WEBVTT

00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:08.880
over the last few months AMD and NVIDIA have released a slew of new graphics

00:00:05.799 --> 00:00:12.519
cards promising better performance at in

00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:16.240
some cases lower prices but which P

00:00:12.519 --> 00:00:18.320
should you choose Polaris or Pascal and

00:00:16.240 --> 00:00:28.000
how much should you spend let's try to answer those

00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:35.360
questions tunnel bear is the simple VPN app that makes it easy to browse

00:00:32.800 --> 00:00:38.680
privately and enjoy a more open internet to try tunnel bear for free check out

00:00:37.079 --> 00:00:44.160
the link in the video description so we're going to start as

00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:46.079
usual with the tldr if you're building a

00:00:44.160 --> 00:00:51.480
budget box or upgrading an existing machine you can't go wrong with this

00:00:48.239 --> 00:00:54.840
powercolor Radeon RX 460 2 gig video

00:00:51.480 --> 00:00:57.760
card that we found at 110 bucks the

00:00:54.840 --> 00:01:03.879
rx460 delivers smooth frame rates at full HD 1080p in popular titles like

00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:09.560
League of Legends Dota 2 OverWatch and CSG go without having to compromise on

00:01:06.760 --> 00:01:16.720
graphical quality settings stepping up to the $200 price point this EVGA GTX

00:01:13.600 --> 00:01:19.119
10603 gig is a standout deal on the

00:01:16.720 --> 00:01:25.680
green side of the fence with a susus strix rx4 74 gig holding down the fort

00:01:22.439 --> 00:01:28.439
for team red these cards will perform on

00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:36.159
average very similarly and pack enough horsepower for AAA games at high details

00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:39.799
1080p with pcmr approved frame rates for

00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:43.000
a little more oomph this Sapphire RX 484

00:01:39.799 --> 00:01:45.920
gig costs 15% more than those but is

00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:50.920
also about 15% more powerful making it an equally good value if your piggy bank

00:01:49.119 --> 00:01:57.360
can handle the pain now there's an unusual void right now in the next price

00:01:53.520 --> 00:01:59.880
range I would normally address $300 to

00:01:57.360 --> 00:02:07.039
$350 it's populated almost EX exclusively by overpriced RX 480s and

00:02:03.360 --> 00:02:09.000
GTX 1060s I mean they're good cards and

00:02:07.039 --> 00:02:13.920
thanks to their extra horses and onboard memory they're capable of driving solid

00:02:11.239 --> 00:02:21.599
gaming experiences at higher resolutions like 2560 x 1080 ultrawide and 2560

00:02:18.280 --> 00:02:24.959
x440 but I wouldn't pay more than $260

00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:28.360
to $270 for them given the availability

00:02:24.959 --> 00:02:32.200
of this Gigabyte windforce 106 6 gig and

00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:35.360
this Sapphire rx48 8 gig which leads us

00:02:32.200 --> 00:02:39.680
finally then into Enthusiast class cards

00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:44.120
that cost $400 or more where my pick is

00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:46.800
this EVGA GTX 1070 Super Clock the FPS

00:02:44.120 --> 00:02:53.360
per dollar number is a little lower than our other cards but the 1070s value is

00:02:49.959 --> 00:02:55.280
also not bad it delivers 80% of the

00:02:53.360 --> 00:03:01.040
performance of its bigger brother the GTX 1080 enough to run almost anything

00:02:58.200 --> 00:03:07.519
at 4K with some tweaking but at a price that's closer to 65% as much thanks to

00:03:04.200 --> 00:03:10.319
its lower cost gddr5 memory and cutdown

00:03:07.519 --> 00:03:15.959
processor there are slightly cheaper GTX 1070s but I felt like the EVGA tax of 10

00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:20.680
bucks was worthwhile in this case because there is more to life than

00:03:17.760 --> 00:03:24.720
frames per second but that's a subject for the next portion of this video tldr

00:03:22.920 --> 00:03:31.159
is over where I'll explain the methodology that I used to select these

00:03:27.400 --> 00:03:34.280
cards this is my

00:03:31.159 --> 00:03:36.879
spreadsheet as some of you understood

00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:42.920
when I did my little rant on low-end video cards and why nobody should buy

00:03:38.840 --> 00:03:46.560
them for gaming value by definition is

00:03:42.920 --> 00:03:49.799
not determined by Price alone but by a

00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:52.599
ratio of price to reward a meal that

00:03:49.799 --> 00:03:58.840
costs half as much but contains a quarter as much food is cheap but it is

00:03:56.079 --> 00:04:04.599
not a good value especially if you're still going to be hungry when you're

