I remember that I replaced my 7870 back in 2016 when it was feeling a bit underpowered for 1080p gaming. I replaced it with a GTX 980, which is about the same performance level as a 1060 6 GB/RX 480/RX 570. Trying to game with something slower than the 7870 now would be... a challenge if it goes beyond 2D or retro gaming!
Video card recommendations for an ultra-cheap gaming PC
- Thread starter AmigaPhreak
- Start date
1440p high refresh, particularly with good HDR, is a very pleasant target for gaming, but honestly, 1080p@60Hz is fine. Text is perfectly readable, and there's lots of detail. I am aware of precisely zero games that won't work nicely that way.
edit: well, okay, many old games won't do 1080p properly, running at lower resolutions instead, but pretty much anything in the last 15 years runs well at that resolution.
There are some almost free RX580's people are jumping on at AliExpress these days, but not sure that will be what you are looking for.
I finally scrapped my previous set-up and built this one. It's pretty peppy really for day-to-day use. My daughter is thrilled she can play LEGO Fortnite. So that's all a success.
As predicted, the 7770 video card with this thing produces roughly equivalent FPS numbers as compared to my 5600G setup.
So now phase two starts....my plan to swap take this PC for myself after purchasing a video card and give my daughter my PC.
At the risk of going off-topic for the forum....looking at new stuff with reasonable prices (for me, <$150).... I am seeing that an RX 6500 XT would be a comparable card to the 1060 3GB mentioned above. Any huge downsides? Things I've read that this is a minor improvement in capability and much newer in terms of technology.
As predicted, the 7770 video card with this thing produces roughly equivalent FPS numbers as compared to my 5600G setup.
So now phase two starts....my plan to swap take this PC for myself after purchasing a video card and give my daughter my PC.
At the risk of going off-topic for the forum....looking at new stuff with reasonable prices (for me, <$150).... I am seeing that an RX 6500 XT would be a comparable card to the 1060 3GB mentioned above. Any huge downsides? Things I've read that this is a minor improvement in capability and much newer in terms of technology.
The RX580's with 8GB gets attention these days as a cheap but still capable entry-level card these days, but it is also old.
The RX 6500XT is probably the card that got the most "do not buy" in history from the reviews back then, i would probably then search for a used 5500XT or a vanilla 6600 that should be within your budget. The 6500XT was nerfed in every possible way.
My daughter has a vanilla 6600 coupled with a Ryzen 5600 and there are no complaints as i have watched her in AC: Valhalla these past few days.
The RX 6500XT is probably the card that got the most "do not buy" in history from the reviews back then, i would probably then search for a used 5500XT or a vanilla 6600 that should be within your budget. The 6500XT was nerfed in every possible way.
My daughter has a vanilla 6600 coupled with a Ryzen 5600 and there are no complaints as i have watched her in AC: Valhalla these past few days.
Downsides of the 6500XT: only 4GB VRAM, with low bandwidth 64 bit wide bus, connected over only 4 lanes of PCIe 4.0; so if you spill data out of the VRAM, access to the computers main memory is extra slow. Additional downside when plugged into an older computer: might have to fall back to PCIe 3.0 speed and halve bandwidth again from an already low baseline.
The Radeon RX 6500 XT is not a "3D decelerator", but a used RX 580 or RX 5500 XT is probably better, and you might find 8GB models.
The Toms Hardware GPU Hierarchy for 1080p ultra is a great resource when comparing GPUs, since it has a mix of old and new cards, even if you don't plan to run games at ultra settings.
www.tomshardware.com
Used GTX 1070's go for about $80. I'd consider that a floor. The RX 6500 XT is about as fast as a 970.....
EDIT: If you must buy new, the RX 6600 is $200 and twice as fast as the 6500 XT. After that the $/frame is linear with cards like the 6700, 7600, etc.,.
The GPU benchmarks hierarchy 2024: All recent graphics cards ranked
We've run hundreds of GPU benchmarks on Nvidia, AMD, and Intel graphics cards and ranked them in our comprehensive hierarchy, with over 80 GPUs tested.
Used GTX 1070's go for about $80. I'd consider that a floor. The RX 6500 XT is about as fast as a 970.....
EDIT: If you must buy new, the RX 6600 is $200 and twice as fast as the 6500 XT. After that the $/frame is linear with cards like the 6700, 7600, etc.,.
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At this end of the market, the best value is probably the best used card you can pick up for your budget. There's some good deals to be had on this side of the pond on eBay if you're able to be patient, I'm assuming the same is true that side of the pond as well.
(Caveat emptor always applies of course)
(Caveat emptor always applies of course)
The problem I am hitting is a cascading series of upgrades. Jumping to Windows 11 forced me to get a new processor. Jumping to a respectable graphics card is going to force me into a new power supply too. The one I have now is just 400W.
And even if the card I quoted above is garbage, it's 4X faster than what I have now. I'll chew on it some more...double the performance for an extra $50 on the 6600 is hard to turn down.
As far as new/used...I'd rather not mess around with someone else's stuff. Just a personal preference, I guess.
Since we're definitely skewing into video card discussion, I'll ask further questions in the AV forum, if I have any.
Thanks all...
And even if the card I quoted above is garbage, it's 4X faster than what I have now. I'll chew on it some more...double the performance for an extra $50 on the 6600 is hard to turn down.
As far as new/used...I'd rather not mess around with someone else's stuff. Just a personal preference, I guess.
Since we're definitely skewing into video card discussion, I'll ask further questions in the AV forum, if I have any.
Thanks all...
It seems you have modest needs like me, and that $50 while uncomfortable (i get it) will last you for a long time. I think you will be very happy with a 6600 in the long run.