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Ask HN: I am still using a 980. What should I get? I do not care at all about having the latest/greatest, I just want an upgrade.

majortennis 4y ago
perhaps a 3080 , maybe 4080 12gb when the price drops a bit ? I'm envious I went form a 970 to 1660ti I'm not sure what my next move is Im usually more comfortable finance wise with 70s than 80s
sergiotapia 4y ago
It depends on your resolution. If you have a 1080p monitor, look for a great 1080p card. same for 1440p, etc. https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html
Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
IMO, get the best 3000-series card you can afford. You might be able to pick up a card that was used for mining super cheap.
- colpabar 4y ago
  I've considered this, but I'm not sure. Is there any concern about cards used for mining being too "beat up"? They say you shouldn't buy a used car from someone you know was using it for racing. Does that apply to graphics cards used for mining?
  - bongobingo1 4y ago
    Apparently mining cards are ok because they suffer a constant load, sometimes run at a capped peak performance (?), vs games which can be very spikey. Whether this is just misdirection thrown around by crypto miners looking at a hole of sunk assets or not, I could not say. Personally I'd just buy new, but I have also probably never spent over 300usd on a card.
    - tpxl 4y ago
      My previous card (Radeon 7970HD) was used for BTC mining in a gaming PC and lasted until about 2018 (So about 6 years). My current GPU is a 1080Ti that used to be in a mining rig and shows no signs of damage at about 4 years of age. I'm looking forward to buying a used crypto mining card when the current one dies.
  - wongarsu 4y ago
    The major concerns would be the thermal paste degrading or the fan dying. Both are easy and cheap to remedy, and are probably worth preventively fixing when you buy the card.
- skunkworker 4y ago
  A week or so ago 3090s were going for < $1000, which is a steal if you need the memory for ML or other intensive apps.
wongarsu 4y ago
Depending on how much you want to spend, a 1080ti, 2080ti and 3080ti are all good upgrades (roughly doubling in price with each step). All of them come with 11GB or more memory, making them very usable for not only gaming but also "average" ML (e.g. stable diffusion runs great on my 2080ti, and it's very usable for developing tensorflow models).
- behnamoh 4y ago
  M1 runs SD in a few seconds. Is 2080ti faster than that?
  - terafo 4y ago
    It is hard to tell since you don't provide exact numbers. I've seen SD generating 50 samples 512x512 image on 2080 Ti in 8 seconds, but it is almost certain that there is a faster version out there.
    - jeffbee 4y ago
      A 2080 Ti, which requires a supporting platform, seems like a really bad deal compared to a 16GB M1, which you can get factory refurbished for $1000.
      - lostmsu 4y ago
        Stable Diffusion is but 1 project. M1 gonna be a huge bottleneck for anything that takes time. That "Ultra" for $4k is about 5 times slower than a single 3090. It will be nearly 10 times slower than 4090.
      - wongarsu 4y ago
        A used 2080TI goes for around $500, with the remaining $500 I can get a computer with a 6x3.6GHz Ryzen 5 and 16GB RAM. Which is something completely different than a Macbook Air, so that's kind of an apples to oranges comparison, but I don't see the big price advantage. And presumably GP already has the "supporting platform", since they are upgrading, making the 2080TI upgrade half the price of a switch to an m1?
clawlor 4y ago
I upgraded from a 970 to a 2080 a while back and have been very happy with it. Still plays modern games at good frame rates, though not with max settings. Obviously your choice depends greatly on budget + availability of hardware, as well as your desired resolution, but I'd suggest the 2070 or 2080 (maybe 2080ti?) as a good starting point.
wellthisisgreat 4y ago
Get the 4090 and forget about upgrading for a long while. Or even 3090
- Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
  I would not get a 3090 for gaming. It's only 10-20% faster than a 3080, yet is significantly more expensive. Games won't use the extra VRAM.
  - wellthisisgreat 4y ago
    Parent didn’t mention gaming, so I assumed general use, hobbyist ML etc. Even for gaming though wouldn’t 3090 be more future-proof? 4K is really the way to experience games in 2021 and beyond
    - Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
      10-20% faster isn't a lot of future proofing. Certainly not worth paying double. You certainly don't need a 3090 for gaming in 4K. nVidia's claim of the 3090 being a "4K" card is marketing bullshit. If a game can't be run in 4K on a 3080, then the 10-20% performance increase of a 3090 isn't likely to change that.
pornel 4y ago
Go down this list until you reach performance level you'd like: https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_value.html https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_value.html
- kuschku 4y ago
  Alternatively look at https://www.logicalincrements.com/ https://www.logicalincrements.com/
Meekro 4y ago
I have a 980, too, and it's great. It plays most stuff on Steam without any problems. I'm only considering an upgrade because I want to play Flight Simulator and Cyberpunk on max graphics. I'll be getting a 3080-- they're fairly mainstream and a great value. I love ultra-quiet hardware so I'll be getting the Asus 3080 Noctua, which is the quietest version by a huge margin.
terafo 4y ago
I think you should wait until late November for dust to settle(budget segment won't change that much because of it if you don't consider buying used). By then both Nvidia and AMD will release their cards(it is likely that Intel too, but Alchemist is a joke), mining cards will hit the market in large quantities and pricing for everything will change drastically.
npteljes 4y ago
I think your local prices matter the most. Here in Hungary, right at the moment, looking at one specific large retailer, the 2060 makes the most sense, if we look at price/value. Compared to the 980, it offers <50% extra speed. It really depends on your circumstances, to judge whether that works for you or not.
not1ofU 4y ago
Whats your use case?
danielodievich 4y ago
I upgraded my wife's 2015 workstation from 980ti to 2080sc of some sorts. The limit is pci bandwidth of the MB, anything later made no sense. My kids use that as gaming PC and the happiness index on the latest titles (valorant, halo) went way up. It cand compare to the 3080 that I have in the latest gaming PC, but it does great. Bonus is that I sold the 980 to someone for 70 dollars, I was going to trash it but apparently it is still worth something

