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Should I buy a newer graphics card (like a 20- or 30-series), or just buy a second GTX 1070?

WhiskeyjackWhiskeyjack Posts: 59
edited October 2021 in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)

Hi folks! So, my PC (first one I ever built myself) is a little over 4 years old, and I was thinking about upgrading and building a new one. But with how crazy prices for PC components are gone these days (and considering things don't look like they'll be returning to normal for at least another year), now is obviously the absolute worst time to be considering this. But after thinking about it a little more, I'm now wondering would I be better off just upgrading a few select components, buying a second graphics card, and holding out for another year or two (or even three).

My current PC specs are:
ASUS ROG STRIX 270E Gaming Motherboard
Intel Core i7-7700K Processor
ASUS Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB)
32GB of RAM (x4 8GB Corsair Vengeance)
Corsair AX 760 PSU.

The PC is air-cooled, not overclocked (nor do I intend to overclock or liquid-cool) and was originally built for gaming; mostly strategy games like Total War and Stellaris, but also Monster Hunter and Battlefield. I remember when I built it I allowed myself some wiggle room to upgrade it later on if I wanted to, such as the PSU. Now, I'm not a "hardcore gamer" obsessed with ultra-hyper-realistic graphics or 120 FPS by any means, but I have been getting into DAZ Studio a lot over the last year however (and really enjoying it). And while my GTX 1070 is about adequate to manage the renders I do, I have been trying bigger and larger scenes lately, which it tends to struggle at.

My plan was to build a new PC as I said, and invest in an RTX 3090; as I understand it correctly, VRAM is the most important factor when it comes to rendering, and essentially tripling my VRAM (24GB in the 3090 compared to 8GB in my 1070) seemed like a no-brainer. But prices being what they are, that's pretty much insanity at this point. I briefly considered picking up something like a 2080 Ti or Titan XP with 11 or 12GB of RAM, but I'm now wondering if it would be worthwhile to instead buy a second GTX 1070 and "only" double my VRAM to 16GB. I know this would be overkill for the kind of gaming that I do, but (from what I understand) it would be a vast improvement for my rendering. I also need to pick up a few other components, like a new secondary hard drive, a new monitor, and a decent chair (for the sake of my back and buns), and after shopping around I figure I could probably pick up all of those parts for the same price that the RTX 3090 alone would cost me.

What do you think? Is this just a hairbrained scheme (and would I even see any benefit from a second GTX 1070?), or does it actually make some sense? Thanks in advance, guys!

Post edited by Whiskeyjack on

Comments

  • PerttiAPerttiA Posts: 10,013

    Unless the GTX 1070 has NVLink, getting a second one isn't going to increase usable/available VRAM.

    The RTX 3060 12GB is the best choice for budget minded DS user that's rendering in Iray.

  • WhiskeyjackWhiskeyjack Posts: 59

    Hey, PerttiA.

    So, after looking into it, the 1080 doesn't have NVLink. I guess that puts the kybosh my "dual GPU's" idea anyway. Thanks for pointing that out to me; I'd no idea NVLink was even a thing, and assumed regular old SLI would function just the same.

    Hmm. I could actually pick up an RTX 3060 for literally a fraction of the cost of the 3090. And they seem readily available too! Wow, I'd assumed those "budget"-tier 30-series cards would be the hardest to get out of the lot.

    If I could bug you with one other question; if I was to go with a 3060, would you recommend I just bite the bullet and build a whole new PC to with it, or would I still be able to make the most out of a 3060 with my current build (at least for a year or two until I do build a new one)? My budget is about €3000, which I could stretch to about 3500, if I really wanted. I have a pretty decent-paying job, and I've (sort of unintentionally) managed to save up quite a bit enough over the last 18 months thanks to Covid and lockdown, so a new PC was going to be a little treat for myself.

  • AgitatedRiotAgitatedRiot Posts: 4,404

    You should get a good build with that amount. You could cut corners by using old drives, the case, and the power supply, for now. If that money is burning a hole in your pocket, I would say yes build away. I built this system for a base of about €1517.52. Then I added on top of that. Maybe about another €1500 in more memory, video card. Maybe more than 1500.

