GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

Since I’ve decided to pass on the GTX 960 and wait for those upcoming RX cards instead, I have a couple of questions. First, if I'm looking to stay under a $250 budget, would it be worth my while to look for deals over in Germany? Second—and this might sound like a rookie question to some of you—what exactly is a "benchmark" card? Which model should I be targeting, and how can I identify one?

frozengull44 said:Since I decided against grabbing a GTX 960 and opted to wait for these RX cards instead, I wanted to ask what I should pick up for under $220 if I have the chance to buy in Germany. Also, this might sound basic to you guys, but what exactly is a "reference" card versus a non-reference one? Which one should I go for, and how do I spot the difference?

If you're looking at a $220 budget and passing on the GTX 960, you're better off just waiting for the RX 470, which should be dropping any day now.

A reference card is built strictly according to the original design from Nvidia or AMD. A non-reference card is different—it’s got custom cooling, different power delivery, and sometimes other tweaks.

For Nvidia, an example is:
reference
http://www.techspot.com/articles-inf.../Image_01S.jpg

Non-reference
http://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-g...-custom-cards/

With AMD's RX cards, the general consensus seems to be that it's worth waiting for the non-reference models to fix some of the flaws in the reference design.

frozengull44 said:Since I also decided to pass on the GTX 960 and wait for these RX cards, I wanted to ask what I should pick up for under $200 if I have the option to buy from Germany. Also, this might be a trivial question for you guys, but what exactly is a "non-reference" card? Which one should I get, and how do I spot them?

If you need to pull the trigger right now in Germany, the best value you can squeeze out of $200 is an R9 380X. I see this specific Strix model available at this shop for that price point:

http://geizhals.de/asus-strix-r9380x...-a1357101.html

Otherwise, check these out:

http://geizhals.de/gigabyte-radeon-r...-a1357097.html
http://geizhals.de/powercolor-radeon...-a1455067.html

I was wondering if we might see some price drops on cards like the GTX 950 or GTX 960 over the next month or so—especially since the 1080 is already out and the 1080 Ti is right around the corner.
If there’s already a thread covering this, could someone please drop a link?

Prices have dropped for the graphics cards sitting in the same bracket as these new models. Up until recently, you could snag an MSI gaming GTX 980Ti for $1267 because of the arrival of the GTX 1070 and 1080. These won't have any impact on the budget-friendly
models.

brightcyclist63 said:I'm wondering if we'll see any price drops on cards like the GTX 950 or 960 over the next month, since the 1080 is out and the 1080 Ti is on the way.
if there's already a thread about this, just drop the link!

Nobody can say for sure, but with the GTX 1060 and GTX 1050 hitting the market later this month, prices for that specific tier should definitely start dropping...

Timothy Kim60 said:Prices have already dipped for the cards in the same bracket as those new releases. For example, MSI gaming GTX 980Ti prices were slashed to $1267 because of the GTX 1070 and 1080. Those high-end cards don't really touch the budget models.

Yeah, which is why the GTX 1060 and GTX 1050 will definitely shake up that segment.

Basically the most standard price ($0.76) for a reference RX 480 8GB over at MediaWorld is for an MSI model with a 3-year warranty...🤣

It looks like they're finally sliding down toward what a "realistic" price for these reference cards should actually be—which really shouldn't top out at $0.70 🍿

It looks like we should be aiming for true 4GB models if you can even track them down. From what I can gather, most of these are actually 8GB cards with 4GB of the memory disabled—essentially 8GB units that have been BIOS-locked to lower capacities (I'll dive deeper into that in our hardware news segment).

Real 4GB versions probably don't even exist on the market yet.

I’m looking for a quick rundown on the current state of GPUs, mostly because I haven't really kept up with any hardware news since the days of the GeForce 6800 and I've drifted pretty far away from the tech world in general.
From what I can gather here, there seems to be a lot of talk about AMD—does that mean they’ve actually overtaken Nvidia and are making better cards now? Back in the day, more than a decade ago, ATI had a pretty lousy reputation for drivers that would crash constantly and cause all sorts of headaches, so I always just stuck with Nvidia since they were reliable for me.

A couple of years back, I put together a new rig featuring an Intel i5-4440, 8 GB of RAM, and an XFX 480W power supply, but I never actually popped a graphics card in because I simply didn't have the time to game, though that might finally change soon. I'm assuming something in the mid-range would be the sweet spot, something that could handle modern titles at Full HD on high settings for the next few years without breaking a sweat...

I'm also a bit lost regarding DirectX 12 cards, their price points, and the fact that everyone seems to be pushing toward 4K resolution these days... so, if anyone could provide a brief little guideline, I'd appreciate it. It's not like I need to run out and buy something tomorrow; if there's a potential "best buy" coming later this year or next, I'll just hang tight. 🙂

If you're looking to pick up any hardware, just drop the whole Intel vs AMD and Nvidia vs ATI debate right now. Just buy whatever gives you the most bang for your buck based on what you were planning to spend.

A few weeks back, Nvidia and AMD rolled out their latest cards—Nvidia dropped the 1080 and 1070, while AMD brought out the RX 470. So, we're looking at Nvidia's 10 series and AMD's 4 series as the current heavy hitters.

Right now, these cards sit in the high-end tier, or maybe just upper mid-range if we're talking about the AMD side. The RX 470 seems like it might have a great value proposition, but since it's brand new here in the States, prices are still pretty inflated (just like Nvidia and basically anything else that hits the shelves fresh).

Eventually, they’ll release some lower-end options from these series, prices will dip, and things will settle down. If you aren't in a huge rush, I guess it might be smarter to just wait a bit.