majortennis 4y ago

perhaps a 3080 , maybe 4080 12gb when the price drops a bit ? I'm envious I went form a 970 to 1660ti I'm not sure what my next move is Im usually more comfortable finance wise with 70s than 80s

sergiotapia 4y ago

It depends on your resolution. If you have a 1080p monitor, look for a great 1080p card. same for 1440p, etc. https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html

Sohcahtoa82 4y ago

IMO, get the best 3000-series card you can afford. You might be able to pick up a card that was used for mining super cheap.

colpabar 4y ago
I've considered this, but I'm not sure. Is there any concern about cards used for mining being too "beat up"? They say you shouldn't buy a used car from someone you know was using it for racing. Does that apply to graphics cards used for mining?
- bongobingo1 4y ago
  Apparently mining cards are ok because they suffer a constant load, sometimes run at a capped peak performance (?), vs games which can be very spikey. Whether this is just misdirection thrown around by crypto miners looking at a hole of sunk assets or not, I could not say. Personally I'd just buy new, but I have also probably never spent over 300usd on a card.
  - tpxl 4y ago
    My previous card (Radeon 7970HD) was used for BTC mining in a gaming PC and lasted until about 2018 (So about 6 years). My current GPU is a 1080Ti that used to be in a mining rig and shows no signs of damage at about 4 years of age. I'm looking forward to buying a used crypto mining card when the current one dies.
- wongarsu 4y ago
  The major concerns would be the thermal paste degrading or the fan dying. Both are easy and cheap to remedy, and are probably worth preventively fixing when you buy the card.
skunkworker 4y ago
A week or so ago 3090s were going for < $1000, which is a steal if you need the memory for ML or other intensive apps.

wongarsu 4y ago

Depending on how much you want to spend, a 1080ti, 2080ti and 3080ti are all good upgrades (roughly doubling in price with each step). All of them come with 11GB or more memory, making them very usable for not only gaming but also "average" ML (e.g. stable diffusion runs great on my 2080ti, and it's very usable for developing tensorflow models).

