Help deciding between Rx 480 or GTX 1060

Avenger1313 · Jul 21, 2016

Hello! First of all, this is my current setup:

AMD FX 8350
ASUS M5A97 R2
8 GB Hyperx fury 1866
Thermaltake tr2 700W
Xfx radeon R7 250

I'm atm looking to get a new monitor, 29' ultrawide 2550x1080p, prolly getting the LG UM68-P which is freesync compatible, but there's another option which is the AOC 2963PQ, which is similar but doesnt have freesync.

To game with this monitor, im also looking to buy a new graphics card, and was thinking about the RX 480 since it's compatible with freesync as well. Where i live, the only models available are the ones made by XFX, one of them is 8GB @1288MHz, and the other is the black OC model 8GB @1328 MHz,

So, my question is, should i get the RX 480? If so, which of those two models? Is freesync worth it over the 1060's better performance? Or should i wait for the 1060 and get any of those two monitors?

Also, do you think my current pc is enough to play at that res with any of those cards? Or should i upgrade something else?

Thank you very much!

rwayne · Jul 21, 2016

I think I would go with the RX480 for a few reasons:
1.) Free Sync is HUGE benefit and it almost a must if you are buying a new monitor. Eliminating stutter can be the difference between winning or losing.
2.) GSYNC monitors are way more expensive than FreeSync ones and have less options
3.) The GTX1060 has no SLI connectors so you will have no upgrade options
4.) At a resolution of 2550x1080p the 8GBs of ram might be advantagous

However if you go that path DO NOT BUY NOW. Wait a month for the AIB cards to come out. Many will have more than 6 PIN connectors which will allow for better power delivery and overclocking. Supposedly Sapphire is working on a TOXIC edition of the card. Plus you got the MSI, ASUS, and Gigbyte custom cards coming out too.

17seconds · Jul 21, 2016

Your first decision point could be whether you value any of the unique features and graphics settings of the GTX 1060, like PhysX for example. As someone who actually plays PhysX games (Fallout 4, Borderlands), that rules out anything AMD right up front. In addition to PhysX, you may want to consider:. MFAA, HBAO+, Adaptive VSync, Fast Sync, Ansel, DSR, SMP, Shadowplay, and Geforce Experience to name a few.

Avenger1313 · Jul 21, 2016

17seconds :

I have no idea of what you're talking about lol

17seconds · Jul 21, 2016

Well in that case, ignorance is bliss. Get whichever one has the cheapest custom model with the quietest fans.

coozie7 · Jul 21, 2016

@ Avenger1313: Google the acronyms for more detailed explanations but it's roughly this:
PhysX: Gives more accurate simulations of cloth, fog, water and other particle effects like explosions. Downside is that it can slow down the game.
MFAA: Anti-aliasing (gets rid of jagged lines) with a lower performance penalty.
HBAO+: Improved subtle shadows, similar to the old 'soft shadows' option in many older games, but with a lower performance hit.
Adaptive Vsync: Allows the graphics card output to more accurately synchronise with your monitor, and over a wide range, very useful if you have a fast (120 or 144Hz) display because it greatly reduces screen tearing (also Google

).
Fast Sync: https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/936531/geforce-1000-series/regarding-nvidia-fast-sync-all-you-need-to-know-/post/4883719/
Ansel: Gives the player the ability to take a 'photo' of the game from any position, regardless of where the player is looking.
DSR: Simulates higher resolution on lower resolution displays, for example you could use DSR to simulate a 2560X1440 resolution on a 1920x1080 display.
SMP: Useful for mobile devices, not much use for desktops.
Shadowplay: Allows the player to record gameplay for inclusion in videos, for example if you're producing a walkthrough or highlighting a particularly difficult to find secret for a hints video.
Geforce Experience: A 'one stop' app to help tune your games and update drivers with plenty of 'off the shelf' profiles to help get the best out of your system.

Avoid the single fan Founders Edition GTX1060, the reviews show this cooler to be inadequate, causing the card to throttle-slow down-to stay within predefined temperature/load limits, the same is true of the reference, single fan RX480.

Avenger1313 · Jul 21, 2016

coozie7 :

@ Avenger1313: Google the acronyms for more detailed explanations but it's roughly this:
PhysX: Gives more accurate simulations of cloth, fog, water and other particle effects like explosions. Downside is that it can slow down the game.
MFAA: Anti-aliasing (gets rid of jagged lines) with a lower performance penalty.
HBAO+: Improved subtle shadows, similar to the old 'soft shadows' option in many older games, but with a lower performance hit.
Adaptive Vsync: Allows the graphics card output to more accurately synchronise with your monitor, and over a wide range, very useful if you have a fast (120 or 144Hz) display because it greatly reduces screen tearing (also Google

).
Fast Sync: https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/936531/geforce-1000-series/regarding-nvidia-fast-sync-all-you-need-to-know-/post/4883719/
Ansel: Gives the player the ability to take a 'photo' of the game from any position, regardless of where the player is looking.
DSR: Simulates higher resolution on lower resolution displays, for example you could use DSR to simulate a 2560X1440 resolution on a 1920x1080 display.
SMP: Useful for mobile devices, not much use for desktops.
Shadowplay: Allows the player to record gameplay for inclusion in videos, for example if you're producing a walkthrough or highlighting a particularly difficult to find secret for a hints video.
Geforce Experience: A 'one stop' app to help tune your games and update drivers with plenty of 'off the shelf' profiles to help get the best out of your system.

Avoid the single fan Founders Edition GTX1060, the reviews show this cooler to be inadequate, causing the card to throttle-slow down-to stay within predefined temperature/load limits, the same is true of the reference, single fan RX480.

Thanks for the answer, sorry for the ingorance heh. I'd like to ask, Adaptive Vsync is similar to freesync? Would you get the 1060 or stick to rx 480 for the freesync? BTW the monitor has a refresh rate of 75 Hz

coozie7 · Jul 21, 2016

Don't apologise for ignorance, you an always learn and dispel it!

TBH it doesn't particularly matter, Adaptive sync will work on a Freesync display, freesync only takes advantage of the adaptive sync tech built into many high refresh monitors anyway, for those that can support it, it's just a small monitor driver update, the extra cost is usually down to many of these displays running at 144HZ, rather than anything to do with freesync.
Have a look her for more clarification on Adaptive Synch: http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/adaptive-vsync

Hard call on the card, the GTX1060 is a little faster, the RX480 a little cheaper-with a bit more VRAM-if you're interested in the Nvidia software goodies and want a little more performance then go for the Green Team, if you want to save some cash or like the 8Gb memory, go for the Red Team.
Either way, try to avoid the single fan Founders edition or AMD reference coolers, both can have issues with temperatures which can cause the card to throttle, in extreme conditions this will result in inconsistent gameplay as the card slows down to keep within its temperature limits.

Avenger1313 · Jul 21, 2016

coozie7 :

Thank you very much! I think I'm gonna do what the rwayne reccomended in order to take advantage of the freesync technology as I don't really care about Nvidia software, and also follow your advice on avoiding single fan cards,

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