GTX 980 replacement

[GreenGoo]

Before I do the legwork, I was hoping to hear opinions here.

My computer has been losing video signal lately. It works until it doesn't work, then both monitors go black, but the PC keeps running (fans at least). It has happened several times, and I'm afraid the card is not long for this world.

It's likely heat related, so I am going to give the card and the chassis a good cleaning and hope for the best. In the meantime, I need to shop for a replacement. I'd like something at least equivalent, and cheap. Anything cheap and better would be...better.

Obviously cheap doesn't mean what it used to mean, but since the rest of the system is old and moldy, I don't want to invest in a top of the line card right now.

Any suggestions? I haven't been following card tech, but I have a g-sync monitor so that has me leaning towards nvidia. I'm not adamant about that though, so anything with a good price/performance ratio would be a consideration.

Ideas?

[Smoove_B]

I'm probably not the person to give specific info, but I can say that I just saw that Nvidia is going to announce next generation of cards (50xx?) sometime around 1/6/2025, so I'd imagine prices on all the older stuff should drop.

I think whatever you get will be an *insane* improvement over what you're currently using, so it'll be more about making sure you are doing whatever you can to future proof (likely making sure you get enough / fast RAM) the card so it'll last you 5+ years.

I also don't know how much you'll be able to upgrade your card with your given system, but if you can slap a better (older) card in there I'm guessing everything else is going to bottleneck the new card so yeah...hopefully someone with a bigger brain can help here. I used to be into buying parts and cobbling together a system, but my last two purchases have been pre-builts and I've been very happy with them. Obviously more, but hitting the power button and knowing everything will work was worth every penny. YMMV.

[Blackhawk]

A quick touch on Nvidia naming if you're not familiar with it. I have an RTX 3080.

RTX = the current tech prefix, slapped onto every gaming card.

3080=
30XX - third generation of RTX cards
X080 - the '80' model of the third generation of RTX cards

The core models are:
X060 - the budget card for that generation, typically about on par with the mid-range card of the previous generation
X070 - the mid-range card
X080 - the high-end card
X090 - usually released later in the generation, a newer high-range card

Later, they often add other variants within a generation that are a step up from the base model:

X0XX Super = video card +1
X0XX Ti = video card +2

So:
An RTX 2060 is a budget card from the second generation.
An RTX 2060 Super is a souped-up 2060
An RTX 4090 Ti is the top-end card from the current (4th) generation

And the best source of comparison: Tom's GPU Hierarchy
_____________________________________________________________

One thing you want to consider is Smoove's comment. Do you want this to survive into your next full-system upgrade, or do you want it to be a 'good enough for now' card that you'll replace when you upgrade the rest?

If you want a temporary card, look for a 3060 Ti or something similarly placed. If you want a long-term investment, wait until the 50XX series releases and grab a 40XX series card of your choice.

[GreenGoo]

I think whatever you get will be an *insane* improvement over what you're currently using, so it'll be more about making sure you are doing whatever you can to future proof (likely making sure you get enough / fast RAM) the card so it'll last you 5+ years.

You would think so, but the last time I looked at upgrading, I decided against it because I would have still had to buy an above average (cost/performance) card to even be an upgrade at all. Obviously that was awhile ago, but the GTX 980 was *old* when I last looked.

And it performs well enough, although there are very few new releases I'm interested in. If it wasn't failing (I think), I probably wouldn't be shopping for a new card, as this one did the job well enough.

RTX happened when they added ray tracing, if I remember correctly. That was...awhile ago.

[GreenGoo]

One thing you want to consider is Smoove's comment. Do you want this to survive into your next full-system upgrade, or do you want it to be a 'good enough for now' card that you'll replace when you upgrade the rest?

If you want a temporary card, look for a 3060 Ti or something similarly placed. If you want a long-term investment, wait until the 50XX series releases and grab a 40XX series card of your choice.

I just need something to keep the machine working at least on par with what it has been doing. Again, I haven't played a newly released, heavy 3D graphics, high frames game in years, so that isn't a huge concern. That said, "newly released" could be anything in the last 5 years, and I do occasionally play those. Rarely have any frame rate issues, but then I only have everything set to medium.

Playing Dark Souls right now, with some things running in the background and on other monitor, and card temp hasn't hit 60C yet, which is well within card specs. It crashed on me doing exactly this the other day, which leads me to believe that it might not be temp related. And if not, then it's just general hardware failure, so I need to get a replacement asap.

It's working perfectly right now. Strange.

[Blackhawk]

Comapare the prices for the 2060, 2070, and 3060 (and the related Supers.) Any would serve and still be a significant upgrade. You might be able to get a 4060 for ~$300, but I've had problems in the past with games caused by having a video card that was much, much more powerful than the CPU.

