Best Equivalence for graphics card Memory: list of The Most Popular

The universe of graphics cards for PC has been revolutionized for a few months. It is increasingly difficult to know which card is more powerful than any other, because you not only have to compare between ranges but also between generations, or between brands. Do not panic! We have prepared a list of equivalences between cards, which will allow you to know how powerful each one of them is, compared to the rest.

We live the best moment and at the same time the most complicated for buy a pc graphics card. After years in the background AMD has returned to present battle in all ranges. In addition NVIDIA has released a new generation of GPUs, the RTX range, and to make things more complicated it has launched new hybrid cards, which have things from the GTX generation, and things from the RTX generation. Ideally, not to get lost, is to compare cards based on their strength, not their name or range. So we can buy the most powerful one possible, according to our budget. We’ll see the most popular graphics card equivalences.

The idea is to group the different plates, based on their performance. For this we have investigated the main bechmarks websites, in addition to our own measurements.

We are going to compare pure performance, using an average, since this depends a bit on the games. There are titles where some cards are better than others, but in others the opposite is the case. We have also ruled out comparing by quality / price because it is a highly variable value, since the cards change price constantly.

In order not to make it too long and boring we have focused on the most sought after by gamers right now, both the novelties and those that offer good performance, even if they have been on the market for a while.

Hybrid cards: a couple of notes

Before moving on to the equivalences between cards, It is important to know a couple of facts about the new hybrid cards from NVIDIA, because the nomenclature is a bit confusing.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 card, analysis and opinion

For a few weeks NVIDIA has been selling hybrid cards that have features from the GTX range, and features from the new RTX generation. We say that they are confusing because they are still called GTX. Specifically, it is the GTX 16x range, which for now has two models: GTX 1660, and GTX 1660 Ti. Be careful, not to be confused with the GTX 1060 …

These new boards, despite being called GTX, have Turing architecture (RTX). They have Turing shaders, which allow integer and floating point operations at the same time, and can display adaptive shading. They also have a unified memory architecture, with twice the cache. The Ti model uses GDDR6 memory, which until now was only in the new RTX range.

For our equivalence tables it does not matter much because we are going to compare pure performance, but it is important to know the subject so that you do not see weird things when you compare specs.

Official equivalences

Let’s start by showing the official equivalences between cards offered by the companies themselves. You have to take them with pins because they are still marketing. But they are a good place to start.

Equivalences within the ranges

The simplest is to compare within a range. The higher the number, the more powerful the card. For example, an RX Vega 54 is less powerful than a RX Vega 64, and a GTX 1070 is less powerful than a GTX 1080. There are also “turbo” versions, such as the NVIDIA Ti cards, in the style of the GTX. 1070 Ti. They are more powerful than the standard version, as they have more speed and more processing capacity, although they do not usually reach the step higher (in this case, the GTX 1080), but they stay close.

Finally, you have to take into account the memory of the card. Some models are sold with different amounts of memory. For example, there are GTX 1060 boards with 3 and 6 GB of memory. This is important because there are games that require 4 GB of VRAM, so with a 3 GB card we could not play them. Also, increasing the resolution requires more memory to handle large textures. A board with low memory will perform worse as you raise the resolution.

Equivalences between brands

After focusing for a long time on the console market (it makes the Xbox One and PS4 GPUs), AMD has been trying to compete with NVIDIA on PC for two or three years. It does this by launching cards that are equivalent to the leading NVIDIA models. As we have mentioned it is a comparison theoretical, since in practice AMD cards tend to perform a little worse than their official NVIDIA equivalent.

This is the official equivalent of the RX Radeon range, compared to NVIDIA GeForce:

The RTX 590 model is a bit quirky. AMD has launched it recently, almost two years after the previous ones. It is intended to compete not with the GTX 9x range, but with the GTX 10x. Specifically, AMD places it between the GTX 1060 and the GTX 1070.

To compete with NVIDIA’s GTX 10x range, AMD launched its new cards Radeon Vega. This would be the equivalence:

Finally, as a first attempt to compete with the new NVIDIA RTXs, AMD has recycling a professional card, which he has called Radeon VII. It has 7nm manufacturing technology, an incredible 16GB of HBM2 memory (which hardly any games use, for now), and a memory bandwidth of 1TB / sec, a record for gaming cards.

Are official equivalences between cards they serve as a reference, but they are not entirely real, as we will see next.

