Budget RTX 2060 or Premium RTX 2060?

Before I bought my 2080Ti, I had considered the 2070 and 2080, but the biggest problem I saw was the future proofing which in this case was all dependent on whether or not Ray Tracing became the new big thing.

Almost a year in, I see that ray tracing isn't a new big thing - and new software doesn't really waste time on it.

Ray Tracing without huge performance loss won't be the reality until next year making the 2080Ti and Titan RTX the only two cards you can buy without worry - but at a tremendous expense.

There's no software to justify having it. Where is the "CRYSIS" tech demonstrator that can't be played in Ultra settings at 4K with Ray Tracing on?

Frankly, if I were to be buying a video card right now, the 2070 (about $400) is the lowest I'd be aiming for.

The 2060 is the lowest I'd be aiming for if I were buying a laptop - in the same vain as the 1060 6GB mobile - which is for all intents and purposes perfect for gaming on the laptop.

In my opinion, just spend the extra $50 and get the 2070. Use a credit card if you must.
 
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Buying a 2080Ti, 2080 or 2070 doesn't make your setup future proof, especially for running RT, which brings all of those cards to their knees and they can struggle at 4K or 2K @ 120/144/165Hz doing so.
By the time RT is actually something gamers will want, your 2000 series RTX cards will be old news and obsolete. The 2080 should cost $500 and not a penny more considering its performance, and the 2070 should cost $400, there's just very little upper-end competition so Nvidia can charge what they want.
 
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If you’ve got extra cash to burn and the next step up is something like an RTX 2070 for $500, then sure get the premium model if it makes you a bit more excited and proud of the purchase.
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The highlighted portion made me chuckle. Great comparison and information.

Armed with this information I would recommend purchasing based more on how option you plan to upgrade. If you plan to upgrade every 2-3 generations of GPUs then the 10% seems justifiable since you'll be using he card for a good while. This was the approach I took, upgrading from the gtx760 to the gtx 1060.

If you plan to upgrade your gpu each time a new series is released save the money and ge the best deal possible.
 
I remember watching a video about this but it was a 10 series card, same story. Unless it has better cooling (usually doesn't) it's probably best just getting the cheapest one.
 
In case anyone didn't know. These cards are exactly the same they just have different coolers and stock settings. If you refuse to overlock the GPU yourself, can't get a better card anywhere near the same price and just have to spend that extra 20-40$, go ahead.

On my next card I'm going to buy a NZXT Kraken G12 bracket for 28$. Use a 25$+ noctura air CPU cooler on the GPU. Sell the default gpu shroud on ebay for 50$+. Then 'ill have a one size fits all superior gpu cooler. And if I want I can always hook a cpu water block to the card instead of having to pay 100$+ on a gpu waterblock shroud that is not one size fits all.
https://www.cdw.com/product/NZXT-Kraken-G12-video-card-liquid-cooling-system-bracket/5429367?cm_cat=google&cm_ite=5429367&cm_pla=NA-NA-NZXT Inc._MC&cm_ven=acquirgy&ef_id=Cj0KCQjwov3nBRDFARIsANgsdoFyG9y13zftq_lRtMiqCEeqBXfPW7mibp5D3QCReALf851s8Pq2_BIaAkYiEALw_wcB:G:s&gclid=Cj0KCQjwov3nBRDFARIsANgsdoFyG9y13zftq_lRtMiqCEeqBXfPW7mibp5D3QCReALf851s8Pq2_BIaAkYiEALw_wcB&s_kwcid=AL!4223!3!198553132284!!!g!341390271261!
 
It seems the differences between these 2 tiers of MSI cards are not that great but that's not always the case.

I started with an MSI 1060 Gaming X which is a higher end version of a midrange GPU and with an overkill cooler and dual fan setup. The fans stay below 1000rpm so it never makes discernible noise, even OC'd to the max. It was the cheapest 1060 available just as the mining boom started so I lucked into a good quality purchase.

I later replaced it with a cheap PNY 1080 dual fan just as the 1080 supply was drying up. The card is noticeably lighter and feels cheap, which I expected as it was the cheapest 1080 available. The fans are way louder, running at more than twice the speed of the 1060 Gaming X, and the GPU temp is usually ~74°C vs. 65°C in similar games on the MSI 1060. And one fan rattles at 2500RPM now, so I keep the speed either below or above that.

