[SOLVED] Deciding which GPU I should get

[okjak808]

Hello everyone on toms forums it’s been a long time since I’ve been here.

I’ve quit pc building awhile ago and decided to come back, it’s just hard to stay away from.

anyways I’ve bought all my parts expect for the GPU of course if you’re curious here’s my specs.

MSI B450i performance AC ITX
r5 2600
Corsair Vengance LPX 2400mhz 16gb Dual Channel ram
Samsung 840 Evo 120gb (old but got it from my friend)
500gb WD black 2.5inch 7200 RPM HDD
Corsair sf600 gold

I’ve found a couple of cards specifically for my build.

RTX 3060TI for 650 dollars
RTX 2080 ti EVGA HYBRID for 800 dollars
RTX 3070TI for 950 dollars

of course I could opt for the 3070TI considering its a good deal at that price range, although I was tempted with the 2080TI hybrid because it’s water cooled with an AIO so it could help with temps in my ITX build.

althoigh the reason why I listed the 3060TI is because of my power supply, some say that even 600w should be quite enough even for 3070TI but i wasn’t too sure which is why I was looking for a GPU that requires less wattage.

so what GPJ should I get would really be a nice help, the 3070TI would be a huge upgrade but wattage is my concern, my cpu is a 65w TDP cpu but when stressed it can use 80 after doing some research, I do know there would be a bit of bottleneck but I’ll upgrade later on.

thank you for reading!

 

[DeanTH23]

We don't know the resolution you want to use.

At 1080p and even 1440p, pairing one of these cards with the 2600 will result in a bottleneck...Not a terrible one but you'll lose some performance.Especially in 1080p.
At 2160p or ultrawide, it doesn't matter.You are going to be full GPU bound.

With these prices, i think the 3060Ti is out of the discussion.
2080Ti or 3070Ti... But go for at least 1440p.
This PSU should be able to handle the parts, but you'are not going to be able to overclock.

 

[Flayed]

Hello everyone on toms forums it’s been a long time since I’ve been here.

I’ve quit pc building awhile ago and decided to come back, it’s just hard to stay away from.

anyways I’ve bought all my parts expect for the GPU of course if you’re curious here’s my specs.

MSI B450i performance AC ITX
r5 2600
Corsair Vengance LPX 2400mhz 16gb Dual Channel ram
Samsung 840 Evo 120gb (old but got it from my friend)
500gb WD black 2.5inch 7200 RPM HDD
Corsair sf600 gold

I’ve found a couple of cards specifically for my build.

RTX 3060TI for 650 dollars
RTX 2080 ti EVGA HYBRID for 800 dollars
RTX 3070TI for 950 dollars

of course I could opt for the 3070TI considering its a good deal at that price range, although I was tempted with the 2080TI hybrid because it’s water cooled with an AIO so it could help with temps in my ITX build.

althoigh the reason why I listed the 3060TI is because of my power supply, some say that even 600w should be quite enough even for 3070TI but i wasn’t too sure which is why I was looking for a GPU that requires less wattage.

so what GPJ should I get would really be a nice help, the 3070TI would be a huge upgrade but wattage is my concern, my cpu is a 65w TDP cpu but when stressed it can use 80 after doing some research, I do know there would be a bit of bottleneck but I’ll upgrade later on.

thank you for reading!

I would be tempted to go for the 3060 ti if those are the only options. It is much closer in performance to the 3070 than the 3070 ti is to the 3080

 

[RTX 2080]

Hello everyone on toms forums it’s been a long time since I’ve been here.

I’ve quit pc building awhile ago and decided to come back, it’s just hard to stay away from.

anyways I’ve bought all my parts expect for the GPU of course if you’re curious here’s my specs.

MSI B450i performance AC ITX
r5 2600
Corsair Vengance LPX 2400mhz 16gb Dual Channel ram
Samsung 840 Evo 120gb (old but got it from my friend)
500gb WD black 2.5inch 7200 RPM HDD
Corsair sf600 gold

I’ve found a couple of cards specifically for my build.

RTX 3060TI for 650 dollars
RTX 2080 ti EVGA HYBRID for 800 dollars
RTX 3070TI for 950 dollars

of course I could opt for the 3070TI considering its a good deal at that price range, although I was tempted with the 2080TI hybrid because it’s water cooled with an AIO so it could help with temps in my ITX build.

althoigh the reason why I listed the 3060TI is because of my power supply, some say that even 600w should be quite enough even for 3070TI but i wasn’t too sure which is why I was looking for a GPU that requires less wattage.

so what GPJ should I get would really be a nice help, the 3070TI would be a huge upgrade but wattage is my concern, my cpu is a 65w TDP cpu but when stressed it can use 80 after doing some research, I do know there would be a bit of bottleneck but I’ll upgrade later on.

thank you for reading!

