Is it worthwhile buying a pascal card in 2018?

[Dadrian Daedalus]

I currently have a 750ti gpu in my system-I wanted to upgrade it last year but couldn't as the gpu prices skyrocketed during the mining boom-in particular,i was keen on acquiring the 1060 6gb version.

However with the mining craze gradually slowing down,i've noticed a lot of used gpus are being put up for sale in the used peripherals market.Among them,some really good deals are being offered on pascal gpus such as the 1060 and 1070.


But is it worth spending on a pascal card right now,given that its already a 2 year old tech and the next gen gpus are likely to be launched soon.Moreover the word from the rumor mill is that these newer cards are going to feature real time raytracing capabilities,which is something these older cards completely lacked.


So will there be a significant risk that if someone buys a pascal gpu right now,its likely to become obsolete the moment the next gen gpus are launched?Would it be wiser to wait a bit more rather than spend one's hard-earned money on an older pascal or equivalent graphics card?Please advise.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

If I were you I would wait another month. You have held on to your 750ti for this long, what is another month in the end. The Pascal cards are still very good cards for 2018, but they will continue to drop in price as the next gen cards are released. So even if you dont go with the next gen Nvidia GPU, the current Pascal cards value, and therefore price, will go down when the next 11xx are released.

Here is an article from Tom's saying GPU prices will drop even more.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/why-gpu-pricing-will-drop-further,37444.html

As for real time ray tracing, yes the new cards will probably support it (volta does right now), but they wont be fast enough to push it and no games support it. Real time ray tracing does look very good and will be a big impact on gaming, but it will be a couple generations of card until the hardware can push it and game developers put it in there games.

 

[4745454b]

It's worth it. Just because a tech is found in a card doesn't mean the card will be fast enough to use it. The very old FX chips from Nvidia supported DX9, but could barely run it. As I recall, in several games they were caught running tricks in the drivers to make you think you were running DX9, but the card internally was running DX8. You could even get a speed boost by renaming a non supported game to "quake.exe" so the driver knew to do this.

ATI/AMD had the same issue. Their cards were the first to include a tessalator engine. But when games started to use it, people found they were much to slow to help. Nvidia wasn't first with their cards, but their cards when they finally did have it ran it much faster. Using history as a reason I doubt you'll want the first gen ray tracing cards. Not to mention that just because the cards support it doesn't mean games will over night. It will be years before games start to use it. In the mean time you'll get a great boost for your games.

 

[Dadrian Daedalus]

Thanks for the replies.If I buy a new/used card right now,i will not upgrade it again atleast for the next 2 years or so-keeping that in mind,i wonder whether investing in a pascal card will be a good idea or not.I wouldn't want it to become obsolete too soon.

Its possible that some of the used cards that are available now might have been used for mining in the recent past-could that have a negative impact on the durability of the card?I've heard that companies can find out whether a card was used for mining or not using certain diagnostic tools and utilities they have at their disposal.In such a case will they agree to RMA such a card even if its under warranty?

 

[4745454b]

I think you are massively over thinking this. Research, buy a card you trust, enjoy. Repeat as needed. When you research, don't get caught up on everything. Find out what level card you need and then research the card you are buying. Don't dig into DX level, ray tracing, or other upcoming things. If it has a warranty or research the card usage history if buying used. (the person as well...) If you spend time thinking about "what if", you'll never buy anything.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

Thanks for the replies.If I buy a new/used card right now,i will not upgrade it again atleast for the next 2 years or so-keeping that in mind,i wonder whether investing in a pascal card will be a good idea or not.I wouldn't want it to become obsolete too soon.

Its possible that some of the used cards that are available now might have been used for mining in the recent past-could that have a negative impact on the durability of the card?I've heard that companies can find out whether a card was used for mining or not using certain diagnostic tools and utilities they have at their disposal.In such a case will they agree to RMA such a card even if its under warranty?

If you want longevity, I would look at as 1070 or higher. The 1070 will be able to run 1080p/60fps gaming for a long time. If the past is any indication of the future, the 1160 will have similar performance as the 1070 and you can expect the 1160 to be the ideal "mid range" card for the next 2 years.

If the card has not been damaged and is within the warranty period, they will honor the RMA. I would not worry too much about getting a card that has been used for mining. There is no way to tell if a card was used for mining or gaming, because they use the exact same process.

In the end, buying used may not be the best option. The new GPU pricing has fallen so fast, it may be hard to beat some of the new prices when you consider how much people paid for the GPUs last year.