i thought i needed a new PC, but it turns out I just need a new GPU

"gin-san - shitpost specialist" (gin-san-) 01/01/2018 at 14:26 • Filed to: None

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I had spent a lot of time spec-ing a PC on pcpartpicker only to find out that the easiest way to what I need is to simply upgrade my GPU.

Luckily I only want 1080p/60fps while hardcore gamers are aiming for 144fps or 4K or some crazy shit.

I feel like graphics cards really need to catch up - I thought the GTX 1060 was able to handle all games at max settings for 1080p/60fps but apparently that’s not always the case, but the GTX 1070 has a pretty high price tag.

I think I’ll just compromise a little bit and go for the GTX 1060. I bought No Man’s Sky after hearing the recent updates made it a really good game, but it was a choppy, unplayable mess on my PC.

Captain of the Enterprise > gin-san - shitpost specialist 01/01/2018 at 14:56

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At least you don’t need an all new PC, that’s got to save some money.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > Captain of the Enterprise 01/01/2018 at 15:09

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Yes, I’m very pleased about that.

bhtooefr > gin-san - shitpost specialist 01/01/2018 at 15:21

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Realistically, the 1060 is fine for 1080p60 gaming, as long as you’re not expecting to max the settings in the latest AAA games.

Let’s put it this way - I use a 1070 for 4k60 gaming, although I’m also not expecting the latest AAA games to run at max quality.

Mercedes Streeter > gin-san - shitpost specialist 01/01/2018 at 15:49

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Miss Tesla runs a 1050TI like I do and can play most AAA games on high, 1080p, and get at the very least a locked 45 on many games and 60 on well optimized ones. Her build uses a second gen i7, mine a Ryzen 3.

My “monitor” is a 720p tv, so I haven’t tried really flexing my computer’s muscles yet. It can 60fps a 720 FSX on Ultra.

Gotta find out what Miss Honda is running. :3

gin-san - shitpost specialist > bhtooefr 01/01/2018 at 16:40

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1060 should be fine for my needs - No Man’s Sky will and GTA V will probably be the most graphically intense games. Even games like Civ VI should see improvement since my system slows down when drawing lots of units/terrain. The only other graphically intense game would be Forza 7, When I tried the Forza 6: Apex demo it was unplayable on my PC.

Generally, the latest AAA games don’t thrill me so I’m not too worried about performance for those - I typically buy games a while after release.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > Mercedes Streeter 01/01/2018 at 16:51

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I was playing on a 720p TV for a long time and didn’t realize the shortfalls of my PC until I was gifted a much larger 1080p TV from my brother. I still use both displays but gaming on the larger TV is much more pleasant from the viewing distances that I use.

RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire > gin-san - shitpost specialist 01/01/2018 at 16:59

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Which CPU are you running now?

bhtooefr > gin-san - shitpost specialist 01/01/2018 at 17:06

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The Forza 7 demo was pretty awful on my machine (i5-6600K/1070 FE), TBH.

Then again, PC-native sims are the way to go, so...

cluelessk > gin-san - shitpost specialist 01/01/2018 at 18:41

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I’ve got a 1050ti in an old dell optiplex and can play most games at 1080p/60fps with high settings with the occasional dip.

Your card should be fine. Maybe you have a bottleneck somewhere else?

gin-san - shitpost specialist > RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire 01/01/2018 at 18:52

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i7-4770k

Apparently it’s still fine for my gaming needs - I was surprised since this CPU was introduced nearly 5 years ago. 5 years is the difference between the later Pentium 4s and the earily Core i7s and that’s a pretty big gap in performance.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > bhtooefr 01/01/2018 at 18:54

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That’s unfortunate especially since you’re running a 1070. I guess I can rule that one out.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > cluelessk 01/01/2018 at 18:58

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I just re-read my post and it sounds stupid - I currently have a 760 but want to upgrade to the 1060, but I red that even with the 1060 you may have to lower a few settings to get 1080p with a consistent 60fps.

If I was struggling with a 1060 I would be reconsidering the rest of my system.

RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire > gin-san - shitpost specialist 01/01/2018 at 19:02

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Yeah, seems like for mid-range gaming there’s been a plateau in what’s needed for acceptable performance. There’s definitely been advances in reducing power consumption though.

Surprised how much mileage I’m getting out of my 9 year old AMD system. Installed a new GPU 4 years ago and that’s apparently become the bottleneck again, not the CPU. Wouldn’t mind a whole system upgrade but can’t justify it on performance grounds alone, even for work.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire 01/01/2018 at 20:13

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Yeah I think the biggest gain I got from my old Core 2 Quad Q6600 system to my current 4770k system is actually from the boot disk being an SSD instead of a regular hard drive.

I can’t wait until SSD storage is cheaper - usable space on my drive is 105GB before the OS and basics are installed. It would be nice to have all of my games installed onto SSD as well.

NojustNo > gin-san - shitpost specialist 01/02/2018 at 02:25

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demos are sometimes based on beta code so performance may be slower than the real game.

I’ve got an intel i5 4570 and Radeon 280 GPU and havent run into major slowdowns with any games yet. haven’t tried Forza at all though.

your 760 or even a 750 is supposed to be ok -

gin-san - shitpost specialist > NojustNo 01/02/2018 at 18:55

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This certainly runs a lot smoother but when I played the Forza 6: Apex demo, I had the graphics as low as I could stand. Any lower that what I had played at the time, and I may as well just go back to playing Forza 4 on my Xbox 360.

My problem with PC gaming is that if there’s a High or Ultra setting, I’m not satisfied until I can use it - that’s pretty much why it’s rare that I buy PC games on release (the last two I got were Overwatch and Civilization VI) since after time, cheaper hardware catches up and the games are cheaper, too.

I will get a graphics card... eventually. I have enough games to play now that I’m not really losing out, and games that wish I could play will still be available in another year or two at an even lower cost.