Unsure of the best gpu within my price range and needs $AUD

[Dovah88]

Hello, I've been looking for a video card and am unsure of which is the better value to suit my needs. I originally used to own a gtx 1050ti lp but gave it to a friend who needed it more a while back so right now I'm running a 6670 1GB ddr3. I'm really only look to play some classic games at 1080p like Titan quest and some other rts style ones, also some of the older total wars like shogun 2 and Rome 2. These are my options:

$125 Asus Gtx 950 Strix
$149 Asus Gtx 1050 Phoenix
$195 Asus Gtx 1050ti Phoenix
$225 Msi Gtx 1050ti oc
$226 Gigabyte 1050ti Windforce
$299 Gtx Asus 1060 phoenix

Budget of $300
I am unsure whether the 1060 is worth another $105 to justify what I'm using it for.

I'm fairly casual when it comes to pc gaming as I own a console for my other ones.
My setup is:

8gb ddr3 ram
Motherboard: B75M-d3H
i5 3330 @3.2ghz and Antec 550w psu

 

[jboydgolfer]

its all up to weather or not Your going to need the extra HP of a 1060. The 1050ti is no slouch, but a 1060 is another 65%+ more capable than a 1050ti. if you do 1080p and above gaming, than the 1060 might be a good choice for you. If you'd like to save some $, and your okay with running lower settings in graphics, a 1050ti will run 1080p decently.

I Would recommend that you stay in the 1050+ area though....the 950 isnt a bad GPU, but unless you HAVE to by one, id get atleast the 1050ti
iirc, RTS games can eat up vRam , so a 4Gb option might be a good choice. the 1050ti has 4Gb's, and iirc, the 1060 does too.

 

[Dovah88]

its all up to weather or not Your going to need the extra HP of a 1060. The 1050ti is no slouch, but a 1060 is another 65%+ more capable than a 1050ti. if you do 1080p and above gaming, than the 1060 might be a good choice for you. If you'd like to save some $, and your okay with running lower settings in graphics, a 1050ti will run 1080p decently.

I Would recommend that you stay in the 1050+ area though....the 950 isnt a bad GPU, but unless you HAVE to by one, id get atleast the 1050ti
iirc, RTS games can eat up vRam , so a 4Gb option might be a good choice. the 1050ti has 4Gb's, and iirc, the 1060 does too.

The 1060 has the 3Gb of vram but that shouldn't matter with the extra power? I'm also curious as to why the Msi and Gigabyte 1050ti costs $30 more?

 

[uuuaaaaaa]

its all up to weather or not Your going to need the extra HP of a 1060. The 1050ti is no slouch, but a 1060 is another 65%+ more capable than a 1050ti. if you do 1080p and above gaming, than the 1060 might be a good choice for you. If you'd like to save some $, and your okay with running lower settings in graphics, a 1050ti will run 1080p decently.

I Would recommend that you stay in the 1050+ area though....the 950 isnt a bad GPU, but unless you HAVE to by one, id get atleast the 1050ti
iirc, RTS games can eat up vRam , so a 4Gb option might be a good choice. the 1050ti has 4Gb's, and iirc, the 1060 does too.

The Asus GTX 1060 Phoenix is the 3GB criple version of the 1060, it has 3GB, less cuda cores 1152 vs 1280 and lower clocks, it's still called a 1060 tho .

https://www.asus.com/us/Graphics-Cards/PH-GTX1060-3G/overview/

 

[NdMk2o1o]

The Asus GTX 1060 Phoenix is the 3GB criple version of the 1060, it has 3GB, less cuda cores 1152 vs 1280 and lower clocks, it's still called a 1060 tho .

https://www.asus.com/us/Graphics-Cards/PH-GTX1060-3G/overview/

You do know there are 2 variants of 1060 one with 3GB and one with 6GB as you pointed out the 3GB obviously has less vRAM and CUDA cores but this isn't an industry secret, just with the confuse emoji at the end like it was news to you, maybe not though.

