GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

http://www.bestbuy.com/catalog/computers...11260-02-20g-/

😉
For a budget under $667 best buy

wiredotter14 said:😉
For a budget under $667 Best Buy

I wouldn't touch that on Hex... 😁

With the CPU pulling 69W and the GPU at 170W, I guess that should be fine enough 😛

And I don't think it's just about power draw. Since the current trend is all about lowering hardware consumption, even fairly high-end GPUs can run on mid-range power supplies now. I mean, theoretically, you could pair a GTX 1060 and an i5 with a Hex unit; it’s not a bad power supply, and that combo won't push the Hex too hard. It’s just a question of how "balanced" it feels to drop over $600 on a build only to slap a $50 power supply in it. It used to be simple: more powerful components meant more power draw, which meant you needed a better PSU. Now, that gap has shrunk so much that you could practically put a 400W Hex in a $1,200 rig and it would hold up fine. Personally, seeing that kind of mismatch just rubs me the wrong way. 🙂

Robert Rodriguez2 said:I wouldn't go that route on Hex... 😁

It’s already on Hex, and there's already a 7850 OC pulling about 120W, so the difference isn't massive.

Honestly, grabbing something like a Radeon RX 470 is a solid alternative. It's more than enough for 1080p gaming and saves you some cash. You could also look at the 1060 3GB, which is definitely better on power consumption, but I think the Radeon RX 470 is the better deal.
Just watch those rails with any of them. Make sure the motherboard and the PCI Express aren't sharing the same rail; some power supplies split the PCIe load across different rails instead of keeping them together.

wiredotter14 said:He’s already got the Hexa core, and he’s running a 7850 OC pulling about 120W, so there isn't much of a gap there.

Honestly, grabbing something like a Radeon RX 470 is a solid alternative since it handles 1080p gaming just fine and saves some cash. You could go with a 1060 3GB which is definitely more efficient, but I think the Radeon RX 470 is the better deal.
Just a heads up though, watch those rails with any of these cards. You don't want the motherboard and the PCI Express slot pulling from the exact same rail if the power supply splits them up.

I get all that, I was just saying he should probably grab something beefier. I know perfectly well a Hexa core can handle it.😁

Sure... if you're looking for some kind of middle ground between swapping out your PSU and just forcing an Radeon RX 480 into the mix, maybe a 1060 3GB makes sense... depends on how you look at it.

BTW, how can you tell which PCI Express rail is sharing a load with the motherboard or CPU connector?

Here's the PowerColor option available in the US click

Plus, the cooler is quiet and the price is decent; the downside is the 2-year warranty (whereas Sapphire and XFX now offer 3)

Timothy Kim60 said:Here’s the PowerColor option available in the US click

The Plus side is the quiet cooler and decent price; the minus is the 2-year warranty (whereas Sapphire and XFX are offering 3 now)

For some people, the length will be a dealbreaker too. Most Radeon RX 480 cards sit around 240mm, but this one is a massive 310mm

Dear friends,

I have been running an Nvidia 9800 GT for what feels like an eternity now, but I am finally itching to play the new Doom and Crysis 3. The problem is, I am completely stuck because of DirectX 11 requirements. What kind of suitable card could I possibly cram into my old desktop bucket? It’s currently rocking an Intel Core 2 Duo at 3.00 GHz with 4 GB of RAM. Please help—I desperately want to get into these games, but this ancient graphics card is holding me hostage. To be honest, I am feeling a bit lost; there are just way too many cards flooding the market these days. Many thanks,

Best regards, Jesse Brown90

Could you give me a bit more detail? Like, what specific processor are you running? Please list the exact model, and do the same for your power supply... If you aren't sure about the CPU model, maybe try downloading Speccy—it's pretty handy. For the power supply, you'll probably need to pop off the side panel of your case to see the manufacturer and model name. Once we have those details, it'll be much easier to help you out. Oh, and what kind of budget are we looking at for this new graphics card?

You could go with the new Radeon RX 460 (around $317), or maybe grab a used Radeon HD 7850 2GB for about 500-$200.