Why would you pair such an inexpensive two generation old CPU with such good GPUs? It's like you're asking to be CPU limited.

That RAM will also slow you down; 2 x 8 GB is a good choice, but the 2400 MHz speed will make your already underwhelming CPU perform even slower. 3000 MHz is considered the slowest RAM speed you can go with on a Ryzen build without it slowing down your CPU, with 3200 MHz being best for a Ryzen 2000-series CPU.

As far as GPU choice is concerned, I'd go with the 2080 Ti; the 3070 Ti is a bit faster, but the 2080 Ti has the most VRAM and the best cooling by far.

Nvidia lists GPU wattage recommendations for a reason; it's one thing to have an existing build and to try to be able to get it to accommodate more powerful hardware than it was originally intended to have, but to build a PC from scratch around an expensive and power-hungry GPU with a cheap power supply isn't a very wise idea. Would a 750 watt or even 650 watt PSU really have been so much more expensive?

 

[spentshells]

As those prices are all super high, I wouldn't recommend any of them. Maybe get by with a used rx570 or a new 1650 super

Of the three listed I am assuming the 2080ti is used, so go with the 3060ti, 3070ti isn't really worth it over the 3070.

 

[Third-Eye]

We don't know the resolution you want to use.

At 1080p and even 1440p, pairing one of these cards with the 2600 will result in a bottleneck...Not a terrible one but you'll lose some performance.Especially in 1080p.
At 2160p or ultrawide, it doesn't matter.You are going to be full GPU bound.

Ryzen 5 2600 will have far less issue with performance at 1440p than at 1080p compared to much better CPUs. 1440p to 4k resolution won't really matter with a lower end 6 core CPU and a high end GPU since at higher resolutions you will be GPU limited.

okjak808
Hardware Unboxed did a good breakdown and review of 4 years of Ryzen 5 CPUs. They used an RTX 3070 in the comparison, so consider that as the 2080TI equivalent.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlfwXqODqp4

 

[DeanTH23]

Ryzen 5 2600 will have far less issue with performance at 1440p than at 1080p compared to much better CPUs. 1440p to 4k resolution won't really matter with a lower end 6 core CPU and a high end GPU since at higher resolutions you will be GPU limited.

okjak808
Hardware Unboxed did a good breakdown and review of 4 years of Ryzen 5 CPUs. They used an RTX 3070 in the comparison, so consider that as the 2080TI equivalent.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlfwXqODqp4

Even at 1440p he'll lose some performance with high end cards.I've seen it happening in my system with a 3600 and a 2070 super, compared to my new 5600X...There is a bottleneck, but of course it's significantly less than the 1080p one.

 

[Third-Eye]

If it were me buying, I'd get the 3060 TI and use the money not spend on the other cards to get a 1TB SSD and a new 3200 CL16 ram kit. I would return the 2400 kit for a refund if I still can, since it will probably be up to a 25% bottle neck in performance.

 

[okjak808]

We don't know the resolution you want to use.

At 1080p and even 1440p, pairing one of these cards with the 2600 will result in a bottleneck...Not a terrible one but you'll lose some performance.Especially in 1080p.
At 2160p or ultrawide, it doesn't matter.You are going to be full GPU bound.

With these prices, i think the 3060Ti is out of the discussion.
2080Ti or 3070Ti... But go for at least 1440p.
This PSU should be able to handle the parts, but you'are not going to be able to overclock.

Oh yes I was aware of that, planning on getting a 1440p monitor later, right now I have a 1080p 75hz monitor. Like I said I’m going to upgrade my cpu later on maybe like a r5 3500.

about overclocking nah I wasn’t even thinking about doing that.

thank you for your reply!

 

[okjak808]

I would be tempted to go for the 3060 ti if those are the only options. It is much closer in performance to the 3070 than the 3070 ti is to the 3080

True and it could give me extra headroom for my psu, again not going to be overclocking but just to be safe.

honestly the 3070TI is such a good deal considering that most of the people in my state are selling them for over 1,500 dollars.

 

[okjak808]

Why would you pair such an inexpensive two generation old CPU with such good GPUs? It's like you're asking to be CPU limited.

