Question Getting a new AMD GPU

[rockerm1]

I'm planning to change my RX470 since its almost 3 years old and I really don't know what to pick.

My system is:
Ryzen 5 1600X
8GB RAM (planning to add more)
B350M-A
Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 650w

So, what AMD gpu is better for my current specs?

Thanks!

 

[cryoburner]

I'm planning to change my RX470 since its almost 5 years old...

The RX 470 came out less than 3 years ago. >_>

If you want a graphics card upgrade though, it depends a lot on how much you are willing to spend, and what resolution you will be gaming at.

If you want a noticeable performance improvement, you will likely be looking at something in at least the US $200+ range though. An RX 580 can be had for less than that, but is only around 25% faster. For a little over $200, you could get something like a GTX 1660 for around 50% more graphics performance than your RX 470, but if you want an AMD card in the $200+ range, I would probably wait some time and see what AMD's next generation of cards has to offer, though it's not yet clear when the more mid-range offerings in that series will be out. Probably some time within the next few months. So far, they have only launched the RX 5700 and 5700 XT in their new series, which are priced in the $350-$400 range. If you are gaming at 1440p resolution, those might be good options, but at 1080p they are probably overkill.

 

[rockerm1]

The RX 470 came out less than 3 years ago. >_>

If you want a graphics card upgrade though, it depends a lot on how much you are willing to spend, and what resolution you will be gaming at.

If you want a noticeable performance improvement, you will likely be looking at something in at least the US $200+ range though. An RX 580 can be had for less than that, but is only around 25% faster. For a little over $200, you could get something like a GTX 1660 for around 50% more graphics performance than your RX 470, but if you want an AMD card in the $200+ range, I would probably wait some time and see what AMD's next generation of cards has to offer, though it's not yet clear when the more mid-range offerings in that series will be out. Probably some time within the next few months. So far, they have only launched the RX 5700 and 5700 XT in their new series, which are priced in the $350-$400 range. If you are gaming at 1440p resolution, those might be good options, but at 1080p they are probably overkill.

Nice math I did then. I guess I'll wait a little while and see what happens. Thank you!

Forgot to add, what about vega 56 or 64? Are they no good?

 

[cryoburner]

Vega 56 can potentially be a decent value if found for under $300, but those cards have been out a couple years at this point, and are rather power-hungry, which can tend to result in more heat and noise. And Vega 64 is no longer priced competitively, since the new RX 5700 is faster, costs less, and draws substantially less power. Both cards are no longer being manufactured, and I suspect we will see a new card priced under $300 that offers Vega 56-like performance with much lower power draw relatively soon, though AMD hasn't announced anything yet.

As for the RX 5700 and 5700 XT, they just came out within the last couple weeks, and currently only cards with reference blower-style coolers are available. Those tend to run hot, so it would probably be better to wait some weeks for models with better coolers to come out if considering one of those.

 

[rockerm1]

Vega 56 can potentially be a decent value if found for under $300, but those cards have been out a couple years at this point, and are rather power-hungry, which can tend to result in more heat and noise. And Vega 64 is no longer priced competitively, since the new RX 5700 is faster, costs less, and draws substantially less power. Both cards are no longer being manufactured, and I suspect we will see a new card priced under $300 that offers Vega 56-like performance with much lower power draw relatively soon, though AMD hasn't announced anything yet.

As for the RX 5700 and 5700 XT, they just came out within the last couple weeks, and currently only cards with reference blower-style coolers are available. Those tend to run hot, so it would probably be better to wait some weeks for models with better coolers to come out if considering one of those.

So I'm guessing that the 5700 or 5700 XT won't bottleneck my CPU? And even though they are overkill, is it worth getting them? Out of curiosity, though. If not, I'll just wait for something to be announced. Many thanks.

 

[cryoburner]

"Bottlenecking" can vary from game to game, since some tend to be more demanding on the CPU, while others on the graphics card. And it depends a lot on what resolution you are running. At 1080p resolution, your CPU might limit performance in many games with one of those cards, but at 1440p, performance would likely be pretty balanced in most titles. Of course, that only really matter much if you have a high refresh rate monitor (like 144Hz) that can display those extra frames. If you only have a 1080p 60Hz screen, you might not need a card that powerful. A 5700 can be more than twice as fast as an RX 470 when not limited by CPU performance, but if your screen only redraws the image 60 times per second, it might not matter much for some time.

 

[rockerm1]

"Bottlenecking" can vary from game to game, since some tend to be more demanding on the CPU, while others on the graphics card. And it depends a lot on what resolution you are running. At 1080p resolution, your CPU might limit performance in many games with one of those cards, but at 1440p, performance would likely be pretty balanced in most titles. Of course, that only really matter much if you have a high refresh rate monitor (like 144Hz) that can display those extra frames. If you only have a 1080p 60Hz screen, you might not need a card that powerful. A 5700 can be more than twice as fast as an RX 470 when not limited by CPU performance, but if your screen only redraws the image 60 times per second, it might not matter much for some time.

I understand, I basically lose performance if I don't game at 1440p with a 5700. I game at 1080p so I'll wait for something new. Thank you for your insight on this!

 

[cryoburner]

It's not so much that you "lose" performance at the lower resolution, but rather the graphics card may end up sitting around much of time waiting for the CPU to finish its work, and if that's the case, it could be spending that time rendering a higher resolution instead. Or, you could alternately get similar performance from a less expensive card. So it's more a case of money being wasted on a card that ends up not performing much better than a less expensive option that can handle the resolution nearly as well.