[SOLVED] With the prices of GPU's hiking to astounding heights, what's a decent card that would go with a Ryzen 5 3600 under $400?

TheUltraMarine

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Sep 24, 2016
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Even if you've been paying little attention to the entirety of the PC building world, it'd be no secret that the prices of graphics cards over the last couple of months have soared to monstrous heights due to cryptocurrency miners and scalpers. $400+ for a 1050 TI?! That's insane! I've been having a hard time trying to find a graphics card to buy for my PC that I'm about to build in two weeks, my main fallback plan would just be to pick up a GT 1030 from Micro Center for $100 until this blows over, but what would you guys suggest?

This is my build by the way (without a GPU):

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($194.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 RGB Black Edition 57.3 CFM CPU Cooler ($38.78 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($94.00 @ B&H)
Memory: OLOy WarHawk RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($75.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case ($53.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA BQ 750 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: LG 22MK430H-B 21.5" 1920x1080 75 Hz Monitor ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Redragon K512 SHIVA RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard ($32.99 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Redragon COBRA M711 Wired Optical Mouse ($19.98 @ Amazon)
Custom: Cooler Master MasterFan SF240R ARGB 240mm Addressable ARGB Square Framed Fan with 18 Independently- Controlled RGB LEDs, Hybrid Air Balance Blade Design, Enhanced Cable Management and PWM Con ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $820.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-02-25 18:18 EST-0500
 
Solution
Although I haven’t looked at them all. I’d say a GTX 1060 6GB. Specifically a used single fan EVGA Model. Those have sold for about $135 They are decent enough and you won’t get hit too hard reselling it. When things get back to normal.

Better cards are generally way overpriced. Especially most anything over 4GB or any good for mining.

Another is a used RX 580 4GB.
Although I haven’t looked at them all. I’d say a GTX 1060 6GB. Specifically a used single fan EVGA Model. Those have sold for about $135 They are decent enough and you won’t get hit too hard reselling it. When things get back to normal.

Better cards are generally way overpriced. Especially most anything over 4GB or any good for mining.

Another is a used RX 580 4GB.
 
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Solution

punkncat

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Would suggest just taking a look around the used market in your area and do the best you can on something under the above mentioned memory limit. It is a SUPER bad time to be looking for a performance GPU. If you haven't purchased yet, and considering the budget you are around, you could purchase a half decent prebuilt with a nice GPU for around half again your budget. It's not so much that I would normally suggest such, but...
 
Unfortunately, gaming performance is mostly determined by the graphics card, and you are somewhat stuck there for a while.
One possible option would be to order a EVGA GT1030 card, register it, and try to use the 90 day step up option to buy an upgrade.
Read their fine print.

In two weeks intel 11th gen will launch with improved XE2 integrated graphics.
That would get you going.

Today, even the i3-10100 at $120 is a decent gaming processor.
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/intel-core-i3-10100/15.html

I am speculating that the upcoming i5-10400 is going to be a good gamer if it truly does include the touted 19% IPC boost:
 

OtapIc

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Jan 19, 2021
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A used rx 580 4gb costed around $190 in my local market. If you're willing to do some maintenance with it (i.e repasting,cleaning heatsink, changing thermal pads) it'll be the best deal out of any gpu you can find for now

But if you're lucky, you might just find one that's only been lightly used. In which case it's an amazing deal