Question Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 3GB vs 6GB, 2021 Revisit.

[mohit9206]

Old thread from 2016 - https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/eurogamer-gtx-1060-3-gb-vs-6-gb.2484900/

Some people in the old thread were confident that 3GB would not be an issue in the future while some were sure about it. Although the cards are 5 years old, its obvious which camp has been proven correct. 1060 6GB is a viable card today for gmaing 5 years after launch while the same cannot be said for the 3GB variant.You can go through the old thread to read some of the hot takes and interesting responses and see how things have turned out. Ofcoursethe 3GB model was $50 cheaper but in the long run it would have made itself more than worth it.

 

[Leeea]

We're seeing exactly the same thing play out now with certain individuals claiming 8GB is just fine, despite multiple examples today proving it's not enough.

"War. War never changes".

I would argue 8gb is fine on a low end card. It I would go as far as saying it is ok on the lower-medium range.

 

[Stuka87]

We're seeing exactly the same thing play out now with certain individuals claiming 8GB is just fine, despite multiple examples today proving it's not enough.

"War. War never changes".

It depends on the class of card. I used (and a friend now still uses) a 4GB RX480, and it trucks along just fine. Its not fast enough to run high enough settings on newer games that need extra VRAM.

Now 8GB on say, a brand new 3070, or 10GB on a 3080. Those cards are not going to age well. Top end cards should never skimp that much on VRAM. Especially when the competitor, who also provides console GPUs, has 16GB.

 

[jpiniero]

Now 8GB on say, a brand new 3070, or 10GB on a 3080. Those cards are not going to age well. Top end cards should never skimp that much on VRAM. Especially when the competitor, who also provides console GPUs, has 16GB.

In defense of nVidia they were going to give 16 GB to the 3070 Ti and 20 GB to the 3080 Ti. But there's no point when they will sell out anyway. If GDDR6 supply is a bottleneck, AMD is leaving money on the table by requiring 16.

 

[Stuka87]

In defense of nVidia they were going to give 16 GB to the 3070 Ti and 20 GB to the 3080 Ti. But there's no point when they will sell out anyway. If GDDR6 supply is a bottleneck, AMD is leaving money on the table by requiring 16.

To my knowledge, there is not a shortage of GDDR6 memory. There is however a shortage of GDDR6X memory that nVidia uses on its mid-top tier cards.

 

[jpiniero]

To my knowledge, there is not a shortage of GDDR6 memory. There is however a shortage of GDDR6X memory that nVidia uses on its mid-top tier cards.

If there was a shortage of GDDR6X nVidia wouldn't have used it on the 3070 Ti.

 

[DeathReborn]

To my knowledge, there is not a shortage of GDDR6 memory. There is however a shortage of GDDR6X memory that nVidia uses on its mid-top tier cards.

There was a shortage of both GDDR6 & 6X for a short time (few weeks) but that has long been resolved.

 

[ultimatebob]

You can actually find a GeForce 1060 3 GB model for a somewhat reasonable price on eBay, though, because you can't mine Ethereum with it anymore

 

[Ranulf]

You can actually find a GeForce 1060 3 GB model for a somewhat reasonable price on eBay, though, because you can't mine Ethereum with it anymore

About the only upside to that card at this point.

 

[blckgrffn]

- Hell, even the upper tier Maxwell 9xx series cards are nothing to sneeze at.

My 980 Ti boosts and holds at almost 1500Mhz core, which is like an absurd 25% OC over the reference model and puts the card in 1070 stock performance territory. Picked it up for $330 bucks a month or two after the 1070 launched.

Its really only showing its age years later on the more demanding modern AAA games (and thanks to DX12 and Vulkan breathing new life into these older cards, even that isn't always the case).

NV really outdid itself with Maxwell, but in retrospect NV really did let their GPU performance languish in the absence of competition from AMD (albeit not to the extent of Intel).

Picked up a super clean GTX 980 Ti on forums here for $180 shipped a couple weeks ago.

