Question Best cheap used GPU for an AMD A8-6600k?

[WillC9303]

Hi all,

One of my cheap computers I bought recently came with an AMD A8-6600k APU and 10 GB DDR3. For the time being I've installed a GTX 460 that I had on hand as the A8's integrated graphics are really only useful for playing back HD video and that's it.

I am looking for a long term replacement for the 460 as it's clearly bottle necking the CPU. Power supply requirements aren't an issue as I have a decent 600w Cooler Master PSU to power it with dual 8-pin connectors. Was going to install my beastly HD 7990, but it sadly decided to die on me a couple days ago. Realistically have a budget of about £50-60 and was thinking an R9 290X 4gb, but am now wondering if it's too fast for the CPU.

Any thoughts/ suggestions? Thanks.

 

[thestryker]

Honestly with old equipment you're best off just buying whatever is going to do what you want it to. Given the budget being as small as it is just buy the fastest/newest (longer driver support) thing you can afford and call it good.

 

[DSzymborski]

Anything more powerful than a 1050 Ti would be pretty pointless on such an ancient, entry-level CPU.

What's the *exact* PSU? The only Cooler Master PSUs at that precise wattage that would arguably fall into "decent" range would be the MWE *V2* Bronze and White (ONLY the full-range ones, not the 230V only) and the G600 with the rest ranging from bad to horrifying.

 

[WillC9303]

Anything more powerful than a 1050 Ti would be pretty pointless on such an ancient, entry-level CPU.

What's the *exact* PSU? The only Cooler Master PSUs at that precise wattage that would arguably fall into "decent" range would be the MWE *V2* Bronze and White (ONLY the full-range ones, not the 230V only) and the G600 with the rest ranging from bad to horrifying.

The PSU is a Masterwatt Lite 600 230V. It's rated 80+ White and I assume its not terrible?

If not, I have a Corsair HX 520 semi-modular lying around but it is absolutely ancient.

 

[punkncat]

I think the suggestion for the 1050ti is solid. Maybe something like a 470/480/5xx if you can find at a good price, maybe a 1060 or 1650, something like that. Might even be worthwhile to go backwards to a 750ti if the price is right.

I tend to appreciate the LOW budget you have for this, as it is pretty much throwing good money after bad on a system of this age and those A series were never very good performers....really a shame about that 7990.

 

[WillC9303]

I think the suggestion for the 1050ti is solid. Maybe something like a 470/480/5xx if you can find at a good price, maybe a 1060 or 1650, something like that. Might even be worthwhile to go backwards to a 750ti if the price is right.

I tend to appreciate the LOW budget you have for this, as it is pretty much throwing good money after bad on a system of this age and those A series were never very good performers....really a shame about that 7990.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will probably go with something like a 1050 Ti or RX 470 4 gb. The FM2+ CPU platform is long dead and I am a little disappointed by the A8's performance considering it's a near 4.0 ghz quad core. My significantly older Phenom II X4 955 is about on par in performance.

I'm gutted about my 7990. I loved that card despite it being an absolutely ridiculous piece of hardware (lack of crossfire support in most apps being the main issue). Still, it looks ace on a shelf!

 

[DSzymborski]

The PSU is a Masterwatt Lite 600 230V. It's rated 80+ White and I assume its not terrible?

If not, I have a Corsair HX 520 semi-modular lying around but it is absolutely ancient.

Unfortunately, the Masterwatt Lites are absolutely horrid. The site is no longer up, by this got, I think, the lowest grade for something from a major manufacturer of anything reviewed by JonnyGuru.com (though Jon himself didn't do that one).

Did find one of the quotes from it "ineffective undervolt protection leading to hardware breaking crossload voltage regulation." That is pretty crucial because anything with a GPU since the Pentium III era is going to be heavily crossloaded, with a lot of +12V power used and tiny sips of +5V and +3.3V. And since these archaic PSUs are group-regulated, they are invariably disasters. And this was on the bad end of those types of PSU, with ultra-cheap capacitors and the like just chucked in.

