Anyone who wants to save money when buying a graphics card can fall back on used models from older generations. That’s exactly what a gamer did by buying a Geforce GTX 1080 Ti for around 220 dollars – which he was promptly accused of as a big mistake. But was it really one?
According to the appropriate Reddit post, which sparked a discussion with hundreds of comments, his friend is convinced that buying the 2017 GPU wasn’t a good idea. Instead, he should have grabbed the more current RTX 3060, even if it is more than 100 dollars more expensive.
In this survey, you can tell us in advance which GPU you would choose:
Behind this individual case there are various fundamental questions that are generally important when buying a graphics card and which we will take a closer look at using this example. Suffice it to say, we don’t think buying the Reddit user was a big mistake.
In the following article we will address a very rare error that is not so easy to discover and that urgently needs to be corrected:
Big blunder in PC construction
How quickly can you find the mistake in this picture?
How do you decide on a new graphics card?
If the current graphics card becomes too slow in games or if you do not yet have a dedicated GPU, the question arises as to which model is exactly the best? In addition to the budget, your own preferences and other equipment should clearly limit the selection.
For example, if you want to play in particularly high resolutions and/or with a very high refresh rate, you need more power. The same applies to someone who plays current triple-A titles rather than smaller indie titles. And if you then don’t want to do without maximum graphics details, that further increases the demands on the hardware (or, in the opposite case, lowers it).
Focused on the concrete example According to the Reddit user, it should be games like Modern Warfare 2, Battlefield and Rocket League, played in 1440p ultrawide resolution. Coupled with the factor of competitive gaming and disregarding the little hardware-hungry Rocket League, it requires high performance, which would definitely be there with both the GTX 1080 Ti and the RTX 3060.
In general, both GPUs are in very similar performance regions, as our large overview with 16 performance classes and over 60 graphics cards shows. By the way, you can also see the resolution and refresh rate for which the various performance classes are suitable. But back to the specific case: what should justify the 100 euro surcharge that is due for an RTX 3060?
Not used and with more features
One aspect of this is that buying a used GPU always involves a little more risk than buying a new model. From our point of view, however, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with purchasing a graphics card that has already been used in another PC.
There are also new functions to consider, above all the acceleration of ray tracing calculations and Nvidia’s AI anti-aliasing DLSS for more FPS with the least possible optical losses. Both techniques rely on special computing cores that a GTX 1080 Ti does not have to offer.
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But this is primarily relevant when playing titles with ray tracing. At the same time, the often high requirements of ray tracing make DLSS particularly valuable. And then there are techniques similar to AMD’s FSR, which can also be used with older GPUs – even if DLSS often delivers the best overall package of performance gain and optics.
If you then consider that the GTX 1080 Ti with 11.0 GB VRAM has almost as much video memory to offer as the RTX 3060 with 12.0 GB, a GTX 1080 Ti can still be bought today for a purchase price that is over 100 dollars lower lies, can definitely be a good choice.
If you opt for an RTX 3060 instead, for which there are also good arguments, you should generally take a close look when buying. We explain why in this article:
RTX 3060: That’s why you should look twice when buying the popular graphics card
What do you think of the decision between the GTX 1080 Ti and an RTX 3060? Would you rather invest more money to get new products with additional features? Or would saving up for a used model be an option? Feel free to take the poll above and write it in the comments!