Is it Possible to Buy a Good Graphics Card For ~£200 Right Now?

CommieG

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Mar 23, 2014
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I've wanted to buy a new graphics card for a while now but the current prices are insane, are there any cards out there right now that I can buy for around £200 that'll be good value and when will the prices go down?

I've looked at second hand cards like the GTX 980 but I don't want to go too far in the past in case my card becomes useless in a year or 2.
 
Solution
If you were looking at a prior Gen low-mid end card, they'd be tough to justify. Mid-High end though (970+) should hold up very well for a long time.

Architecture-wise, not really. Lower power draw, HDMI2.0 (4K @ 60Hz) etc are some of improvements, but it's mostly performance/price gains. Provided you research benchmarks and only spend proportionately (ie a 980TI performs very similarly to a 1070, but lacks warranty, so don't spend 1070 money on one), then you'll do just fine.

Barty1884

Retired Moderator
GPU prices won't go down a whole bunch on the nVidia side really - the MSRPs are 279GBP for a 6GB 1060 and 389GBP for a 1070.

Partner cards can be had for about 215GBP (6GB 1060) and 320GBP (1070) respectively., I wouldn't expect to see much movement on those prices at all.

A Zotac AMP! 1060 for $217
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB AMP! Edition Video Card (£217.01 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £217.01
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-09-27 15:42 BST+0100

OR look to the used market. A Palit 980TI is sitting @ 225GBP with a couple of days to go.
If you can score that for <260GBP then it's a pretty great deal.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Palit-NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-980-Ti-6144-MB-NE5X98TH15JB2000J-Graphics-Card-/322764627651?epid=219522294&hash=item4b26455ec3:g:JdMAAOSweJ1Zwrog

A 980TI is more in line with a 1070 in performance +/- a couple of points. Some of the higher clocked 980TI's routinely outperform a 1070.

As for "useless in a year or 2", nVidia still support 400 series cards, which are about 7 1/2 years old at this point.
 

CommieG

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Mar 23, 2014
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Sorry should have been more clear, I meant are there any features in the newest generation of cards that I might miss if I go for an older card/ will the architecture hold up for future games?
 

Barty1884

Retired Moderator
If you were looking at a prior Gen low-mid end card, they'd be tough to justify. Mid-High end though (970+) should hold up very well for a long time.

Architecture-wise, not really. Lower power draw, HDMI2.0 (4K @ 60Hz) etc are some of improvements, but it's mostly performance/price gains. Provided you research benchmarks and only spend proportionately (ie a 980TI performs very similarly to a 1070, but lacks warranty, so don't spend 1070 money on one), then you'll do just fine.
 
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CommieG

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Mar 23, 2014
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Just looked at this card but it is showing up as £261.68 for me.