That RAM will also slow you down; 2 x 8 GB is a good choice, but the 2400 MHz speed will make your already underwhelming CPU perform even slower. 3000 MHz is considered the slowest RAM speed you can go with on a Ryzen build without it slowing down your CPU, with 3200 MHz being best for a Ryzen 2000-series CPU.

As far as GPU choice is concerned, I'd go with the 2080 Ti; the 3070 Ti is a bit faster, but the 2080 Ti has the most VRAM and the best cooling by far.

Nvidia lists GPU wattage recommendations for a reason; it's one thing to have an existing build and to try to be able to get it to accommodate more powerful hardware than it was originally intended to have, but to build a PC from scratch around an expensive and power-hungry GPU with a cheap power supply isn't a very wise idea. Would a 750 watt or even 650 watt PSU really have been so much more expensive?

yes i was already aware with the bottleneck issues but it’s the best i could go for atm. Like i said I’m going to upgrade the cpu later on after I get my GPU maybe, maybe a r5 3500 cause right now they’re expensive. I will also upgrade my ram for faster bandwidth since I just learned that AMD cpus love that.


I will also upgrade my PSU later on maybe aim for a 750w SFX one but their so EXPENSIVE.

 

[Flayed]

True and it could give me extra headroom for my psu, again not going to be overclocking but just to be safe.

honestly the 3070TI is such a good deal considering that most of the people in my state are selling them for over 1,500 dollars.

That doesn't exactly make it a good deal, just not a daylight robbery of a deal like if it was 1.5k

 

[spentshells]

yes i was already aware with the bottleneck issues but it’s the best i could go for atm. Like i said I’m going to upgrade the cpu later on after I get my GPU maybe, maybe a r5 3500 cause right now they’re expensive. I will also upgrade my ram for faster bandwidth since I just learned that AMD cpus love that.


I will also upgrade my PSU later on maybe aim for a 750w SFX one but their so EXPENSIVE.

the 3500 is not a good option as it runs 6 cores with only 6 threads

 

[RTX 2080]

yes i was already aware with the bottleneck issues but it’s the best i could go for atm. Like i said I’m going to upgrade the cpu later on after I get my GPU maybe, maybe a r5 3500 cause right now they’re expensive. I will also upgrade my ram for faster bandwidth since I just learned that AMD cpus love that.


I will also upgrade my PSU later on maybe aim for a 750w SFX one but their so EXPENSIVE.

When you do upgrade your CPU, you should upgrade it to a Ryzen 5600x. Anything less than that would be an incremental upgrade at best and would not be a good use of your money in my opinion. If it's expensive, it's worth waiting until you are able to afford the CPU that'll actually produce good results.

 

[okjak808]

As those prices are all super high, I wouldn't recommend any of them. Maybe get by with a used rx570 or a new 1650 super

Of the three listed I am assuming the 2080ti is used, so go with the 3060ti, 3070ti isn't really worth it over the 3070.

Ehh yeah but my last build had a 1080TI so I wanted something better than that, also I’ve never bought a GPU brand new i always in the new market so I wanted to treat myself with a new GPU.

i also had an RX 580 2 years back in a dell optiplex system paired with a i5 2500 but I sold that one as well, and a 1650 ehh Im not too sure but thank you for the advice though highly appreciate it!

 

[RTX 2080]

Ehh yeah but my last build had a 1080TI so I wanted something better than that, also I’ve never bought a GPU brand new i always in the new market so I wanted to treat myself with a new GPU.

i also had an RX 580 2 years back in a dell optiplex system paired with a i5 2500 but I sold that one as well, and a 1650 ehh Im not too sure but thank you for the advice though highly appreciate it!

Depending on the game, a 1080 Ti has similar performance to a RTX 2080, which in turn has similar performance to a RTX 3060 Ti. So if you're looking for better performance than your last build, you'll want something better than that (like the 2080 Ti or RTX 3070 Ti).

 

[okjak808]

Ryzen 5 2600 will have far less issue with performance at 1440p than at 1080p compared to much better CPUs. 1440p to 4k resolution won't really matter with a lower end 6 core CPU and a high end GPU since at higher resolutions you will be GPU limited.

okjak808
Hardware Unboxed did a good breakdown and review of 4 years of Ryzen 5 CPUs. They used an RTX 3070 in the comparison, so consider that as the 2080TI equivalent.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlfwXqODqp4

Awesome highly appreciate the video man I guess I can stick with the 2600 for now, but the Ram needs to be upgraded for better bandwidth I guess.

