970 vs 1060 6GB - Worth the money?

[Geebuz]

TL;DR I'm on a tight budget. Need a better GPU than my GTX 970 and am simply wondering how much of a difference in performance I'd expect to get if I upgrade to a GTX 1060 6GB. I am not looking for "Save up and buy a GTX 1070 instead" or something similar, as that's not what I'm asking. So please keep that in mind.

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A while ago I decided to pick up an Upgrade Kit containing a Z170-A MoBo, Intel i7 6700K @ 4.0GHz and 2x8GB Corsair Vengeance 2133 MHz.

I noticed a significant increase in performance from my CPS, going from and AMD FX-8320 OC @ 4.1 GHz.

I am a gamer, but I'm also a streamer, which is why I went for the i7 instead of the i5. So that's out of the way.

The thoughts now start spiraling to my GPU, as I feel that it's bottlenecking my system somewhat. Both in CPU and GPU hungry games. World of Warcraft, GTA 5, Overwatch etc.

So I'm thinking of upgrading my GPU slightly. I'm on a rather thin budget so I'm just curious if anyone here has made an upgrade like this recently, and could possibly give me some feedback.

I've looked into the 1050Ti and realized that the 970 has the edge in that battle. So I started looking in the next tier, the 1060 6GB. No brand yet.

How big of a performance bump would such an upgrade make? What can I expect if I were to actually go out and buy myself a new GTX 1060 6GB?

 

[xFeaRDom]

You wouldn't notice any difference at all basically, maybe here and there but nothing that you wont be disappointed at.

Not sure why you're wanting to upgrade your GTX 970, as it can still run most games at maximum settings on 1080p.

You wouldn't notice a great difference unless you upgrade to a GTX 1080, in which case, unless you're running 1440p or 4K then you would be wasting your money.

 

[Geebuz]

You wouldn't notice any difference at all basically, maybe here and there but nothing that you wont be disappointed at.

Not sure why you're wanting to upgrade your GTX 970, as it can still run most games at maximum settings on 1080p.

You wouldn't notice a great difference unless you upgrade to a GTX 1080, in which case, unless you're running 1440p or 4K then you would be wasting your money.

Really? I mean, I'd get 2.5GB more VRAM, a higher clock speed. ~1600MHz stock and ~1800 Boost. My current card runs at 3.5GB @ ~1300 stock and ~1500 Boost Clock. I'm unable to run GTA 5 on higher than Medium/High. Could it be a faulty GPU? My temps never exceed 60 C either.. Wierd..

EDIT: And yes, it is connected to a PCI-E x16 physical slot. No difference if I put it in the PCI-E x8 physical slot.

 

[xFeaRDom]

Take a look at this: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gpu-hierarchy,review-33383.html

And running at medium/high settings is unusual.

Could you run at maximum settings beforehand? If not, have you got the updated GPU Drivers.

I have to admit, after applying an overclock, I might have damaged the card a bit, or its my motherboard messing up, as it is kind of faulty anyway. I had to reseat the GPU for it to work correctly, now I just leave it alone and it runs fine.

Try updating the and if not, reseat the GPU a couple of times, do some benchmarks and test it on games. You're running 1080p too, right?

 

[Geebuz]

Take a look at this: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gpu-hierarchy,review-33383.html

And running at medium/high settings is unusual.

Could you run at maximum settings beforehand? If not, have you got the updated GPU Drivers.

I have to admit, after applying an overclock, I might have damaged the card a bit, or its my motherboard messing up, as it is kind of faulty anyway. I had to reseat the GPU for it to work correctly, now I just leave it alone and it runs fine.

Try updating the and if not, reseat the GPU a couple of times, do some benchmarks and test it on games. You're running 1080p too, right?

Will do some testing and get back to you! By resetting, you mean just removing any overclock? The card is overclocked from the factory. It's an EVGA 970 AC2+ FTW or w/e.. Don't have the box handy..

 

[xFeaRDom]

Take a look at this: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gpu-hierarchy,review-33383.html

And running at medium/high settings is unusual.

Could you run at maximum settings beforehand? If not, have you got the updated GPU Drivers.

I have to admit, after applying an overclock, I might have damaged the card a bit, or its my motherboard messing up, as it is kind of faulty anyway. I had to reseat the GPU for it to work correctly, now I just leave it alone and it runs fine.

