PC Gamer Presents - PC Hardware Handbook - May 2018

So, where is AMD in all of this? The sad

reality is that AMD isn’t providing any

competitive solutions at any of the right

price points. Vega’s lack of availability

and sub-par performance has left the

upper echelons empty, while the

mid-range and budget solutions suffer

from cryptocurrency fever. Unless you

absolutely cannot live without

FreeSync, there is no justifiable reason

to run with an AMD card, either as an

upgrade or in a fresh build.

At the budget end, there’s only one

choice: the GTX 1060 3GB. We’ve

recommended it all year, and for good

reason: It’s at the price and

performance sweet spot, even up

against Nvidia’s own GTX 1050 Ti.

Look at the figures—for £89 more, you

get a card that’s 50 per cent faster than

the next step down, gives the GTX 980

a run for its money, and masticates

1080p. Because Nvidia’s GTX 1050 Ti is

EVGA GTX 1060 3GB

SC GAMING
http://www.evga.com

so unattractive, seemingly nothing more

than a die shrink, and spec for spec

almost identical to the 950, the 1060

3GB is incredibly appealing. And it

won’t set you back as much as some

others that offer less functionality.

IT’S AT THE PRICE AND

PERFORMANCE SWEET SPOT, EVEN

UP AGAINST NVIDIA’S GTX 1050 TI

VRAM

Total War:

Attila

Far Cry

Primal

The

Division

Rise of the

Tomb Raider

Power Draw

Idle

Power Draw

Load

3DMark: Fire

Strike Ultra (DX11)

3DMark: Time

Spy (DX12) Price

12GB GDDR5X 16/29 54/62 35/61 12/32 49 365 7,166 9,097 £1,149

11GB GDDR5X 14/27 51/56 39/55 11/29 47 354 6,587 8,307 £679

8GB HBM 2.0 9/16 36/43 22/43 13/20 66 403 5,241 6,758 £570

8GB GDDR5X 9/19 39/43 26/41 8/20 53 334 5,077 6,597 £700

8GB GDDR5X 9/20 40/44 21/43 8/22 49 325 5,339 6,892 £999

VRAM

Total War:

Attila

Far Cry

Primal

The

Division

Rise of the

Tomb Raider

Power Draw

Idle

Power Draw

Load

3DMark: Fire

Strike Ultra (DX11)

3DMark: Time

Spy (DX12) Price

8GB HBM 2.0 21/31 58/69 42/67 22/36 64 331 8,656 6,263 £450

8GB GDDR5X 23/40 65/77 39/73 16/42 48 252 9,371 6,537 £529

8GB GDDR5 23/36 55/65 47/63 14/35 53 306 8,221 5,753 £549

8GB GDDR5 21/34 53/62 34/59 13/33 47 288 7,805 5,542 £419

8GB GDDR5 19/25 40/48 25/49 11/26 59 297 6,033 4,515 £420

Our test bed consists of an Intel Core i7-7700K, 16GB of Corsair DDR4, an Asus Maximus IX Hero, and a 500GB Samsung 850 Evo. All games tested on the highest graphical profile, with AA at 4K

Our test bed consists of an Intel Core i7-7700K, 16GB of Corsair DDR4, an Asus Maximus IX Hero, and a 500GB Samsung 850 Evo. All games tested on the highest graphical profile, with AA at 1440p

VRAM

Total War:

Attila

Far Cry

Primal

The

Division

Rise of the

Tomb Raider

Power Draw

Idle

Power Draw

Load

3DMark: Fire

Strike Ultra (DX11)

3DMark: Time

Spy (DX12) Price

4GB GDDR5 24/31 45/56 32/56 7/33 66 268 10,243 3,833 £360

6GB GDDR5 26/38 53/66 31/60 15/38 53 225 10,959 4,158 £289

3GB GDDR5 24/36 49/61 31/55 9/35 47 251 20,251 3,905 £289

4GB GDDR5 14/23 34/43 19/36 9/23 52 216 7,042 3,209 £145

4GB GDDR5 13/22 32/40 17/36 9/23 43 201 7,012 3,188 £200

Our test bed consists of an Intel Core i7-7700K, 16GB of Corsair DDR4, an Asus Maximus IX Hero, and a 500GB Samsung 850 Evo. All games tested on the highest graphical profile, with AA at 1080p

TOTAL

£289

BUDGET

Feature

TODAY’S BEST UPGRADES