[SOLVED] GTX 1060 6gb vs 1660 Ti on i7-970

Jassen

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Planing on getting a new GPU, question is:
Will 1060 6gb give me the same performance as 1660 Ti on my i7-970, cuz of the bottle necking, or should i go 1660 Ti, with plans to use it in a new PC?

Edit:
MB: Gigabyte ex58-extreme
CPU: i7-970
GPU: Asus STRIX-GTX950-DC2OC-2GD5-GAMING
RAM: GEIL 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) 1600 MHz CL9 Dual-Chanel
PSU: Enermax 500W or 550W ( Too lazy to open case)
HDD: 4TB HGST DESKSTAR NAS
 
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Solution
It's almost never worth it to go cheap on a graphics card or power supply. If you have to save a bit longer, then do so. It will be worth it to you in the long run. If you save money for the GTX 1060 and it is not able to meet your expectations you are going to be sad and my expectation is that it will not meet YOUR expectations or the level of performance you will desire to see especially when you move onto some games that have are going to have much higher resource demands than Overwatch does.

Once you start playing more adanced AAA games, you may not even much WANT to play Overwatch anymore, especially if you have a graphics card that can make it a good experience. The 1660 ti is currently very good for 1080p. The 1600 is already...
Obviously, it's going to be hampered by the age and relative performance of the i7-970, however, even given it's age that CPU has 6 cores and twelve threads, which is more than enough for any modern games. If it's a game that relies heavily on single core performance then yes, it's going to pretty much show it's weakness in that area. But it seems like a waste of money to throw anything at a GTX 1060 that is already 3 years old since release and has been superceded by a new architecture for about a year now.

If you have plans to upgrade your platform sometime in the near to intermediate future then it makes a lot more sense to go with a higher tiered graphics card that won't be a huge graphical bottleneck when you're done, like that GTX 1060 would likely be. I think you'd be fine in the meantime. Your FPS might be limited in some cases due to your CPU, but at least you'll not be as limited in your choice of quality settings.
 
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Jassen Hello. Two things: (1) Instead of a GTX 1660 Ti, I recommend the GTX 1660 Super, which has slightly lower performance but for a decent savings in money. I personally own three 1660 Ti's by the way. I've heard great things about the gigabyte geforce gtx 1660 super gaming oc (triple fan card), if you can find it for no more than $250 USD. It's been continuously selling out lately and 3rd parties have been charging $30 - $50 over retail.

(2) And I can't state this strongly enough: If you game then you need to upgrade to a modern day CPU. Your i7-970 is from 2010. My i7-5820K is from 2014, and even me going from it to a ryzen 7 2700x from 2018 is an immediate and noticeable difference. The Ryzen 7 2700X is currently on sale on Amazon.com for $159 (15% cash back if purchased with an Amazon credit card). A Ryzen 7 3700X is $310, and provides 15% higher IPC (Instructions per cycle). A good B450 (ryzen 3000 ready) motherboard is another $100 - $115. 32 GB of DDR4 3200 MHz CL16 RAM can be had for $106.

Direct answer to your question: I don't know for certain if performance would be the same on your CPU going from GTX 1060 6GB to a 1660 Ti, but it wouldn't surprise me. Do you already own the 1060 6GB? If so, then hold onto it until you can upgrade your platform. What games are you currently playing?
 

Jassen

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Thx for the answers, guys, appreciated.
Well thing is, I play only Overwatch on my PC (i7-970 GTX 950 16gb ram 500 PSU) and I have 60Hz 1080p monitor.
Thing is Im planing on playing Overwatch 2, Diablo 4 which comes out after an year or so.
So I just wanna get a descent FPS on 1080p @ Ultra settings for these games and maybe CoD:MW.

Thing is I'm from Eastern Europe, electronics are expensive here, I can get 1060 6gb second hand for 80 euros (90$) and I can get new 1660 Ti for 300 euros (330$), 1660 superb is the same price as Ti, 5 bucks less xD.

So bottom line: Do you guys think 1660 Ti will get a good FPS for OW2, CoD:MW, Ultra settings, (I want that eye candy) with a i7-9700 or so, in the future.
Or I should get something cheap?
 
OW2 & DIablo 4: No way to know until the games comes out. My "guess" is that they won't be resource demanding, based on OW and DIablo 3.

