Is the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti a good card?

I'm looking to upgrade my 660 Ti, but don't want to spend too much on a newer card.

Get an RX580 for 1080p 60fps IMO or look at some Gamer Nexus benchmarks

I wouldn't use the word "good". I'd say it's acceptable for low settings on games today. Probably could do medium settings with a 1060 depending on your CPU.

Can you define "too much" and what your intended use case is for the card (e.g. types of games you want to play, monitor/tv resolution, target refresh rate)? That may make advice/recommendations easier.

My gut reaction, however, is that purchasing a 1050ti right now is a bad idea. The 10 series is being phased out in favor of the 16 series GTX cards, with the 1660ti and 1660 both already having been released, and the 1650 set to be released in late March or early April. The latter would be the closest analog to the 1050ti, but about 16% more powerful, according to this article. It would be about 34% more powerful than your current card at the same settings.

Haha I wasn't expecting to see a TPU page linked here, I am an editor there. FYI, that is a specs page from our database and the actual review (not sure I can link it here) would be more useful.

OP: What is your budget and what country are you from (to better understand retail options available to you? Also, is this urgent or can you wait, say till June? :)

@ralphmoustaccio: My monitor maxes out at 1080p, and I'm happy with a frame rate of 60FPS. Ideally, I'm looking to spend under $250, otherwise, I may as well just buy a PS4.

Not as good as a 1060 or the current 1660 Ti, but it'll get you by well enough for most games at 1080p with mostly medium settings.

But, with new cards out right now, unless your current card really isn't working out for you, just save your money for a current GPU, like the aforementioned 1660, 1650, or RX580.

@dgbruin08: For that budget, I'd strongly suggest the 1660 vs the 1050ti or the 1650. It's around $230, and would be well worth the price difference over either of those. The rx580 is also a viable option, and should be around $200 on average right now. The performance likely won't be quite as good as the 1660, but at 1080 both should be able to handle 60 fps on most games at high presets, unless it's something like Metro Exodus, which is the new Crysis as far as I can tell.

If you do switch to the AMD card, just make sure you fully uninstall the nvidia drivers before installing the new AMD card and drivers. If you go with another nvidia card, you can just slap it in, and may not even need to download an updated driver, depending on whether or not the 660ti is still receiving updates.

Edit: worth noting is that the rx580 actually comes with two free games right now, with the choice of two of The Division 2, Resident Evil 2, or Devil May Cry 5, all of which are very recent and well-regarded. If you're interested in, and don't already own, any of those, that may be worth considering. Not sure it's offered at every retailer, or with every rx580, but Newegg has several that indicate the promotion.

@facelessvixen: Thanks for the advice. Looking at the price difference, it isn't much of a jump from one to the other.

@ralphmoustaccio: Those two free games being offered with the rx580 are an enticing bit I wasn't expecting. I may just be too lazy to uninstall a bunch of drivers and end up with an nvidia card.

@dgbruin08: I've never used it personally, but people seem to swear by Display Driver Uninstaller, which apparently really scrubs the system of any remnants of old drivers. Here's some info, if you want to look into it. Regardless, good luck with the purchasing decision!

So let me weigh in a bit here.

If you buy a PS4 or spring for a Pro, you're going to be set for games for the next two years at least. Rumor has it that new consoles are coming out soon, so I wouldn't count on anything beyond two years of support (aside from sports games and stripped-down versions of Call of Duty). But that support is going to be subpar compared to PC's and PC games run at a higher framerate and look much better.

If you buy a 1050ti, you're probably not set for the next two years when it comes to video games. Right now, I wouldn't suggest purchasing anything less powerful than a 6GB 1060 (make double sure it's 6GB, not 3GB) and even then I'm a little iffy on whether that's going to be able to play the newest, biggest thing two years from now at 1080p. I think you would be much, much better off springing for a 1660 ti or waiting to see how the 1650 turns out.

All of this, of course, depends on what you're playing. If you love your esports games and your Hollow Knights and your Dead Cells, then a 1050 ti at 1080p will probably be fine. If you're looking to play Cyberpunk 2077 the day it comes out, I'd go for nothing less than that 1660ti or get a PS4. I'd personally lean towards the 1660ti and just stick with PC games, that's probably going to be a better experience than a PS4 all-around, but that's a decision you have to make.

I would look for a RX 580, 590 or a 1060 6GB or a 1660 TI. The 1050 TI is quite a big step down for hardly any savings. To give you an idea, here's the difference between a 1050 TI & a RX 580.

If you're really skimping for money, a RX 570 is a decent card as well and still way better than the 1050 TI.

If you could buy a 1660TI for 249$ i would recommend that card else go with the RX 570.

What about a GTX 1070? I actually also moved on from a 660 myself and had luck to get a 1070 for sub 300 on ebay before the mining craze hit. I barely game myself on it, but maybe it's an option depending on your region. It would be used though.

Truthfully, you really have two choices for something in the low $220s

• Used cards like a GTX 1070 8GB
• New cards in the GTX 1660 or RX 580 range

My assumption is that since you had a 660Ti your build is on the older side, so I think not going over $240 is wise. Maybe, for that reason, I would look at buying a used 1070 that might be as low as $170.

Personally, I think purchasing any used card from the 10 series, especially anything above a 1060 is a terrible idea. Those cards were basically out of stock for the better part of a year because they were being bought up by crypto miners, most of whom lost their asses on the whole deal, and are now trying to unload all the cards they ran into the dirt. Same goes for used AMD rx400 and rx500 series cards.

You have no way of knowing what the usage was, and how much life the card might have left, other than to trust the rando selling it on ebay. Considering that their interest is to sell the card as quickly and for the most money possible, there's a good reason for them to not be honest about it.

Get a GTX1660 and overclock it. You can get close to 1660ti speeds, and is some games rivaling a RTX2060. For 1080p the 1660/1660ti are the cards to beat right now.

AMD has better open-source drivers. Some of the work that has gone into the Nouveau drivers is impressive, but there's no way that new of a card would be well supported yet.

If you're fine with proprietary drivers, the GTX 1050 Ti is a solid card if you can get it cheap enough. Otherwise, AMD cards up to the Radeon RX 580 are currently supported by the open-source drivers.