DirectX 12 is launching alongside these new series, and honestly, AMD seems to have a slight edge there for the time being. As for drivers, AMD has actually stepped up their game lately; they're releasing updates more often and they're becoming decent enough. You probably don't need to lose sleep over 4K yet either, because it'll likely be another few years before that really becomes a mainstream thing.

Gregory Miller said:I’m looking for a quick rundown on the current GPU landscape. I haven't really kept up with the latest tech since the days of the GeForce 6800, so I'm pretty out of the loop regarding the US tech scene.
It seems like there’s a lot of talk here about AMD—does that mean they’ve actually overtaken Nvidia and are making better cards now? A decade ago, AMD had a bit of a reputation for buggy drivers that would crash constantly... personally, I always stuck with Nvidia because they were reliable.

I built a new rig about two years ago (Intel i5-4440, 8 GB RAM, XFX 480W PSU), but I didn't include a dedicated graphics card because I just didn't have the time for gaming. That might change soon, though. I assume a mid-range card would be the sweet spot to run modern titles smoothly at full HD on high settings for the next few years...

I’m also not sure what the deal is with DirectX 12 cards, how pricing looks, or how things are shifting toward 4K resolution... so, if anyone could provide a brief guideline... it's not an urgent purchase. If there's a "best buy" coming later this year or next, I can wait.🙂

Most discussions here revolve around finding something within a specific budget. If we're talking mainstream options (under $667?), AMD is set to release several new models in the $900/$333 to $2400/$833 range soon. Nvidia is also dropping a new $2500-$3000 card shortly.

Basically, AMD has significantly improved their driver situation (especially over the last two years) and they're releasing updates much more frequently now—at least once a month.
Regarding the Nvidia vs ATI debate, AMD has been trailing behind Nvidia lately in terms of power efficiency, while Nvidia lags behind in DirectX 12 performance (and potentially Vulkan, though we'll have to see). There are other minor technical advantages on both sides, but those are the most significant differences.

Speaking of which, Tomb Raider (which uses Nvidia GameWorks) just received another DirectX 12 patch that implemented async compute and possibly other features click. On a 4K Very High setting, for example, a 980Ti loses about 4% performance with this patch, whereas the AMD equivalent (Fury X) actually gains over 18%. That single patch creates a massive 22%+ swing in their relative performance ratio.

Check out today's Vulkan patch for Doom here: click

Thanks for the input. I was planning on picking up something in the $1500-$$667 range, because from what I can gather, that’s plenty to run just about anything on high settings and should keep me happy for the next few years.
In my opinion, buying high-end GPUs is almost never worth the money; with how fast things move and new models dropping every single year just for a tiny percentage of extra performance, you might as well save your cash.

I don't know, this whole "AMD has really improved their drivers" argument doesn't sound convincing enough for me to jump ship 😁 even though I get that both sides make top-tier hardware and the difference is mostly down to minor nuances. Since I've spent years being more than satisfied with Nvidia and never ran into a single headache, I'm leaning toward sticking with them.

Looking at the specs for the GeForce 9 series compared to the newer 10 series, specifically when you look at the processing power (GFLOPS), it turns out today's mid-range GTX 1060 is basically performing on par with the old high-end GeForce 9 series—like the GTX 970.

As far as manufacturers go, does it even matter much anymore, or is everything pretty much the same—you know, Gainward, Sapphire, Gigabyte, MSI... I remember back in the day Gainward used to put out some absolutely fantastic Golden Sample cards, but does anyone even make stuff like that anymore?

The GTX 1060 is going to set you back about $2500-$1000. Honestly, if your budget is closer to the $1500-$667 range, I’d definitely suggest waiting a week or two for a custom RX 470 or a 4GB RX 480. Let's be real: in that specific price bracket, all you can really grab from Nvidia is a GTX 960.

That said, Gainward is actually killing it this year click, click, but I wouldn't stress too much over brands—just keep an eye on the local prices and deals once they drop here in the States.

Still waiting on those AiB RX 480s to actually hit the shelves 😵 ...and don't even get me started on the pricing. All these supposedly "budget" retailers are just trying to cash in on the hype by inflating their prices, while the bigger, more established shops have lower rates that’ll likely stay there once the others finally stop playing games and bring their prices back down to reality ☕

Rumors have been swirling online about this for ages; at this point, it’s practically a legend. Word is we might see movement by the end of this week (at least here in the US), and if not, then definitely sometime next week in Europe.

Hey there,

Right now, I'm running a VTX3D HD4850 with 1GB of DDR5, but I've been thinking about picking up something a bit more modern that can handle newer DirectX 12 titles. Honestly, I don't know my way around these specs as well as I should, so I was wondering if there's anything decent out there in the $400 range or maybe even a little less that would be a solid step up from what I have now. $167

My current setup consists of an Intel i5-2400 3.1 GHz processor, an MSI H61 P20(G3) motherboard, 8 GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 400 W power supply.

You might be able to track down a used HD7770 (R7 250x) somewhere. Most of what's out there is secondhand.

Take a look at this, though I’ve got my doubts about it.

Look, this is an absolute steal... I’ve got my hands on this card and man, it is just incredible.

Timothy Kim60 said:http://sapphirenation.net/NitroYear/

The MSRP for the GTX 1060 is $249, which—once you factor in the exchange rate around $567, plus all the dealer margins, sales tax, local fees, and whatever other nonsense they tack on—means we can probably call $667 a somewhat realistic price. But honestly, this whole thing is ridiculous. Where are you actually going to find graphics cards at decent prices, maybe over in Mexico or something?