Running modern titles on a Core 2 Duo is going to be an uphill battle. If you had at least a Quad-core, maybe you could scrape by, but most recent games are just too demanding for those old LGA 775 Core 2 Duo processors. Honestly, if I were in your shoes and could scrape some cash together, I’d look into replacing the CPU, motherboard, RAM, and GPU all at once—though that’s a pretty significant investment. If money is tight, even jumping up to an LGA 775 Quad-core wouldn't be a bad move.
Even though they're getting old, those higher-end Core 2 Quad Q9xxx models actually aren't half bad, even by today's standards. If you can find a used Quad-core for $200 or maybe up to $100, and put the rest toward something like a Radeon RX 460, that would be a smart play. Pairing a Radeon RX 460 with a Core 2 Duo just doesn't make sense; the bottleneck will be massive, and you'll be stuck because some games won't even launch on a dual-core processor.

I’ve got the processor sorted out, but my power supply is sitting at 550 W, and honestly, brothers, these modern games are just too demanding. I can't help but wonder if developers are intentionally optimizing things this way just to force us all into buying a new graphics card. It feels like they could easily run everything on older hardware; take >, for example. They slapped that > requirement on it, even though it probably could have run beautifully on version 10. They should have offered it as an alternative setting, much like how some other titles actually do. Simply put, the graphics in these new releases don't look like they truly require such an insane configuration. Just look at something like Doom—it's pretty much the baseline standard.

Jesse Brown90 said:I've got the CPU sorted, but my power supply is only 550 W—man, these modern games are just too demanding. I can't help but wonder if they optimize things specifically to force us into buying newer cards, even though most stuff could probably run fine on older hardware. Take Crysis 3, for example—they slapped DirectX 11 on there, when everything would have looked great on DirectX 10 too. Why not just make it an optional setting like some other games do? Honestly, the graphics in new titles don't always look like they actually require a beastly rig. Just look at Doom; it's pretty middle-of-the-road, really.

LOL, what exactly are you looking for? Do you want to be running a 15-year-old bucket of bolts and still expect to play every new release without a hitch? Sorry, man, that's just not how it works...

Jesse Brown90 said:I’ve got my processor sorted, but I’m running a 550W power supply, and honestly, guys, these modern games are just too demanding. It makes me wonder if developers are intentionally optimizing them this way just to force us into buying newer graphics cards. Everything could easily run smoothly on older hardware; take Crysis 3, for example. They slapped DirectX 11 on it, even though everything would have looked great running on DirectX 10. They could have offered that as an alternative option like some other titles do. Simply put, the graphics in new games don't actually look like they require such high-end configurations. Look at Doom—it's just middle-of-the-road.

There’s no conspiracy here; you just got hit by the passage of time. You can't realistically expect to run the most demanding modern titles on hardware that's eight years old. Besides, DirectX 12 is a thing now.

Look, you’ve basically got two choices: either shell out the cash or just play whatever you can manage. Honestly, thank God there are a million incredible games out there to choose from anyway.

The amount of money you have to shell out isn't the end of the world. Some people might try to tell you otherwise if you manage to snag a deal online—maybe even through eBay—but honestly, I've seen folks around here picking up old Core 2 Quad setups for next to nothing. $67I might also pick up some more RAM if it makes sense, plus maybe a used graphics card like a Radeon HD 7850 2GB if I can find a decent deal. Total cost for the whole upgrade should be somewhere around a hundred bucks plus change.

With this setup, you could play pretty much any game out there—just don't expect to crank everything up to max settings or hit a steady 60 FPS.

Remember back when there was just one powerhouse Nvidia 6700 or something similar? Just one single beast on the market that could carry games for ten years straight, making a few ATI cards look like absolute jokes by comparison. Simple. Now? There are 2,000 different damn cards out there and you can't tell one from the other. For heaven's sake, don't start defending capitalism to me; graphics didn't evolve just so we could be forced to hunt for $667 cards just to meet minimum specs. You'll probably all jump down my throat like usual, but as this other gamer mentioned, there are still plenty of beautiful classics left to play. Personally, I'm an old-school FPS guy. I haven't even touched System Shock 2 or Requiem yet, and I’d love to tear through some Blood titles too. I just finished setting up Reckoning Evil and Ground Zero for Quake II. There is so much good material out there, dammit, rather than me dropping a thousand bucks just to be disappointed by modern attempts at imitating those classics. No thanks. I certainly don't need American imperialism and their wars and occupations delivered via "hyper-realistic" graphics, by the way. Honestly, when I saw that weird hand-waving animation in Doom, it actually made me nauseous. And I bet Crysis 3 is something else entirely, especially since you can find it at the local Best Buy for $25 here in
.
ps. I was reading some legend who reviews stuff over at PC Gamer—he says all these new games are total garbage, so he said
that he's going to reinstall F.E.A.R. because there's absolutely nothing worth playing these days.

