high settings. For $200 there are no complaints at all with it! And friend has only a Seasonic 450W PSU, so trying to find a card that would fit his system without a PSU upgrade was a prime consideration. Was originally considering a 1660 Super/Ti or used GTX 1070 or RX 5600 XT (friend is partial to AMD GPUs based on past experiences dating to a Radeon 9700 Pro) because of PSU limits, but when the RX 6600 dropped that cheap for a new card with warranty, the decision was easy!
 
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