Question What GPU is worth getting for 1080p@120?

[giansevengian]

Hi, I've been looking for a GPU in the used and new market to play at 1080p with a 120Hz monitor, my pc right now is a GTX 1060 + i7-4790. I plan to change the CPU later, probably to a R5 7600x but that's a thread for another time, right now I want to get a GPU since I mostly only play games and that will be the most needed upgrade. As you can see from my system I upgrade rarely so I'd want this to last.
These are a few prices for a few GPUs available to me:
RTX 3070: New 570€, Used 430-450€ (locally)
RX6700: New 380€, Used 300€ (eBay)
RX6700XT: New 440€, Used 330€ (eBay)
RX6800: New 600€, Used 465€ (eBay)

The new 3070 and RX6800 I'm not even considering and I rather not get 8GB of VRAM and deal with that later I'd say to ignore the 3070.
For me it's used RX6700XT vs used RX6800 . They are both eBay so I can't check it out personally and I'll have to trust eBay Money Back Guarantee if something goes wrong.
What do you think?

 

[Lutfij]

For me it's used RX6700XT vs used RX6800 .
Are used cards your only option?

For 1080p, all of those cards are overkill. They'll accomplish 1080 at 120Hz.

 

[punkncat]

Much of the higher end cards you mention are going to be overkill for that CPU, so make your selection based on the future CPU as well as a screen maybe?

That used price on 3070 is fairly outrageous. The reference model was $500 new. Don't subsidize others for their poor past choices.

For price to performance, IMO, the 6700XT seems to be in the sweet spot. I truly don't know how it does with 2K, but it should beast mode some FHD.

Just as a "to mention", I have the 3070 reference and it gets a solid 85+ in 2K Ultra settings and easily hits the 144 cap on 1080 same settings (with an 11900K). I would not say it was a bad card, but that price is.

 

[lmcnabney]

That's a pretty old CPU. It will certainly be a bottleneck on current/recent games at any resolution. I ran the bottleneck 'checker' using your CPU and the weakest GPU you listed and the CPU was still the weak link, although it was close.

It may be time to consider a new build.

 

[giansevengian]

For me it's used RX6700XT vs used RX6800 .
Are used cards your only option?

Well I like their prices more, I've always bought used and had luck being cheap, don't know if luck is going to last though

Much of the higher end cards you mention are going to be overkill for that CPU, so make your selection based on the future CPU as well as a screen maybe?

That used price on 3070 is fairly outrageous. The reference model was $500 new. Don't subsidize others for their poor past choices.

For price to performance, IMO, the 6700XT seems to be in the sweet spot. I truly don't know how it does with 2K, but it should beast mode some FHD.

Just as a "to mention", I have the 3070 reference and it gets a solid 85+ in 2K Ultra settings and easily hits the 144 cap on 1080 same settings (with an 11900K). I would not say it was a bad card, but that price is.

If 3070 was at a normal price I would consider it over AMD for things like DLDSR, NVENC and continuing my 10 years Nvidia GPUs streak. I've seen so many buy the 3070 for 700-800€ that some of these are probably trying to get some money back and no one wants to back down on the price.
With the 1060 I was cheap and couldn't justify buying a new GPU in the previous years. So I've suffered the consequences in the years of struggling to achieve 60fps without having to look at potatoes. I'm for the 6800 for this reason, I'd like to play in excellent conditions for a long while but used market actually looks way sketchier than it used to be for some reason. I'll think it over but like you said the 6700XT would be perfect for me.
I actually wanted to upgrade to a 2K monitor 6 years ago because I could literally count the pixels of my 24" 1080p but at the end I didn't because GPU to play were going to be too expensive and I would have to forget about high refresh rate... then my vision got worse and even with my glasses I don't have 10/10 view so I care less about resolution than other stuff like shadows, effects and level of details. I think I'll keep 1080p

That's a pretty old CPU. It will certainly be a bottleneck on current/recent games at any resolution. I ran the bottleneck 'checker' using your CPU and the weakest GPU you listed and the CPU was still the weak link, although it was close.

It may be time to consider a new build.

Going to be better than right now in most games, but as I said CPU is going to have to come later. I actually have the same exact build with a 2060 and the CPU is a bottleneck enough that Spider-Man Remastered runs almost the same on the 2060 and on the 1060

 

[lmcnabney]

Going to be better than right now in most games, but as I said CPU is going to have to come later. I actually have the same exact build with a 2060 and the CPU is a bottleneck enough that Spider-Man Remastered runs almost the same on the 2060 and on the 1060

I thought to mention it since I am in the same boat. I have a 4670k/1080ti and it is time to replace. It was a good run though...