What graphics card to upgrade to?

[Macanno]

In looking to upgrade my r9 280 to either a gtx 1060 or a rx 480 which should I get for 1080p gaming at max settings. I've heard and warched reviews that said the rx 480 is more future proofed for dx12 and Vulcan but is not as powerful as the 1060 in dx11. I just need a bit of help deciding. Thanks.

 

[Shaun o]

At this point I would not worry to much about how well each card does Direct X 11 games.

Or the performance results, Each card you are on about does have a few plus points and a few negative points.

The Gtx 1060 card is only about 13% faster when running games on it in direct x 11, or slower depending on the game title it`s self you are in fact playing.

It`s the cards Direct X 12 capabilities that will come into play over the coming months, as games that support direct x 12 become more available, or are released on the pc gaming scene.

The two card`s also are very new, so both Nvidia and Amd when it comes to the graphics card video driver for each card will improve how much more performance each card will give you as they tweak the video drivers, and get the best optimization from each card via driver improvements.

But that can take some time, form a few weeks, to months.

If the price of each to buy is not a problem for you then that is fine.
But for sheer value for money the RX 480 with the performance it can currently produce for its selling price with 8Gb of on board memory is a good selling point or option to think about buying.

It`s a matter of personal choice, and there is nothing to say that with a few video driver optimizations one card may gain some ground in performance, or more power is squeezed out of the card by doing so.

You facing the same conundrum most people are asking them self right now Macanno.
Both cards also have a low power consumption also.

where in the old days upgrading to a new graphics card line or model range just released, more often than not required you to also have to buy a new more powerful power supply unit as well as the new graphics card.

So this release of both the Nvidia, and Amd cards is a bit of a god send when it comes to the amount of power they use.

 

[JUICEhunter]

For me the gem is the $199-$220 4gb 480 with custom cooling and worth waiting for. A $170-$190 970 (evga b stock/ebay) has an even better performance per dollar and should also be considered.

 

[Macanno]

Thanks guys I'll wait until more 480 aib out and look at the benchmarks compared to the 1060's cards