Try updating the and if not, reseat the GPU a couple of times, do some benchmarks and test it on games. You're running 1080p too, right?

Will do some testing and get back to you! By resetting, you mean just removing any overclock? The card is overclocked from the factory. It's an EVGA 970 AC2+ FTW or w/e.. Don't have the box handy..

You misread it, I said reseating, which is taking it out of your motherboard and putting it back in again after.

I'll do it in quick simple steps:
Unplug your PSU (After you turned your computer off, obviously )
Press the power button to drain any power
Press the lever/pull the latch on the PCIe lane and remove the GPU by GENTLY tugging/wiggling it (Don't pull it as that is where damage occurs)
You can leave it a few minutes if you like, or you can insert it straight away into the motherboard.
Reconnect the power cable, and boot.

If done correctly it will work. I can get a better guide if you wish.

 

[xFeaRDom]

Take a look at this: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gpu-hierarchy,review-33383.html

And running at medium/high settings is unusual.

Could you run at maximum settings beforehand? If not, have you got the updated GPU Drivers.

I have to admit, after applying an overclock, I might have damaged the card a bit, or its my motherboard messing up, as it is kind of faulty anyway. I had to reseat the GPU for it to work correctly, now I just leave it alone and it runs fine.

Try updating the and if not, reseat the GPU a couple of times, do some benchmarks and test it on games. You're running 1080p too, right?

Will do some testing and get back to you! By resetting, you mean just removing any overclock? The card is overclocked from the factory. It's an EVGA 970 AC2+ FTW or w/e.. Don't have the box handy..

You misread it, I said reseating, which is taking it out of your motherboard and putting it back in again after.

I'll do it in quick simple steps:
Unplug your PSU (After you turned your computer off, obviously )
Press the power button to drain any power
Press the lever/pull the latch on the PCIe lane and remove the GPU by GENTLY tugging/wiggling it (Don't pull it as that is where damage occurs)
You can leave it a few minutes if you like, or you can insert it straight away into the motherboard.
Reconnect the power cable, and boot.

If done correctly it will work. I can get a better guide if you wish.

 

[rcald2000]

+Geebuz I owned the MSI GTX 970 4G Gaming card 16 months ago, and I own the EVGA GTX 1060 SC Gaming 6 GB now; I don't think you will notice a difference. I've heard that a GTX 1060 in 1080p gaming is equivalent to a GTX 970 (overclocked) or a GTX 980 (stock).

My recommendation: Stick with the GTX 970 and upgrade in the future to a GTX 1070 or GTX 1080 TI. For now, overclock your i7-6700K. That is what I would do. WoW and Overwatch shouldn't currently be a problem; Overwatch is so well programmed. But GTA V is only moderately optimized, so even a GTX 1070 isn't going to deliver optimal FPS figures in certain parts of the map.

Question: What is your monitor's manufacturer and model #? I'm curious if it's 1080p 60 Hz or 144 Hz. If 60 Hz, then any performance improvement will probably go unnoticed except in GTA V, which probably doesn't achieve 60 FPS in 1080p with max settings.

 

[Geebuz]

+Geebuz I owned the MSI GTX 970 4G Gaming card 16 months ago, and I own the EVGA GTX 1060 SC Gaming 6 GB now; I don't think you will notice a difference. I've heard that a GTX 1060 in 1080p gaming is equivalent to a GTX 970 (overclocked) or a GTX 980 (stock).

My recommendation: Stick with the GTX 970 and upgrade in the future to a GTX 1070 or GTX 1080 TI. For now, overclock your i7-6700K. That is what I would do. WoW and Overwatch shouldn't currently be a problem; Overwatch is so well programmed. But GTA V is only moderately optimized, so even a GTX 1070 isn't going to deliver optimal FPS figures in certain parts of the map.

Question: What is your monitor's manufacturer and model #? I'm curious if it's 1080p 60 Hz or 144 Hz. If 60 Hz, then any performance improvement will probably go unnoticed except in GTA V, which probably doesn't achieve 60 FPS in 1080p with max settings.

The problem I'm facing, especially regarding GTA 5 is that as soon as I start to chew into that last .5 GB of VRAM, the game slows down tremendously. Staying below the 3500 MB mark, even at 3000-3200 I get an average FPS of 45-50. Lowest points giving me around the 15-20s and peaking around 70. Vsync turned off.