It's a night and day difference. But I got the PNY as an overkill GPU solution for a 3440x1440 60Hz monitor as the 1060 simply could not run some games at high enough visual quality at 60fps. I mostly keep it a bit underclocked as I'm not running my most demanding game any more (ARK:SE — a *horribly* optimized game), which avoids the 2500 RPM fan rattle, and the 1080 performance is there so I'm mostly satisfied with buying the cheap option.

In this specific case, if I could have spent only $20 more (<5% of the $440 I paid) for a better cooler I think that would have been money well spent.
 
AIO water is far superior to air, much cleaner and quieter, too...

We have not seen Navi w/aftermarket cooling, or being LC, like Vega64 LC. So we know Navi can do really well at 1900Mhz... if it is hitting it with a stock blower. Any increasing above 1900Mhz is great for Navi, since it also has an increase in IPC.
 
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amstech said:
Buying a 2080Ti, 2080 or 2070 doesn't make your setup future proof, especially for running RT, which brings all of those cards to their knees and they can struggle at 4K or 2K @ 120/144/165Hz doing so.
By the time RT is actually someone gamers will want, your 2000 series RTX cards will be old news and obsolete. The 2080 should cost $500 and not a penny more considering its performance, and the 2070 should cost $400, there's just very little upper-end competition so Nvidia can charge what they want.
Click to expand...


The free market says otherwise.
 
No problem covering the same GPU for nVidia... But when it was the GTX 970 vs AMD, using both an R9 290 and R390 as a comparison wasn't justified because it was the same GPU... Uhuh...

In any case... These results are not unexpected.
 
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I had a Zotac 970 AMP that ran every pretty good and was pulling around 67 deg in temps while doing it. I went with an Asus ROG Strix RTX 2060 that ran everything better ... always on ultra for 1080P gaming ... but runs at 39 Deg. I would imagine that 1080P gaming is still what most people play and while that might change in the future, for today, the 4K gaming is cool but most regular people can't afford that kind of setup. The card temps are important because heat is the main villain when it comes to electronics and as the temps rise, your performance will fall. Looking at the thermals from other RTX 2060's, the ROG Strix was the clear champ. It consistently pulls higher FPS at a lower heat output. Since I don't buy every new card that comes out ... I tend to skip a gen or two ... this card will serve me for quite a long time making it worth the extra money I had to pay for it.
 
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Tom01 said:
Why a 2060 anyway? You can get something from AMD in this class.
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AMD doesn't really have anything as compelling as the 2060 until the Radeon 5700 released. Vega 56? Thanks but no thanks, and that's coming from a guy with a RX 580.
 
I know I'd pay the extra $40 and buy the more expensive one in a heartbeat, if it had one feature not explicitly mentioned in the article (although it probably does if you can overclock it): I'd take advantage of its better cooler, while setting the clock strictly to the official AMD clock rates with no overclocking, to gain more reliability and presumably longer life. That's a bigger benefit than a few extra frames.
 
Im happy with this one.
FRPIKrg.jpg
 
If its just for gaming its ok. for cad programs thats needing 11-20gb up down to render. or just wait for rtx 3080 ti. amd are fast too. buy both test it out have some fun. record som gsmes go for some FPS games www.futuremark.com 3dmarks www.unigine.COM cinbenchmark 20 https://www.userbenchmark.com/ https://benchmarks.ul.com/news/new-pcie-40-test-coming-to-3dmark if you want to play games GO 4k-16k monitors. somehow if you get 2x 8k or 4x 4k you can play pretty high. waiting for game textures for 1k full hd-8k quad would make youre pc look like a flammable... so heatsink and gpu must fit into cabinet too. even gtx 100 pcie 1.0 are nice. if you are limited to low performance you just get a gpu enchanter box . put a good pcie 1.0-3.0 in side. pcie 4.0 are not yet out . so a crappy pc with 1gb mem can hanndle gtx 1060 version to gtx 1080 ti. and oc 20xx series ti. even ati can be used. so GO AND HAVE A NICE GAMEPLAY AND USE BENCHMARKS LIKE LINKS over and dont bother to bee too geeky. FUN is the word. not sweating like ginny pig. aaaanddd thats alll fooolllkkks.
 
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#1
hi
Which of the following is the best graphics card? (Temperature, longevity, durability, performance, quality, minimum failure, low noise, etc.)

ASUS ROG-STRIX-RTX2060-O6G-GAMING Graphics Card

MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 2060 z 6GB GDRR6

GIGABYTE AORUS GeForce RTX 2060 XTREME 6G

Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G Graphics Card

Which one to choose and buy?
 
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