 

[okjak808]

Depending on the game, a 1080 Ti has similar performance to a RTX 2080, which in turn has similar performance to a RTX 3060 Ti. So if you're looking for better performance than your last build, you'll want something better than that (like the 2080 Ti or RTX 3070 Ti).

Yeah I did research on that sorry I meant to say “used market” not “new”. The only reason why I was opting for the 3060TI maybe was similar performed with the 1080ti i had and the power consumption which i think the 3060ti consumes less wattage than the 1080ti.

 

[spentshells]

Ehh yeah but my last build had a 1080TI so I wanted something better than that, also I’ve never bought a GPU brand new i always in the new market so I wanted to treat myself with a new GPU.

i also had an RX 580 2 years back in a dell optiplex system paired with a i5 2500 but I sold that one as well, and a 1650 ehh Im not too sure but thank you for the advice though highly appreciate it!

1650 super beats a 580 for the most part.
Good luck with your choices. 1080ti is already a pretty great card so that makes things a lot tougher.

 

[okjak808]

Even at 1440p he'll lose some performance with high end cards.I've seen it happening in my system with a 3600 and a 2070 super, compared to my new 5600X...There is a bottleneck, but of course it's significantly less than the 1080p one.

Yeah I heard that using a higher resolution monitor will reduce cpu bottlnecking. The current one I have right now is a 1080p 75hz monitor from Acer.

I was thinking of selling it and getting a 1440p 144hz monitor anyways later on.

 

[okjak808]

When you do upgrade your CPU, you should upgrade it to a Ryzen 5600x. Anything less than that would be an incremental upgrade at best and would not be a good use of your money in my opinion. If it's expensive, it's worth waiting until you are able to afford the CPU that'll actually produce good results.

I’ll look into it actually, I don’t really plan on overclocking anyways so even a none x AMD cpu would be fine, although I did also hear that all ryzen cpus are overclocking which is insane compared to intels which you need a K cpu for overclocking capabilities.

honestly I was more focused on finding a GPU since I know how the market is today, honestly it is a good idea to wait for the prices to fall but unfortunately I’m not even sure when will that happen so I gotta say I’m a bit patient at this point.

my plan was to get a decent platform build cpu, Ram, drives then upgrade those later in the future.

my last build specs were…

i7 10700
16gb trident z 3200mhz ram
Gtx 1080TI aorus Waterforce
500gb wd sn750 NVME
2TB WD blue desktop hdd
Rm750 gold

So yeaaahhhh a major downgrade but I could always upgrade anyways, now that I have a job it’ll be easier for me to do so cause with my last build I had to do side jobs with family members or even collect coins then redeem them afterwards.

Of course living under my grandparents I have too pay bills which is no problem at least I have some for myself, oh and phone bills as well.

The reason why I sold my last build was because I was trying to quit but it’s so hard to stay away from cause it makes me happy, not just playing games but tinkering with different parts.

thanks for your reply highly appreciate it!

 

[RTX 2080]

I’ll look into it actually, I don’t really plan on overclocking anyways so even a none x AMD cpu would be fine, although I did also hear that all ryzen cpus are overclocking which is insane compared to intels which you need a K cpu for overclocking capabilities.

honestly I was more focused on finding a GPU since I know how the market is today, honestly it is a good idea to wait for the prices to fall but unfortunately I’m not even sure when will that happen so I gotta say I’m a bit patient at this point.

my plan was to get a decent platform build cpu, Ram, drives then upgrade those later in the future.

my last build specs were…

i7 10700
16gb trident z 3200mhz ram
Gtx 1080TI aorus Waterforce
500gb wd sn750 NVME
2TB WD blue desktop hdd
Rm750 gold

So yeaaahhhh a major downgrade but I could always upgrade anyways, now that I have a job it’ll be easier for me to do so cause with my last build I had to do side jobs with family members or even collect coins then redeem them afterwards.

Of course living under my grandparents I have too pay bills which is no problem at least I have some for myself, oh and phone bills as well.

The reason why I sold my last build was because I was trying to quit but it’s so hard to stay away from cause it makes me happy, not just playing games but tinkering with different parts.

thanks for your reply highly appreciate it!

Sure.

By the way, AMD doesn't currently sell a Ryzen 5600; they only sell the 5600x and 5600g.

 

[okjak808]

Sure.