I'm running 3x BenQ GW2470 monitors, only having the middle monitor actively displaying any games. (No surround taking place)
They're advertised as 60Hz.

 

[xFeaRDom]

+Geebuz I owned the MSI GTX 970 4G Gaming card 16 months ago, and I own the EVGA GTX 1060 SC Gaming 6 GB now; I don't think you will notice a difference. I've heard that a GTX 1060 in 1080p gaming is equivalent to a GTX 970 (overclocked) or a GTX 980 (stock).

My recommendation: Stick with the GTX 970 and upgrade in the future to a GTX 1070 or GTX 1080 TI. For now, overclock your i7-6700K. That is what I would do. WoW and Overwatch shouldn't currently be a problem; Overwatch is so well programmed. But GTA V is only moderately optimized, so even a GTX 1070 isn't going to deliver optimal FPS figures in certain parts of the map.

Question: What is your monitor's manufacturer and model #? I'm curious if it's 1080p 60 Hz or 144 Hz. If 60 Hz, then any performance improvement will probably go unnoticed except in GTA V, which probably doesn't achieve 60 FPS in 1080p with max settings.

The problem I'm facing, especially regarding GTA 5 is that as soon as I start to chew into that last .5 GB of VRAM, the game slows down tremendously. Staying below the 3500 MB mark, even at 3000-3200 I get an average FPS of 45-50. Lowest points giving me around the 15-20s and peaking around 70. Vsync turned off.

I'm running 3x BenQ GW2470 monitors, only having the middle monitor actively displaying any games. (No surround taking place)
They're advertised as 60Hz.

You do realise the GTX 970 only has 3.5GB of VRAM, right? It is some sort of error in the manufacturing of the GTX 970, try lowering the settings to get below the 3.5GB stage and you should be fine.

I can run most games on maximum settings, well, for now, all of them that I have tried.

 

[Geebuz]

Take a look at this: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gpu-hierarchy,review-33383.html

And running at medium/high settings is unusual.

Could you run at maximum settings beforehand? If not, have you got the updated GPU Drivers.

I have to admit, after applying an overclock, I might have damaged the card a bit, or its my motherboard messing up, as it is kind of faulty anyway. I had to reseat the GPU for it to work correctly, now I just leave it alone and it runs fine.

Try updating the and if not, reseat the GPU a couple of times, do some benchmarks and test it on games. You're running 1080p too, right?

Will do some testing and get back to you! By resetting, you mean just removing any overclock? The card is overclocked from the factory. It's an EVGA 970 AC2+ FTW or w/e.. Don't have the box handy..

You misread it, I said reseating, which is taking it out of your motherboard and putting it back in again after.

I'll do it in quick simple steps:
Unplug your PSU (After you turned your computer off, obviously )
Press the power button to drain any power
Press the lever/pull the latch on the PCIe lane and remove the GPU by GENTLY tugging/wiggling it (Don't pull it as that is where damage occurs)
You can leave it a few minutes if you like, or you can insert it straight away into the motherboard.
Reconnect the power cable, and boot.

If done correctly it will work. I can get a better guide if you wish.

Yeah, just realize. Reset, reseat. Different things.. ;P

I've done all this numerous times. First time was about a year ago, as I noticed temperatures reaching high 60's low 70s in idle. The cause was a very small amount of cooling compound. I replaced it and it's now idling at ~35-40 C with no fans spinning and around 25-30 C with fan speeds set to 30% minimum, using MSI afterburner.

I've also moved the GPU around, trying to get different results in the different slots. PCI-E x16 and PCI-E x8

No further OC has been applied by me, seeing as the card runs pretty dang overclocked from EVGA already. I dare not to crank it up any further.

 

[RobCrezz]

+Geebuz I owned the MSI GTX 970 4G Gaming card 16 months ago, and I own the EVGA GTX 1060 SC Gaming 6 GB now; I don't think you will notice a difference. I've heard that a GTX 1060 in 1080p gaming is equivalent to a GTX 970 (overclocked) or a GTX 980 (stock).