Out of those I'd honestly go with the 1050ti, very capable 1080p card and I agree with the OP sentiment in that it may not be worth an extra $105 for the jump to the 1060 considering it's the 3GB 1060 and not the fully fledged 6GB version. Apart from the Gigabyte 1050ti the others have the same single fan cooling solution so go for the cheapest one of them or if you prefer the Gigabytes dual fan cooling then maybe shell out the extra $30 or so for that if you think it's worth it.

Edit: actually even the crippled 3GB 1060 seems to perform about 40-50% better than the 1050 ti @1080p so you should bare that in mind

 

[Dovah88]

You do know there are 2 variants of 1060 one with 3GB and one with 6GB as you pointed out the 3GB obviously has less vRAM and CUDA cores but this isn't an industry secret, just with the confuse emoji at the end like it was news to you, maybe not though.

Out of those I'd honestly go with the 1050ti, very capable 1080p card and I agree with the OP sentiment in that it may not be worth an extra $105 for the jump to the 1060 considering it's the 3GB 1060 and not the fully fledged 6GB version. Apart from the Gigabyte 1050ti the others have the same single fan cooling solution so go for the cheapest one of them or if you prefer the Gigabytes dual fan cooling then maybe shell out the extra $30 or so for that if you think it's worth it.

Edit: actually even the crippled 3GB 1060 seems to perform about 40-50% better than the 1050 ti @1080p so you should bare that in mind

Hmm well there are many things to consider. This will be a card that I don't intend on upgrading on ever again save when it eventually dies. Unless I put an extra $25 to get a msi rx 570 armour for $325 but I'd rather not, I'm thinking that may be an overkill for what I'm using it for.

 

[jboydgolfer]

Hmm well there are many things to consider. This will be a card that I don't intend on upgrading on ever again save when it eventually dies. Unless I put an extra $25 to get a msi rx 570 armour for $325 but I'd rather not, I'm thinking that may be an overkill for what I'm using it for.

Personally I would go with the 1050 TI.

Also someone mentioned the 3 GB 1060. Yes they do make a crippled or lesser 1060, that's just one of them the others have more ram .

As far as long lasting, the 1050 has a really nice life span ,but if you play games frequently, and you like to get new titles when they release the 1060 may suit you better. Bottom line is ,you're not going to get a 1050 TI ,and not be able to run games ....you'll just be running them a little bit slower then if you had bought a faster card. 1050ti&1060, (in its simplest terms) ,is a difference of "good and better". It's not like if you chose the 1050 TI you wouldn't be able to do what you want ,you'd just be doing it a little bit slower is all

 

[NdMk2o1o]

Hmm well there are many things to consider. This will be a card that I don't intend on upgrading on ever again save when it eventually dies. Unless I put an extra $25 to get a msi rx 570 armour for $325 but I'd rather not, I'm thinking that may be an overkill for what I'm using it for.

It's a matter of choice then, from what you intend to play with the GPU and your current system specs and the fact you're only a casual gamer etc I'd say just grab the 1050ti I assume you were happy with the last one before you gave it away?

 

[uuuaaaaaa]

You do know there are 2 variants of 1060 one with 3GB and one with 6GB as you pointed out the 3GB obviously has less vRAM and CUDA cores but this isn't an industry secret, just with the confuse emoji at the end like it was news to you, maybe not though.

I am well aware of the facts, it was some kind of sarcasm, because the first response to this thread seemed to neglect that fact. Maybe should not have used that emoji tho, but I was picking on nvidia for not calling it 1060LE or whatever x) Kinda hard to express these things through text hehe

 

[Dovah88]

Personally I would go with the 1050 TI.

Also someone mentioned the 3 GB 1060. Yes they do make a crippled or lesser 1060, that's just one of them the others have more ram .

