PC build on a $350 budget possible?

[Intel_man]

I have read the specs on both the GTX 1060 and the RX 480. Both of them support Vulkan and DX12, so I don't understand the difference. RX 480 does better in some games. How do I make up my mind?

The 6gb version of the 1060 is more often faster than the RX480 across the board. Yes, there are games that are faster than the RX 480, but generally, the 1060 is faster. Honestly, it's up to you really. If you can fork out the extra for the 6gb 1060, go for it. If not, going to the RX 480 isn't bad either.

Easy: The 480 has 8Gb VRAM and Crossfire support. And it´s $20-30 less.

Uh... 8gb vs 6gb isn't significant. Hell... its still not often to see games utilize all 8gb of vram anyways, thus making your point irrelevant. Also, if he's not going to Crossfire now, he's more than likely never going to at a later date. This applies to SLi as well.

 

[Daniel Dukai]

If he's not going to Crossfire now, he's more than likely never going to at a later date. This applies to SLi as well.

Some people may consider the RX 480 the better card... for their needs. As far as I understand, Crossfire means using two graph cards or something. Well guess what, I won't do that. I never needed to.

I've been looking at more parts. Can we agree on a final build? I just picked the CPU and GPU because I wouldn't be able to choose the right motherboard on my own. Memory and PSU likewise. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/YY9TVY

Here's what I'd like:

- A capable PSU with some overhead
- 16GB of matching RAM
- Matching motherboard that will be able to support future upgrades to CPU and GPU

Thanks.

EDIT: ~$800 budget

 

[Daniel Dukai]

Since I don't have the cash to pay for all of this right now.... how much can things change, for example in like 2 months? Should I be worried that a certain build will become outdated by the time I have the money? Or I should not worry too much because the latest tech will always be available for purchase, so it will make up for any prior builds that I have made.

 

[beers]

Just buy all of the parts at the same time unless you get some super crazy deal on a specific component.

Ryzen will be out by then so that might be an option for you. Plus, you have significantly changed your original budget from $350 to $800 so that can pull the build in other directions depending on your priorities.

 

[Deadpool]

Uh... 8gb vs 6gb isn't significant. Hell... its still not often to see games utilize all 8gb of vram anyways, thus making your point irrelevant. Also, if he's not going to Crossfire now, he's more than likely never going to at a later date. This applies to SLi as well.

How can more VRAM not be significant? Maybe not useful today, but tomorrow. How the hell is more VRAM not significant? It´s "often" not needed? More VRAM irrelevant... That´s funny

 

[Intel_man]

How can more VRAM not be significant? Maybe not useful today, but tomorrow. How the hell is more VRAM not significant? It´s "often" not needed? More VRAM irrelevant... That´s funny

Do you even know what vram is used for and in what situations does it affect performance? Because your statement there demonstrates a lack of fundamental understanding of what vram does.

It´s "often" not needed?

That's not what I said. Reread what I wrote.

 

[Deadpool]

Do you even know what vram is used for and in what situations does it affect performance? Because your statement there demonstrates a lack of fundamental understanding of what vram does.


That's not what I said. Reread what I wrote.

Let´s say I don´t understand what it is for (I do, it´s not too advanced either, it´s not rocket science, and I don´t know what part of my argument demonstrates I don´t know that). Everybody recommends the 480 over the 1060. Even @Darren did a week or so ago.

its still not often to see games utilize all 8gb of vram

?

How is it different to what I said. Games often do not use it, that´s why it´s often not needed...

 

[Intel_man]

Let´s say I don´t understand what it is for (I do, it´s not too advanced either, it´s not rocket science, and I don´t know what part of my argument demonstrates I don´t know that).

You're still avoiding answering the original question with that statement. Read up on that subject and you'll realize why you shouldn't base your judgement of a video card purchase primarily on how much VRAM your card has.

That's the point I want to put on the table. Your recommendation is misleading to the OP because you're saying the RX480 is a better card because it has more VRAM. Which is false. There's other reasons you could've provided to justify your claims which could've been fine so long as it's accurate.

Everybody recommends the 480 over the 1060.

Depends on what you're looking for. There's a large fixation on max/min values on fps performance, which doesn't paint the whole picture. The 1060 provides a more stable delivery of fps. (Less deviation from the mean fps value) This doesnt mean it has a higher max fps, it just means the fps doesn't fluctuate as much. Which could be more important depending on the type of game you're playing. The 1060 also consumes less power and generates less heat, which could be a factor for the OP.

This is a January 2017 graph.

The $/fps is still very tight between the two.

Then there's the whole DX12 vs DX11 debate. Yes, the 480 is faster in DX12, but let's take a look on how many games are known to be released in the near future...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_DirectX_12_support#Upcoming_games

vs DX 11 games that are coming out

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_DirectX_11_support#Upcoming_games

Of course, there's going to be unannounced games that may not be on this list, but it's still pretty substantial. I understand DX12 is the next big thing, but it takes time to develop. How long is it going to take before DX11 game development gets phased out? Probably in time for a new video card to keep up with performance you'll be getting out of a RX480 or GTX1060 when DX12 is the new norm.

 

[Deadpool]

You're still avoiding answering the original question with that statement. Read up on that subject and you'll realize why you shouldn't base your judgement of a video card purchase primarily on how much VRAM your card has.

That's the point I want to put on the table. Your recommendation is misleading to the OP because you're saying the RX480 is a better card because it has more VRAM. Which is false. There's other reasons you could've provided to justify your claims which could've been fine so long as it's accurate.