My recommendation: Stick with the GTX 970 and upgrade in the future to a GTX 1070 or GTX 1080 TI. For now, overclock your i7-6700K. That is what I would do. WoW and Overwatch shouldn't currently be a problem; Overwatch is so well programmed. But GTA V is only moderately optimized, so even a GTX 1070 isn't going to deliver optimal FPS figures in certain parts of the map.

Question: What is your monitor's manufacturer and model #? I'm curious if it's 1080p 60 Hz or 144 Hz. If 60 Hz, then any performance improvement will probably go unnoticed except in GTA V, which probably doesn't achieve 60 FPS in 1080p with max settings.

The problem I'm facing, especially regarding GTA 5 is that as soon as I start to chew into that last .5 GB of VRAM, the game slows down tremendously. Staying below the 3500 MB mark, even at 3000-3200 I get an average FPS of 45-50. Lowest points giving me around the 15-20s and peaking around 70. Vsync turned off.

I'm running 3x BenQ GW2470 monitors, only having the middle monitor actively displaying any games. (No surround taking place)
They're advertised as 60Hz.

You do realise the GTX 970 only has 3.5GB of VRAM, right? It is some sort of error in the manufacturing of the GTX 970, try lowering the settings to get below the 3.5GB stage and you should be fine.

I can run most games on maximum settings, well, for now, all of them that I have tried.

Not really true. It does have 4gb, its just 0.5 of it runs at a lower speed.

 

[xFeaRDom]

Take a look at this: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gpu-hierarchy,review-33383.html

And running at medium/high settings is unusual.

Could you run at maximum settings beforehand? If not, have you got the updated GPU Drivers.

I have to admit, after applying an overclock, I might have damaged the card a bit, or its my motherboard messing up, as it is kind of faulty anyway. I had to reseat the GPU for it to work correctly, now I just leave it alone and it runs fine.

Try updating the and if not, reseat the GPU a couple of times, do some benchmarks and test it on games. You're running 1080p too, right?

Will do some testing and get back to you! By resetting, you mean just removing any overclock? The card is overclocked from the factory. It's an EVGA 970 AC2+ FTW or w/e.. Don't have the box handy..

You misread it, I said reseating, which is taking it out of your motherboard and putting it back in again after.

I'll do it in quick simple steps:
Unplug your PSU (After you turned your computer off, obviously )
Press the power button to drain any power
Press the lever/pull the latch on the PCIe lane and remove the GPU by GENTLY tugging/wiggling it (Don't pull it as that is where damage occurs)
You can leave it a few minutes if you like, or you can insert it straight away into the motherboard.
Reconnect the power cable, and boot.

If done correctly it will work. I can get a better guide if you wish.

Yeah, just realize. Reset, reseat. Different things.. ;P

I've done all this numerous times. First time was about a year ago, as I noticed temperatures reaching high 60's low 70s in idle. The cause was a very small amount of cooling compound. I replaced it and it's now idling at ~35-40 C with no fans spinning and around 25-30 C with fan speeds set to 30% minimum, using MSI afterburner.

I've also moved the GPU around, trying to get different results in the different slots. PCI-E x16 and PCI-E x8

No further OC has been applied by me, seeing as the card runs pretty dang overclocked from EVGA already. I dare not to crank it up any further.

Oh, right.

Have you got a friends PC or another PC to test this card in? As it could be an issue with your PC on its own, might not be the issue but its worth a try.

 

[xFeaRDom]

+Geebuz I owned the MSI GTX 970 4G Gaming card 16 months ago, and I own the EVGA GTX 1060 SC Gaming 6 GB now; I don't think you will notice a difference. I've heard that a GTX 1060 in 1080p gaming is equivalent to a GTX 970 (overclocked) or a GTX 980 (stock).

My recommendation: Stick with the GTX 970 and upgrade in the future to a GTX 1070 or GTX 1080 TI. For now, overclock your i7-6700K. That is what I would do. WoW and Overwatch shouldn't currently be a problem; Overwatch is so well programmed. But GTA V is only moderately optimized, so even a GTX 1070 isn't going to deliver optimal FPS figures in certain parts of the map.

Question: What is your monitor's manufacturer and model #? I'm curious if it's 1080p 60 Hz or 144 Hz. If 60 Hz, then any performance improvement will probably go unnoticed except in GTA V, which probably doesn't achieve 60 FPS in 1080p with max settings.

