[SOLVED] RTX 2070 or 2070 super

[k1nationIG]

Hello, I am building my first custom desktop and I was wondering if I should buy a RTX 2070 or RTX 2070 super. Which is a better value/bang-for-the-buck? Which company should I buy? (MSI, Gigabyte, Evga, NVIDIA, etc)

I will be using 16gb ram and a ryzen 3700x

 

[Darkbreeze]

What resolution are you going to be playing at? Are you looking for Ultra settings at that resolution on pretty much all games or are you ok with dropping some settings down if necessary?

 

[k1nationIG]

What resolution are you going to be playing at? Are you looking for Ultra settings at that resolution on pretty much all games or are you ok with dropping some settings down if necessary?

I will probably never be playing on ultra settings. Either medium or low settings. I am also considering to either get a 240hz 1080p or a 144 hz 1440p. Games include fortnite, overwatch, league of legends, COD MW Warzone, NBA 2k, and others.

 

[Darkbreeze]

What CPU do you have? How much memory and how fast?

 

[k1nationIG]

What CPU do you have? How much memory and how fast?

I am getting a Ryzen 3700x with 16gb of ram at 3600 mhz, latency 17.

 

[Darkbreeze]

You don't want memory with a CL17 latency. It is unlikely, or at least, LESS likely, to be compatible with your Ryzen platform. You want to stick to evenly numbered CL kits. 14, 16, 18, etc., with lower obviously being better. Other kits CAN be compatible, and work, but they often require a good deal of additional tweaking and configuration. The best bet, in my opinion, is to stick to kits which have been validated and are expressed as compatible on the G.Skill memory configurator or Corsair memory finder online utilities.

In truth, a 3200mhz CL 14 kit is faster, with a lower true latency, than a 3600 CL 16 kit, so if you can find a 3200mhz CL14 kit for a fair price, that is a good option.

As for the CPU and memory configuration and it's effect on FPS, yes, that should clearly be more than enough to handle what you are needing it to do. Since you have no plans to play at Ultra settings, the RTX 2070 should be more than enough for you. My RTX 2060 Super does exceptionally well at 1440p if I lower settings to high or medium, for that matter. On MUCH more demanding games than those you've listed.

 

[King_V]

If considering the 2070 non-super, I'd go with the RX 5700 XT instead. Same or slightly better performance, generally lower price. But, check for specific sales on one or the other, which can throw off that typical pricing comparison.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Any of them, even the RX 5700 non-XT, is probably more than enough for the aspirations of this user. To be safe though, I'd stick to the XT or some flavor of 2070. Personally, I like Nvidia's driver support a lot better, and I've owned many cards from both camps.

 

[k1nationIG]

Any of them, even the RX 5700 non-XT, is probably more than enough for the aspirations of this user. To be safe though, I'd stick to the XT or some flavor of 2070. Personally, I like Nvidia's driver support a lot better, and I've owned many cards from both camps.

Really helpful, but even if I am playing on 240hz, 1080p and 144hz 1440p? I don't need a 2070 super? 240 hz is a lot. And for the ram issue, isn't faster ram usually better for ryzen?

 

[King_V]

I would say save yourself some money - don't buy a 240Hz monitor. The human eye can't really see a whole lot past 100hz anyway.

If you're going for 1080p, I'd say stick with a 144Hz monitor, and then a (relatively speaking) lower-priced video card.

 

[Darkbreeze]

High FPS is mostly all CPU. High QUALITY settings are mostly all GPU. You want eye candy, you buy the best graphics card you can afford, especially if you want the eye candy at a higher resolution.

You want high frames per second capability, then you buy a graphics card that can handle the quality settings you want at the resolution you want and then buy a CPU that can handle the frames AND can handle the math, for games that are highly CPU intensive especially in areas where you might encounter large gatherings. If your GPU can handle 60FPS at 1080p Ultra settings then it can handle 144FPS at 1080p Ultra settings. Your CPU on the other hand might be capable of handling 60FPS at 1080p but fall way short of 144FPS. Plus, I always recommend buying a CPU and GPU that are one tier higher than what you think you actually need, because the fact is that every cycle games add to the resource demands little by little. Within two years, hardware that could easily handle a certain type of AAA game at a specific settings might no longer be able to do so on a newer title of the same type.

And the lower you drop the quality settings, the MORE you put increased demand on the CPU. Which is why in this type of scenario a higher capability CPU is probably a lot more important.