Take a look at post #30 please. Don´t start arguments without reading everything next time. You are starting fights that could be avoided.

How dumb do you think I am? I would never choose a card just for the amount of RAM it has. The only reason I mentioned because I though it would help the OP make up his mind, since almost everyone in almost any forum recommends the 480 over the 1060 I though it was the right thing to do.

I´m not going to answer to the FPS benchmarks and DX assumptions because I mostly agree, except for the last part, but that is speculation so there is no point on arguing there.

PS: I´d love if you were right, I bought a 1060 6G a month ago, but I now realise I could have probably chosen better.

 

[Intel_man]

Take a look at post #30 please.

I did. The amount of VRAM shouldn't be a factor in the context of the GTX 1060 vs RX 480. It can be a factor if you're comparing the 4gb version vs the 8gb version because that's one of the main differences between the RX480 card versions.

Just like if you were to compare the 3gb version of the GTX 1060 to the 6gb one. The justification to buying the 6gb one is not because of higher VRAM, but because the 3gb one has less cuda cores.

Don´t start arguments without reading everything next time. You are starting fights that could be avoided.

No one's arguing about anything. I was simply pointing out what shouldn't be used as a reason to justify purchasing a product over another as it's misleading.

How dumb do you think I am?

Why are you treating it as a personal target? Keep it objective.

The only reason I mentioned because I though it would help the OP make up his mind,

It really shouldn't be brought up as a reason for the OP to consider as it's not a cause of performance differences.

PS: I´d love if you were right, I bought a 1060 6G a month ago, but I now realise I could have probably chosen better.

It's not always about being right or wrong, but merely analyzing all the information provided at the time of purchase and making a educated judgement call.

 

[Deadpool]

I did. The amount of VRAM shouldn't be a factor in the context of the GTX 1060 vs RX 480. It can be a factor if you're comparing the 4gb version vs the 8gb version because that's one of the main differences between the RX480 card versions.

Just like if you were to compare the 3gb version of the GTX 1060 to the 6gb one. The justification to buying the 6gb one is not because of higher VRAM, but because the 3gb one has less cuda cores.


No one's arguing about anything. I was simply pointing out what shouldn't be used as a reason to justify purchasing a product over another as it's misleading.


Why are you treating it as a personal target? Keep it objective.


It really shouldn't be brought up as a reason for the OP to consider as it's not a cause of performance differences.


It's not always about being right or wrong, but merely analyzing all the information provided at the time of purchase and making a educated judgement call.

Ok man if you think having more VRAM doesn´t matter you take it from here. Going from 6G to 8G seems substantial enough for me. Maybe not useful today, but tomorrow it could be.

You just take it form here pal.

 

[Deadpool]

Sorry if I sound cranky. I´m a bit tired and in no mood to argue about components. I already mentioned the DX12 and Vulkan factors, and in the future maybe having a little bit more VRAM could make the difference. That´s the last thing I´ll say about this.

 

[Intel_man]

Ok man if you think having more VRAM doesn´t matter you take it from here. Going from 6G to 8G seems substantial enough for me. Maybe not useful today, but tomorrow it could be.

Again, this suggests that your understanding of how VRAM affects performance is lacking.

Since you've been avoiding explaining your understanding of how VRAM works, I'll explain a bit of it to you.

VRAM from 6gb to 8gb isn't as "substantial" as you think it is. High VRAM usage occurs when there's large amounts of texture files involved, which only exists in higher resolution gaming (ie. 1440p and 4k res). If you're using a RX480 or a GTX 1060 to do 4k gaming... well then that's just not ideal.

If you look at even just the RX480 alone. The 4gb version vs 8gb one at 1080p in Firestrike shows little to no difference (variation of the score is so minimal, it can be due to the silicon lottery).

Here's a few game benchmarks to further my point.

What's interesting though, is that under 4k performance benchmarks, the fps between the 4gb vs 8gb one is still only around ~4% difference. Only think I can think of that is causing this would be that games aren't using more than 4gb of vram and is bottlenecking elsewhere.

I´m a bit tired and in no mood to argue about components.

Again, no one's arguing. It's a discussion.

 

[Deadpool]

Sorry didn´t know I was supposed to explain how VRAM works. You´ll have to excuse me if I don´t read your post.

 

[Daniel Dukai]

Wow, this thread exploded, and I got no notifications about it.

Now that Deadpool mentioned it, I found it kind of odd that he'd be recommending an RX 480 when he has a GTX 1060.

If more VRAM doesn't necessarily means better, I am kinda worried that Ryzen CPUs won't automatically outclass Intel's CPUs.

 

[Deadpool]

If more VRAM doesn't necessarily means better, I am kinda worried that Ryzen CPUs won't automatically outclass Intel's CPUs.

What does VRAM have to do with CPUs?

 

[Daniel Dukai]

Not much. I just made an analogy I guess. More is not necessarily better.

 

[beers]

I am kinda worried that Ryzen CPUs won't automatically outclass Intel's CPUs.

Solution, wait a couple of weeks for user generated benchmarks to form your own opinion

 

[JLuchinski]

Solution, wait a couple of weeks for user generated benchmarks to form your own opinion

Yeah I would wait until Ryzen actually gets released and there is REAL benchmarks out there. Maybe it will drive other CPU prices down and you can get something better for your budget, that's what I'm hoping for.

 

[Deadpool]

Yeah I would wait until Ryzen actually gets released and there is REAL benchmarks out there. Maybe it will drive other CPU prices down and you can get something better for your budget, that's what I'm hoping for.

Maybe Intel will realise how overpriced their 6900k is! *laughs uncontrollably till death*