[Isgrimnur]

Did they forget to include a Turbo button?

[Daehawk]

Im using a 970

[Smoove_B]

Thank you Daehawk

[disarm]

You don't make what you'd be willing to spend clear, but I would think about holding out until the new nVidia cards are available, then see if you can get an RTX4060 for less than $300. The DLSS-capable cards (40xx series) are a great way to get extra performance out of a lesser graphics card or aging system.

[Kasey Chang]

Make sure the fans on the GTX is working fine.

If you need a card, every techie on YT seems to be raving about Intel's Battlemage cards (Intel Arc B580) but that seems to need a PCIe 4.0 slot. And the cheapo 8GB version seems to start at as low as... $170?! However, the 12GB overclocked versions are going for like $350-400.

[GreenGoo]

You don't make what you'd be willing to spend clear, but I would think about holding out until the new nVidia cards are available, then see if you can get an RTX4060 for less than $300. The DLSS-capable cards (40xx series) are a great way to get extra performance out of a lesser graphics card or aging system.

That depends on the price/performance ratio, usually. What I spend is always in a range, which I find hard to lock down until I know more about the current market, specific cards, recommendations etc etc.

However, I've started to think that $400 USD would be a good starting place. The problem is that even after the exchange rate, video cards are insanely expensive up here in Canada. I felt like vomiting when I started to review prices on amazon.ca and newegg.ca. It was not rare to find a $400 USD card going for $750+ CAN up here. That...is robbery. Even with the absolutely terrible exchange rate right now, it shouldn't be nearly that much. 1.45x400 = 580. Where is the extra $200 coming from? That's 50% again on top of the exchange rate. WTF is that about?

So. Even a slightly above average card is going to run me hundreds.

I don't really have a choice, and I can't wait for the new models because the GTX 980 seems to have finally given up the ghost. Something in the RTX 3060 Ti range is what I'm considering. The AMD cards seem to be better price/performance but I have no experience with any recent AMD cards and haven't had time to do my research. I am definitely considering AMD though, as my system just needs to work, for now. And prices...well, see above.

[GreenGoo]

Make sure the fans on the GTX is working fine.

If you need a card, every techie on YT seems to be raving about Intel's Battlemage cards (Intel Arc B580) but that seems to need a PCIe 4.0 slot. And the cheapo 8GB version seems to start at as low as... $170?! However, the 12GB overclocked versions are going for like $350-400.

The fans might be failing intermittently, but as I said, the last time the card was working the temps never rose about 58ish C. I haven't opened up the chassis yet. I've been putting it off. My work space is a mess and I don't have a lot of room at the moment.

I'm going to be avoiding the intel cards right now because I just don't know enough about them. I also can't remember what motherboard I have in there. I might still have the box lying around, but I'll know the moment I open the chassis. Which as stated, I've been putting off.

[GreenGoo]

Can anyone tell me why the RTX 3060 Ti is more expensive than the RTX 4060 Ti?

Maybe memory bus size? Still reading.

[stessier]

Would you be willing to consider a used card? My understanding is that Facebook marketplace could save you a lot of money (and you wouldn't have to worry about the exchange rate). Or maybe Jawa?

[GreenGoo]

To be honest I don't really understand how the used market works (what I mean is, how people are willing to shell out hundreds for the unknown). There are so many things that can go wrong with a video card, and no way to tell the current wear and tear, how close to Mean time to failure it is, etc etc, that used scares the crap out of me.

There is no reason for me not to consider used, except ignorance and fear, I guess.

[stessier]

That's fair. Not trying to push, but if you are interested, here is a video that explains about used GPUs from LTT.

https://youtu.be/UFytB3bb1P8

Also, if you go through Jawa, they have an explanation of their certified GPUs and some buyer protections.

I only mention because that sounds like a LOT of money to spend on something you probably aren't going to stress given the games you mentioned playing. Shoot, there is a GTX 1650 on Jawa for $90. That would at least give you time to do more research/save up for the card you really want (and would still be an upgrade).

FWIW, I'm running a 970 and feel your pain. Hoping to make it to October when I'll need to upgrade because I can't load Windows 11 (or maybe I buy one year of the security patches to allow me to save up a bit more...decisions, decisions....).

[GreenGoo]

Yes, I fully admit I am completely ignorant about the latest few generations of video cards and am going in completely blind. Ugh.

I keep seeing the 4060 Ti being shit on all over the place, but so far I can't figure out why. Also, advice like "save for a 4070" isn't much help when an 8GB 4060 Ti is less than $500 and a 12GB 4070 is $750+.

