For for thought when hunting for a GPU these days

[hanselthecaretaker]

I don't care what the reviews say, my RTX 3070 Ti has changed my life

Opinion: You're overthinking it

www.techradar.com

TL; DR - Max specs aren’t always everything, and sometimes merely having “enough” for a good time is all that’s needed.

 

[Dalisclock]

I don't care what the reviews say, my RTX 3070 Ti has changed my life

Opinion: You're overthinking it

www.techradar.com

TL; DR - Max specs aren’t always everything, and sometimes merely having “enough” for a good time is all that’s needed.

I've got a GTX 1060. It's good enough for now but yeah, at this point I'm willing to snag a good deal on any upgrade when it becomes available. Even the 20XX cards are fucking pricey......

I'm about to build a new computer this weekend and pretty sure the GPU is going to be the bottleneck for gaming for a while because upgrading is a pain in the ass. I will say, I have to (begrudgingly) thank China for helping crash the crypto mining market and will hopefully bring down GPU prices sooner rather than later.

Not that China was doing it for our benefit but occasionally an asshole does a good deed without intending to.

 

[laggyteabag]

I mean, yeah, its all relative.

As a backseat observer, I can tell you that at MSRP, the 3070TI isnt a great choice. At $100 more than the 3070, the extra performance isn't there. At $100 less than the 3080, you are leaving a lot of performance on the table.

Of course, the 3070TI is still a great card. It is certainly better than the 1080TI that I am running. And at a time where getting your hands on any 30XX card is very difficult, your only options are buy what you can find - in which case comparisons aren't exactly relevant - or you wait an undetermined amount of time.

For most people though, you don't need the biggest and the best card. Not to mention that these cards are often financially out of reach for a lot of people. There is a very good reason why the XX60 series cards are often the most popular, because for most people, they are just good enough, and they wont break the bank.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I've got a GTX 1060. It's good enough for now but yeah, at this point I'm willing to snag a good deal on any upgrade when it becomes available. Even the 20XX cards are fucking pricey......

I'm about to build a new computer this weekend and pretty sure the GPU is going to be the bottleneck for gaming for a while because upgrading is a pain in the ass. I will say, I have to (begrudgingly) thank China for helping crash the crypto mining market and will hopefully bring down GPU prices sooner rather than later.

Not that China was doing it for our benefit but occasionally an asshole does a good deed without intending to.

I have a 1070 which at non 4K resolutions works well enough on everything I play, but I’d like to jump on board the RTX wagon for the DLSS benefits let alone ray tracing bonuses. Not in any rush but I’d even take a 3060 ti if it was available.

I mean, yeah, its all relative.

As a backseat observer, I can tell you that at MSRP, the 3070TI isnt a great choice. At $100 more than the 3070, the extra performance isn't there. At $100 less than the 3080, you are leaving a lot of performance on the table.

Of course, the 3070TI is still a great card. It is certainly better than the 1080TI that I am running. And at a time where getting your hands on any 30XX card is very difficult, your only options are buy what you can find - in which case comparisons aren't exactly relevant - or you wait an undetermined amount of time.

For most people though, you don't need the biggest and the best card. Not to mention that these cards are often financially out of reach for a lot of people. There is a very good reason why the XX60 series cards are often the most popular, because for most people, they are just good enough, and they wont break the bank.

Not in any rush but yeah I’d even take a 3060 ti if it was available. At least it used to have a good price-performance ratio, and I’m not a fan of power hungry cards as they’re also usually a pain to fit well even in my full tower. Might end up waiting until they come out with a more efficient option that’s close to a 3080’s specs.

 

[Chimpzy]

I've been price watching for a while now and feel that, in a sense, the 3070Ti (and 3080Ti to a lesser extent) being kind of poor value compared to the more desirable 3070 and 3080 seems to be somewhat of an advantage. The 3070Ti is price gouged everywhere like all the other cards, but not as much percentage-wise, once you include tax and such. Most outlet sell them for €50 or less extra over the 3070 version of the same brand instead of the expected €120-130, some where they were the same price, and one where the Ti was actually a tad cheaper. Stocks are generally also better for the 3070Ti, meaning better choice of manufacturer and such.

Mind you, I'm not advocating buying a 3070Ti, if you can get a 70 or 80 at a fair price, do not hesitate.

But if you absolutely need a new card, then a 3070Ti is not necessarily the worst option in the current market.

 

[Dalisclock]

I have a 1070 which at non 4K resolutions works well enough on everything I play, but I’d like to jump on board the RTX wagon for the DLSS benefits let alone ray tracing bonuses. Not in any rush but I’d even take a 3060 ti if it was available.

Not in any rush but yeah I’d even take a 3060 ti if it was available. At least it used to have a good price-performance ratio, and I’m not a fan of power hungry cards as they’re also usually a pain to fit well even in my full tower. Might end up waiting until they come out with a more efficient option that’s close to a 3080’s specs.

Yeah, let me be clear. I honestly don't give a shit about playing at 4K or 1080p. I don't stream and only notice MP is a thing when it's the only mode available or part of the SP(Souls games). I care the game preforms well and looks reasonably well at reasonable settings.

