GTX 1070 Ti, which variant/brand should I avoid?

[peterng]

Hi There,

I have the ABS Stalker X ALI012 with the following specs:
- Chipset Intel Z97
- Intel Core-i7-4790K (4.0 GHz)
- 16 GB DDR3
- Nvidia GTX 960 2 GB (Not the 4GB)

Some advised to upgrade to 1070ti / 1080 for graphic card. Just wondering, which brand/variant of 1080 TI should I choose, and which one should I avoid? There are plenty on Ebay around 300-330$, and I heard that I should avoid the 1 fan or FE, but i'm really not sure about the rest.

I can spend up to 400$ or a little more so should I get a new card instead of used one? Thank you.

 

[nukefluffy01]

I don't recommend MSI GPU's as they are heavier than most GPU's and like to hang not straight in the motherboard.
I recommend Nvidia, Asus, EVGA, Gigabyte or Zotac.

 

[peterng]

I don't recommend MSI GPU's as they are heavier than most GPU's and like to hang not straight in the motherboard.
I recommend Nvidia, Asus, EVGA, Gigabyte or Zotac.

Thanks, so same for 1080 as well?

 

[nukefluffy01]

I don't recommend MSI GPU's as they are heavier than most GPU's and like to hang not straight in the motherboard.
I recommend Nvidia, Asus, EVGA, Gigabyte or Zotac.

Thanks, so same for 1080 as well?

Yes.

 

[Barty1884]

I don't think there's any "brand" alone that you can discount, honestly.
At their core, they're still Nvidia GPUs....

Single-fan designs (from any vendor) are best avoided if you can accommodate a full-sized card.
FE, unless you're in a small chassis, are probably best avoided to.

EVGA are generally accepted to have the "best" warranty of the lot, but that may/may not be a deciding factor for you.


What matters most, is the specific card/model you're considering and, in the used space, the reliability of the seller/whether or not the card was mined with*.

*Personally, I don't believe there's anything wrong with ex-mining cards necessarily - but that assumes a miner knew what they were doing, keeping it cool, undervolting etc. For a novice, if they just slapped a bunch of cards into a rig & went to town, that can be problematic.

 

[peterng]

I don't think there's any "brand" alone that you can discount, honestly.
At their core, they're still Nvidia GPUs....

Single-fan designs (from any vendor) are best avoided if you can accommodate a full-sized card.
FE, unless you're in a small chassis, are probably best avoided to.

EVGA are generally accepted to have the "best" warranty of the lot, but that may/may not be a deciding factor for you.


What matters most, is the specific card/model you're considering and, in the used space, the reliability of the seller/whether or not the card was mined with*.

*Personally, I don't believe there's anything wrong with ex-mining cards necessarily - but that assumes a miner knew what they were doing, keeping it cool, undervolting etc. For a novice, if they just slapped a bunch of cards into a rig & went to town, that can be problematic.

Thanks for the detail explanation. That's really informative. I do have bad experience with the mining card that I got for free in the past, which heats up so easily and sounds like a jet engine.

For now I do think I can afford a new 1070 Ti, do you recommend any specific card that I can buy, personally?

Thank you.

 

[Barty1884]

Depends on your location & price, really.

For example, in the US right now if you were looking for a 1070TI..... I wouldn't.
A 1070TI, at it's lowest is ~$430.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/fVqbt6/zotac-geforce-gtx-1070-ti-8gb-amp-edition-video-card-zt-p10710c-10p

Whereas an RTX2060 is ~$349, netting you performance a little above a 1070, but still short of a 1070TI.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rMhKHx/zotac-geforce-rtx-2060-6-gb-gaming-video-card-zt-t20600f-10m

And an RTX2070 is ~$480 after a $20 rebate, netting you GTX1080 performance (so +15% of so >1070TI)
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/nczkcf/msi-geforce-rtx-2070-8gb-video-card-geforce-rtx-2070-duke-8g-oc


If I were buying right now, I'd opt for an RTX2060 if I were looking for something in the 1070TI-class range.



BUT, you're stepping up from a GTX960? What resolution do you play at? What games do you play?

