1050 TI Vs. 1060 3GB Edition?

[Morad Tamer]

Hi everybody
I currently have a GTX 950 and I want to upgrade (I am going to play DOOM if that matters) so as the title says which card is better for me
My concern is the the 3 GBs of VRAM in the 1060 might be insufficient bit please correct me if I am wrong
Also if there is a better choice for me (I am considering the 960 as well)
But I don't want AMD GPUs (nVidia Fanboy) because I really want that ANSEL and I do really like their new Geforce experience 3.0

 

[mcconkeymike]

I would go with the 1060 6gb if you can afford it. If not I would definitely take the 1060 3gb over the 1050 ti any day. There is a pretty good difference in performance between the 1050 ti and the 1060 3gb and unless you plan on upgrading GPUs fairly often, then I would go with the most powerful that you can afford. Another question is what is the rest of the system that you'll be running? What CPU, mobo, CPU cooler, RAM, and what model and size PSU?

 

[Morad Tamer]

I would go with the 1060 6gb if you can afford it. If not I would definitely take the 1060 3gb over the 1050 ti any day. There is a pretty good difference in performance between the 1050 ti and the 1060 3gb and unless you plan on upgrading GPUs fairly often, then I would go with the most powerful that you can afford. Another question is what is the rest of the system that you'll be running? What CPU, mobo, CPU cooler, RAM, and what model and size PSU?

I have a Core i5 4460 with 12 GBs of DDR3 Ram and my PSU is the Cooler Master Elite 500 Watt in only has a single 6 pin PCI-E connector

 

[SVstorm]

I would stay away from any card with less then 4gb VRAM and 4gb is just cutting it now with newer games. But I will say that Doom is very optimized and runs really well. If possible I would save up for the 1060 6gb version if you can.

 

[Morad Tamer]

I would stay away from any card with less then 4gb VRAM and 4gb is just cutting it now with newer games. But I will say that Doom is very optimized and runs really well. If possible I would save up for the 1060 6gb version if you can.

No unfortunately I can't afford a 1060 6 GBs Edition any time soon

 

[Solandri]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units#GeForce_10_series

The 3GB 1060 is a 50% step up from the 1050 Ti in terms of number of processing units, and has a higher base clock speed.

The 6GB 1060 is a 11% step up from the 3GB 1060 in terms of processing units.

If you're running 1080p (which you probably are if you're not getting a 1070 or 1080), 3GB VRAM should be plenty. The vast majority of VRAM is used for textures.

• 
  ■ A 4k texture with MIP maps takes up about 85 MB of VRAM
  ■ A 2k texture with MIP maps takes up about 21 MB of VRAM
  ■ A 1k texture with MIP maps takes up about 5.3 MB of VRAM
  ■ A 512x512 texture with MIP maps takes up about 1.3 MB of VRAM

So:

• 
  ■ 36 4k textures fit in 3GB of VRAM
  ■ 144 2k textures fit in 3GB of VRAM
  ■ 578 1k textures fit in 3GB of VRAM
  ■ 2340 512x512 textures fit in 3GB of VRAM

The capacities are (obviously) doubled for 6GB of VRAM. So even 6GB will only hold 72 4k textures. Using that as a benchmark target for number of textures, 3GB is more than enough for 2k textures, and complete overkill for 1k or 512x512 textures. I've got a 970m with 3GB that I run at 1080p, and the only time I come close to hitting my VRAM limit is in Skyrim with 200+ mods including a ton of 2k textures. And really, at 1080p, the 2k textures are only worth it on landscape objects. Everything else is too small for you to tell the difference between 2k and 1k in the game.

tl;dr - 3GB VRAM is plenty for this level of GPU. Definitely get the 3GB 1060 over the 1050 Ti. Get the 6GB 1060 if you want 10%-15% better performance than the 3GB 1060.

 

[DRagor]

3gb is a little bottleneck in some games. For example, in witcher 3, 1050 ti outperforms 1060 3gb according to CD Action magazine tests. So it all depends on what you wanna play. Personally I would buy cheap 1050 ti since it's cheaper and save the difference towards future GPU update.

 

[Morad Tamer]

Hello again
If I would get a 1050 TI which of these is better since they are the only available models (The GIGABITE one was going to be my straight g to if only it wasn't out of stock everywhere)
The ASUS Expedition GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC Edition

 

[Bojan Davidovic]

There is plenty of evidence that 3GB card would struck the performance hard once the usage of vram exceeds. Being that said, this is why there is texture customization in every game. So, lower the texture quality and you will be fine. The GTX 1050 TI will fail to deliver the GPU power, no matter if it has more vram. So, Id go with 1060. But, if you werent an nvidia funboy id suggest rx470 and you would be settled fine, just fine.

 

[DRagor]

Hello again
If I would get a 1050 TI which of these is better since they are the only available models (The GIGABITE one was going to be my straight g to if only it wasn't out of stock everywhere)
The ASUS Expedition GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC Edition

Tough choice. I'm a big fan of asus, but then zotac cards have good OC usually. Plus zotac gives 5 year guaranty.

 

[Morad Tamer]

Hello again
If I would get a 1050 TI which of these is better since they are the only available models (The GIGABITE one was going to be my straight g to if only it wasn't out of stock everywhere)
The ASUS Expedition GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC Edition

Tough choice. I'm a big fan of asus, but then zotac cards have good OC usually. Plus zotac gives 5 year guaranty.

I know
I myself would go with the ASUS one but the problem though is that the Zotac one promises better clock speeds 1392 MHz (base) 1506 MHz (boost) Vs. 1290 MHz (base) 1932 MHz (boost) of that of the ASUS
I really don't care about that 5 year warranty that much also