As far as long lasting, the 1050 has a really nice life span ,but if you play games frequently, and you like to get new titles when they release the 1060 may suit you better. Bottom line is ,you're not going to get a 1050 TI ,and not be able to run games ....you'll just be running them a little bit slower then if you had bought a faster card. 1050ti&1060, (in its simplest terms) ,is a difference of "good and better". It's not like if you chose the 1050 TI you wouldn't be able to do what you want ,you'd just be doing it a little bit slower is all

It's a matter of choice then, from what you intend to play with the GPU and your current system specs and the fact you're only a casual gamer etc I'd say just grab the 1050ti I assume you were happy with the last one before you gave it away?

Yeah I was quite happy with my previous gtx 1050ti, it seemed good enough for what I wanted. There is one other thing though. A friend wants to sell his gtx Asus 4GB 970 mini for $250. Is that a good deal? It has been used for two years for games like the Witcher 3 and such. Can I trust it? If not then I will stick with a new 1050ti.

 

[NdMk2o1o]

Yeah I was quite happy with my previous gtx 1050ti, it seemed good enough for what I wanted. There is one other thing though. A friend wants to sell his gtx Asus 4GB 970 mini for $250. Is that a good deal? It has been used for two years for games like the Witcher 3 and such. Can I trust it? If not then I will stick with a new 1050ti.

I can't comment on the price as I don't know the cost of things is AUS $ but the 970 is probably closer in terms of performance with the 1060 3GB (both being more or less equal in some titles and the 970 edging it on others) however as you mentioned it is already 2 years old and used and likely out of warranty if it could be transferred anyway, so I guess it depends if you want the better performance with the added risk that if it dies on you then you have no warranty, or if you want a new card with slightly less performance but with the added peace of mind of having warranty and being new. (I would probably get the 1050 ti with the longest warranty out of those you are considering)

Personally I have little issues buying used GPU's and tend to do so quite regularly, that said I probably never keep one for more than 6-12 months tops so might just have been lucky with the ones I have bought only having one die on me which was a GTX 570 that I baked and brought back to life

 

[Dovah88]

I can't comment on the price as I don't know the cost of things is AUS $ but the 970 is probably closer in terms of performance with the 1060 3GB (both being more or less equal in some titles and the 970 edging it on others) however as you mentioned it is already 2 years old and used and likely out of warranty if it could be transferred anyway, so I guess it depends if you want the better performance with the added risk that if it dies on you then you have no warranty, or if you want a new card with slightly less performance but with the added peace of mind of having warranty and being new. (I would probably get the 1050 ti with the longest warranty out of those you are considering)

Personally I have little issues buying used GPU's and tend to do so quite regularly, that said I probably never keep one for more than 6-12 months tops so might just have been lucky with the ones I have bought only having one die on me which was a GTX 570 that I baked and brought back to life

Hmm yeah I might pass on that 970. I've wittled it down to two-maybe three candidates. $195 1050ti phoenix, $225 1050ti windforce, or the $299 1060 3gb phoenix. I'm unsure currently, as i'm not going to be playing any new games apart from AOE remasters and such. My original 1050ti handled Rome 2 (being the most intense game I play) quite well but is it worth the jump to a 1060? I don't think the games I would play utilize the entire 3gb?

 

[mastershake575]

The 3GB version of the 1060 is only like 10% slower than the 6GB version of the 1060, thats why it's still called a 1060 and not something else.

This situation is interesting since your a very casual gamer but at the same time you have an aftermarket powersupply and an i5 (both of which are good) which leans me to believe you might be better off with a 1060 3GB.

The 1060 3GB paired with your quad core i5 will give you a great 1080p gaming machine for at least the next 2 or 3 year with absolutely no problem at all on new titles and you'll run games better than the brand new Xbox one X

If your really set on playing mostly older games than the 1050ti will suit you fine. Me personally I think the extra $105 AUD is worth it in the long run even if you only play a few newer titles a year on PC.

 

[Vayra86]

The 3GB version of the 1060 is only like 10% slower than the 6GB version of the 1060, thats why it's still called a 1060 and not something else.

This situation is interesting since your a very casual gamer but at the same time you have an aftermarket powersupply and an i5 (both of which are good) which leans me to believe you might be better off with a 1060 3GB.

