What GPU should I buy?

maruf01

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My GPU is dead. Long live my GPU.
Time to get a new one. I'm on tight budget.
I'm torn between a GTX 1060 and an RX 580.
I game on a 22inch 1080p display. I was hoping to buy new GPU when Cyberpunk 2077 goes gold because that's the next big game I'm waiting for but that's no longer an option. I usually play RPGs and Racing simulations like Assetto Corsa, AC Competizione, Project Cars 2, Dirt Rally. So 60fps is important to me. I'm on a budget and in a time when GPUs should ideally not be purchased IMO. So if I get over 45 fps, works for now.
In our market, not all cards are available. As far as the 1060 is concerned, Zotac Amp is pretty much my only option. MSI may be possible if I have the strength to wait a few weeks and costs a little more than the Zotac. The Aorus and the Pulse Radeon RX580 are the best RX580 offerings available which cost a bit more.
Also, in my region, these cards already cost about $100 more than $ MSRP equivalent. Nothing to do with mining, just the way it has always been here.

So. which should I get.
In most games, 1060 gets better fps than 580 but has 6GB memory compared to 8 on the 580. Does that make 580 little more future proof especially keeping in mind Cyberpunk 2077 which will be a huge open world game. I've seen some benchmarks and even in most demanding games like Odessey, 580 not taking a lot over 5 gb while I see gpu activity is 97 - 99%. So will it bottleneck before it can bite into the eight gigabyte if it encounters such a game in the future? Will the 1060 with 6 gb fare worse in the same situation? If not, think I can get the 1060 because its cheaper.

I'll obviously not want to upgrade in two years, ideally three but my spidey sense says there's a performance jump coming. Also, Nvidia has no competition now which is likely to change in the next two years as I see it. So should I just get the cheaper 1060 zotac and in two years, buy a new low end card with better price from a more competitive market? because I think I'll get better bang for buck then than now?

Unless another cryptocurrency rise effs things up again.
 

maruf01

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Feb 19, 2015
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Thanks, every bit helps.
Games may not draw more than 5 GB now but what of the next couple of years?
 
Either card should be fine for 1080p for at least a couple of years. Cannot say for certain beyond that, as my crystal ball is broken (!)

GTX 1060 might have only 6GB, but the memory compression is better.

RX 580 supports FreeSync, which is a great option to have if you ever upgrade your display. (G-Sync displays tend to cost quite a bit more.)

Overall the two cards are pretty much equal. I would get whatever card you can find cheapest.

 

maruf01

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I've been doing a lot of studying about this and this is what I've got so far:
nVidia GPU generally run serious racing sims better like AC, ACC (for now at least), pCars 2. Frame rates is most important here. I'll get near 60fps on AC. On ACC, currently in early access, its a strictly online competition game and I'm not that competitive. I'm good enough to enjoy sim racing yet not good enough to compete very high level. Yet I love it to bits. So I doubt I'll play ACC too often. Also ACC is on Unreal Engine where nVidia is know to perform better. nVidia is performing far better than AMD in this game at this stage. So nVidia wins here.
I love RPGs to death. With more memory and better performance with DX12 AMD seems will do a better job with Cyberpunk 2077.
The only thing I'm sure of is I'll get an MSI Gaming X card but don't know which chip.
I'M TORN.