Hi, I've been out of the PC building game for a while. Wher did buildyourownpc go? Looking to get a new GPU for Mass Effect Andromeda as the series is my favourite and I would like to play it in its full splendour. Currently, have a 7870 which I just don't think will cut it anymore. Also playing Assassins Creed and GTA 5 so I'm guessing Mass Effect will be the most demanding. Looking for either an RX480 8Gb or 1060 3Gb or 6gb. But can't decide and looking for your opinions. Mainly for Andromeda tbh.
What resolution do you game at? What is your budget? What are the key specs if your system..RAM, CPU etc
Just make sure you avoid GIGABYTE G1 480s if you're getting one. I've got 5 here and they're all over the place.
The RX480 4GB seems like the real killer deal that is out there - if you are happy with the 1060 3GB, why rule this one out?
When you say all over the place, you mean QC? Performance? Faulty? They are all over the floor and you can't find them? I vote for the 480, with a slight AMD bias. If I was shopping in that bracket I would definately get a 480.
They're just crap from the sound of it. Jayz had one and it was awful beyond awful. XFX make the best 480, as much as I hate to admit it. And yeah, I think I would get a 480 too tbh. Or wait a few weeks until the 570 and 580 are with us.
The clock speeds are all over the place. The memory overclocking is anything from 50 MHz on the worst card to 250 on the best one. That's a huge spectrum... Secondly, they push 1.22v through the core at stock. I am running mining software on them and they are happy at 1200 MHz (although below stock turbo) with 0.95v. The heat they put out is incredible. 65% on the fan speed, 1v on the core, 1200-ish on the cores, and they are still at 60+ in a 18c room. The coolers cannot cope with the stock voltage that GIGA throw through them, especially not with that extremely conservative fan profile that they've installed. They do throttle, and I would expect better. Honestly, if I had the choice... the XFX (yeah, really!) GTR card or the Sapphire Nitro is one of the best. ASUS... not too sure. We've had a few hit and miss experiences with those white cooler ones too. So, N17, they are all over the place for all of those points you mentioned, and they are even on the floor (on their boxes) running.
What is it with Gigabyte and loving to shove voltage though PC parts? christ, as if their boards weren't overzealous enough as it is !
Isn't that the reason that TTL (OC3D) refuses to review their boards? I heard it on the grape vine, but I see he has reviewed one recently...
It was for the longest while man yeah. The amount of people on there we have had who were getting the highest CPU temps. Like 90c with a stock 7700k. "Is it a Gigabyte? OK go into your bios and look at the voltage.. HORY CRAP !!!" Yeah it's nuts man. Not just their Intel stuff either, Jayz upped the volts on a FX 8370 and blew it up because of LLC. Literally popped it, totally dead. I don't get it, because for a while they were releasing decent boards with good VRMs, then changing the rev a few weeks later and removing half of the VRMs. He reviewed the Aorus 5 though I think? decent board.
I have noticed that they do like to use the volts. Back when I was doing a few X99 reviews, the stock memory controller voltage was at 1.35v for XMP at 2666. It doesn't need any more than 1.1v for that...
Intel i5 3570K @ 3.40 GHz 16GB Corsair DDR3 Ram ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 Couple of SSDss and HDDs 1920 x 1080 Monitor About £200 - I'm not looking for something insane. Just a sensible upgrade to the 7870. Corrected, ta. 8GB is only £20 more. Well, the performance is so close I can't really call it. I've always had AMD cards, but I'm happy to change.
Doesn't sound like much, but it's still important to keep in mind the fractional price difference. When I bought mine that would represent a 13% price increase, which is far far higher than any performance increase from the change. RX480 also wins on the Freesync vs. G-sync argument (financially, and perhaps morally!)
I would spend the extra £20... 4GB is not enough for games, and certainly will be a limiting factor in the year(s) to come.
