Today’s comparability is about two GPUs that we by no means thought of placing face to face, however after considering it over, it looks as if an fascinating matchup. The GeForce GTX 1080 was launched in mid-2016 at an MSRP of $600, or as much as $700 for people who purchased the Founders Edition model. For reference, we’ll go together with $600 as there have been respectable playing cards out there at that worth and it was ultimately discounted to $500 throughout the lineup.
The GTX 1080 was a beast, the Pascal structure was environment friendly, and the GeForce 10 sequence was distinctive, particularly the GTX 1070 and 1080 fashions. Admittedly, we’ve a gentle spot for merchandise such because the GTX 1080.
We’d go so far as saying that the GTX 1080 Ti has gone down as the most effective GPUs of all time, and we’ll in all probability revisit it quickly. The commonplace GTX 1080 was additionally nice although…
Now for the query. Can at this time’s worth king GPU, the Radeon RX 6600, maintain a candle to the GTX 1080? In different phrases, after six years can a mid-range $270 graphics card compete with 2016’s flagship GeForce GPU?
Also making the comparability fascinating and related for price range buyers is the truth that you’ll be able to sometimes purchase a second exhausting GTX 1080 for round $200, making it a bit extra reasonably priced.
We’re going to learn the way these two GPUs match up by testing 51 video games and by the top of this text we’ll have our reply.
Should you purchase a second hand GTX 1080, or spend a bit extra on a Radeon 6600? For these of you not excited by shopping for both, we suspect the outcomes will nonetheless be fascinating, so let’s get into it.
For testing we’re utilizing our Ryzen 7 5800X3D check system utilizing 32GB of DDR4-3200 CL14 reminiscence together with the newest out there show drivers. Resizable BAR has been enabled for all video games examined at 1080p and 1440p. Let’s get into it…
Benchmarks
First up we’ve Fortnite, the place the Radeon RX 6600 comfortably beat out the GTX 1080 by a 17% margin at each examined resolutions. The GeForce GTX 1080 was nonetheless very succesful and for these gaming at 1080p, body charges will probably be acceptable, however the newer and cheaper RX 6600 is actually the superior product on this title.
Moving on to Counter-Strike, we discover related efficiency between these two GPUs and actually the outdated GTX 1080 was a bit sooner, although we’re speaking a few small 3% distinction at 1080p with a barely bigger 9% margin at 1440p. It’s in all probability not that stunning to be taught that the outdated GeForce GPU performs properly in historic DirectX 9 video games.
Where it did not carry out properly in any respect was in Hitman 3, delivering simply 78 fps on common at 1080p with simply 47 fps at 1440p. This meant the Radeon 6600 was a large 55% sooner at 1080p and 60% at 1440p the place it spat out a extremely playable 75 fps on common.
The distinction was so huge that we went again to ensure all the standard settings have been the identical, and naturally, they have been.
The God of War outcomes have been way more aggressive and this was the most effective showings for the GeForce GTX 1080 in a contemporary recreation. Performance was nearly equivalent on this recreation, particularly at 1440p. So it was good to see the as soon as mighty GTX 1080 nonetheless delivering the products in a model new title, at the very least model new for PC.
The GTX 1080 additionally did properly within the new F1 22 racing title utilizing the prime quality preset which omits ray tracing assist. Overall efficiency was aggressive as this time the Radeon 6600 was simply 8% sooner at 1080p and 10% sooner at 1440p.
Forza Horizon 5 works very well with AMD {hardware}, particularly with Resizable BAR enabled as we’ve examined at this time. As a consequence the Radeon 6600 was virtually 60% sooner at 1080p and simply over 40% sooner at 1440p.
Granted, the GTX 1080 was adequate at each resolutions with properly over 60 fps, however you are getting a excessive refresh charge expertise with the Radeon GPU, or alternatively you’ll be able to crank up the visible high quality settings.
The Doom Eternal outcomes are sometimes fascinating and so they did not disappoint right here. At 1080p the Radeon 6600 simply managed to price range forward of the GeForce GTX 1080, although we did see significantly higher 1% lows.
However, issues modified at 1440p and now the GTX 1080 edged forward by a 16% margin, although the 1% lows have been related. It appears that the Infinity Fabric is not making up for the dearth of reminiscence bandwidth, handing the GeForce GPU a transparent efficiency benefit.
Warhammer III was launched earlier this 12 months, so it is a new title and it is one the place the GTX 1080 does not carry out properly in any respect, probably attributable to a scarcity of driver optimization.
As a consequence, the Radeon RX 6600 was 60% sooner at 1080p and 40% sooner at 1440p. We’ve seen a couple of margins like this, significantly in newer titles and there does not all the time seem like a technical motive for the efficiency discrepancy, so it may merely be attributable to driver optimization.
I can not think about Nvidia’s prioritizing Pascal anymore, it is extra within the “does it work class” and if in order that’s adequate.
Moving on to Hunt: Showdown, right here the Radeon 6600 was a lot sooner at 1080p delivering 31% extra frames, however solely barely sooner at 1440p. We’ve recognized for some time that RDNA2 GPUs are a bit extra reminiscence bandwidth restricted at greater resolutions, however this type of distinction relative to Pascal is stunning.
Next we’ve Cyberpunk 2077 and right here the Radeon 6600 is 44% sooner at 1080p and 37% sooner at 1440p, which reveals a bit extra consistency between the 2 examined resolutions.
