[SOLVED] What card to buy for upgrade?

[lofthouse1982]

Hi, looking at spending around £500 to upgrade my graphics card. Currently running the 1660 super 3 fan card 6gb.

Or should I upgrade my cpu? Currently running Ryzen 7 1900.
Motherboard is steel legend running 32gb ram
Thanks

 

[logainofhades]

What are the rest of your system specs, including make/model of the power supply?

 

[lofthouse1982]

Windows 11 pro
Western Digital Blue SN550 M.2-2280 1TB x2 all other drives are ssd
1660 super gpu
32gb ram 3200
GameMax RPG Rampage 850W Semi-Modular PSU
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7GHz 8 Core (Socket AM4) CPU
ASRock B450 Steel Legend AMD Motherboard

 

[lofthouse1982]

Was thinking of this for £412


ASUS TUF GeForce RTX 3060 12GB Gaming OC V2 Graphics Card
TUF-RTX3060-O12G-V2-GAMING

 

[jacob249358]

If you are at 1080p you might see more of a benefit with a CPU upgrade. I would go with the 12600k or 12700. Gpus are getting cheaper but still a but overpriced and a new generation is coming in September so you could wait.

 

[Karadjgne]

That would require a motherboard too. With a B450 you could jump to a 5600x/5800x/3d. You'd still not have Gen4, that requires 5 series boards.

A 3060 will be decent upgrade at 1080p, same ballpark as a 1080ti / 2070Super.

 

[lofthouse1982]

So, probably I’ll go with graphics card then. Which would be best for that price range?

https://www.box.co.uk/90YV0HH0-M0NA00-ASUS-GeForce-RTX-3050-DUAL-8GB-OC-Graphi_4110031.html

https://www.box.co.uk/TUF-RTX3060-O...-GeForce-RTX-3060-12GB-Gaming-OC_3814703.html

https://www.box.co.uk/GV-N3050GAMING-OC-8GD-Gigabyte-GeForce-RTX-3050-GAMING-8GB-OC-_4109976.html


Or if anyone recommends any please do so 👍👍

 

[Karadjgne]

Asus 3060 beat the living daylights out of either the 2x 3050s

The 3050 is barely better than the card you have now

 

[lofthouse1982]

If I got the 3060 would it be much of an improvement?

 

[Karadjgne]

No way of telling. It's different for every game. I know moving from a gtx970 to my current 2070Super was pretty huge, but that's on the games I play. I can do a 4k DSR easily, max out graphics and keep high enough fps, where before I'd turn graphics down to maintain high fps in some games.

But stuff like CSGO or minecraft is graphically so simple that you'd not see any difference, whereas Call of Duty type games will see a large improvement.

Basically anything you play that's not at Ultra, could be, with either no change in fps, or a big change, depending on how gpu bound you were.

Gpu does Not add or generate fps, the fps is set by the cpu. The gpu can only match or fail to crwate the fps onscreen, depending on exactly how much the cpu is sending and levels of details.

In CSGO with that cpu, you should be high 200's if not low 300's in Office. Cpu bound limits. You could slap a 3090ti in there and see exactly no change. Something like Skyrim, with a ton of scripted 4k/8k mods, you might see 60fps at ultra. Make that a 4k DSR, with the 1660 and you'd drop to maybe 45fps as the gpu hits limits. With the 3060, you'd still be at 60fps, cpu bound.

 

[Bob.B]

Windows 11 pro
Western Digital Blue SN550 M.2-2280 1TB x2 all other drives are ssd
1660 super gpu
32gb ram 3200
GameMax RPG Rampage 850W Semi-Modular PSU
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7GHz 8 Core (Socket AM4) CPU
ASRock B450 Steel Legend AMD Motherboard

You start by saying the cpu is a 1900 now you say 2700x.

Run this and post a LINK to the results page.
UBM

 

[lofthouse1982]

Thanks for the reply, yeah it’s Ryzen 7 2700x. The games I play are Assetto corsa with everything on ultra and content manager to the max including reshade etc. f1 2021 on ultra and Arma 3 maxed out with resolution on 200%, plus I have the 2 Blackhawk monitors running at x4 resolution in the nvidia control panel.