CoD MW: I know this game, as I own it and have played it on multiple setups. My experience: On 6C / 6T (six core / six thread) systems, it lags noticeably. Everyone I know who started out playing this game on 4 and 6 core Core i5 CPUs have upgraded to 8C/16T Ryzen; Intel currently only offers Hyperthreading on core i9-9900K(KS/KF) among it's consumer "core" CPUs. Next month, Intel is strongly rumored to be adding hyper threading to their entire consumer line. But since your CPU is already six core / 12 thread, I would imagine that it won't lag, despite it's age. And since you're not trying to achieve above 60 FPS, you might be okay. Maybe hold off on the upgrade until you get the game, and see than.
 

Jassen

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OW2 & DIablo 4: No way to know until the games comes out. My "guess" is that they won't be resource demanding, based on OW and DIablo 3.

CoD MW: I know this game, as I own it and have played it on multiple setups. My experience: On 6C / 6T (six core / six thread) systems, it lags noticeably. Everyone I know who started out playing this game on 4 and 6 core Core i5 CPUs have upgraded to 8C/16T Ryzen; Intel currently only offers Hyperthreading on core i9-9900K(KS/KF) among it's consumer "core" CPUs. Next month, Intel is strongly rumored to be adding hyper threading to their entire consumer line. But since your CPU is already six core / 12 thread, I would imagine that it won't lag, despite it's age. And since you're not trying to achieve above 60 FPS, you might be okay. Maybe hold off on the upgrade until you get the game, and see than.

So this means to get the 1060? Because I'm not really satisfied with my current GPU (GTX 950), it sucks. On High settings 1080p, I get frame drops to like 30, in intense battles in Overwatch, and CoD is just unplayable even on ultra low.
 
30 FPS with a GTX 950 on high settings 1080p? Really? Overwatch: For starters I would turn off "auto" render scale, and manually select 100%. Set "Limit FPS" to custom, and make sure that the "Frame Rate Cap" slide is slid fully to the right at 300. I would also set dynamic shadows to medium, in the advanced graphics options and then "apply" the settings. What are your frames up to now? You should also check out the YouTuber Santiago Santiago, as his videos specialize in squeezing performance out of somewhat older hardware, such as 3 year old GPUs.

In the future, a better way to pose this problem might be to state your: full specs, region, upgrade budget (including currency), site that you you plan to buy from, 2 or 3 games and settings and resolution that you're trying to achieve. I'm curious how much RAM you have and if it's in dual channel model, even though your CPU is partially responsible for your lower frame rate. Maybe a 1060 6GB would be double the FPS of your GTX 950. I don't know if that 1060 represents good value because I'm blinded by my lack of knowledge of your build or what GPUs costs in your region.

CoD: I have doubts that a 1060 6GB will turn around your gaming experience in this title. It is a serious resource hog. If you have a console, it might be smarter for you to buy and play it there, as it'll be a smoother experience.

CoD: Now that I think about it, I do actually have two friends with RX 580 8 GB GPUs, with both a Ryzen 7 1700X and 2700X. Speaking of the RX 580 8 GB, is a used version of that card an option for you in your region? My guess is that you'd get equal or higher FPS in CoD with that card, and a used RX 580 8 GB would almost certainly be cheaper than a new 1060 6 GB. Do not buy the 3GB version of the GTX 1060 nor the 4GB version of the RX 580.
 
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It's almost never worth it to go cheap on a graphics card or power supply. If you have to save a bit longer, then do so. It will be worth it to you in the long run. If you save money for the GTX 1060 and it is not able to meet your expectations you are going to be sad and my expectation is that it will not meet YOUR expectations or the level of performance you will desire to see especially when you move onto some games that have are going to have much higher resource demands than Overwatch does.

Once you start playing more adanced AAA games, you may not even much WANT to play Overwatch anymore, especially if you have a graphics card that can make it a good experience. The 1660 ti is currently very good for 1080p. The 1600 is already not capable enough, much less, that it will be even MORE so with each subsequent generation of game releases. If you don't want to be revisiting this need in another six months to a year, then don't waste your money on something that is already not good enough to do what you want it to do.
 
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Jassen

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30 FPS with a GTX 950 on high settings 1080p? Really? Overwatch: For starters I would turn off "auto" render scale, and manually select 100%. Set "Limit FPS" to custom, and make sure that the "Frame Rate Cap" slide is slid fully to the right at 300. I would also set dynamic shadows to medium, in the advanced graphics options and then "apply" the settings. What are your frames up to now? You should also check out the YouTuber Santiago Santiago, as his videos specialize in squeezing performance out of somewhat older hardware, such as 3 year old GPUs.

In the future, a better way to pose this problem might be to state your: full specs, region, upgrade budget (including currency), site that you you plan to buy from, 2 or 3 games and settings and resolution that you're trying to achieve. I'm curious how much RAM you have and if it's in dual channel model, even though your CPU is partially responsible for your lower frame rate. Maybe a 1060 6GB would be double the FPS of your GTX 950. I don't know if that 1060 represents good value because I'm blinded by my lack of knowledge of your build or what GPUs costs in your region.