    Here is what I started with

    Intel Core i9-10850KA Comet Lake 10-Core 3.6 GHz LGA1200 125W Desktop Processor w/ Intel $474.99
    LG Electronics 14X SATA Blu-ray Internal Rewriter without Software, Black Model WH14NS40 - OEM<--- Case didn't even have a slot for this.
    $59.99
    GIGABYTE Z490 AORUS MASTER LGA 1200 Intel Z490 ATX Motherboard with Triple M.2, SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.2 Gen 2, WIFI 6, 2.5 GbE LAN
    $329.99
    Thermaltake UX100 5V Motherboard Sync High Airflow Hydraulic Bearing ARGB Lighting CPU Cooler
    $19.99
    EVGA 1000GQ 210-GQ-1000-V1 GQ 80 Plus Gold, 1000W ECO Mode Semi-Modular Power Supply
    $184.99
    Patriot Viper 4 Blackout Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 4400 (PC4 35200) Intel XMP 2.0 Desktop Memory Model PVB416G440C8K, AMD Compatible
    $124.99
    Samsung C24RG50 24" 1920 x 1080 Full HD Resolution 144Hz HDMI DisplayPort Eye-Saver Mode Flicker-Free Technology LED Backlit Curved Gaming Monitor
    $199.99
    Cooler Master MasterBox K500 ARGB ATX Mid Tower w/ Front Semi-Meshed Ventilation, Tempered Glass Side Panel, ARGB ...
    $84.99
    Grand Subtotal
    $1,479.92
    Total Tax
    $0.00
    Total Shipping
    $4.88
    Grand Total
    $1,484.80

  • WhiskeyjackWhiskeyjack Posts: 59
    edited October 2021

    Hey, AgitatedRiot.

    My main concern really is whether my current build would be able to get the most out of an RTX 3060 as it is, especially when rendering. At the time I built the PC, I couldn't find a GTX 1080 or 20-series GPU for love nor money, and had to make do with a 1070. I'd always intended to upgrade the GPU at a later point, but as it was built for gaming and not rendering, I'm now wondering whether I need to upgrade the entire build to take into account that I now do a lot of rendering in DAZ. I know the GPU is really the primary factor in DAZ, but I'm wondering if there's something in my current build that would prevent me from getting the most out the 3060 when rendering - there's no point in me upgrading to a GPU that's would allow me to render 50% faster, but my CPU or something limits it and means I only render 10% faster, if you get what I mean.

    If my current build can still get the most out of the 3060 when rendering, then I'm perfectly happy to wait another year or two for things to return to normal, put away some more money and really splash out on a great system.

    Cool build by the way!

    Post edited by Whiskeyjack on
  • AgitatedRiotAgitatedRiot Posts: 4,404
    edited October 2021

    Whiskeyjack said:

    Hey, AgitatedRiot.

    My main concern really is whether my current build would be able to get the most out of an RTX 3060 as it is, especially when rendering. At the time I built the PC, I couldn't find a GTX 1080 or 20-series GPU for love nor money, and had to make do with a 1070. I'd always intended to upgrade the GPU at a later point, but as it was built for gaming and not rendering, I'm now wondering whether I need to upgrade the entire build to take into account that I now do a lot of rendering in DAZ. I know the GPU is really the primary factor in DAZ, but I'm wondering if there's something in my current build that would prevent me from getting the most out the 3060 when rendering - there's no point in me upgrading to a GPU that's would allow me to render 50% faster, but my CPU or something limits it and means I only render 10% faster, if you get what I mean.

    If my current build can still get the most out of the 3060 when rendering, then I'm perfectly happy to wait another year or two for things to return to normal, put away some more money and really splash out on a great system.

    Cool build by the way!

    Short answer Yes. Your system should be able to handle the task at hand. Just so you know I gave away one of the  RTX2060 they don't support Sli nor the other system they use. Suggested PSU 450 W for an RTX 3060.

    Post edited by AgitatedRiot on
  • WhiskeyjackWhiskeyjack Posts: 59

    AgitatedRiot said:

    Whiskeyjack said:

    Hey, AgitatedRiot.