00:04:00.799 --> 00:04:07.159
done so back to my admittedly imperfect

00:04:04.599 --> 00:04:12.439
spreadsheet it was designed to help me use performance numbers from trusted

00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:18.239
review sites around the web to calculate which cards will give me the best value

00:04:15.560 --> 00:04:23.919
or the most FPS per dollar across a variety of games and resolutions the

00:04:20.919 --> 00:04:26.800
more I add the more meaningful the final

00:04:23.919 --> 00:04:35.039
average numbers become here's how it works I could use exact FPS values like

00:04:31.520 --> 00:04:37.360
42 FPS if I was pulling all of my data

00:04:35.039 --> 00:04:41.919
from one source where I knew that every game was tested with the same

00:04:39.160 --> 00:04:47.440
methodology and the same settings but since no single review covers every

00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:53.120
possible scenario I've opted instead to normalize to a last generation card

00:04:50.199 --> 00:04:57.960
whose drivers are mature and that was well sampled making it a great point of

00:04:55.280 --> 00:05:04.440
comparison for both modern flagships and mid-range Solutions the G gtx980

00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:06.600
reference design so when I enter exact

00:05:04.440 --> 00:05:12.880
FPS values for both the cardart I'm investigating and the gtx980 here I get

00:05:10.440 --> 00:05:18.000
a relative performance number which I fill into my spreadsheet this allows me

00:05:15.720 --> 00:05:22.720
to compare cards across different review sites or even cards that haven't ever

00:05:20.759 --> 00:05:28.919
been directly benchmarked against each other with from some spot checking

00:05:25.639 --> 00:05:30.440
anywhere from 2 to 3% margin of error

00:05:28.919 --> 00:05:36.199
for cards that have never been benchmarked against the GTX 980 like the

00:05:32.960 --> 00:05:38.919
750 Ti I used a card that has been

00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:44.919
benched against both as an intermediary the rx460 though this method is not

00:05:42.080 --> 00:05:49.600
ideal and I approximated a lot of other stuff as well only a small fraction of

00:05:47.319 --> 00:05:55.600
the cards available for sale have ever even had a professional review done but

00:05:52.600 --> 00:05:58.400
thanks to GPU boost 3.0 especially

00:05:55.600 --> 00:06:05.120
actually were more limited by power limits imposed by by NVIDIA and AMD than

00:06:01.919 --> 00:06:07.960
by Factory overclocks anyway these days

00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:13.440
so I've approximated most non-reference cards to perform pretty similarly which

00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:19.720
won't necessarily be true but as you can see here adjustments to Price have a far

00:06:17.039 --> 00:06:22.680
larger impact on our value calculation than the kinds of singled digigit

00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:29.400
performance differences that you'll typically see from one GTX 1080 to

00:06:26.440 --> 00:06:32.440
another so yes I know I said it already but it merits repetition here so the

00:06:30.919 --> 00:06:38.080
entire comment section isn't full of people pointing it out this method is

00:06:34.960 --> 00:06:40.639
imperfect and would require either many

00:06:38.080 --> 00:06:45.080
many days of additional manual data entry if I wanted to go beyond relying

00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:49.759
so heavily on Guru 3D for example whose reviews are linked in the Excel sheet by

00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:52.199
the way or ideally some kind of fancy

00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:56.240
custom statistical analysis software and it also ignores a lot of factors here

00:06:54.759 --> 00:07:01.039
are the ones I could think of in no particular order multi-GPU you want to

00:06:58.599 --> 00:07:05.560
shop for an SLI Crossfire setup they would each need to be added individually

00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:11.560
for every pair or more of cards have fun I'm not doing that two characteristics

00:07:08.199 --> 00:07:14.160
like board length display connectors or

00:07:11.560 --> 00:07:20.639
the required physical plugs that might affect physical compatibility with your

00:07:16.599 --> 00:07:22.759
system three warranty there is a huge

00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:28.759
range of policies not just in terms of the coverage period but in terms of

00:07:25.240 --> 00:07:31.080
whether resale overclocking Andor

00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:36.160
physical modif ification is permitted and this is critical for folks who plan

00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:38.639
to water cool four cooler style and

00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:44.840
quality Aesthetics aside though some people care a lot about that for some

00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:47.199
configs a rear exhaust blower design

00:07:44.840 --> 00:07:52.720
might be better to avoid recycling hot air to cool other components while in a

00:07:49.960 --> 00:07:57.560
better ventilated case an open air Cooler's additional performance for the

00:07:54.720 --> 00:08:02.960
GPU itself will result in tangibly better performance in games consult your

