i dunno how it happened but somehow in between me getting this 1060 6gb in 2016 and now, I've lost the ability to numb my brain to the deluge of information like 'the 6600 is only marginally worse than the 6650 so you should get a 6600 if you can't budget the extra $100' that is comparing modern graphics cards.
I've had this 1060 6GB for almost 10 years, I love it - it is and was a good card. Still chugs along reliably for most modern games - but unfortunately I've started to notice its age in the last few years (most recently with the stupid ass Dragon Ball Sparking Zero game my friend bought for me on Steam this Christmas specifically so he could play with me - imagine my shock and surprise when I'm getting like 10fps on all Low settings...
). Almost a decade without upgrading is a long enough run for me though.
Anyways I'm basically clueless on the last decade of graphics cards and have no idea what is the economical & viable (I'd prefer to at least get 5+ years out of whatever I upgrade to - not saying it has to push Ultra High settings on some AAA 2029 release or anything, but I'd love it to at least perform decently with new releases for the next few years like the 1060 has.)
Here's my current build:
| Current Build: | |
|---|---|
| Processor: | Ryzen 7 3700X |
| Motherboard: | ASUS B550-F |
| RAM: | 32GB DDR4 |
| GPU: | GTX 1060 6GB |
From the research I've done, an AMD card is probably my best bet although I am leery of them simply because I've only ever used nvidia cards but I'm not too worried about the software/driver/etc differences.
I would prefer not to spend more than like $500 on one but if it's like 600-700 and you think it is truly the best card on the market, list it and I'll consider just scrounging up the extra $$ for it - not like I have a girlfriend or boyfriend to spend it on 
Anyways here's the cards I've currently been recommended by friends and/or found in my searching. Have listed the price I found on Amazon for each:
| Potential Upgrade: | |
|---|---|
| AMD 7700 XT 12gb | $400 on Amazon |
| 6600 XT 8gb | $260~ |
Eager to hear your thoughts & opinions & suggestions nerds. Thanks.
Do you play on Windows or Linux? I think Nvidia kind of sucks in general, but they especially suck if you're on Linux. They're fine if you need them for DLSS (AMD has FSR, but it's not as good) or some AI stuff. Things have improved dramatically and I don't really have problems day-to-day with my 3070, but I would go AMD 100% if I knew I was going to make this switch to Linux a few years ago. NVIDIA sucks at fixing issues related to their Linux drivers, whereas AMD drivers are built into the kernel and just update and receive fixes with the rest of your system.
Old ATI cards had really bad drivers, but the two have flip flopped back and forth during different time periods, so in Windows, they're relatively the same now. AMD is a more consumer friendly company and generally cheaper.
8GB of VRAM is not great in 2024, despite what NVIDIA says, so if you plan to play relatively modern games, I'd go with something that has more.
A good way I've found to compare is to search YouTube for benchmarks comparing a few cards you're thinking of and just watch the footage for the games you're interested in playing. If it keeps a stable 60 FPS or whatever your target is, then you know you'll be fine for now, but probably become obsolete a little quicker if that's your minimum.
I would absolutely not get an Intel card unless you're willing to be a beta tester or really enthusiastic about adopting new technology/supporting a 3rd competitor in the GPU space. They frequently need to release driver fixes for games that don't work and older games are still iffy since it doesn't support anything below DirectX 9(?) and uses software translation layers to run anything older.