 

[lofthouse1982]

So really I don’t think I will gain much, but what about the ray tracing which I don’t currently have on the 1660 super?

 

[lofthouse1982]

I paid for the reshade ray tracing files but apparently it’s not the same.

 

[Bob.B]

Thanks for the reply, yeah it’s Ryzen 7 2700x. The games I play are Assetto corsa with everything on ultra and content manager to the max including reshade etc. f1 2021 on ultra and Arma 3 maxed out with resolution on 200%, plus I have the 2 Blackhawk monitors running at x4 resolution in the nvidia control panel.

As you push up the settings the work load is on the gpu.
So it depends on your wallet.
A 3060 will give a nice bump.
A 3060 ti a better bump.
A 3070 a better/better bump.

 

[spentshells]

No im gonna have to say get a new cpu 5500/5600/5600x or 5700X
Or spend a lot and keep it for a while, 5900 would keep you modern for years, but for gaming you dont really need it.

I think youll find this is you best option. Just let the card prices keep dropping.

If you settle for the 5500 cpu you could easily have money left over for the card later as prices continue to get lower.

 

[lofthouse1982]

So this one would be best option?
https://www.box.co.uk/100-100000061WOF-AMD-Ryzen-9-5900X-Socket-AM4-Processor_3213585.html

 

[Karadjgne]

Pc needs balance. It's pointless to have a massively powerful cpu and get off the charts fps, if the gpu can't put them on screen. It's just as pointless (especially at 1080p) to have a massively powerful gpu if a weak cpu can't feed it any fps.

Needs balance.

The ASR mobo doesn't have the best VRM's. It's a budget board, not the higher grade Taichi. A lower TDP cpu will work out better overall. That means a 5600x. The 5900x would be nice, but that's a lot of stress on an underwhelming mobo, especially with gaming demands. A lot of thought will need to go into VRM cooling, voltage use etc. It's honestly overkill for the needs, and not that much stronger in fps, the 5600x gets you 90% ish of the way there.

Ray Tracing is a game changer. Doesn't work out so well for 1080p most times, but does put a huge amount of stress on the gpu. GTX models aren't capable of Ray Tracing, they don't have the cores for it. It takes RTX. RT1 was a power hog, on the 2000 series cards. RT2 found in the 3000 series is much more mature, more efficient and more effective.

In RT, a bigger card does better. More RT cores, more power phases, more vram, more everything to support the RT use.

That generally creates imbalance. Same as using a 4k monitor does, requires bigger gpus than would be normal.

5600x / 3060/ti is a well balanced setup capable of almost anything. 5600x/3080 is better optioned for 4k or heavy RT use. 5900x / 3060/ti is better off for content creation use with its high compile/extraction demands etc.

But those also require supporting equipment. Budget mobo's don't do so well with the 5900x/5950x when it's pushed hard for extended periods. 5900x requires better cooling, which doesn't always fit in the case. 3080's are long enough to be too long with some cases and front mounted cooling, hdd cages etc.

Unless the 2700x already is using massive air or 280mm AIO, a 5900x is going to need an upgrade. The 5600x can use the same cooler as the 2700x and run better temps, lower TDP.

Have to look at every aspect, can't just willy-nilly upgrade 1 part and expect good results. In F1 2020, a 2700x at 1080p ultra should be hitting roughly 160fps. A 5600x will hit 250fps. As will a 5900x. The game hits limits and core scaling doesn't help.

 

[vMax]

If you can stretch to a 3060Ti even better as that is a great GPU but only if you can get it at a good price. It is a monster performer at 1080P and even 1440p. It is about a £100 more than a 3060 but again the 3060Ti is a quiet a bit better! The 3060Ti will be the best upgrade option right now over a CPU upgrade which you can do much later.

cheapest 3060Ti is £488.99 and is in stock and reduced by £100 at Overclockers.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/inno...ddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-07u-in.html