In the market for a GPU upgrade, advice?

[Damage Inc]

Currently have a GTX1660 and have a budget of around 400, looking at this:
RTX3060 . I'm not interested in anything above 1080p, sounds like it can do 1080p ultra settings over 60 fps.

 

[Emery]

Currently have a GTX1660 and have a budget of around 400, looking at this:
RTX3060 . I'm not interested in anything above 1080p, sounds like it can do 1080p ultra settings over 60 fps.

Ultra settings in which games?

In any case, the RTX3060, RTX2070, & Radeon 5700XT are all in the same ballpark for fps, but the 3060 has an edge in VRAM (12GB vs 8GB for the other two), so I think you're on the right track as VRAM usage will only continue to grow with future games.

 

[Novopaine]

Currently have a GTX1660 and have a budget of around 400, looking at this:
RTX3060 . I'm not interested in anything above 1080p, sounds like it can do 1080p ultra settings over 60 fps.

400 in which currency?

 

[Neilski]

Currently have a GTX1660 and have a budget of around 400, looking at this:
RTX3060 . I'm not interested in anything above 1080p, sounds like it can do 1080p ultra settings over 60 fps.

Your link is showing as £350 right now. Did you consider the 3060 Ti? The cheapest one at Ebuyer is currently £410, just a whisker outside your nominal limit, and my understanding is that it's a better value proposition (given those relative prices). NB: I don't own either card, and that is still too much money for me to fork over for a card so I'm holding fire on my own upgrade.

 

[Novopaine]

If AMD is a consideration for you:

I have an RX5700XT and is more than capable on a single 1440p screen with modest quality settings. At 1080p (single screen) it would be a walk in the park. I have mine doing 1440p triples at lower quality settings, so even triple 1080p should be doable. Unfortunately I don't recommend it unless you're getting a super wicked deal. The 5700xt has some hardware issues, while mostly worked out in the drivers, is still not 100% perfect. The 6600XT or 6650XT is about the same performance and doesn't suffer the issues the 5700xt had.

An RX6600 non-xt might even work well, but please stay away from the 6500. That card should have never existed. lol

 

[Damage Inc]

Ultra settings in which games?

In any case, the RTX3060, RTX2070, & Radeon 5700XT are all in the same ballpark for fps, but the 3060 has an edge in VRAM (12GB vs 8GB for the other two), so I think you're on the right track as VRAM usage will only continue to grow with future games.

I was just going by this article regarding ultra: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html I know it's just a guide but should be reasonably accurate. Yup I was also looking at the 3070s but only 8gb Vram.

 

[Damage Inc]

400 in which currency?

If AMD is a consideration for you:

I have an RX5700XT and is more than capable on a single 1440p screen with modest quality settings. At 1080p (single screen) it would be a walk in the park. I have mine doing 1440p triples at lower quality settings, so even triple 1080p should be doable. Unfortunately I don't recommend it unless you're getting a super wicked deal. The 5700xt has some hardware issues, while mostly worked out in the drivers, is still not 100% perfect. The 6600XT or 6650XT is about the same performance and doesn't suffer the issues the 5700xt had.

An RX6600 non-xt might even work well, but please stay away from the 6500. That card should have never existed. lol

Sorry forgot the £ symbol! UK.

Yup thought about AMD (got a Ryzen 3700 CPU), I know the cost/performance is excellent, but I read SO many comments about drivers issues with AMD GPUs and certain games (I don't just play Simulations, I play everything apart from Platformers). I'm wary.

Also I've never had issues with Nvidia cards and had a LOT of them!

 

[Damage Inc]

Your link is showing as £350 right now. Did you consider the 3060 Ti? The cheapest one at Ebuyer is currently £410, just a whisker outside your nominal limit, and my understanding is that it's a better value proposition (given those relative prices). NB: I don't own either card, and that is still too much money for me to fork over for a card so I'm holding fire on my own upgrade.

I missed that Ti, will have to figure out how to stretch that extra (£400 was already pushing things to the max). But I see it's only got 8gb Vram, how much of an issue will that be? Then again isn't Vram more important for resolutions over 1080?

 

[Novopaine]

Sorry forgot the £ symbol! UK.

Yup thought about AMD (got a Ryzen 3700 CPU), I know the cost/performance is excellent, but I read SO many comments about drivers issues with AMD GPUs and certain games (I don't just play Simulations, I play everything apart from Platformers). I'm wary.

Also I've never had issues with Nvidia cards and had a LOT of them!

I've had a plenty of AMD GPUs over the years. The only card that truly got under my skin was the 5700xt. I also have a 6700xt in the PC I'm typing on right now and it's been trouble free since I bought it in May.

I remember GTA IV used to crash to the desktop from time to time on my old HD7870. It was the only game that gave me an issue. Back in 2017 a friend gave me an extended loan on his spare nvidia GTX770 to test out with my Oculus Rift. I decided to try it out on GTA IV. Spoiler... the GTX card also crashed in that game! Had I not tried that nvidia card I would have assumed it was an AMD issue. These are the stories no one tells you about.

 

[Emery]

I was just going by this article regarding ultra: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html I know it's just a guide but should be reasonably accurate. Yup I was also looking at the 3070s but only 8gb Vram.

Tom's Hardware jives with TechPowerUp as to the hierarchy, so it really comes down to whether you want/need more fps vs. VRAM for what you intend to play now and in the future. We know VRAM usage will grow and when you lack that, it's game over instead of "oh I'm suffering mildly low fps" with a new game that's inefficient (e.g. ACC). But if you can't get the desired fps NOW, for the current games, then VRAM doesn't matter so much.

 

[Neilski]

But I see it's only got 8gb Vram, how much of an issue will that be? Then again isn't Vram more important for resolutions over 1080?

Yeah I believe 1080p should be fine with 8 GB, but I'm no expert on that (since I'm still managing sort-of OK on a card with only 3.5 GB of VRAM ). If other replies don't reassure you then a bit of googling should quickly answer whether extra RAM really matters at 1080p for any of the games you care about. (I'd be shocked if it does.)

 

[Damage Inc]

Cheers for the replies lads, looks like Vram is indeed not such a factor for 1080p, I heavily doubt I'll ever bother with 1440p let alone 4k (been gaming since early 80 (pixel-tastic!), jaggies don't bother me much!). But it's a niggle for longetivity as this card will have to last me a good 3-4 at the least.