Discussion Advice on new GPU, a bit out of the touch with recent tech.

[Brian_180]

Hi everyone! I built my current PC last year and went with a RX 580 simply because that's what I could afford at the time. It'd done me well and to be honest still performs great most of the time, but I think mine might be broken as certain games cause a black screen to appear every few seconds and lasts for many seconds each instance. AMD tech support hasn't been able to help me and I'm past the warranty period anyway. Strangely it doesn't happen with all games... just a few in my library, and the graphical intensity of the game seems to have nothing to do with it. Weird... anyway not the reason I'm here, just the reason I want to upgrade.

So, I've had my eye on a 2080 TI from even before I built this PC and just never really had the extra cash to splurge on it. Now I'm kind of in a mindset where I don't really need that much power... although I still play games I'm far from the "hardcore gamer" I was in my 20s and the vast majority of games released don't interest me at all... so I don't really think I need to squeeze every ounce of performance out of a game that I can. I was looking at an RX 5700-XT and for the price it looks quite good! Anyone have any feedback on this card or something that might even be better in the similar price range? I rather like AMD's software and although they weren't able to help me, their support is quite good... so I kind of want to stick with AMD if I'm not going for a 2080 but I'm open to an Nvidia card if it's simply better than anything AMD has for the price. Also looking for most receng gen if possible so not looking to get a 1080 as some have suggested.

Thanks for any advice! I know it's a broad question but I'm honestly just lost when it comes to the GPU market. I know what most of the specs on a card mean but a lot of the new technologies that have come out are alien to me.

EDIT: Oh I should add that one of the reasons I prefer to stick with AMD is I have a freesync monitor. Obvously not a deal breaker but it's nice to be able to use what you own.

 

[cdrkf]

Hi everyone! I built my current PC last year and went with a RX 580 simply because that's what I could afford at the time. It'd done me well and to be honest still performs great most of the time, but I think mine might be broken as certain games cause a black screen to appear every few seconds and lasts for many seconds each instance. AMD tech support hasn't been able to help me and I'm past the warranty period anyway. Strangely it doesn't happen with all games... just a few in my library, and the graphical intensity of the game seems to have nothing to do with it. Weird... anyway not the reason I'm here, just the reason I want to upgrade.

So, I've had my eye on a 2080 TI from even before I built this PC and just never really had the extra cash to splurge on it. Now I'm kind of in a mindset where I don't really need that much power... although I still play games I'm far from the "hardcore gamer" I was in my 20s and the vast majority of games released don't interest me at all... so I don't really think I need to squeeze every ounce of performance out of a game that I can. I was looking at an RX 5700-XT and for the price it looks quite good! Anyone have any feedback on this card or something that might even be better in the similar price range? I rather like AMD's software and although they weren't able to help me, their support is quite good... so I kind of want to stick with AMD if I'm not going for a 2080 but I'm open to an Nvidia card if it's simply better than anything AMD has for the price. Also looking for most receng gen if possible so not looking to get a 1080 as some have suggested.

Thanks for any advice! I know it's a broad question but I'm honestly just lost when it comes to the GPU market. I know what most of the specs on a card mean but a lot of the new technologies that have come out are alien to me.

EDIT: Oh I should add that one of the reasons I prefer to stick with AMD is I have a freesync monitor. Obvously not a deal breaker but it's nice to be able to use what you own.

Hi,

So it really depends on your budget. If you are looking in the price range of the 5700 / XT then they are the best value options. The main issue is AMD doesn't have anything faster than that (yet). The RTX 2060 and 2060 Super cards are also worth looking at from team green and offer similar performance for a little more money.

The price difference isn't huge so it's more down to preference imo. With respect to freesync - I believe it is now possible to use this with nVidia cards as well.

The only thing I would say is there are new cards due out from both companies later this year, so in your position I'd be tempted to get something cheap as a stopgap (maybe a second hand 570 / 580 that's known to be good?) and wait on a bigger purchase until the new cards come out as they are both supposed to be big upgrades (the new AMD flagship is supposed to easily best the 2080ti, whilst nVidia have their first 7nm cards due which will up the performance quite a bit).

 

[Brian_180]

Good to know about the new cards coming out later this year, I think your advice is spot on... get a good, inexpensive card to last me til then. Thank you!