I mean, that's 50% more expensive. Am I getting 50% better performance/power usage/noise/bandwidth etc etc? I doubt it There's just no way. I don't understand card pricing right now. I can see RTX 3060 Ti's for over a grand here. I assume it is a rarity thing at this point. It still seems insane though.

As for used, I would need a better discount than I'm seeing. I am *not* judging anyone for going used. It makes a lot of sense (the same with cars) but I'm leery. Refurbished I would consider, but then the discount is minuscule.

I'm frustrated because I am locked into (because of my personality and previous experience) buying research I would normally use to buy high end cards, but I don't need and couldn't use that kind of card. I just need something average, and I want something a little better than average. Yet I still don't want to buy something inferior to something else for more money.

I'm trying to not do weeks of reading. I can feel me falling down the rabbit hole though.

[stessier]

Fair enough.

How about this LTT video on the 4060TI? At 9:00, they start talking about price.

https://youtu.be/_B6vtMa-US4?si=IXMZMwTzmCa877B3

You should consider Battlemage, though, if it will work with your motherboard (and you can find it).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dboPZUcTAW4

[GreenGoo]

I'll look into intel.

In the meantime, anyone want to sell me on AMD?

Want another 8GB on your 4060 Ti? That's another $300 please. What in the actual fuck is going on here?

[stessier]

If you don't care about Ray Tracing and do care about price, they are the way to go. Will still be priced more than Intel with performance between Intel and NVIDIA. I had chosen an AMD card in my new computer build thread - plenty good enough for what I expected to run.

[stessier]

Want another 8GB on your 4060 Ti? That's another $300 please. What in the actual fuck is going on here?

Yeah, that was the slam on the 4000 series cards - they weren't priced with consumers or performance in mind. They were just trying to extract the most money possible.

[GreenGoo]

Any idea why when I search for RX 6700 xt, I mostly get back results for RX 7600 xt? Is the 6700 not made any more? Is the 7600 a direct replacement? Nothing is ever straight forward in the video card market I realize, but I'm trying hard not to become an expert on the current generation of cards.

And I don't really care about ray tracing. Chances are I won't play anything with ray tracing available, and I assume the system would bottleneck it anyway.

Oh, my cpu is an i7-6700k 4.00GHz. Still haven't looked at the motherboard. Don't know what PCIe version it has yet. Probably...3?

I am watching the LTT video you posted, so thanks for that. I'll check out the intel one after.

I should repeat that the 4060 Ti is priced significantly lower than the 3060 Ti in most places in Canada or .ca online stores. So the comparison of a "newly released" 4060 Ti vs the "Older model" 3060 Ti is not really appropriate any longer. They are bother older, and rarely competitive in pricing.

[stessier]

Any idea why when I search for RX 6700 xt, I mostly get back results for RX 7600 xt? Is the 6700 not made any more? Is the 7600 a direct replacement? Nothing is ever straight forward in the video card market I realize, but I'm trying hard not to become an expert on the current generation of cards.

The 7000 series are the newer cards and I bet your search engine is just assuming you fat fingered 7600 when searching for 6700. From Tom's Hardware GPU chart, the 6700 is the better card.

Oh, my cpu is an i7-6700k 4.00GHz. Still haven't looked at the motherboard. Don't know what PCIe version it has yet. Probably...3?

Mine is a i5-6600k 3.50 GHz - you have me beat on both specs.

[GreenGoo]

So I'm seeing just insane pricing on the older, more powerful cards. Like, double. I'm seeing RX 6700 XT at twice the price of the RX 7600 XT up here in Canada. The only thing I can think of is scarcity. i.e. because opinion/specs/testing show the older card is better, demand is much higher, and pricing has gotten out of control. There is no way that the 6700 xt is worth twice what the 7600 xt is. I don't even want to talk about the absolute price, because it is sickening. Something is not right up here in the video card market, but I'm not sure what it is yet.

I can easily understand how an older card in the same model line can be the better card. What I can't understand is how it's worth 2 of the newer models. Are we still experiencing crypto-farming demand. Is the card market still tipped heavily towards crypto generation? Are the AMD cards just as good at it as the Nvidia cards?

There isn't a huge price difference between the RTX 4060 Ti and the RX 7600 XT, but the 7600 has more memory.

[Daehawk]

Dont know but everything I see online says go with the 4060 ti.

my friend WAS getting a 4060 ti but changed his mind at the last minute and paid a lot more for a 2070 super. lot better card but much higher cost

[GreenGoo]

I fucking give up. Amazon wants between $700-800 for a basic 4060 Ti with 8GB.

I need a new job. Is billionaire still available? Apparently any moron is qualified.