The 1060 3GB paired with your quad core i5 will give you a great 1080p gaming machine for at least the next 2 or 3 year with absolutely no problem at all on new titles and you'll run games better than the brand new Xbox one X

If your really set on playing mostly older games than the 1050ti will suit you fine. Me personally I think the extra $105 AUD is worth it in the long run even if you only play a few newer titles a year on PC.

^ Entirely this, I wouldn't recommend the 1050ti either and while the 1060 3GB is also in some way a crippled card, for now and the next 2-3 years it will serve your setup very well, I think the extra power of a 1060 6GB might even be mitigated by the 3.2 Ghz of your CPU a bit in certain games.

Another very interesting option you may want to explore is second hand cards: 980, 980ti most of all, because these offer a serious extra amount of performance at perhaps a lower price. In my country I can probably find a 980ti at around 200-250 EUR, which is cheaper than a 1060 6GB but also 30-35% faster . That, and they are cards with sufficient memory (4 / 6GB) and decent bandwidth because in all fairness 4GB is going to be the norm real soon. These cards are going to be far more flexible when it comes to graphics demands of different engines.

 

[Dovah88]

The 3GB version of the 1060 is only like 10% slower than the 6GB version of the 1060, thats why it's still called a 1060 and not something else.

This situation is interesting since your a very casual gamer but at the same time you have an aftermarket powersupply and an i5 (both of which are good) which leans me to believe you might be better off with a 1060 3GB.

The 1060 3GB paired with your quad core i5 will give you a great 1080p gaming machine for at least the next 2 or 3 year with absolutely no problem at all on new titles and you'll run games better than the brand new Xbox one X

If your really set on playing mostly older games than the 1050ti will suit you fine. Me personally I think the extra $105 AUD is worth it in the long run even if you only play a few newer titles a year on PC.

^ Entirely this, I wouldn't recommend the 1050ti either and while the 1060 3GB is also in some way a crippled card, for now and the next 2-3 years it will serve your setup very well, I think the extra power of a 1060 6GB might even be mitigated by the 3.2 Ghz of your CPU a bit in certain games.

Another very interesting option you may want to explore is second hand cards: 980, 980ti most of all, because these offer a serious extra amount of performance at perhaps a lower price. In my country I can probably find a 980ti at around 200-250 EUR, which is cheaper than a 1060 6GB but also 30-35% faster . That, and they are cards with sufficient memory (4 / 6GB) and decent bandwidth because in all fairness 4GB is going to be the norm real soon. These cards are going to be far more flexible when it comes to graphics demands of different engines.

Well you both make interesting points. But is it worth an extra $105 for 50% increase in power I think from a 1050ti? I have an option on picking up a used 960 strix 2gb for $120 or a seller refurbished evga 980 ACX for $255 as well now, only issue is it may be just too long for my cables.

 

[Melvis]

What games do you currently play and what games might you buy in the future? also what res do you play at? You should always go with the faastest you can afford so you can future proof yourself more.

MSI and Gigabyte charge more because of extra warranty.

If you look on gumtree u can find gtx 1050 ti as low as $110

 

[Vayra86]

Well you both make interesting points. But is it worth an extra $105 for 50% increase in power I think from a 1050ti? I have an option on picking up a used 960 strix 2gb for $120 or a seller refurbished evga 980 ACX for $255 as well now, only issue is it may be just too long for my cables.

Used 960: DO NOT. The 960 is a piece of crap
1050ti: Meh. Its the budget route, with budget gaming experience, you get what u pay for. I don't view this as a real gaming card TBH. It'll do simple well optimized, older games well. The rest, not so much.
1060 3GB: best balance with your rig if you want NEW, but 3GB is going to be a limitation moving forward.
Used 980: probably biggest bang/buck, best experience for the money (yes, might be better than 1060 3GB)
Used 980ti: if spotted at/around 300, don't think twice.

