At this time’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 attention-grabbing matchup. The GeForce GTX 1080 was launched in mid-2016 at an MSRP of $600, or as much as $700 for those who purchased the Founders Version model. For reference, we’ll go together with $600 as there have been respectable playing cards accessible at that value 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 have now a delicate spot for merchandise such because the GTX 1080.
We might go so far as saying that the GTX 1080 Ti has gone down as probably the greatest GPUs of all time, and we’ll in all probability revisit it quickly. The usual GTX 1080 was additionally nice although…
Now for the query. Can as we speak’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?
Additionally making the comparability attention-grabbing and related for finances customers is the truth that you possibly can usually purchase a second exhausting GTX 1080 for round $200, making it just a little extra reasonably priced.
We’ll 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.
Must you purchase a second hand GTX 1080, or spend just a little extra on a Radeon 6600? For these of you not excited about shopping for both, we suspect the outcomes will nonetheless be attention-grabbing, so let’s get into it.
For testing we’re utilizing our Ryzen 7 5800X3D take a look at system utilizing 32GB of DDR4-3200 CL14 reminiscence together with the most recent accessible 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 have now 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 might be acceptable, however the newer and cheaper RX 6600 is definitely the superior product on this title.
Transferring on to Counter-Strike, we discover comparable efficiency between these two GPUs and actually the outdated GTX 1080 was just a little quicker, although we’re speaking a few small 3% distinction at 1080p with a barely bigger 9% margin at 1440p. It is in all probability not that shocking to be taught that the outdated GeForce GPU performs effectively in historical DirectX 9 video games.
The place it did not carry out effectively 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 an enormous 55% quicker at 1080p and 60% at 1440p the place it spat out a extremely playable 75 fps on common.
The distinction was so large that we went again to verify all the standard settings had been the identical, and naturally, they had been.
The God of Warfare outcomes had been much more aggressive and this was probably the greatest showings for the GeForce GTX 1080 in a contemporary sport. Efficiency was nearly an identical on this sport, 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, not less than model new for PC.
The GTX 1080 additionally did effectively within the new F1 22 racing title utilizing the prime quality preset which omits ray tracing help. General efficiency was aggressive as this time the Radeon 6600 was simply 8% quicker at 1080p and 10% quicker at 1440p.
Forza Horizon 5 works very well with AMD {hardware}, particularly with Resizable BAR enabled as we have now examined as we speak. Because of this the Radeon 6600 was nearly 60% quicker at 1080p and simply over 40% quicker at 1440p.
Granted, the GTX 1080 was adequate at each resolutions with effectively over 60 fps, however you are getting a excessive refresh fee expertise with the Radeon GPU, or alternatively you possibly can crank up the visible high quality settings.
The Doom Everlasting outcomes are sometimes attention-grabbing they usually did not disappoint right here. At 1080p the Radeon 6600 simply managed to finances forward of the GeForce GTX 1080, although we did see significantly higher 1% lows.
Nevertheless, issues modified at 1440p and now the GTX 1080 edged forward by a 16% margin, although the 1% lows had been comparable. Plainly the Infinity Material is not making up for the shortage 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 would not carry out effectively in any respect, presumably attributable to a scarcity of driver optimization.
Because of this, the Radeon RX 6600 was 60% quicker at 1080p and 40% quicker at 1440p. We have seen a couple of margins like this, significantly in newer titles and there would not all the time seem like a technical purpose for the efficiency discrepancy, so it might 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.
Transferring on to Hunt: Showdown, right here the Radeon 6600 was a lot quicker at 1080p delivering 31% extra frames, however solely barely quicker at 1440p. We have recognized for some time that RDNA2 GPUs are just a little extra reminiscence bandwidth restricted at greater resolutions, however this type of distinction relative to Pascal is shocking.