[disarm]

I'm just going to slip in here again and suggest that you don't neglect the benefits of DLSS on 40x0-series nVidia cards. It can really be a significant contributor to better frame rates with a lesser card and could increase your new cards lifespan significantly. AMD has a similar feature (FSR), but it's not as widely supported and I don't think it's quite as effective as DLSS.

[GreenGoo]

I'm just going to slip in here again and suggest that you don't neglect the benefits of DLSS on 40x0-series nVidia cards. It can really be a significant contributor to better frame rates with a lesser card and could increase your new cards lifespan significantly. AMD has a similar feature (FSR), but it's not as widely supported and I don't think it's quite as effective as DLSS.

Thanks. I am seeing the same opinion online and have started to include it in my considerations.

[Daehawk]

I fucking give up. Amazon wants between $700-800 for a basic 4060 Ti with 8GB.

I need a new job. Is billionaire still available? Apparently any moron is qualified.

4060 ti should be about $499. Me and my friend gave them a serious look up about a month ago.

EDIT: Ya Im seeing them from $370 and up.

[stessier]

I fucking give up. Amazon wants between $700-800 for a basic 4060 Ti with 8GB.

I need a new job. Is billionaire still available? Apparently any moron is qualified.

4060 ti should be about $499. Me and my friend gave them a serious look up about a month ago.

EDIT: Ya Im seeing them from $370 and up.

He's in Canada.

[Daehawk]

I fucking give up. Amazon wants between $700-800 for a basic 4060 Ti with 8GB.

I need a new job. Is billionaire still available? Apparently any moron is qualified.

4060 ti should be about $499. Me and my friend gave them a serious look up about a month ago.

EDIT: Ya Im seeing them from $370 and up.

He's in Canada.

Oh no wonder. NM

[Max Peck]

I fucking give up. Amazon wants between $700-800 for a basic 4060 Ti with 8GB.

I'm seeing a small selection of RTX 4060 Ti 8G cards on Amazon.ca, NewEgg.ca and BestBuy.ca at about $600 for Zotac and a littler higher for Asus or MSI.

[Blackhawk]

Just be very, very careful buying from auction sites, marketplaces, or any store that mixes in third-party sellers (like Amazon.) What you will sometimes get is 'gently used' cards that were actually used for crypto mining. They're the equivalent of a two-year-old used car with 250,000 miles on it.

[Rumpy]

The problem is that even after the exchange rate, video cards are insanely expensive up here in Canada. I felt like vomiting when I started to review prices on amazon.ca and newegg.ca. It was not rare to find a $400 USD card going for $750+ CAN up here. That...is robbery. Even with the absolutely terrible exchange rate right now, it shouldn't be nearly that much. 1.45x400 = 580. Where is the extra $200 coming from? That's 50% again on top of the exchange rate. WTF is that about?

Yep, know exactly what you mean. When I was getting a new locally built computer earlier last year, they could only comfortably offer a GTX 1660. Everyone talks about RTX cards, but the reality is that cards are insanely expensive up here and they aren't at a comfortable price point. And by comfortable price point, I mean something that won't cost an arm and a leg. I feel like Canadians tend to pay a lot more electronics. We have an electronic tax on top of a disposal fee when buying things, and that's not even counting the other taxes.

[stessier]

Just be very, very careful buying from auction sites, marketplaces, or any store that mixes in third-party sellers (like Amazon.) What you will sometimes get is 'gently used' cards that were actually used for crypto mining. They're the equivalent of a two-year-old used car with 250,000 miles on it.

LTT looked at that too. Everyone has their own risk tolerance, but the cost/benefit makes it at least worth considering.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFytB3bb1P8

[GreenGoo]

Looks like I have an Asus Z170-A motherboard. I believe this board has PCIe v3. From what I'm reading, an RTX 4060 Ti should work fine with this board, with a tiny drop in performance because the slot is not version 4. Performance loss is about 5% at most, in worst case scenario.

Anyone have any thoughts/feelings on this?

[GreenGoo]

I'm seeing a small selection of RTX 4060 Ti 8G cards on Amazon.ca, NewEgg.ca and BestBuy.ca at about $600 for Zotac and a littler higher for Asus or MSI.

I see those too, tipping towards $700 depending on manufacturer and features/buzzwords that I am having trouble connecting to price. Occasionally there is a very low price or very high price that I struggle to understand.

In any case, there are cards between $600-650 that seem to be from reputable manufacturers so that's progress.

[GreenGoo]

2 fan versus 3 fan. Why and should I?

[GreenGoo]

Imma just point out that this mid level video card costs as much as an entire mid level steam deck. So, yeah.