Your 3700x with 16GB of RAM and an RTX 2070 would be more than you'll ever need for 1080p gaming for the life of the graphics card. If you know you are going to be switching to a higher resolution inside of two years, then it might be wise to go with a 2070 Super or 2080 instead. If not, then I don't see any reason to go with anything higher than the 2070 or an RX 5700.

 

[k1nationIG]

High FPS is mostly all CPU. High QUALITY settings are mostly all GPU. You want eye candy, you buy the best graphics card you can afford, especially if you want the eye candy at a higher resolution.

You want high frames per second capability, then you buy a graphics card that can handle the quality settings you want at the resolution you want and then buy a CPU that can handle the frames AND can handle the math, for games that are highly CPU intensive especially in areas where you might encounter large gatherings. If your GPU can handle 60FPS at 1080p Ultra settings then it can handle 144FPS at 1080p Ultra settings. Your CPU on the other hand might be capable of handling 60FPS at 1080p but fall way short of 144FPS. Plus, I always recommend buying a CPU and GPU that are one tier higher than what you think you actually need, because the fact is that every cycle games add to the resource demands little by little. Within two years, hardware that could easily handle a certain type of AAA game at a specific settings might no longer be able to do so on a newer title of the same type.

And the lower you drop the quality settings, the MORE you put increased demand on the CPU. Which is why in this type of scenario a higher capability CPU is probably a lot more important.

Your 3700x with 16GB of RAM and an RTX 2070 would be more than you'll ever need for 1080p gaming for the life of the graphics card. If you know you are going to be switching to a higher resolution inside of two years, then it might be wise to go with a 2070 Super or 2080 instead. If not, then I don't see any reason to go with anything higher than the 2070 or an RX 5700.

once again, super helpful. so for 1440p 144 hz, will a 2070 suffice or should i opt for the 2070 super

 

[sizzling]

once again, super helpful. so for 1440p 144 hz, will a 2070 suffice or should i opt for the 2070 super

Depends on expectations. By this I mean some newer titles can’t achieve and average of 144fps at ultra settings with a 2080Ti at 1440p. I’m running a 2080 Super and to average 120+ average FPS in newer AAA titles I run a mixture of medium/high/ultra settings. A 2070S can definitely give a very good experience at high fps, just don’t expect to be pushing the settings up to the max and be ready to accept medium settings when needed.

 

[k1nationIG]

Depends on expectations. By this I mean some newer titles can’t achieve and average of 144fps at ultra settings with a 2080Ti at 1440p. I’m running a 2080 Super and to average 120+ average FPS in newer AAA titles I run a mixture of medium/high/ultra settings. A 2070S can definitely give a very good experience at high fps, just don’t expect to be pushing the settings up to the max and be ready to accept medium settings when needed.

With a 2070s, can i get 144 hz if I play fortnite at 1440p on lowest settings besides view distance

 

[sizzling]

With a 2070s, can i get 144 hz if I play fortnite at 1440p on lowest settings besides view distance

I believe you can achieve that at higher settings than lowest but it’s not a game I play so recommend Googling reviews and benchmarks.

 

[k1nationIG]

High FPS is mostly all CPU. High QUALITY settings are mostly all GPU. You want eye candy, you buy the best graphics card you can afford, especially if you want the eye candy at a higher resolution.

You want high frames per second capability, then you buy a graphics card that can handle the quality settings you want at the resolution you want and then buy a CPU that can handle the frames AND can handle the math, for games that are highly CPU intensive especially in areas where you might encounter large gatherings. If your GPU can handle 60FPS at 1080p Ultra settings then it can handle 144FPS at 1080p Ultra settings. Your CPU on the other hand might be capable of handling 60FPS at 1080p but fall way short of 144FPS. Plus, I always recommend buying a CPU and GPU that are one tier higher than what you think you actually need, because the fact is that every cycle games add to the resource demands little by little. Within two years, hardware that could easily handle a certain type of AAA game at a specific settings might no longer be able to do so on a newer title of the same type.

And the lower you drop the quality settings, the MORE you put increased demand on the CPU. Which is why in this type of scenario a higher capability CPU is probably a lot more important.

