Better brand & higher model of a lower chipset vs higher chipset of a lesser brand / model.

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t99

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Jul 16, 2014
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I'm having some trouble finalizing my decision and have been one click away from buying about 3 different cards for the last couple of hours. Here is the lowest model 1060 from both gigabyte and msi. Newegg is just for links, purchasing for less from jet..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA65C4Z87284&cm_re=1060_gigabyte-_-14-125-905-_-Product final cost 170$

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA8H54UM2345&cm_re=1060_msi-_-14-137-037-_-Product final cost 188$ (the newegg price is currently inflated)

The gigabyte has some pretty mixed reviews all over the place and makes me a little nervous. The MSI is basically their lowest model available and I can't find more than 1 total review for this. This got me thinking, is it worth it to buy a lower chipset of a higher end model that I know will last and will not have to return? I want the best card, but at the same time I definitely do not want to deal with having to return one or deal with a warranty claim 1 year from now. I think having to deal with that might frustrate me more than having to turn the settings down slightly. Would I not suffer much performance loss due to the lower chipset being one of the highest models available?

The other choice is the MSI gaming RX 470 8GB for 189.99 or RX 480 4GB 199.99, both with 20$ rebates. I haven't read one bad thing about MSI gaming series and have had nothing, but great experiences with their products. Currently using a gaming series 270x, not a single issue in over 2 years. How much closer in performance is a full blown 4gb 480 to a low end 1060?
 
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EpIckFa1LJoN
No the Zotac Amp Extreme 1080 is the best 1080 on the market. They aren't as mainstream as MsI or Asus because they don't make motherboards. They pretty much only make tiny portable computers and graphics cards. But they are up there in quality.
As far as models go, the MsI gaming X is only going to be 2-3 more fps than the lowest tier model. And the best 480 isn't going to beat any 1060 by that much. Benchmarks of ALL models are a whopping 1% better.

The chip itself is the same no matter what model of 1060 it is. The main difference is cooling and overclocking potential. But over the overclocked model you'll get 2-3 more fps on average. The better models have higher clock speeds, better components, and better cooling. They aren't...
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EpIckFa1LJoN

EpIckFa1LJoN

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Its not a lower chipset. The 1060 3GB is the same chip across all models, the difference are the parts that are added to it. I personally don't like Gigabyte. If you can look into the Zotac mini 1060 3gb. Zotac makes really good stuff, if it is available where you are, if not I would go with MSI. If I couldn't have a Zotac I would get an Asus even, and then an MSI.
 
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EpIckFa1LJoN

EpIckFa1LJoN

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The RX 480 is about the same as the 1060 3GB, but the 470 is not as good. But many games prefer Nvidia cards over AMD, so that gives the 1060 3gb a bit of an edge over the 480 even though they essentially are about the same performance-wise.
 
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t99

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yeah I know it's the same chipset between various models of a 1060 3gb or a 480 and so on. I probably worded it poorly and it came across wrong. Comparing a lower end 1060 like the first link which is a single fan lowest model 1060 from gigabyte vs the gaming series higher end 480 from msi. even though the 1060 is generally viewed as a better card would the performance gap be less considering we are comparing a base model 1060 to one of the higher model 480s? I was also thinking the small loss in performance could be worth it knowing that an MSI will definitely last and won't have to deal with possible returns / warranty claims in the future.

I wish I could get feedback, but their is literally only 1 review for the base model msi 1060 for 188$. to move up to a gaming series is about 35$ more. As much as I want a 1060, I just don't know if it's worth it to buy a lower end one. I'm not familiar with zotac, I always thought they just made low end stuff like PNY. Will have to look into it.
 
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EpIckFa1LJoN

EpIckFa1LJoN

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No the Zotac Amp Extreme 1080 is the best 1080 on the market. They aren't as mainstream as MsI or Asus because they don't make motherboards. They pretty much only make tiny portable computers and graphics cards. But they are up there in quality.
As far as models go, the MsI gaming X is only going to be 2-3 more fps than the lowest tier model. And the best 480 isn't going to beat any 1060 by that much. Benchmarks of ALL models are a whopping 1% better.

The chip itself is the same no matter what model of 1060 it is. The main difference is cooling and overclocking potential. But over the overclocked model you'll get 2-3 more fps on average. The better models have higher clock speeds, better components, and better cooling. They aren't inherently better or worse, it all boils down to 2-3 fps more. The Gaming X is more expensive because it has better power components for more stable overclocking, and better heat ainks and fans for better cooling. The 480 will be VERY slightly better than the 1060, but won't work as well woth some games which will make the difference negligible. Especially if you plan on playing games like GTA V and Assassins Creed games.
 
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t99

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interesting. going with the msi gaming x 480 being that I know it's built well and do not have to worry about anything. returns or warranty claims is something I 100% do not want to deal with. Do you know if crossfire on these new cards will double the vram? I might fork out a little more for the 8gb now, if crossfire later does not add the ram together into one pool. If it does then a 4gb is fine because later on it will act as a 8gb. I hope I explained that well.
 
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EpIckFa1LJoN

EpIckFa1LJoN

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No CF/SLI doesn't work like that. You don't get double the power from adding another card, more like 50-60% more power. For example the Titan XP is about 30% more powerful than the GTX 1080, however if you have two 1080's in SLI, it is about 30% more powerful than a single Titan XP. But no you don't get double the VRAM or power from using two or even three cards. A third card only makes it about 75% more powerful than a single card, and almost nothing supports 3-way anyway.

The VRAM will always be what the card is no matter how many are in there. You have a 4GB card but you have 4 of them in there, its still only 4GB VRAM not 16.
 
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