Keep in mind: if you save money today, you will be pushing yourself to a new GPU upgrade faster. Bottom line: better GPU = better experience TODAY, deal with limitations in a year or two. Lesser GPU = dealing with limitations today. To me that is a nobrainer

Also when you look at low/mid range GPUs, that 50% less is entering the territory of 'stutter, unstable FPS', you don't want to be there, you want to have some room to breathe at reasonable settings.

 

[Dovah88]

What games do you currently play and what games might you buy in the future? also what res do you play at? You should always go with the faastest you can afford so you can future proof yourself more.

MSI and Gigabyte charge more because of extra warranty.

If you look on gumtree u can find gtx 1050 ti as low as $110

Well the games that I currently play are some classic like Titan quest and some older but remastered rts style ones along with Shogun 2 and Rome 2 probably being the heaviest games I play, (Rome 2 currently running on low with my old 6670 1gb ddr3). With my previous 1050ti I could run it at very high quite well, but what I'm looking for is to play the games I have at 1080p and on ultra settings nothing more. I'm sure the older classic I play won't require such a thing.

Used 960: DO NOT. The 960 is a piece of crap
1050ti: Meh. Its the budget route, with budget gaming experience, you get what u pay for. I don't view this as a real gaming card TBH. It'll do simple well optimized, older games well. The rest, not so much.
1060 3GB: best balance with your rig if you want NEW, but 3GB is going to be a limitation moving forward.
Used 980: probably biggest bang/buck, best experience for the money (yes, might be better than 1060 3GB)
Used 980ti: if spotted at/around 300, don't think twice.

Keep in mind: if you save money today, you will be pushing yourself to a new GPU upgrade faster. Bottom line: better GPU = better experience TODAY, deal with limitations in a year or two. Lesser GPU = dealing with limitations today. To me that is a nobrainer

Also when you look at low/mid range GPUs, that 50% less is entering the territory of 'stutter, unstable FPS', you don't want to be there, you want to have some room to breathe at reasonable settings.

Yeah I guess it's something to consider with my current setup, not that'll I'll be upgrading anytime soon. So a 1060 would be more worthwhile and my system? As I said i'm fairly casual, so it's either I go for the 1050ti at $195 and perhaps upgrade it in 6-8 months when the others may be a bit cheaper or I just go for the 1060 at $299 and not worry about it again. What do you guys think? Is that 1060 going to be worthwhile for what I play? Will it handle those more heavier games like Rome 2 and Shogun 2?

 

[Vayra86]

Well the games that I currently play are some classic like Titan quest and some older but remastered rts style ones along with Shogun 2 and Rome 2 probably being the heaviest games I play, (Rome 2 currently running on low with my old 6670 1gb ddr3). With my previous 1050ti I could run it at very high quite well, but what I'm looking for is to play the games I have at 1080p and on ultra settings nothing more. I'm sure the older classic I play won't require such a thing.


Yeah I guess it's something to consider with my current setup, not that'll I'll be upgrading anytime soon. So a 1060 would be more worthwhile and my system? As I said i'm fairly casual, so it's either I go for the 1050ti at $195 and perhaps upgrade it in 6-8 months when the others may be a bit cheaper or I just go for the 1060 at $299 and not worry about it again. What do you guys think? Is that 1060 going to be worthwhile for what I play? Will it handle those more heavier games like Rome 2 and Shogun 2?

Buy a card that lasts you 1,5-2 years, instead of 6 months. Its similar to buying cars in that sense, once youve left the showroom, it drops sharply in resale value so might as well drive it for a good while.

You will never recoup the 100 dollar price gap if you sell the 1050ti so fast, this is another reason to buy a nicer GPU, it will have value next year still, while 1050ti is gonna be a hard sell.

 

[Dovah88]

Buy a card that lasts you 1,5-2 years, instead of 6 months. Its similar to buying cars in that sense, once youve left the showroom, it drops sharply in resale value so might as well drive it for a good while.

You will never recoup the 100 dollar price gap if you sell the 1050ti so fast, this is another reason to buy a nicer GPU, it will have value next year still, while 1050ti is gonna be a hard sell.

