Question Rtx 3060 or 3070 for 1080p 144hz gaming

rockery12

Reputable
Jan 18, 2018
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4,515
Hi guys, hoping someone can help me.

I'm stuck in a dilemma, my gaming setup consists of a GTX 1070 going to a 1080p 144hz monitor. I am not intending to upgrade the screen anytime soon.

I need to upgrade the card though because newer titles are starting to stress it out a bit. FPS dropping below 60 in several games.

It seems ridiculous that this problem is bugging me bit it kinda is...

I would think I need to upgrade to an RTX 3070 for newer games. Given its a 144hz screen I would want games to be around that fps mark or at least at 100fps with max settings.

Or is the rtx 3060 good value for this? Price difference and availability are the 2 biggest issues. But I don't want to spend on a 3060 just cos its available when I should ha e spent a little more and been a bit more patient for a 3070.

So TLDR, 3060 or 3070 for 1080p 144hz gaming? Which is better?

Thanks guys
 

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
RTX 3060, if you don't have the funds for an RTX 3070, but the real question is, how are you managing stock? You sure you need a GPU upgrade? What titles are you gaming with that card(without stating an etc)? Make and model of your PSU and it's age? You might want to see if the motherboard is pending any BIOS updates, then see if the OS is up to date and lastly, if using DDU, then the latest drivers(installed in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator) helps alleviate the perception of the card struggling.
 
Hi guys, hoping someone can help me.

I'm stuck in a dilemma, my gaming setup consists of a GTX 1070 going to a 1080p 144hz monitor. I am not intending to upgrade the screen anytime soon.

I need to upgrade the card though because newer titles are starting to stress it out a bit. FPS dropping below 60 in several games.

It seems ridiculous that this problem is bugging me bit it kinda is...

I would think I need to upgrade to an RTX 3070 for newer games. Given its a 144hz screen I would want games to be around that fps mark or at least at 100fps with max settings.

Or is the rtx 3060 good value for this? Price difference and availability are the 2 biggest issues. But I don't want to spend on a 3060 just cos its available when I should ha e spent a little more and been a bit more patient for a 3070.

So TLDR, 3060 or 3070 for 1080p 144hz gaming? Which is better?

Thanks guys


This could just as easily be your CPU and not the 1070. I'm going to guess you have a quad core CPU since the 1070 is a few years old. What are the rest of your system specs ?

When you're gaming what is the % load on the GPU vs the CPU ? You can use a program like Afterburner to monitor your system while gaming and see where the bottleneck is. Ideally you'd always want the GPU to be at 100% or very close to it meaning the GPU is doing all of the work rendering the game. If you're seeing the CPU at 100% and the GPU lower than that the CPU is your issue.
 

rockery12

Reputable
Jan 18, 2018
12
1
4,515
Hi all,
Thanks for replies so far
Specs of the rest of my system:
I5 8600k, not currently OC'd but can run a stable 4.8ghz, I've done it before but put it back cos it wasn't needed
Maximus X Z370 motherboard
32gb 3200mhz Corsair Vengeance Rgb
Corsair CX750m PSU
Corsair MP510 1 TB NVMe SSD (have 2 cheaper ssds for storage)
Antec Mercury 360 AOI cooler
Don't think I missed anything?
 
It is not hard to run 1080P at high frame rates with many graphics cards.
I suspect that some of your titles are limiting you.
Try this simple test:
Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
This makes the graphics card loaf a bit.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

Good luck in finding ANY 3000 series card to buy.
I would think a 3060 would be a nice boost.

But, if you can afford it, buy the 3070.
We all have a budget.
The extra price will hurt for a little while.
The lower price of a 3060 will be sweet for a short time, but for a much longer time, you will be second guessing yourself.
 
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As for future proofing, honestly, unless you hold on to hardware for a really and i mean really long time i wouldnt even bother trying to future proof a gpu because there's always going to be something better for cheaper right around the corner just ask the rtx 2080 owners.
that's why you skip a generation, my 1070ti lasted @2k res up until I nabbed a 3080. Started seeing performance hits with coldwar, valhalla, cyberpunk, etc. slapped in 3080, we good until 5000 series.
 

Bassman999

Prominent
Feb 27, 2021
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My opinion the regular 3060 even with 12gb ram is way overpriced for its performance.
Good luck right now getting a 3060ti...
3070 is pricey. Its a hard time, but if money was right and you could find one a 3070 would be my choice.
 

rockery12

Reputable
Jan 18, 2018
12
1
4,515
Thanks guys for all the responses so far!

yea this shortage is driving everything crazy.

I even saw a 3080 in stock somewhere at only slightly more expensive than a 3070. Was seriously considering that!

At the moment, the only stock I can get of 3070 is an EVGA or a Palit and even that is a 3 week wait. Would really like/prefer a ROG Strix but I think I'm gonna have to accept that its gonna be a while and expensive to get one. There is 3060 stock around though. The cost of a ROG Strix 3060 here is about R1,000 (about $50) cheaper than the Palit and EVGA 3070.
So the way I see it, an extra 10% for a bost of around 20% is worth it.

I also did some benchmarking last night. Playing UBOAT at max settings. I used Openhardware Monitor and AI suite to check usage.
FPS stayed between 80 and 100. When I went to map mode it capped at 144 fps. At this stage, the gpu processor was maxed out, the memory was at 40% usage and temps of gpu was 67°c.
The interesting part was my cpu. All 6 cores were at 50% to 60% during general gameplay. The moment I used fast travel mode it shot up to 90% and the temps climbed to 62°c. At this point I'm not sure of it hit a throttle but fps would start to stutter, dropping to 40 then back up to 60 then back down to 40. Once fast travel mode was deselected, the usage dropped, fps went up and temps of the cpu started to drop.

I'm sure UBOAT, being in early access, has not been optimized yet, so this could be a reason. I will benchmark more tonight