Recommend GPU, goal - ARK Med graphics

[mattangle]

Looking for help choosing a GPU, I am looking to play Ark on medium/default graphics with stable fps. I don't have a defined budget as I am saving up slowly for it, but I am looking to buy the cheapest GPU that will meet this goal. My system so far-

I5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad
16GB DDR4-2666 Ram
450W PSU

Thanks for any suggestions, I'm not super experienced at this so its greatly appreciated.

 

[Gahl1k]

With a rig like that, it would be sad to get anything below GTX 1050 2GB ($113)/GTX 1050 Ti 4GB ($159). As for 'stable FPS,' this game is not optimized well, so don't expect something like stable 60 FPS.

 

[jaslion]

Looking for help choosing a GPU, I am looking to play Ark on medium/default graphics with stable fps. I don't have a defined budget as I am saving up slowly for it, but I am looking to buy the cheapest GPU that will meet this goal. My system so far-

I5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad
16GB DDR4-2666 Ram
450W PSU

Thanks for any suggestions, I'm not super experienced at this so its greatly appreciated.

What 450w psu do you have.
At minimum I recommend a gtx 1050ti as the game is poorly optimized.

 

[mattangle]

Thanks for both your responses so far! Here is a PC part picker list that shows everything I'm about to buy or already have, PSU included. I used the term stable fps because I'm not sure what number represents a crisp response, I'm just not that knowledgeable on it frankly. To adjust my budget I'd like to get the best card for this under 200.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/LTDGZ8

 

[Gahl1k]

Corsair CXM 450W isn't worth it, get something like EVGA 500W Bronze+80, or Seasonic 520W B+. And this would be the best GTX 1050 Ti: https://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-GeForce-Compact-Graphics-ZT-P10510B-10L/dp/B01M27X994

 

[jaslion]

Thanks for both your responses so far! Here is a PC part picker list that shows everything I'm about to buy or already have, PSU included. I used the term stable fps because I'm not sure what number represents a crisp response, I'm just not that knowledgeable on it frankly. To adjust my budget I'd like to get the best card for this under 200.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/LTDGZ8

A 1050ti is the best you can go for unless you can find a rx 470 or rx 570 which is quite a bit better but due to the miners their prices are usually way higher than they should be. Also thanks for showing me that case didn't know it existed I'm getting it for myself now too.

 

[mattangle]

Fantastic thanks, I'll pull the trigger on that far GPU as amazon is my preferred merchant. I'll look at both those PSUs as well, any other thoughts on that build?

ps glad to show you the case, good karma pays off

 

[jaslion]

Fantastic thanks, I'll pull the trigger on that far GPU as amazon is my preferred merchant. I'll look at both those PSUs as well, any other thoughts on that build?

ps glad to show you the case, good karma pays off

O you haven't built it yet.
Just a sec I'll make a better build.

 

[jaslion]

Instead of getting the cheap liquid cooler (bad idea never use a water cooler when an air cooler is an option).
I recommend the cryorig h7 it's better and has a far lower chance of failiure.

 

[mattangle]

Well sort of, so the parts that I changed the price to 0 I already have. They are hand me downs from a friend, so I have the Mobo/CPU/Ram/OS, the rest I haven't bought. Sorry I wasn't as clear as I should have been.

 

[jaslion]

Well sort of, so the parts that I changed the price to 0 I already have. They are hand me downs from a friend, so I have the Mobo/CPU/Ram/OS, the rest I haven't bought. Sorry I wasn't as clear as I should have been.

Might want to get a 250gb ssd for a lot of people 120gb is really not enough no matter how hard they try to keep it clean.

 

[mattangle]

I was only going for the 120gb as I am about to come into some Optane for free or heavily discounted in the near future. But You're probably right I would be smart to go with 250gb.

 

[mattangle]

Is there any difference between this Zotec 1050ti and Gigabyte 1050ti aside from brand?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M27X994/ref=asc_df_B01M27X9945099186?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=shopzilla0d-20&ascsubtag=shopzilla_rev_370-20;15023134629121761548910080302008005&linkCode=df0&creative=395093&creativeASIN=B01M27X994

https://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Windforce-128-bit-Graphic-GV-N105TWF2OC-4GD/dp/B01M6Y671T/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1502314533&sr=1-2&keywords=gtx+1050+ti

 

[jaslion]

I was only going for the 120gb as I am about to come into some Optane for free or heavily discounted in the near future. But You're probably right I would be smart to go with 250gb.

It's the better choice I almost weekly need to clone 128gb or smaller ssds to larger ones for people. It's always the we though it would be enough but I can't keep it empty problem.

 

[mattangle]

I thought liquid cooling was always the better choice. I'll look into your suggestion!

 

[jaslion]

I thought liquid cooling was always the better choice. I'll look into your suggestion!

You only go liquid if you hqve to. It has so many parts that can fail and the usual lifespan for aio liquid coolers is around 4 years.

 

[mattangle]

Alright, so here is a question on air cooling that I'm not proud to ask. Is there anything in the 60- range for air cooling that's a little better looking that that cryorig h7?

 

[jaslion]

Alright, so here is a question on air cooling that I'm not proud to ask. Is there anything in the 60- range for air cooling that's a little better looking that that cryorig h7?

Not really best you can do is LED fans. They all look the same.

 

[Karadjgne]

I'd suggest hopping on pcpartpicker.com. Use the cpu cooler link, at almost the top right corner is a switch for details or list. Use the List, it'll pop up thumbnail pictures of the coolers, then you can shop much easier.

Corsair CXM 450 is a very good psu, better actually for Haswell or newer Intel than the Seasonic 520w as the Corsair uses DC to DC converters vrs the Seasonic group regulated design. However, either one of those psus is quite superior to the Evga 500b which is a pretty dismal budget psu.

As far as aios go, they are pretty much the same as an air cooler in their respective areas, a corsair h55/h60 gets the same performance as a hyper212/cryorig h7 or a corsair h100i v2 is akin to a Noctua NH-D14 or the H110 v2 is like a Noctua NH-D15. The only few differences are looks and fit, there's many cases that won't fit the 160mm tall coolers like the Noctuas or even the budget hyper212 or gammax 400. Most newer cases have at least 1x 120mm fan port where a small liquid cooler can be mounted, or even 2x 120/140mm fans can be swapped for a larger aio. So cooler choice is not always about budget, but more on personal tastes and realistic ability of the OC wanted vrs case cooler size availability.

If you can't afford bigger than a 120/128Gb ssd, that's fine, you'll just have to learn space saving techniques like installing games to hdd, but saved games are on ssd, dump prefetcher and superfetch, delete hibernation totally (don't just turn it off, it's still there), saving documents and download folders to hdd etc. You'll need to be frugal with space, you really do want to maintain at a minimum 10% of ssd space for windows usage, or better would be not to use up more than 90-95Gb max.

 

[mattangle]

Wow, I had hoped for help and man has the community delivered. Excellent thoughts fellas, I am going to modify my pcpartpicker list and post a final revision up for thoughts. Also I had no idea about the icon switch view so I can see them. Thanks!

 

[mattangle]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/L3JYD8

Here is a more accurate and final draft. I kept the corsair liquid cooler as I really prefer the look. All advice and suggestions here greatly appreciated, any final thoughts?

 

[Karadjgne]

Final thoughts? Hmm, lemme think. Wait, wait, wait, I'm still thinking. Damn, nothing.

Looks good