It outperformed a GTX 1660 (non-super) in Borderlands 3 at some reasonable to high settings at 2560*1600 (oh yeah! 16:10!!!!!!!) and it too has some ridiculous boost settings. I target 60fps on that rig and I was able to turn a bunch of settings up a notch or two with the vastly older but silicon heavy/power usage intense card.

Paired with a 9700k CPU FWIW.

Fans stop at idle though and it is a beast.

 

[Mopetar]

Kind of depends on what they want to use the card for though.

8 GB is probably fine for 1080p, likely pushing it for 1440p since there are already a few titles that we know can use more than that, and I'm not sure anyone would make that argument for 4K with a straight face.

 

[jpiniero]

What's funny about this is that nVidia probally would have done a "$279" 3060 6 GB that's also slightly cut from the 12 GB model.

 

[mohit9206]

What's funny about this is that nVidia probally would have done a "$279" 3060 6 GB that's also slightly cut from the 12 GB model.

The worst scenario is Nvidia is going to launch 3050 and 3050Ti with just 4GB. This is arguably worse than launching 1060 3GB in 2016.

 

[Magic Carpet]

@blckgrffn

What monitor? I am a fan of 16:10 too.

 

[Mopetar]

The worst scenario is Nvidia is going to launch 3050 and 3050Ti with just 4GB. This is arguably worse than launching 1060 3GB in 2016.

Is that what the rumors suggest or just your own speculation? I really haven't been paying too much attention.

However, to be fair a 4 GB card won't be bought by miners since it doesn't have enough to mine some of the most popular cryptocurrencies like Etherium. That would actually mean that these cards would actually end up in the hands of gamers and for some 4 GB may not be an issue. The only real problem with it is that even if it may be fine now, it probably won't do well in the next few years.

 

[mohit9206]

Is that what the rumors suggest or just your own speculation? I really haven't been paying too much attention.

However, to be fair a 4 GB card won't be bought by miners since it doesn't have enough to mine some of the most popular cryptocurrencies like Etherium. That would actually mean that these cards would actually end up in the hands of gamers and for some 4 GB may not be an issue. The only real problem with it is that even if it may be fine now, it probably won't do well in the next few years.

It already doesn't do well now let alone in a few years. 6GB is now minimum for 1080p for playing AAA games

 

[Magic Carpet]

It's pointless to compare older games, folks. Think about next-gen engines instead. Doom Eternal is relatively well optimized... but what happens when its not.

Next year Unreal Engine 5 comes out, that will be a good benchmark for video cards and cpus. You just wait.. for the fun to begin!

 

[Mopetar]

It already doesn't do well now let alone in a few years. 6GB is now minimum for 1080p for playing AAA games

That's probably true, but not everyone plays AAA games. A lot of people just play stuff like CS, DotA, etc. which will do fine with 4 GB.

Unless those cards have a very small memory bus, I don't see a reason why Nvidia wouldn't also sell an 8 GB version for anyone who needs that. There may well be some people who don't know better and make foolish purchasing decisions, but I don't believe that uninformed consumers should be a reason to limit the options of others.

 

[jpiniero]

The worst scenario is Nvidia is going to launch 3050 and 3050Ti with just 4GB. This is arguably worse than launching 1060 3GB in 2016.

The mobile version is 4 GB. It's possible the desktop version never gets released.

 

[blckgrffn]

@blckgrffn

What monitor? I am a fan of 16:10 too.

Heck yeah!

HP ZR30W. My business partner was frustrated with it after many years of use because he was using the DVI port and obviously HDMI to DVI is a no go really on these.

He asked if I had a use for it - yup, it's on my daughters PC now that my Dad games on when he is up visiting. She's 7 and uses it mainly to sneak away and watch YouTube videos of dogs

Display Port (even for that old of a monitor) works great. I know it has its own niggles, but what a solid display interface.

Anyway, it's a beautiful monitor and I feel like it pairs great with the more "retro" GXT 980ti.

It weighs nearly 30 lbs!