While a 1070 or better makes a lot of sense, perhaps you'd be well served by an RX580 if you're still playing 1080p?
$170 in the US right now.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rKgzK8/powercolor-radeon-rx-580-8gb-video-card-axrx-580-8gbd5-3dhdv2oc

That's a step up from 1080p 60FPS low/medium in most titles to 1080p 60-75FPS High-Ultra in most titles. Not a groundbreaking upgrade, but still a decent step up, and a solid budget offering.

 

[peterng]

Depends on your location & price, really.

For example, in the US right now if you were looking for a 1070TI..... I wouldn't.
A 1070TI, at it's lowest is ~$430.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/fVqbt6/zotac-geforce-gtx-1070-ti-8gb-amp-edition-video-card-zt-p10710c-10p

Whereas an RTX2060 is ~$349, netting you performance a little above a 1070, but still short of a 1070TI.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rMhKHx/zotac-geforce-rtx-2060-6-gb-gaming-video-card-zt-t20600f-10m

And an RTX2070 is ~$480 after a $20 rebate, netting you GTX1080 performance (so +15% of so >1070TI)
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/nczkcf/msi-geforce-rtx-2070-8gb-video-card-geforce-rtx-2070-duke-8g-oc


If I were buying right now, I'd opt for an RTX2060 if I were looking for something in the 1070TI-class range.



BUT, you're stepping up from a GTX960? What resolution do you play at? What games do you play?

While a 1070 or better makes a lot of sense, perhaps you'd be well served by an RX580 if you're still playing 1080p?
$170 in the US right now.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rKgzK8/powercolor-radeon-rx-580-8gb-video-card-axrx-580-8gbd5-3dhdv2oc

That's a step up from 1080p 60FPS low/medium in most titles to 1080p 60-75FPS High-Ultra in most titles. Not a groundbreaking upgrade, but still a decent step up, and a solid budget offering.

I'm located in the US now. To be honest, i play mostly on 1080 with my 960 and I've had bad experience with Med/High setting even with GTA V. I also run some rendering tasks on Revit and CAD. I'm fine with playing game on 1080, and a few more on 1440 on medium settings. No reference, but the card needs to be able to play most of the game right now at High/Ultra on 1080.

Another reason why i'm looking to upgrade my card is because I just got a Dell 4K monitor as a gift, so I just want to pump up the graphical and gaming experience. I'm not looking for any upgrade in the next 2-3 years at least.

So i guess it narrows down to 2060 and 2070. I lean over the 2060. Should I be good with 2060 for the next following 3 years? Any concerns?

Thank you.

 

[Barty1884]

If you want to game at 4K, then the 2060 is going to be underwhelming although, so would a 1070TI in a lot of cases.

A 2060 certainly *can* game at 4K, as can a 1070TI but for true 4K you'd be looking at a 2080 as an absolute minimum.

For 1080p High for a few years, a 2060 should suffice.

 

[heebobo5]

Depends on your location & price, really.

For example, in the US right now if you were looking for a 1070TI..... I wouldn't.
A 1070TI, at it's lowest is ~$430.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/fVqbt6/zotac-geforce-g...

Whereas an RTX2060 is ~$349, netting you performance a little above a 1070, but still short of a 1070TI.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rMhKHx/zotac-geforce-r...

And an RTX2070 is ~$480 after a $20 rebate, netting you GTX1080 performance (so +15% of so >1070TI)
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/nczkcf/msi-geforce-rtx...


If I were buying right now, I'd opt for an RTX2060 if I were looking for something in the 1070TI-class range.



BUT, you're stepping up from a GTX960? What resolution do you play at? What games do you play?

While a 1070 or better makes a lot of sense, perhaps you'd be well served by an RX580 if you're still playing 1080p?
$170 in the US right now.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rKgzK8/powercolor-rade...

That's a step up from 1080p 60FPS low/medium in most titles to 1080p 60-75FPS High-Ultra in most titles. Not a groundbreaking upgrade, but still a decent step up, and a solid budget offering.

I'd go with the RTX 2070 option or find a used GTX 1080Ti for around the price of the 2070.