The problem I'm facing, especially regarding GTA 5 is that as soon as I start to chew into that last .5 GB of VRAM, the game slows down tremendously. Staying below the 3500 MB mark, even at 3000-3200 I get an average FPS of 45-50. Lowest points giving me around the 15-20s and peaking around 70. Vsync turned off.

I'm running 3x BenQ GW2470 monitors, only having the middle monitor actively displaying any games. (No surround taking place)
They're advertised as 60Hz.

You do realise the GTX 970 only has 3.5GB of VRAM, right? It is some sort of error in the manufacturing of the GTX 970, try lowering the settings to get below the 3.5GB stage and you should be fine.

I can run most games on maximum settings, well, for now, all of them that I have tried.

Not really true. It does have 4gb, its just 0.5 of it runs at a lower speed.

Oh right, my bad. I just thought it had 3.5GB since in programs like GPU-Z, that is all that shows up.

 

[Geebuz]

+Geebuz I owned the MSI GTX 970 4G Gaming card 16 months ago, and I own the EVGA GTX 1060 SC Gaming 6 GB now; I don't think you will notice a difference. I've heard that a GTX 1060 in 1080p gaming is equivalent to a GTX 970 (overclocked) or a GTX 980 (stock).

My recommendation: Stick with the GTX 970 and upgrade in the future to a GTX 1070 or GTX 1080 TI. For now, overclock your i7-6700K. That is what I would do. WoW and Overwatch shouldn't currently be a problem; Overwatch is so well programmed. But GTA V is only moderately optimized, so even a GTX 1070 isn't going to deliver optimal FPS figures in certain parts of the map.

Question: What is your monitor's manufacturer and model #? I'm curious if it's 1080p 60 Hz or 144 Hz. If 60 Hz, then any performance improvement will probably go unnoticed except in GTA V, which probably doesn't achieve 60 FPS in 1080p with max settings.

The problem I'm facing, especially regarding GTA 5 is that as soon as I start to chew into that last .5 GB of VRAM, the game slows down tremendously. Staying below the 3500 MB mark, even at 3000-3200 I get an average FPS of 45-50. Lowest points giving me around the 15-20s and peaking around 70. Vsync turned off.

I'm running 3x BenQ GW2470 monitors, only having the middle monitor actively displaying any games. (No surround taking place)
They're advertised as 60Hz.

You do realise the GTX 970 only has 3.5GB of VRAM, right? It is some sort of error in the manufacturing of the GTX 970, try lowering the settings to get below the 3.5GB stage and you should be fine.

I can run most games on maximum settings, well, for now, all of them that I have tried.

Not really true. It does have 4gb, its just 0.5 of it runs at a lower speed.

I know, that's what I meant by "chew into that last .5 GB of VRAM" =)

 

[Geebuz]

Thank you all for your feedback!

I guess the conclusion is that the only way to see any form of significant performance increase is to go for a 1080 or a 1070 SLI setup. Was afraid of this. Oh well. Guess I'm stuck with my 970 for a bit longer! =D

EDIT: How do I mark this thread as "Solved"? Or do I just simply let it fade out into the sea of similar issues?

 

[xFeaRDom]

Thank you all for your feedback!

I guess the conclusion is that the only way to see any form of significant performance increase is to go for a 1080 or a 1070 SLI setup. Was afraid of this. Oh well. Guess I'm stuck with my 970 for a bit longer! =D

A little tip, you could probably overclock your GPU a little more, the clock speeds should be fine, try boosting the memory up a bit, that seemed to help a little bit with mine, and it does make a noticable difference in game.

Try boosting it up 300MHz or so, if you do it gradually you will not damage your card. You could probably boost it up 50MHz a go, or start off at 100MHz if you wish but it is risky.

I think I got a +800MHz on my VRAM on my 970, which might be why I have great performance with it.

You may need to increase the voltage, but I doubt that you will.

 

[dudeman509]

My brother has a i7 (SB-E) paired with a factory OC'ed GTX 1060; I have an oc'ed FX-8320 paired with a factory OC'ed GTX 970.

In modern games, there's aboot a 5-10% difference in FPS between the systems (Tomb Raider being the biggest gap, which overwhelms my 1070). Not worth the $ IMO.