Subsequent we have now Cyberpunk 2077 and right here the Radeon 6600 is 44% quicker at 1080p and 37% quicker 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 easy 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 effectively optimized. The GeForce GTX 1080 mainly 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 an enormous 38% efficiency benefit. A uncommon and really convincing win right here for the outdated GeForce flagship.
Subsequent up we have now Far Cry 6 and it is a late 2021 launch sponsored by AMD. As we have seen with nearly all just 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 needs to be effectively optimized for and that seems to be the case. The Radeon 6600 was simply 6% quicker at 1080p, whereas the GTX 1080 hit the lead at 1440p, albeit by only a 3% margin. General nice outcomes from each GPUs.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a 2022 launch and right here the RX 6600 mows the GTX 1080, providing nearly 50% extra frames at 1080p and 29% extra at 1440p.
These are some large margins and extra importantly at 1440p it was the distinction between 48 and 62 fps utilizing a dialed down high quality preset.
Yet one more 2022 launch is Dying Gentle 2 and as soon as once more the RX 6600 simply handles the outdated prime gun Pascal GPU providing up 32% extra frames at 1080p and 24% extra at 1440p.
The extra efficiency at 1440p might be actually noticeable and notice we’re already utilizing closely dialed down high quality settings with the medium high quality preset.
The final sport we’re individually is Warfare Thunder, which is one other outdated sport, although it has obtained updates since its official launch in 2016. That is an older sport and as such Pascal might be optimized for it and we’re definitely 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 Sport Common
We have simply appeared on the outcomes for a lot of however not all the 51 video games examined, so there’s nonetheless a mountain of information we’ve not gone over, however to avoid wasting time and get to the purpose, we’ll soar into the breakdown graphs evaluating the margins for all of the video games examined…
Beginning with the 1080p knowledge, we see that on common the Radeon RX 6600 was 20% quicker, 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 higher with some going effectively past 40%… the truth is, there have been 8 titles the place that occurred.
In the meantime there wasn’t a single sport at 1080p the place the RX 6600 was slower by a 5% margin or higher with the most important loss seen when testing Complete Warfare: Three Kingdoms the place it was a mere 4% slower. That is a transparent victory right here for the newer and extra finances oriented Radeon GPU (though it is turn out to be cheaper only in the near past as a result of effectively documented GPU value inflation).
The margin comes down fairly a bit at 1440p because the Radeon RX 6600 was 13% quicker on common at this decision. The outcomes are definitely extra combined right here.
The Radeon GPU actually struggled in Metro Exodus and Doom Everlasting, although these had been the one two video games to see double-digit margins. In the meantime there have been 17 titles the place the Radeon GPU was quicker by 20% or extra, so though the common margin was ~13%, the Radeon RX 6600 was nonetheless very dominant in a very good variety of titles.
What We Discovered: Previous vs. New
Nearly as good because the GeForce GTX 1080 was in its day, six years is a bit too lengthy within the sport. There are significantly better merchandise on provide as we speak 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 effectively well worth the 30-40% premium.
Granted, the efficiency uplift is not all the time overly important nevertheless it’s changing into more and more apparent that Pascal homeowners are effectively down on the record relating to receiving optimizations for newer titles, in the event that they make the record in any respect.
Some might 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 may scale higher on the RDNA2 GPU so there’s that, however in fact AMD’s upscaling technique works on the GTX 1080, too.
With the Radeon RX 6600 as one of the best worth GPU proper now, it is cool to see it outpacing a 6 12 months outdated flagship, not essentially a flagship of the Pascal technology, nevertheless it was the flagship for 2016.
The Radeon GPU can also be extra reasonably priced, in order that’s some progress there, although total it has been gradual for varied causes, none greater than imaginary cash.
For these of you tossing up between these two GPUs we hope this overview was helpful and for these of you continue to rocking a GTX 1080 our recommendation is to carry on for just a little longer but and see what the subsequent technology brings by way of efficiency and pricing for not simply the brand new merchandise, but additionally present technology GPUs.