Was this connected to the 7990? If so, it's surprising it lasted as long as it did. I wouldn't use a 15 year old Corsair HX either, but I think I'd actually use it over the Cooler Master (preferably neither).

 

[WillC9303]

Unfortunately, the Masterwatt Lites are absolutely horrid. The site is no longer up, by this got, I think, the lowest grade for something from a major manufacturer of anything reviewed by JonnyGuru.com (though Jon himself didn't do that one).

Did find one of the quotes from it "ineffective undervolt protection leading to hardware breaking crossload voltage regulation." That is pretty crucial because anything with a GPU since the Pentium III era is going to be heavily crossloaded, with a lot of +12V power used and tiny sips of +5V and +3.3V. And since these archaic PSUs are group-regulated, they are invariably disasters. And this was on the bad end of those types of PSU, with ultra-cheap capacitors and the like just chucked in.

Was this connected to the 7990? If so, it's surprising it lasted as long as it did. I wouldn't use a 15 year old Corsair HX either, but I think I'd actually use it over the Cooler Master (preferably neither).

Thanks for the reply, I've just read somewhere else that the Masterwatt Lite series are infact borderline e-waste.

The 7990 was in another PC with an 850w Chieftec PSU (again, not great but I believe its still better than a masterwatt lite) The issue with the 7990 is still unknown to me. It outputs video, but will randomly hard freeze the computer (requiring a reboot) at anytime between loading windows or after an hour or so of use. Not only that, but as soon as any type of driver installs (windows basic or AMD genuine) the computer will hard freeze and has at least once corrupted an entire windows install. I even resorted to trying Ubuntu and it froze even then (albeit took about 2 hours before it did)

 

[punkncat]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will probably go with something like a 1050 Ti or RX 470 4 gb.

Still, it looks ace on a shelf!

I have seen videos indicating that if you flash the 470 VBIOS with the 570 that it eeks a bit more performance. Also a bit of a risk, so...

Glad you can set it somewhere and enjoy the look of it if nothing else.
I picked a reference 7770 years back. It is a stunning red and black card and looks so choice. A buddy of mine has it in his system for playing an older Civ game, but I always have the option for having it back when he updates or it finally fails. I could see that being a card to be displayed as well.

 

[Tac 25]

Hi all,

One of my cheap computers I bought recently came with an AMD A8-6600k APU and 10 GB DDR3. For the time being I've installed a GTX 460 that I had on hand as the A8's integrated graphics are really only useful for playing back HD video and that's it.

I am looking for a long term replacement for the 460 as it's clearly bottle necking the CPU. Power supply requirements aren't an issue as I have a decent 600w Cooler Master PSU to power it with dual 8-pin connectors. Was going to install my beastly HD 7990, but it sadly decided to die on me a couple days ago. Realistically have a budget of about £50-60 and was thinking an R9 290X 4gb, but am now wondering if it's too fast for the CPU.

Any thoughts/ suggestions? Thanks.

the GTX 1650 Dual Mini by Asus would be good as well on your pc, It's what I'm using with an ancient Lga 775 mobo. It works with mobo that has legacy bios.

Spoiler

gameplay demo

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2jMHaJggG4


0:00 - 0:19 CPU-Z to show Q9500, GPU-Z to show the 1650, and HWMonitor to show that temps are normal.
1:33 - Street Fighter V - playable at 900p
4:55 - Xenon Racer - playable at 1080p

_____

however, please be aware that your cpu is quite weak by today's standards. Even with a 1650, some of the newer games today would only be playable in medium settings or even less, or still not be playable because the 1650 will be held back by the cpu.

I keep my Q9500 pc around as a hobby. It can game a little, but it is not my gaming pc.

actually, that GTX 460 is already a good pair with the cpu that you have. Should be enough for playing older games year 2012 and below.