Alright well I've had a think about it all, and to be honest I don't the the 1060 at $299 will justify what I'm going to use it for. I'm just looking to decent 1080p performance for some older classic games and something that will be a significant upgrade over my old 6670 ddr3. I was going to grab a 1050ti but there price in AUD has soared from $195 to $220. Instead I have been looking at some other cards such as the 950 strix at $139 or the rx 550 at $125 or even the rx 460 at $90. Out of the three, which is the better value and performance.

 

[jboydgolfer]

A friend wants to sell his gtx Asus 4GB 970 mini for $250. Is that a good deal?

Sorry I replied so late, hopefully another knowledgeable person already did. In my opinion $250 for a 3+-year-old video card is a tad much specially if it's a mini version. Keep in mind it's not low profile it's going to just be shorter with less heat sink. In my humble opinion, a GTX 970 in spectacular condition would be worth around $150 to a buyer who really wanted it. Your friend is atleast $100 over estimating the value of that 970 on the used component market

 

[Vayra86]

Alright well I've had a think about it all, and to be honest I don't the the 1060 at $299 will justify what I'm going to use it for. I'm just looking to decent 1080p performance for some older classic games and something that will be a significant upgrade over my old 6670 ddr3. I was going to grab a 1050ti but there price in AUD has soared from $195 to $220. Instead I have been looking at some other cards such as the 950 strix at $139 or the rx 550 at $125 or even the rx 460 at $90. Out of the three, which is the better value and performance.

Hard to say, but I doubt either of the three is going to make you a happy camper in the mid-long term. But if you really don't want to go further: RX 460 hands down, it has 4GB VRAM, and reasonable core count, decent balance. Avoid the RX 550, it is notoriously crap.

Some random benches to underline the RX550 is crap (take note of the 11 fps on The Division, which is a very well optimized game on a modern engine that really punishes a GPU, pushes all buttons).
https://nl.hardware.info/reviews/74...je-benchmarks-dx12nbattlefield-1-+-frametimes
https://nl.hardware.info/reviews/74...w-nieuw-instapkaartje-benchmarks-the-division

Note also how the 1060 6GB pushes TWICE the amount of frames at just about twice the price: that alone proves it is very much worthwhile. As detail level goes up, it does not fall below 60 fps while the alternatives do. I think this should give you a fair basis of info to make your choice, but an RX460 at $90 isn't too bad of a deal.

 

[Dovah88]

Hard to say, but I doubt either of the three is going to make you a happy camper in the mid-long term. But if you really don't want to go further: RX 460 hands down, it has 4GB VRAM, and reasonable core count, decent balance. Avoid the RX 550, it is notoriously crap.

Some random benches to underline the RX550 is crap (take note of the 11 fps on The Division, which is a very well optimized game on a modern engine that really punishes a GPU, pushes all buttons).
https://nl.hardware.info/reviews/74...je-benchmarks-dx12nbattlefield-1-+-frametimes
https://nl.hardware.info/reviews/74...w-nieuw-instapkaartje-benchmarks-the-division

Note also how the 1060 6GB pushes TWICE the amount of frames at just about twice the price: that alone proves it is very much worthwhile. As detail level goes up, it does not fall below 60 fps while the alternatives do. I think this should give you a fair basis of info to make your choice, but an RX460 at $90 isn't too bad of a deal.

Alright thanks for the help! The 460 is the 2gb one but seems decent, should it matter?

 

[Deleted member 67555]

I have an EVGA 1060 3gb SC and have it overclocked a bit more than it came and it struggles on some games now...
Nothing bad but on some games @1080p I have to switch from ultra to high and reduce some of the eye candy...
I understand you're playing older games and you are a casual gamer but I'd still go for the 1060....

 

[Liviu Cojocaru]

For the games you play I would say that 460 for 90$ is a nice deal, of course if it is in a good condition. If you want to be a bit more future proof you should go for a better card like a 1060. It's all down to your choice of what you want to do