CoD: I have doubts that a 1060 6GB will turn around your gaming experience in this title. It is a serious resource hog. If you have a console, it might be smarter for you to buy and play it there, as it'll be a smoother experience.

CoD: Now that I think about it, I do actually have two friends with RX 580 8 GB GPUs, with both a Ryzen 7 1700X and 2700X. Speaking of the RX 580 8 GB, is a used version of that card an option for you in your region? My guess is that you'd get equal or higher FPS in CoD with that card, and a used RX 580 8 GB would almost certainly be cheaper than a new 1060 6 GB. Do not buy the 3GB version of the GTX 1060 nor the 4GB version of the RX 580.

Ive edited the OP, so you can see my specs.
Basically:
  1. ASUS DUAL OC 1060 6GB 90$(Second Hand) or
  2. ASUS TUF OC 1660 Ti 330$(New) or
  3. ASUS RX 580 DUAL OC 8GB 140$(Second Hand)
I'm on v-sync in OW and I'm constant 60 FPS (without v-sync I get around 70 something), cuz of screen tearing, no idea why. But in intense battles (2-3 people in front of me) it drops to 30-40 FPS
 
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How much can you get a NEW RX 580 for? Because if you can get one significantly cheaper than a new 1660 ti, then that would be the best option. RX 580 is very capable for 1080p gaming, is less expensive and is probably more widely available. Buying a used card is just a bad idea. There are TOO MANY reasons why it is a risk I don't recommend including the fact that a lot of cards have been used for mining and beat nearly to death then flipped to the used card market knowing they are either already damaged or are simply not going to last much longer, as well as cards that have been simply overclocked to death for gaming and are now being dumped onto unsuspecting buyers. Pair that with the high rate of normal failures and the fact that graphics card warranties do not extend to third party buyers unless they are willing to give you ALL of the original purchase information AND access to whatever email was used to originally register that card if you want to have access to whatever warranty it has left (If any) and it starts looking like an option with very little appeal.

Even more so when you consider that graphics cards are likely the MOST likely hardware component to have a high probability of needing to use the warranty at some point.
 

Jassen

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How much can you get a NEW RX 580 for? Because if you can get one significantly cheaper than a new 1660 ti, then that would be the best option. RX 580 is very capable for 1080p gaming, is less expensive and is probably more widely available. Buying a used card is just a bad idea. There are TOO MANY reasons why it is a risk I don't recommend including the fact that a lot of cards have been used for mining and beat nearly to death then flipped to the used card market knowing they are either already damaged or are simply not going to last much longer, as well as cards that have been simply overclocked to death for gaming and are now being dumped onto unsuspecting buyers. Pair that with the high rate of normal failures and the fact that graphics card warranties do not extend to third party buyers unless they are willing to give you ALL of the original purchase information AND access to whatever email was used to originally register that card if you want to have access to whatever warranty it has left (If any) and it starts looking like an option with very little appeal.

Even more so when you consider that graphics cards are likely the MOST likely hardware component to have a high probability of needing to use the warranty at some point.

Nope RX 580 8 GB, new, is like 10$ cheaper then 1660 TI
 
Jassen Not sure if you ever made any purchases, but figured that I would ask. It occurred to me that if you're willing to spend up-to $280 - $300 on a GPU, then I have another option: Buy a 2nd gen ryzen CPU and compatible motherboard, and pair them with a upgraded used GPU. I think that would give you much more performance than pairing your existing i7-970 with a gtx 1660 ti. Just my opinion.

$120 ryzen 5 2600 (new)
$80 asrock b450m pro4 (new)
$100 rx 580 8gb (used) or gtx 1060 6gb (used)

https://www.amazon.com/AMD-Processor-Wraith-Stealth-Cooler/dp/B07B41WS48/
https://www.newegg.com/asrock-b450m-pro4/p/N82E16813157843

Addendum: I forgot that you'd need to upgrade your RAM too, but I still think it's worth the jump: $50 -$60 16GB DDR4 RAM
 

Jassen

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Thank you all for the replies. Decided I'm gonna go with the 1660 Ti, because I'll get an upgrade by the end of this year (2020) as PC and I figured out it still will be usable by then.
Reasons why :

1st 1060s ware used for farming for like 7-8 months (1/3rd of the price of new 1660 Ti)
2nd the 1060s that ware not used for farming ware half the price of a new 1660 Ti