    My main concern really is whether my current build would be able to get the most out of an RTX 3060 as it is, especially when rendering. At the time I built the PC, I couldn't find a GTX 1080 or 20-series GPU for love nor money, and had to make do with a 1070. I'd always intended to upgrade the GPU at a later point, but as it was built for gaming and not rendering, I'm now wondering whether I need to upgrade the entire build to take into account that I now do a lot of rendering in DAZ. I know the GPU is really the primary factor in DAZ, but I'm wondering if there's something in my current build that would prevent me from getting the most out the 3060 when rendering - there's no point in me upgrading to a GPU that's would allow me to render 50% faster, but my CPU or something limits it and means I only render 10% faster, if you get what I mean.

    If my current build can still get the most out of the 3060 when rendering, then I'm perfectly happy to wait another year or two for things to return to normal, put away some more money and really splash out on a great system.

    Cool build by the way!

    Short answer Yes. Your system should be able to handle the task at hand. Just so you know I gave away one of the  RTX2060 they don't support Sli nor the other system they use. Suggested PSU 450 W

    Great! That's fine with me!

    SLI I'm not worried about - I'd only considered it as a way of doubling my available VRAM for when I'm rendering, but as PerttiA said, SLI wouldn't allow me to utilize the VRAM fom a second card when rendering anyway. And I wouldn't be playing any games that are taxing enough to warrant a dual-setup either. From what I understand, SLI is on the way out anyway, so it'd be a stop-gap measure even if it did work.

    My current PSU is a 750 watt, so I'm covered there too.

    Thanks very much guys, really appreciate the help!

  • PerttiAPerttiA Posts: 10,013

    Your current system is ok, I would update the RAM to 64GB's but that's it.

  • AgitatedRiotAgitatedRiot Posts: 4,404

    PerttiA said:

    Your current system is ok, I would update the RAM to 64GB's but that's it.

    But I thought 640K ought to be enough for anybody.  

  • PerttiAPerttiA Posts: 10,013

    AgitatedRiot said:

    PerttiA said:

    Your current system is ok, I would update the RAM to 64GB's but that's it.

    But I thought 640K ought to be enough for anybody.  

    And you believe Mr. Gates? 

  • AgitatedRiotAgitatedRiot Posts: 4,404

    It's like my first hard drive 100MB, oh I'll never fill this up. lol

  • PerttiAPerttiA Posts: 10,013

    AgitatedRiot said:

    It's like my first hard drive 100MB, oh I'll never fill this up. lol

    Back in 87, mine was 30MB's and a source of jealousy for my fellow classmates, together with the 1MB RAM the AT-clone had, for which they quoted Mr. Gates repeatedly.

  • AgitatedRiotAgitatedRiot Posts: 4,404

    PerttiA said:

    AgitatedRiot said:

    It's like my first hard drive 100MB, oh I'll never fill this up. lol

    Back in 87, mine was 30MB's and a source of jealousy for my fellow classmates, together with the 1MB RAM the AT-clone had, for which they quoted Mr. Gates repeatedly.

    I was just getting out of the Armed Services in 87. I was still using tapes for a Commodore 64. 

  • JVRendererJVRenderer Posts: 661
    edited October 2021

    Whiskeyjack said:

    Hi folks! So, my PC (first one I ever built myself) is a little over 4 years old, and I was thinking about upgrading and building a new one. But with how crazy prices for PC components are gone these days (and considering things don't look like they'll be returning to normal for at least another year), now is obviously the absolute worst time to be considering this. But after thinking about it a little more, I'm now wondering would I be better off just upgrading a few select components, buying a second graphics card, and holding out for another year or two (or even three).

    My current PC specs are:
    ASUS ROG STRIX 270E Gaming Motherboard
    Intel Core i7-7700K Processor
    ASUS Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB)
    32GB of RAM (x4 8GB Corsair Vengeance)
    Corsair AX 760 PSU.

    The PC is air-cooled, not overclocked (nor do I intend to overclock or liquid-cool) and was originally built for gaming; mostly strategy games like Total War and Stellaris, but also Monster Hunter and Battlefield. I remember when I built it I allowed myself some wiggle room to upgrade it later on if I wanted to, such as the PSU. Now, I'm not a "hardcore gamer" obsessed with ultra-hyper-realistic graphics or 120 FPS by any means, but I have been getting into DAZ Studio a lot over the last year however (and really enjoying it). And while my GTX 1070 is about adequate to manage the renders I do, I have been trying bigger and larger scenes lately, which it tends to struggle at.

