[SOLVED] Best Graphics Card I Can Upgrade To?

[areyougaming]

I am thinking of building a new computer completely, but before I do that I just want to check to see how high I can upgrade my current system, either for myself or to give to my fiance.

I am running off of a GA-970A-D3P motherboard with a AMD FX-6300 Six-core 3500Mhz. I have 16GB of RAM installed, and I have a 500W power supply, which I could easily swap out if need be. I am currently running a 2GB GTX950 as my GPU, so I am looking for something better, and price isn't really an object, so any recommendations would be nice. I've looked it up on a few spec websites and saw that a 1060 would work, but I'm also wondering if there is anything more modern that can fit and work.

Thanks!

 

[jitteRs]

I would recommend getting a 1050ti because it will work with a 500-watt power supply and it won't bottleneck your CPU.

 

[Macwiz2014]

Currently the best video card is an RTX 2080 ti. It will cost you new around $1200 if you wait till the end of the year you can get an RTX 3080 ti. Possibly cheaper. I recommend just get a RTX 2070 super $600. That would be a tremendous upgrade from what you have. It has 8gb of vram.

 

[FoxVoxDK]

As @jitteRs says; you are severely limited by your CPU and anything much higher 1050ti/1060 is going to be pointless.

A new system is in order, and I do not say this lightly as my own system in no youngin'.

 

[cryoburner]

I've looked it up on a few spec websites and saw that a 1060 would work, but I'm also wondering if there is anything more modern that can fit and work.

The 1060 is no longer being manufactured and might be kind of hard to find at decent prices if buying new. The newer 1650 SUPER actually performs a little faster than a 1060 6GB in most current games though, draws a little less power, and can be found for as little as $160 in the US. It does have less VRAM at 4GB, but that shouldn't make too much of a difference in current games at resolutions around 1080p and below...

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#sort=price&c=476

Taking the 1060 6GB's place in the product stack is currently the 1660 SUPER, which also has 6GB of VRAM, and tends to perform around 30% faster than a 1650 SUPER in games limited by graphics performance, and power draw is only slightly higher than that of a 1060. Those start around $230...

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#sort=price&c=450

There's also the 1660 (non-SUPER) that performs roughly in-between a 1650 SUPER and a 1660 SUPER, which might be alright if priced a little over $200, but for much more than that you might as well get the faster SUPER version. The 1650 has a non-SUPER version as well, but I wouldn't recommend that for anything but systems with very low-end PSUs, as it costs nearly as much as a 1650 SUPER while generally offering around 25% lower performance on average.

Compared to your current card, a 1650 SUPER can be over twice as fast as a GTX 950, and a 1660 SUPER around three times as fast, though your CPU will likely limit frame rates in many games. At the very least, you should be able to crank up graphics settings without taking much of a performance hit though.

 

[Squidz123]

Currently the best video card is an RTX 2080 ti. It will cost you new around $1200 if you wait till the end of the year you can get an RTX 3080 ti. Possibly cheaper. I recommend just get a RTX 2070 super $600. That would be a tremendous upgrade from what you have. It has 8gb of vram.

worst advice ever

 

[Macwiz2014]

worst advice ever

What would you recommend?

 

[Macwiz2014]

You only need a 550 watt power supply would only have a slight bottle neck with the cpu under 10% if you are going to spend $300 on a lower end gpu what is $200 to $300 more. Games are only going to get more demanding. The next upgrades he could do is a better cpu. Why buy a graphics card that's on the lower end that doesn't make sense to me. I'm not saying to buy the best but to buy something in the middle. That way in a year or 2 he doesn't need to buy another video card. Squidz123 probably using a amd gpu. But Hey what do I know I only am a paid technician for 15 years lol. Squidz123 worst advice ever. Lol

 

[86zx]

What would you recommend?

Worst advice due to his pc being old and not compatible with a higher powered gpu and also the user will see no benefit over a gtx 1060 maybe even 1050ti.

Buying a used midteir gpu is usually a safe bet they aren’t as high strung and typically don’t have power delivery issues over time such as the old 780 ti and some 980ti’s sometimes even 1080ti’s having mosfet or resistor failures.

 

[Macwiz2014]

Worst advice due to his pc being old and not compatible with a higher powered gpu and also the user will see no benefit over a gtx 1060 maybe even 1050ti.

Buying a used midteir gpu is usually a safe bet they aren’t as high strung and typically don’t have power delivery issues over time such as the old 780 ti and some 980ti’s sometimes even 1080ti’s having mosfet or resistor failures.

OKAY. So you understand as long as it has pci express slot it will work a graphics card is it's its own computer. I understand that you'll have a bottle neck but the difference is so small and the performance gain would be tremendous Why waste $300. Buya better GPU that way he can upgrade his other components later. Please specify your qualifications. Are you just repeating garbage you read off the Internet or are you speaking from experience and you have the experience to know what you're talking about.

 

[Macwiz2014]

So many people post stuff that they don't know what they're talking about and giving horrible advice on this website. I have installed thousands of GPU's I diagnosed 10 thousand more issues. I built as many computers as I repaired. I have a 9-5 job that pays me to do so. I'm A+ and cdp certified. Lol.