00:08:00.440 --> 00:08:06.800
case manufacturer if you're not sure oh and double ball bearing fans are

00:08:05.080 --> 00:08:13.360
probably worth a couple bucks for a card you plan to keep for a long time five

00:08:10.159 --> 00:08:15.960
frame buffer size now generally speaking

00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:21.400
bigger frame buffer cards end up underpowered before the extra RAM is

00:08:18.680 --> 00:08:25.919
necessary but there are some exceptions someone who is really into Skyrim

00:08:23.560 --> 00:08:31.360
texture mods will definitely want to grab an 8 gig rx480 versus a 4 gig one

00:08:29.599 --> 00:08:36.479
regardless of what the performance per dollar metric looks like because vram is

00:08:34.440 --> 00:08:41.560
one of those things that doesn't affect performance at all until you run out of

00:08:39.760 --> 00:08:45.160
it and the card is swapping textures out to system memory and at that point

00:08:43.839 --> 00:08:50.240
everything goes south faster than all the Canadian birds and seniors do in the

00:08:46.920 --> 00:08:53.480
winter time six driver improvements over

00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:56.240
time and the features that are difficult

00:08:53.480 --> 00:09:01.399
or impossible to quantify Shadow play and freesync are examples of things that

00:08:58.880 --> 00:09:05.480
I care about but maybe someone somewhere cares about true audio or the automatic

00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:09.120
game settings optimization in GeForce experience your mileage may vary here

00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:20.000
and that can definitely affect your decision especially when you're looking at Red Team Versus Green Team seven

00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:23.480
sanity checks this GTX 950 at $130 could

00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:26.240
look like a great value for 4K gaming

00:09:23.480 --> 00:09:30.440
with its similar FPS per dollar number but even though this 1080 Founders

00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:38.959
edition cost $700 H it's 47 FPS versus 5 FPS might be

00:09:36.880 --> 00:09:45.079
a factor here for you if you actually want to play games so Consulting actual

00:09:42.399 --> 00:09:49.920
reviews for raw performance numbers is still part of the process leading us to

00:09:47.680 --> 00:09:54.880
eight and perhaps the most important actual availability just because you can

00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:59.519
Google some super cool card if no retailers in your region carry it then

00:09:56.800 --> 00:10:04.360
you're kind of out of luck that is to say unless the retailer ships worldwide

00:10:02.440 --> 00:10:07.519
like Mass drop though it does cost a bit extra if you're not familiar with mass

00:10:06.279 --> 00:10:11.800
drop I'm going to run you through the basic concept Mass drop takes a whole

00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:16.279
bunch of people who want to buy a thing and then a whole bunch of Manufacturers

00:10:13.760 --> 00:10:21.160
who want to sell a lot of things and they put them together the community

00:10:17.800 --> 00:10:23.240
says Hey we'd love to buy that product X

00:10:21.160 --> 00:10:26.399
but it's like expensive if a whole bunch of us agreed to buy it do you think the

00:10:24.880 --> 00:10:30.839
price could drop a little bit you know volume discount and mass drop goes to

00:10:28.920 --> 00:10:36.279
the authorized distributors or even the manufacturers directly and negotiates a

00:10:33.959 --> 00:10:42.360
better price if a bunch of people want to buy or in certain cases they even

00:10:39.760 --> 00:10:47.320
have manufacturers produce special products just for them like the k7xx

00:10:45.160 --> 00:10:52.560
headphones that we featuring today and this is the same ones that I reviewed

00:10:50.040 --> 00:10:56.920
last year so they were configured by mast drop and manufactured by AKG

00:10:55.360 --> 00:11:01.360
they're open-backed headphones with large cushiony ear cups that feature a

00:10:58.880 --> 00:11:05.519
flat flat wire voice coil a genuine leather headband memory foam ear pads

00:11:03.760 --> 00:11:11.079
with velour coverings and a 2-year warranty covered by mass drop and what

00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:15.440
kind of a price do you get well the more buy the better it gets because that's

00:11:13.399 --> 00:11:19.600
how Mass drop works so check out the link in the video description so thanks

00:11:18.079 --> 00:11:24.200
for watching guys if this video sucked you know what to do but if it was awesome get subscribed hit that like

00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:28.480
button or check out the link to where to buy the cards that we recommended in the

00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:31.279
video description also linked in the description is our merch store which has

00:11:29.880 --> 00:11:36.040
cool shirts like this one and our community Forum which you should totally join now that you're done doing all that

00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:42.920
stuff you're probably wondering what to watch next so click that little button in the top right corner to check out our

00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:45.920
latest video over on channel super

00:11:42.920 --> 00:11:45.920
fun