Hey there;

So here's the deal. Thanks to a few geniuses on this forum, I put together a great rig last month and the machine absolutely flies for what I need right now! Initially, I was planning to hold off on buying a GPU for about six months, but it turns out some of the 3D modeling and rendering software I use requires a much more serious graphics card than what I currently have. So, I'm looking to speed up my upgrade plans.

I'm trying to figure out which GPU would work best with this setup:

Intel Core i3 6100 processor
Asus H110M-R motherboard
CORSAIR Power Supply, Builder Series CX 80+ Bronze, 430 Watt, ATX, EPS12V, PS/2, US Version
Patriot Viper4, 2400Mhz, 8GB (2x4GB), CL15
Kingston 240GB Solid State Drive, UV400 SATA 3 Bulk
MS CHAMPION gaming case (no PSU included)

I need something that won't blow my power supply, because I really don't want to buy a new one since I just finished this build. I'm not looking for anything high-end or premium; I'd be willing to spend up to $800 (maybe $333) on it.
I'm open to used gear too, doesn't have to be brand new.

Thanks!

Jesse Brown90 said:I remember back when there was this one Nvidia 6700 or something like that—just one absolute beast on the market. That single card carried games for maybe ten years or more, easily outclassing a bunch of the ATI stuff coming out at the time. Now? There are like 2,000 different cards out there and you can't tell one from the other. For God's sake, don't come at me defending capitalism here; graphics technology didn't advance just so we could be forced to hunt for specific cards... $667 Based on my specs, you guys are probably going to tear me apart like usual, but like that one niche gamer said, there are plenty of great games out there. I’m more of an old-school FPS type myself; I haven't even touched System Shock 2 or Requiem yet, and I'd love to blast through some Blood titles too. I just finished setting up Reckoning Evil and Ground Zero for Quake II—man, there is so much good material out there. I don't feel like dropping a thousand bucks just to be disappointed by modern attempts at imitating those classics. No thanks. I really don't need all that American imperialism and their wars and occupations rendered in hyper-realistic graphics. Honestly, when I saw that hand-waving animation in the demo, it actually made me feel a bit nauseous. And I suspect Crysis 3 might be something similar. $25 Around here in the States.

P.S. I was reading some legend who reviews stuff on PC Gamer, and he basically said all these new games are complete garbage.
I guess he'll probably reinstall F.E.A.R. since there isn't much else worth playing lately.

What kind of... $667 What are the minimum specs I should look for to pair with a Radeon RX 460? $317 You should be able to run even the most demanding titles at 1080p on Medium settings while maintaining a pretty solid Frames Per Second.

Anthony Ortiz4 said:Hi everyone;

Here’s the situation, folks. Thanks to a few geniuses on this forum, I put together a killer PC last month and the thing absolutely flies for my current needs! Initially, I was planning to hold off on a GPU for about six months, but it turns out some of the 3D modeling and rendering software I use requires a much more serious graphics card than what I have right now. Because of that, I need to fast-track my upgrade.

I'm trying to figure out which GPU will work best with my current setup:

Intel Core i3 6100 Processor
Asus H110M-R Motherboard
Corsair Builder Series CX 80+ Bronze Power Supply, 430 Watt, ATX, EPS12V, PS/2, US Version
Patriot Viper4, 2400MHz, 8GB (2x4GB), CL15
Kingston 240GB Solid State Drive, UV400 SATA 3 Bulk
MS CHAMPION gaming case (no PSU included)

I need something that won't blow my power supply, since I definitely don't want to buy a new one so soon after this build. We aren't talking about high-end premium cards here; I'm willing to spend up to $800 (maybe even $333) for the right one.
I am totally open to used gear—it doesn't have to be brand new.

Thanks!

Definitely go with the Radeon RX 460 2GB