[SOLVED] Need help choosing a GPU (3060 ti or 3070 ti)

[Jussinen]

Hi!
I'm planning a new computer and I've decided to go with 5600x Ryzen CPU and now I need a GPU. I'm not exactly interested in OC, unless I can't afford a better card in future (maybe in 4-5 years), so while it's good to be able to overclock the card, it's not really that important to me. Thermal performance on the other hand is. And I'm not interested in running games in 4k resolution either. Maybe 1440p but not 4k.

I'm limited with few options because I have to get the GPU from a specific shop. So here they are:
Asus TUF Gaming 3060 Ti OC (890 €)
MSI 3060 Ti Gaming Z Trio (890 €)
Asus Rog Strix 3060 Ti OC (950 €)
Zotac 3070 Ti AMP Holo (1200 €)
Zotac 3070 Ti AMP Holo Extreme (1250 €)
Asus Rog Strix 3070 Ti OC (1250 €)

EDIT: There's also:
Asus Rog Strix 6800 XT OC (1500 €)

Why I'm even considering it? It's watercooled. I'd have to buy fans for my case anyway, but with this card I'd be getting a "free" 240mm AIO with two fans to actually cool down the GPU directly, which is pretty fantastic. GPU would produce more heat than 5600x CPU anyway. So I guess it's at least worth considering.

Yes, the prices are what they are... Could I wait another year for prices to come down? Maybe.... but I should've bought a new computer years ago, so waiting yet another year is just maybe not worth it. And who can say what happens to the prices in a year? Obviously these parts will be cheaper one day, but only because they're getting older.

Computer is going to cost a lot, so honestly it doesn't matter so much whether the GPU costs 900 € or 1000 €. It's going to be expensive anyway. But I'd be ready to pay that 1200 € for a 3070 Ti if it really is a major improvement from a 3060 Ti. Or even Asus Rog Strix 3070 Ti OC.

3070 is out of the question as it costs the same as 3070 Ti here.

I'm especially interested in thermals. And just your overall experience with these cards. Something that maybe regular coparison charts don't reveal. Rog Strix has the reputation of a great card with a high price tag, but that's about as much as I know about them. Simple benchmark tests may not reveal any technial difficulties that the cards may have in real life use.

With the 6800 XT here in play aswell, there's a rather big 600 € difference in price with the lowest price and the highest price. That's much (even though there's that "free" AIO). So if you think that 3060 Ti is pretty decent for ~3-5 years and then I could easily get something like RXT 3900 to replace it and still save some money, then I think the card to choose would be 3060 Ti. But I'll listen to you experts here!

But thanks already for the answers! I hope that you can help.

 

[Phaaze88]

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3070-ti-founders-edition/28.html
Around 12-16% faster than 3060Ti at 1080p and 1440p. The test cpu in that link was a 5800X.
If that gap is worth it for the up to 20% higher cost, that's up to your judgement.

Also, one big reason why I consider 3070 Ti is the possibility to water cool it. Although I am not entirely sure if THOSE 3070 Ti models allow that (except Rog Strix). I'd use AIO rather than custom loop after all.

It's not so much that the card 'allows it', but rather the liquid cooling manufacturers even bother designing a compatible cooler for it. The demand for liquid cooling gpus that aren't at the top of the stack just isn't as high.
Gpu AIO options are more limited than what they used to be. 3080/6800 and up this time around.
If you do go the way of liquid cooling a 3070Ti, you'll most likely see only custom blocks compatible with it and not a single AIO.

 

[Jussinen]

Thanks for the reply. I had to edit my first post a little bit, also that part about cooling that you addressed to 😉

Yes, it's the manufacturers of the coolers that enable us to watercool the GPUs. And after I did some research, well, even the 3070 series don't get a valid option for watercooling. It seems to be a very expensive solution. That's why that watercooled 6800 XT that I mentioned looks tempting. But this is exactly the problem. It's easy to justify a 50 € higher cost for something slightly better. Untill you're about to pay something like 600 € more of what you were originally considering!

12-16 % better for nearly 30 % higher price (talking about Rog Strix 3060 Ti vs 3070 Ti here) is not very good value for money.. but that's often how it is. If that Gigabyte 3070 Ti Vision OC for 1150 € was still an option, it'd be more reasonable. But sadly I didn't read the small print - that card has been ordered to the shop but it hasn't arrived "yet" (and likely won't arrive in a few months).

Asus Rog Strix 3060 Ti is sounding even more tempting. But I'll listen to other advices too!

 

[The Gr33k Fre4k]

Which one did you end up buying after all ?

 

[Jussinen]

Well I didn't get a chance to buy anything, yet. But I actually decided that I would buy the 3060 ti, unless there's some very good discount on 3070 ti (like 50-100 € more than 3060 ti). I wouldn't say that 3070 ti isn't worth its price though, but I think 3060 ti will serve me well enough untill 3080 ti and 3090 become way more affordable.