Your 3700x with 16GB of RAM and an RTX 2070 would be more than you'll ever need for 1080p gaming for the life of the graphics card. If you know you are going to be switching to a higher resolution inside of two years, then it might be wise to go with a 2070 Super or 2080 instead. If not, then I don't see any reason to go with anything higher than the 2070 or an RX 5700.

you seem to know a bit about computers. Do you have any tips on how to cut down the price of my build

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/k1nation/saved/b4VLP6

 

[AgainstAllGodz]

I’ve got both 2070 in my laptop and 2070 super on my build, honestly my desktop is the exact same as yours except I have 32GB instead ...... well it was up untill I bricked it last night .... so technically I have a 2070 super just sitting there.... but anyways try playing ARMA 3 on that at ultra ... sure looks gorgeous but when you come into contact with a squad of fools over that next ridge ..... you would die just sitting there waiting ..... from that FPS drop lol

 

[k1nationIG]

I’ve got both 2070 in my laptop and 2070 super on my build, honestly my desktop is the exact same as yours except I have 32GB instead ...... well it was up untill I bricked it last night .... so technically I have a 2070 super just sitting there.... but anyways try playing ARMA 3 on that at ultra ... sure looks gorgeous but when you come into contact with a squad of fools over that next ridge ..... you would die just sitting there waiting ..... from that FPS drop lol

Are you talking about the 2070 or 2070 super that sucks lol.

Laptop GPUs don't perform nearly as well also

 

[AgainstAllGodz]

Are you talking about the 2070 or 2070 super that sucks lol.

Laptop GPUs don't perform nearly as well also

Yea my laptop I just used for business, figured why not I can play decent games while I’m in meetings or on business related stuff , but my 2070 super was in my desktop it’s a decent card but also too but depends on the games you play , ARMA 3 is very demanding and not really great at ultra playing multiplayer also to depends on your network but single player holt crap it runs nice , but again just depends on the games , I personally enjoy the experience I get on my laptop for the media-core games I play on it I even play arma 3 on it as well and it still looks sexy just not as polished as the super

 

[Darkbreeze]

Is there a specific reason you are going with the Gaming Pro Carbon, rather than the Tomahawk Max? The Tomahawk max is cheaper, AND it supports faster memory kits. That's one spot I'd start. Unless you need multiple M.2 drives and that is the primary reason for the B450 Pro carbon, I'd start there. When you answer that, I'll let you know if I see further places that might cut down the cost. Consider, the Tomahawk and Tomahawk max have excellent VRMs that can support even the 3950x, so the 3700x is no problem for those boards.

 

[k1nationIG]

Is there a specific reason you are going with the Gaming Pro Carbon, rather than the Tomahawk Max? The Tomahawk max is cheaper, AND it supports faster memory kits. That's one spot I'd start. Unless you need multiple M.2 drives and that is the primary reason for the B450 Pro carbon, I'd start there. When you answer that, I'll let you know if I see further places that might cut down the cost. Consider, the Tomahawk and Tomahawk max have excellent VRMs that can support even the 3950x, so the 3700x is no problem for those boards.

I switched to a tomahawk max, anything else

 

[k1nationIG]

I switched to a tomahawk max, anything else

Is there a specific reason you are going with the Gaming Pro Carbon, rather than the Tomahawk Max? The Tomahawk max is cheaper, AND it supports faster memory kits. That's one spot I'd start. Unless you need multiple M.2 drives and that is the primary reason for the B450 Pro carbon, I'd start there. When you answer that, I'll let you know if I see further places that might cut down the cost. Consider, the Tomahawk and Tomahawk max have excellent VRMs that can support even the 3950x, so the 3700x is no problem for those boards.

I updated the link above and if you need it, here is the more recent one https://pcpartpicker.com/user/k1nation/saved/b4VLP6

 

[Darkbreeze]

I really don't see much to nitpick there. I think it's good as is if you can't drop down a tier on the graphics card, and if you plan to run 1440p, I wouldn't drop down.

 

[sizzling]

I updated the link above and if you need it, here is the more recent one https://pcpartpicker.com/user/k1nation/saved/b4VLP6

If you want to save a couple of $ you could drop down to the 650w version of that psu as that system would easily run on 550w and 650w gives plenty of headroom. It’s up to you, it’s fairly insignificant in the total cost.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I agree. For that system, if you don't have plans to do any heavy overclocking, 650w is probably fine. Heck, 550w is 30w over the RealhardtechX recommendation and they are usually a little higher than what you actually need to start with. So 650w is definitely plenty if it's a good unit to begin with.