behnamoh 4y ago
M1 runs SD in a few seconds. Is 2080ti faster than that?
- terafo 4y ago
  It is hard to tell since you don't provide exact numbers. I've seen SD generating 50 samples 512x512 image on 2080 Ti in 8 seconds, but it is almost certain that there is a faster version out there.
  - jeffbee 4y ago
    A 2080 Ti, which requires a supporting platform, seems like a really bad deal compared to a 16GB M1, which you can get factory refurbished for $1000.
    - lostmsu 4y ago
      Stable Diffusion is but 1 project. M1 gonna be a huge bottleneck for anything that takes time. That "Ultra" for $4k is about 5 times slower than a single 3090. It will be nearly 10 times slower than 4090.
    - wongarsu 4y ago
      A used 2080TI goes for around $500, with the remaining $500 I can get a computer with a 6x3.6GHz Ryzen 5 and 16GB RAM. Which is something completely different than a Macbook Air, so that's kind of an apples to oranges comparison, but I don't see the big price advantage. And presumably GP already has the "supporting platform", since they are upgrading, making the 2080TI upgrade half the price of a switch to an m1?

clawlor 4y ago

I upgraded from a 970 to a 2080 a while back and have been very happy with it. Still plays modern games at good frame rates, though not with max settings. Obviously your choice depends greatly on budget + availability of hardware, as well as your desired resolution, but I'd suggest the 2070 or 2080 (maybe 2080ti?) as a good starting point.

wellthisisgreat 4y ago

Get the 4090 and forget about upgrading for a long while. Or even 3090

Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
I would not get a 3090 for gaming. It's only 10-20% faster than a 3080, yet is significantly more expensive. Games won't use the extra VRAM.
- wellthisisgreat 4y ago
  Parent didn’t mention gaming, so I assumed general use, hobbyist ML etc. Even for gaming though wouldn’t 3090 be more future-proof? 4K is really the way to experience games in 2021 and beyond
  - Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
    10-20% faster isn't a lot of future proofing. Certainly not worth paying double. You certainly don't need a 3090 for gaming in 4K. nVidia's claim of the 3090 being a "4K" card is marketing bullshit. If a game can't be run in 4K on a 3080, then the 10-20% performance increase of a 3090 isn't likely to change that.

pornel 4y ago

Go down this list until you reach performance level you'd like: https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_value.html https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_value.html

kuschku 4y ago
Alternatively look at https://www.logicalincrements.com/ https://www.logicalincrements.com/

Meekro 4y ago

I have a 980, too, and it's great. It plays most stuff on Steam without any problems. I'm only considering an upgrade because I want to play Flight Simulator and Cyberpunk on max graphics. I'll be getting a 3080-- they're fairly mainstream and a great value. I love ultra-quiet hardware so I'll be getting the Asus 3080 Noctua, which is the quietest version by a huge margin.

terafo 4y ago

I think you should wait until late November for dust to settle(budget segment won't change that much because of it if you don't consider buying used). By then both Nvidia and AMD will release their cards(it is likely that Intel too, but Alchemist is a joke), mining cards will hit the market in large quantities and pricing for everything will change drastically.

npteljes 4y ago

I think your local prices matter the most. Here in Hungary, right at the moment, looking at one specific large retailer, the 2060 makes the most sense, if we look at price/value. Compared to the 980, it offers <50% extra speed. It really depends on your circumstances, to judge whether that works for you or not.

not1ofU 4y ago

Whats your use case?

danielodievich 4y ago

I upgraded my wife's 2015 workstation from 980ti to 2080sc of some sorts. The limit is pci bandwidth of the MB, anything later made no sense. My kids use that as gaming PC and the happiness index on the latest titles (valorant, halo) went way up. It cand compare to the 3080 that I have in the latest gaming PC, but it does great. Bonus is that I sold the 980 to someone for 70 dollars, I was going to trash it but apparently it is still worth something