 

[86zx]

OKAY. So you understand as long as it has pci express slot it will work a graphics card is it's its own computer. I understand that you'll have a bottle neck but the difference is so small and the performance gain would be tremendous Why waste $300. Buya better GPU that way he can upgrade his other components later. Please specify your qualifications. Are you just repeating garbage you read off the Internet or are you speaking from experience and you have the experience to know what you're talking about.

Experience I’ve had so many computers especially older x58 systems and yes a gtx 1070 will get you more fps than a gtx1060 in that system but only a couple more fps. And telling them to go with the highest power graphics card while they have a powersupply that won’t support it it’s not a good idea. If they have the money I would recommend a full upgrade of the system but likely they just want to get a decent upgrade over what they have while keeping the cost down. The fx6300 cpu is a huge bottle neck in modern games so it would be best for them to get a decent upgrade and save for a while to do a full upgrade. A gtx 1060 or 1050ti will give a bump in performance while running cooler more than likely and they won’t cost much more or even less than 100$

 

[86zx]

So many people post stuff that they don't know what they're talking about and giving horrible advice on this website. I have installed thousands of GPU's I diagnosed 10 thousand more issues. I built as many computers as I repaired. I have a 9-5 job that pays me to do so. I'm A+ and cdp certified. Lol.

Well not every one has enough money for a 1200$ graphics card and a 200$ psu

 

[Macwiz2014]

So many people post stuff that they don't know what they're talking about and giving horrible advice on this website. I have installed thousands of GPU's I diagnosed 10 thousand more issues. I built as many computers as I repaired. I have a 9-5 job that pays me to do so. I'm A+ and cdp certified. Lol.

You can literally run a game using a raspberry pi and USB to PCI express riser card with a rtx graphic card. If everybody would fall along with the conversation I'm saying to use a 2070 super. This year the new nvidia video cards are coming. Older rtx prices will drop 40%

 

[Macwiz2014]

Who's next?

 

[86zx]

You can literally run a game using a raspberry pi and USB to PCI express riser card with a rtx graphic card. If everybody would fall along with the conversation I'm saying to use a 2070 super. This year the new nvidia video cards are coming. Older rtx prices will drop 40%

Doesn’t mean it’s a good idea and once again expensive. And there is also an issue with the super cards I’ve seen first hand, ram chip failure

 

[Macwiz2014]

Maybe with old 2070 card I agree. Let me clarify a video card is an investment the more V ram you have the better experience in a game. I play with people That can't see oncoming threats in a game because they have such weak graphic cars. The new nvidia lineup is coming. Wait for the prices to drop why invest $200 or $300 an outdated low performance video card.I'm saying pay only a $100 more in 3 months for something that has tripled the power. Upgrade to a nicer video card so that way in the future you can upgrade the rest. At my job we recycle anything below at 1080TI. It's not worth the time dealing with anything else. I have boxes of 1070 That fail on a regular basis.

 

[86zx]

Another idea might be to do the opposite buy a new system now upgrade gpu later. There will be probably about the same bump in performance with less stuttering and may or may not cost less

 

[Macwiz2014]

So for now on I'm not going to recommend people to do the smart thing. Go get a low end card or a used card that somebody AFK craft for 2000 hours and played 3000 more and see how long that will last you.

 

[86zx]

So for now on I'm not going to recommend people to do the smart thing. Go get a low end card or a used card that somebody AFK craft for 2000 hours and played 3000 more and see how long that will last you.

To be fair I bought a gtx 1070 that was mined on for nearly a year and it’s served me well the past year and a half or so never had issues with it ran cool and quiet. Not that I recommend that but not every story is a horror story. Just the ones you hear on forums and reviews as most people who are happy with the product aren’t gonna publish a review

 

[Macwiz2014]

I paid couple years ago $800 for a 1080ti. If you wait to the end of the year you'll be able to get a rtx 2070 super for around $400. Which is equivalent in my opinion to the 1080TI but with lower vram. https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-RTX-2070S-Super-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1080-Ti/4048vs3918 . I'm just trying to get my point across if you spend a $100 more and wait a few months you can get a really good deal on a better video card and worry about upgrading the rest later. Do not buy a used video card that you don't know what the life expectancy is and does not have a warranty that's an easy way to lose $300.

 

[daxmashburn]

So for now on I'm not going to recommend people to do the smart thing. Go get a low end card or a used card that somebody AFK craft for 2000 hours and played 3000 more and see how long that will last you.

Ever heard of a bottleneck? Or a good deal? Your logic is "just buy the most expensive one"

 

[Macwiz2014]

Ever heard of a bottleneck? Or a good deal? Your logic is "just buy the most expensive one"

Where is the bottleneck? He has a 6 core processor running at 3.5 GHz.

 

[Macwiz2014]

Where is the bottleneck? He has a 6 core processor running at 3.5 GHz.

This is a perfect example of somebody who doesn't know what they're talking about.

 

[86zx]

This is a perfect example of somebody who doesn't know what they're talking about.

LOL your fooling yes?