Cards to play at 1080p

We are going to group the plates according to the recommended resolution for each one of them. If a card is in the 1080p category, it is because it is prepared to work at that resolution with high or very high graphics options. It will also work with higher resolutions, although the graphic quality will have to be lowered. But it is possible to play 4K games with a 1080p card, for example.

Let’s start with the input range, the minimum we recommend today in Hobbyconsolas.com to play decently. These are the equivalences of the most searched graphics cards, based on its performance in benchmarks:

The most versatile card to play today is perhaps the GTX 1060, which in most games performs somewhat better than the RX 570, and in some it is at the level of the RX 580. But keep in mind that, officially , NVIDIA just replaced it with the GTX 1660, which is not yet for sale in Spain but will arrive in a matter of days. If there is not much difference in price, it is worth buying the latter, because it has hardware from the RTX range, as we have commented.

With these cards we can play at 1080p and 60 fps and high or very high graphic quality in most games, although in the most powerful we will have to lower the most demanding graphics options a bit. Prices vary between 150 and 275 euros.

These are the 4 new ASUS graphics based on GTX 1660 Ti

One step above we have this group of cards that allow us to play at 1080p and 60 fps, with very high or ultra quality, without many complications. Also at 1440p, with medium or high graphics options.

In this group, the new RTX 590 stands out, which can be obtained for a price of around 290 euros. It is a little more powerful than the GTX 1060, but a little less than the GTX 1070. It is in between. Of course, be careful with its TDP (heating according to consumption) is also much higher (225W compared to 150W for the GTX 1070).

The new hybrid GTX 1660 Ti is surprising because in some benchmarks it is very close to the GTX 1070. Considering that it costs around 325 euros, it is an option to consider. Of course, it has 6 GB of RAM compared to 8 GB of the GTX 1070. Some games at 4K or with 4K textures require 8 GB of graphics memory.

Cards to play at 1440p

If we have a 1440p monitor, or we want to play on a 1080p monitor with supersampling at 1440p, it is advisable to buy some of these cards.

We can start from a RX Vega 56, for a price of around 390 euros, with a somewhat lower performance than the GTX 1070, in most games.

A little more powerful, the RX 64 Vega, about 420 euros. It slightly beats the GTX 1070 (not in all games), and falls a bit below the GTX 1070 Ti, priced at around 540 euros.

With a GTX 1070 Ti we can play at 1440p, 60 fps and high or very high graphic quality, in all games. And in some we can enjoy 4K resolution without problems.

This is where they start to enter. NVIDIA’s new RTX cards:

The entry model in the RTX 2060 GPU, which as we see in the table in some benchmarks performs at the level of the more expensive GTX 1070 Ti, although in others it falls a little below. Its price varies between 350 and 430 euros, depending on whether or not you have overclocking, or a more advanced cooling system.

Cards to play at 4K

If you are looking for the best of the best, to play that holy grail called 4K resolution, these are the best cards on the market. Possibly you will have to mortgage the house or ask for a loan from the bank to buy them, but that’s another story …

The GTX 1080, which starts the high-end, can be found in March 2018 between 525 and 650 euros.

In the benchmarks that circulate on the Internet, the Radeon VII (about 800 euros) equals the RTX 2080 in some games, but in most it is 10 or 15% below. In addition, the RTX 2080 is about 50 euros cheaper.

Another aspect to keep in mind is that the Radeon VII has a much higher TDP (300W compared to 210W for the RTX 2080), so you need a PC with a good cooling system.

Be careful because with these cards it is already recommended to have an Intel Core i7 CPU or equivalent, if you do not want to create a bottleneck.

Radeon VII does not have Ray tracing or DLSS filter, but in return the 16 GB of the Radeon VII can go well if you record video or streaming while you play, or use graphics or video editors at 4K resolution.

How Ray Tracing Works and Why It Will Revolutionize Video Games

Above the previous models, NVIDIA reigns alone at the top. The most powerful card there is right now at the level mainstream It is the RTX 2080 Ti, but it costs 1200 euros. Today few games take full advantage of it, and its price difference with the RTX 2080 she’s very tall.

The generation cap is the NVIDIA Titan RTX, but it shoots up to more than 3,000 euros. Buy it only if you have money left over …

With these equivalences of the most searched graphics cards, it will be easy for you compare graphics cards. Just look for a model in the tables, and you will find alternatives with a similar performance. The plates in older boards will have less performance, and in later boards, they are more powerful.

For equal performance, you have to opt for the one with the most graphics memory. That easy!

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