GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

What is actually worth buying in terms of GPUs right now?
The 1070 is priced way too high, easily hitting a grand, and even the 6GB version of the 1060 is just as expensive.

On the AMD side, the only thing remotely affordable is some 4GB card, but honestly, it wouldn't even be worth upgrading my current R9 380.

When I eventually build my next rig, I think it’ll be a better move to just swap this 380 out for a decent GTX 1050 and call it a day.

A GTX 1050 would definitely be a downgrade for you.😬
But if you're looking at it for a secondary build, then sure.

Honestly, you couldn't have picked a worse week to go GPU shopping. If I were in your shoes, I'd just hold off for a bit.

Honestly, these prices are getting a little out of hand lately. I feel like I actually scored a massive win when I picked up my EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 for $525, because nowadays, you can't even find one for less than $615.

Hey there, tech experts,
What’s the consensus on this Asus G1504 card? After you factor in all the taxes and shipping, we're looking at roughly$467. Is there actually anything better out there in the US market for that kind of cash? I mean, what category does this even fall into? I realize it's some obscure brand, but can we actually make any educated guesses based on these specs?
Thanks.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ASL-G1504-G..._XZmlyFe0EMVzQ

Personally, I wouldn't mess around with that one... I'd much rather just pick up this version instead.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=GTX+1050+Ti

It's a GTX 1050 Ti, but from some questionable manufacturer with zero warranty or anything else to speak of.

wearypilot59 said:Hey experts,
What do you guys think about this Asus G1504 card? For the price, including tax, it's roughly$467. Is there anything better available in the States for that amount? Basically, what category does it fall into? I know it's an off-brand card, but can we figure anything out from the specs.
Thanks.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ASL-G1504-G..._XZmlyFe0EMVzQ

Don't buy those off-brand knockoffs. You can get a GTX 1050 Ti for the same money here.

Hey there,

Can anyone point me toward the absolute best bang-for-your-buck graphics card right now if my budget is around $1000?

If you can actually track down a GTX 1060, grab it. Honestly, even that might be a bit overkill for what we're doing, but having something around $1000 should probably be

What's your full build looking like? Honestly, I guess the GTX 1050 is pretty much the only thing worth buying right now.

Here’s my next build setup

Motherboard : Gigabyte DS3P
CPU : FX 8320 with an aftermarket cooler
Power Supply: 500W
RAM: 8GB HyperX Fury
GPU: R9 280

So, is the whole crypto and mining thing still the main issue right now?
Are prices actually going to drop anytime soon? Back when I was picking up my last card (about two years ago), you could grab some absolute beast of a GPU for like $300, but my wallet just wasn't feeling it back then.

EDIT: What’s a realistic market price for a GTX 1060 6gb if we weren't dealing with all this mining drama and Bitcoin nonsense?

Honestly, even jumping to a GTX 1060 isn't exactly a massive leap; I doubt it's even twice as fast as what you're running right now.

Your build seems pretty well-balanced, too, I guess. Do you have an SSD? If I were you, that’s probably where I’d put the money first. I’d hold off on the GPU—I don't see prices stabilizing anytime soon.

https://www.amazon.com/crucial-mx500-ssd-500gb/dp/B0781W6K8G

A fair price for a decent model with a 3-year warranty is about $833 (for the 6GB version, obviously). You might find an RX 580 8GB for a little less, maybe around $767.

My bad, totally blanked on mentioning my SSD.

I'm running an 850 EVO, but I am getting absolutely hammered by FPS drops while gaming.

It feels like there's some kind of bottleneck hitting me in every single game—I mean literally everything, even old-school titles from back in 2005. I just did a fresh install of Windows and it’s still stuttering like crazy. I even went ahead and swapped out the thermal paste, and the temps look perfectly fine, so I'm honestly stumped as to what's causing this headache.

What's the actual FPS drop, and in which specific games? I really hope you aren't talking about dropping from 120fps indoors to 60fps when you step outside—that kind of thing is totally expected under load. 😁

Are you absolutely certain the CPU isn't thermal throttling during gameplay (check those clock speeds)?

Fortnite (even if I have everything set to low)
I'm getting these massive frame drops where it goes from a smooth 60fps straight down to 15-20fps, and then it just hangs at about 15fps for maybe 10 seconds before jumping back up to 60.

Getting Over It (all settings on low)
It’s the exact same headache. It dips from 60fps down to the 15-20 range and stays there for a few seconds—maybe 5 to 10—before fixing itself.

GTA V
This one usually runs pretty decent at around 50-60 fps, but then it suddenly tanks to 5-10fps and struggles for a bit before recovering.

What do you guys think is the catch here? What am I missing?

My CPU is running at a stock 3.5GHz right now. I'm honestly a little nervous about trying to overclock it any higher because I really need to pick up a better aftermarket cooler first.

The R9 280 is 3GB, right?

Fortnite is okay regarding CPU optimization, but it’s not exactly great for Intel chips (not quite as bad as PUBG, but still), though it eats through VRAM and gets pretty demanding on high settings.

Check those games using GPU-Z to see what your GPU usage and VRAM usage look like while you're playing.
When you hit a drop, lower the settings or crash the game and check the graph to see where those two stood.

Massive FPS drops like the ones you're describing are usually caused by running out of VRAM or some specific in-game effects overloading the card.

Mess around with the settings; some of them are absolute killers for VRAM and overall graphics. Things like draw distance and certain fine details.

Anyway, for GTA V and Fortnite, I know that processor is actually fine even at 3.5GHz. It isn't exactly top-tier, but you shouldn't be seeing drops like that. If it is the CPU, it's likely due to specific settings rather than raw power.

My i7 920 @3 is basically the same as your FX, and it handles Fortnite and GTA V without much trouble. It gets some drops, but the worst it hits is somewhere in the 30s—it never dips below 30.

The R9 280 is plenty strong for 1080p. You should have decent performance if your settings are dialed in properly. My HD7850, which is significantly weaker than the R9 280, ran GTA V on medium settings just fine (around 50 FPS without major drops).

EDIT: Sorry, missed that you already tried low settings. 8GB of RAM should be enough, but check your RAM usage too.

The FX8320 should be able to push at least 4.0GHz near stock voltage, so it's worth the effort.

And keep an eye on HWmonitor while you're gaming to see if your CPU frequency is dropping.

Try overclocking your CPU. It honestly looks like you've got a serious bottleneck there.

Alright, I think the plan is to grab a beefier cooler so I can push the CPU up to at least 4.3GHz.

Right now, my CPU and GPU usage are sitting somewhere between 60-75% during most games. Honestly, that doesn't feel quite right, but I'm betting if I overclock the processor, things should smooth out. It feels like the CPU is likely the bottleneck here.

Thanks so much for all the help, guys!

As I mentioned, you should check if your CPU clock speeds are throttling (for instance, using HWInfo, or even just monitoring it in-game with the latest version of MSI Afterburner)

So, I’ve been falling down an absolute rabbit hole online lately, and I stumbled upon some pretty interesting info. It looks like this specific motherboard only sports a 4+1 power phase setup, which apparently means I might run into some serious CPU throttling if I push it too hard.

I’m currently weighing my options—thinking about jumping up to something with an 8+2 power phase and a beefier cooler to handle the heat. If I make that switch, do you think that'll actually solve the problem and give me the green light to start overclocking?