By the way, AMD doesn't currently sell a Ryzen 5600; they only sell the 5600x and 5600g.

Well I’ve completed my build. Unfortunately the 2080 ti was sold to another guy and it was a bummer mainly because I wanted it for better cooling especially in a itx build. The 3060TI I mentioned was sold right away for 650 dollars and the others on market were priced range at 700-800 and figured might as well get the 3070TI since it’s close to that price range.

the dude was very kind enough to drop the price for me so I’ve only got it for about 750 dollars compared to 950, well he told me he bought a few other cards as well maybe that’s the reason why. It’s the FE version and I was afraid it wouldn’t fit in my in my SG13 but it ended fitting so close to touching the front plastic panel.

temps are ok, 60-70s on both cpu and GPU max ive seen was 90c on the cpu and 83c on the GPU. But here’s the thing the only thing that is really loud in my case is the sf600 psu, it runs hot and loud probably due to the fact it’s nearly fully load which I was kind of expecting oh and the bad airflow since I only have one 120m fan for intake and using the PSU as a exhaust I know it’s not ideal but I don’t have any 80-92m fan that can fit at the sides of my case. what makes it worse is that the GPU also blows out heat in my case, well only one fan because the other one blows out through the back ports of the GPU.


Yes I can’t use this psu for too long before issues start coming up so I’m planning on getting the sf750 plat version for extra headroom later on. With that I’m also looking for faster Ram like you said 3200 is standard while 2400mhz is slow which honestly I never knew it was that bad thought it would be ok.

Oh and I’m trying to get a decent AIO for the cpu and a 92m slim fan for exhaust. I currently have the Noctua l9 slim cooler which is pretty quiet even under load but the problem is that it blows the heat in my case and it’s not really getting it’s own cool air.

other than that my whole system is working. Oh and thank you for your replies!

 

[RTX 2080]

Well I’ve completed my build. Unfortunately the 2080 ti was sold to another guy and it was a bummer mainly because I wanted it for better cooling especially in a itx build. The 3060TI I mentioned was sold right away for 650 dollars and the others on market were priced range at 700-800 and figured might as well get the 3070TI since it’s close to that price range.

the dude was very kind enough to drop the price for me so I’ve only got it for about 750 dollars compared to 950, well he told me he bought a few other cards as well maybe that’s the reason why. It’s the FE version and I was afraid it wouldn’t fit in my in my SG13 but it ended fitting so close to touching the front plastic panel.

temps are ok, 60-70s on both cpu and GPU max ive seen was 90c on the cpu and 83c on the GPU. But here’s the thing the only thing that is really loud in my case is the sf600 psu, it runs hot and loud probably due to the fact it’s nearly fully load which I was kind of expecting oh and the bad airflow since I only have one 120m fan for intake and using the PSU as a exhaust I know it’s not ideal but I don’t have any 80-92m fan that can fit at the sides of my case. what makes it worse is that the GPU also blows out heat in my case, well only one fan because the other one blows out through the back ports of the GPU.


Yes I can’t use this psu for too long before issues start coming up so I’m planning on getting the sf750 plat version for extra headroom later on. With that I’m also looking for faster Ram like you said 3200 is standard while 2400mhz is slow which honestly I never knew it was that bad thought it would be ok.

Oh and I’m trying to get a decent AIO for the cpu and a 92m slim fan for exhaust. I currently have the Noctua l9 slim cooler which is pretty quiet even under load but the problem is that it blows the heat in my case and it’s not really getting it’s own cool air.

other than that my whole system is working. Oh and thank you for your replies!

For the RTX 3070 Ti Nvidia recommends a 750 watt PSU. A 850 watt PSU would be better if you want the headroom and don't want it running anywhere close to the limit. If you can, a Corsair RM850x would be the ideal choice.

 

[okjak808]

For the RTX 3070 Ti Nvidia recommends a 750 watt PSU. A 850 watt PSU would be better if you want the headroom and don't want it running anywhere close to the limit. If you can, a Corsair RM850x would be the ideal choice.

That would be great choice and yes my case does support atx psu although it won’t fit considering how pack my case already is, ive seen people mounting the psu at the front of the case instead of the back but that won’t work in my case mainly because of my GPU it’s too wide.

oh and my case is the SilverStone SG13.

I actually lend my old psu the rm750 to my cousin and of course I’m not going to ask him to give it back. So my only options is either get a bigger itx case or find a higher wattage sfx psu.