This was a straightforward win for the Radeon GPU and utilizing the medium high quality settings it was in a position to ship clean playable efficiency at 1440p whereas the GTX 1080 was noticeably janky with body dips within the 30s.
Metro Exodus is an Nvidia sponsored title and as an early-2019 launch Pascal is properly optimized. The GeForce GTX 1080 principally matched the RX 6600 at 1080p, however as we have usually seen the outdated flagship does higher at 1440p and this time it does significantly better relative to the Radeon GPU, providing a large 38% efficiency benefit. A uncommon and really convincing win right here for the outdated GeForce flagship.
Next up we’ve Far Cry 6 and it is a late 2021 launch sponsored by AMD. As we have seen with virtually all lately launched video games, the RX 6600 destroys the outdated GTX 1080 providing 45% extra efficiency at 1080p and 35% extra at 1440p.
The GTX 1080 was nonetheless able to delivering playable efficiency, particularly at 1080p, however the expertise was noticeably higher with the newer GPU.
Assetto Corsa is a 2018 launch, fairly an outdated title at this level and once more it is one which Pascal must be properly optimized for and that seems to be the case. The Radeon 6600 was simply 6% sooner at 1080p, whereas the GTX 1080 hit the lead at 1440p, albeit by only a 3% margin. Overall nice outcomes from each GPUs.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a 2022 launch and right here the RX 6600 mows the GTX 1080, providing virtually 50% extra frames at 1080p and 29% extra at 1440p.
Those are some huge margins and extra importantly at 1440p it was the distinction between 48 and 62 fps utilizing a dialed down high quality preset.
Yet one other 2022 launch is Dying Light 2 and as soon as once more the RX 6600 simply handles the outdated high gun Pascal GPU providing up 32% extra frames at 1080p and 24% extra at 1440p.
The extra efficiency at 1440p will probably be actually noticeable and word we’re already utilizing closely dialed down high quality settings with the medium high quality preset.
The final recreation we’re taking a look at individually is War Thunder, which is one other outdated recreation, although it has acquired updates since its official launch in 2016. This is an older recreation and as such Pascal will probably be optimized for it and we’re actually seeing proof of that with the RX 6600 and GTX 1080 neck-and-neck at 1080p whereas the GeForce GPU nudged forward at 1440p.
51 Game Average
We’ve simply regarded on the outcomes for a lot of however not all the 51 video games examined, so there’s nonetheless a mountain of knowledge we have not gone over, however to avoid wasting time and get to the purpose, we’ll bounce into the breakdown graphs evaluating the margins for all of the video games examined…
Starting with the 1080p knowledge, we see that on common the Radeon RX 6600 was 20% sooner, so fairly a major common margin. As we simply noticed, lots of the newer video games see the Radeon GPU pull forward by a 20% margin or better with some going properly past 40%… the truth is, there have been 8 titles the place that occurred.
Meanwhile there wasn’t a single recreation at 1080p the place the RX 6600 was slower by a 5% margin or better with the largest loss seen when testing Total War: Three Kingdoms the place it was a mere 4% slower. That’s a transparent victory right here for the newer and extra price range oriented Radeon GPU (though it is change into inexpensive only recently because of the properly documented GPU worth inflation).
The margin comes down fairly a bit at 1440p because the Radeon RX 6600 was 13% sooner on common at this decision. The outcomes are actually extra blended right here.
The Radeon GPU actually struggled in Metro Exodus and Doom Eternal, although these have been the one two video games to see double-digit margins. Meanwhile there have been 17 titles the place the Radeon GPU was sooner by 20% or extra, so though the common margin was ~13%, the Radeon RX 6600 was nonetheless very dominant in variety of titles.
What We Learned: Old vs. New
As good because the GeForce GTX 1080 was in its day, six years is a bit too lengthy within the recreation. There are significantly better merchandise on provide at this time and evaluating a $200-ish second hand GTX 1080 to a $270 model new Radeon RX 6600 is a non-contest, with the Radeon GPU properly definitely worth the 30-40% premium.
Granted, the efficiency uplift is not all the time overly vital nevertheless it’s turning into more and more apparent that Pascal house owners are properly down on the checklist in relation to receiving optimizations for newer titles, in the event that they make the checklist in any respect.
Some will probably be fast to level out that the Radeon 6600 helps ray tracing, however we really feel that is not an element on this efficiency tier as you’d should closely compromise on different high quality settings to realize playable body charges with RT results enabled in most titles.
FSR 2.0 would possibly scale higher on the RDNA2 GPU so there may be that, however after all AMD’s upscaling methodology works on the GTX 1080, too.
With the Radeon RX 6600 as the perfect worth GPU proper now, it is cool to see it outpacing a 6 12 months outdated flagship, not essentially a flagship of the Pascal era, nevertheless it was the flagship for 2016.
The Radeon GPU can be extra reasonably priced, in order that’s some progress there, although total it has been sluggish for varied causes, none larger than imaginary cash.
For these of you tossing up between these two GPUs we hope this evaluation was helpful and for these of you continue to rocking a GTX 1080 our recommendation is to carry on for a bit longer but and see what the subsequent era brings by way of efficiency and pricing for not simply the brand new merchandise, but in addition present era GPUs.