    My plan was to build a new PC as I said, and invest in an RTX 3090; as I understand it correctly, VRAM is the most important factor when it comes to rendering, and essentially tripling my VRAM (24GB in the 3090 compared to 8GB in my 1070) seemed like a no-brainer. But prices being what they are, that's pretty much insanity at this point. I briefly considered picking up something like a 2080 Ti or Titan XP with 11 or 12GB of RAM, but I'm now wondering if it would be worthwhile to instead buy a second GTX 1070 and "only" double my VRAM to 16GB. I know this would be overkill for the kind of gaming that I do, but (from what I understand) it would be a vast improvement for my rendering. I also need to pick up a few other components, like a new secondary hard drive, a new monitor, and a decent chair (for the sake of my back and buns), and after shopping around I figure I could probably pick up all of those parts for the same price that the RTX 3090 alone would cost me.

    What do you think? Is this just a hairbrained scheme (and would I even see any benefit from a second GTX 1070?), or does it actually make some sense? Thanks in advance, guys!

    Based on your current hardware, The best 'balanced option is to get the RTX3060 - 12 Gb VRAM or the RTX A4000 (16 gb VRAM). In addition, upgrade your system RAM to 64 GB. Note, since the A4000 is of

    a blower design, it will be a slightly louder than the RTX3060 under load.

    Post edited by JVRenderer on
  • WhiskeyjackWhiskeyjack Posts: 59

    JVRenderer said:

    Whiskeyjack said:

    Hi folks! So, my PC (first one I ever built myself) is a little over 4 years old, and I was thinking about upgrading and building a new one. But with how crazy prices for PC components are gone these days (and considering things don't look like they'll be returning to normal for at least another year), now is obviously the absolute worst time to be considering this. But after thinking about it a little more, I'm now wondering would I be better off just upgrading a few select components, buying a second graphics card, and holding out for another year or two (or even three).

    My current PC specs are:
    ASUS ROG STRIX 270E Gaming Motherboard
    Intel Core i7-7700K Processor
    ASUS Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB)
    32GB of RAM (x4 8GB Corsair Vengeance)
    Corsair AX 760 PSU.

    The PC is air-cooled, not overclocked (nor do I intend to overclock or liquid-cool) and was originally built for gaming; mostly strategy games like Total War and Stellaris, but also Monster Hunter and Battlefield. I remember when I built it I allowed myself some wiggle room to upgrade it later on if I wanted to, such as the PSU. Now, I'm not a "hardcore gamer" obsessed with ultra-hyper-realistic graphics or 120 FPS by any means, but I have been getting into DAZ Studio a lot over the last year however (and really enjoying it). And while my GTX 1070 is about adequate to manage the renders I do, I have been trying bigger and larger scenes lately, which it tends to struggle at.

    My plan was to build a new PC as I said, and invest in an RTX 3090; as I understand it correctly, VRAM is the most important factor when it comes to rendering, and essentially tripling my VRAM (24GB in the 3090 compared to 8GB in my 1070) seemed like a no-brainer. But prices being what they are, that's pretty much insanity at this point. I briefly considered picking up something like a 2080 Ti or Titan XP with 11 or 12GB of RAM, but I'm now wondering if it would be worthwhile to instead buy a second GTX 1070 and "only" double my VRAM to 16GB. I know this would be overkill for the kind of gaming that I do, but (from what I understand) it would be a vast improvement for my rendering. I also need to pick up a few other components, like a new secondary hard drive, a new monitor, and a decent chair (for the sake of my back and buns), and after shopping around I figure I could probably pick up all of those parts for the same price that the RTX 3090 alone would cost me.

    What do you think? Is this just a hairbrained scheme (and would I even see any benefit from a second GTX 1070?), or does it actually make some sense? Thanks in advance, guys!

    Based on your current hardware, The best 'balanced option is to get the RTX3060 - 12 Gb VRAM or the RTX A4000 (16 gb VRAM). In addition, upgrade your system RAM to 64 GB. Note, since the A4000 is of

    a blower design, it will be a slightly louder than the RTX3060 under load.

    An A4000 is a probably a bit much for me right now, so I think I'll go with the 3060. Upgrading my RAM I can do though!

    Thanks very much!

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