I only upgraded to my 1060 because my old card was chugging hard playing Assasins Creed Syndicate at recommended settings for my PC specs. A friend sold me his 1060 and I've been fine every since. I'm more interested in a 30XX card because it'll probably perform well for the next 5+ years with reasonable graphics settings.

That's pretty much been how I've been shopping for PC parts. "What's the best performer I can get without paying a ton for it/for someone who doesn't care about having the BEST OF THE BEST?"

Also, on an unrelated note, why does half of the new Computer parts have Neon lights(RGB) attached? I may be an old fuddy duddy but I barely ever look inside my computer(except when cleaning, T/S or upgrading) so I don't really need Rave mode going on.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I have 2 PCs. One of them is still running a 980. It's fine.

I'd like to upgrade it at some point, but at the moment the prices are so unreasonable that I don't think there's any point in actually upgrading unless you really have to.

Don't pay scalper prices for any of these cards, it's completely not worth it.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Also, on an unrelated note, why does half of the new Computer parts have Neon lights(RGB) attached? I may be an old fuddy duddy but I barely ever look inside my computer(except when cleaning, T/S or upgrading) so I don't really need Rave mode going on.

Seems to be a "wannabe streamer" thing. "Yo, (streamer I like) has this sick RGB setup and I wanna be just like them!"

 

[Gordon_4]

Seems to be a "wannabe streamer" thing. "Yo, (streamer I like) has this sick RGB setup and I wanna be just like them!"

The love of RGB goes way further back than that. I used to go to LAN Gaming events and those places were like “Pimp my Ride” for computer nerds. Of course a rig that was all flash and no substance was ridiculed and proverbial stealth fighters much admired but there was definitely an appreciation for it in the pre-streamer days.

 

[laggyteabag]

The love of RGB goes way further back than that. I used to go to LAN Gaming events and those places were like “Pimp my Ride” for computer nerds. Of course a rig that was all flash and no substance was ridiculed and proverbial stealth fighters much admired but there was definitely an appreciation for it in the pre-streamer days.

Ah yes, PC fashion of 2010.

I built my PC back in 2011, and my case was this monstrosity of glossy black plastic, chrome, and perspex - all to show off those sweet blue LED fans.

Coming from the little white box that was my Xbox 360, I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.

Nowadays, I just want something incredibly understated - but finding a decent white PC case that doesn't have a giant glass window, is surprisingly difficult.

It is quite funny, because of the years, I have turned away from the GaMeR aesthetic more and more, and now suddenly my girlfriend is really into it! Now she is the one with the rainbow RGB keyboard, and the pink razer headset with the RGB cat ears.

Funny how things work out.

 

[Gordon_4]

Ah yes, PC fashion of 2010.

I built my PC back in 2011, and my case was this monstrosity of glossy black plastic, chrome, and perspex - all to show off those sweet blue LED fans.

Coming from the little white box that was my Xbox 360, I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.

Nowadays, I just want something incredibly understated - but finding a decent white PC case that doesn't have a giant glass window, is surprisingly difficult.

It is quite funny, because of the years, I have turned away from the GaMeR aesthetic more and more, and now suddenly my girlfriend is really into it! Now she is the one with the rainbow RGB keyboard, and the pink razer headset with the RGB cat ears.

Funny how things work out.

Sometimes the RGB can serve a purpose. An RGB enabled keyboard is after all a backlit keyboard and can be set up to just use a single static colour. I think some motherboards/GPUs even let you set their RGB to strobe red as part of an alert against high temps and stuff.

And I don’t thinking finding a windowless PC case is hard. Hard is finding a case that still has external DVD drive bays

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Sometimes the RGB can serve a purpose. An RGB enabled keyboard is after all a backlit keyboard and can be set up to just use a single static colour. I think some motherboards/GPUs even let you set their RGB to strobe red as part of an alert against high temps and stuff.

And I don’t thinking finding a windowless PC case is hard. Hard is finding a case that still has external DVD drive bays

Funny thing, when I built my new computer a bit over a year ago I really didn't care about RGB at all, but still ended up with some RGB parts just because on sale they ended up being cheaper than the non-RGB parts, so my mobo and case fans are RGB as well as my GPU (and pretty much every 3rd party GPU these days comes with some RGB on it).

Honestly, they look nice. It's not a lot of RGB, and i have it all set to a single color (purple) and it complements the rest of my set-up pretty well. And the thing about RGB is that you can also always turn it off if you don't want it.

Also, I would like to make a case for windows in your case. It's much easier to see dust build up and know when you should clean it.

 

[Gordon_4]

Funny thing, when I built my new computer a bit over a year ago I really didn't care about RGB at all, but still ended up with some RGB parts just because on sale they ended up being cheaper than the non-RGB parts, so my mobo and case fans are RGB as well as my GPU (and pretty much every 3rd party GPU these days comes with some RGB on it).

Honestly, they look nice. It's not a lot of RGB, and i have it all set to a single color (purple) and it complements the rest of my set-up pretty well. And the thing about RGB is that you can also always turn it off if you don't want it.

Also, I would like to make a case for windows in your case. It's much easier to see dust build up and know when you should clean it.

That is also a handy dandy feature of windows.

 

[Bedinsis]

Is the headline supposed to say "food for thought"?