GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

I actually made the jump over to consoles way back in 2013...
but I guess the time has finally come where I really need a beefy graphics card to handle some heavy-duty 4K video editing... oh well, it is what it is!

Kenneth Harris3 said:Prices have jumped again, so anyone who snagged an RX 6700 XT at the previous rates really scored big! They’re finally aligning themselves with the price of RTX 3060ti and RTX 3070 levels. It was honestly just a matter of time... ☕

What "previous rates"? Let's be real—no new GPU has ever actually had a reasonable price right out of the gate.

Timothy Kim60 said:What old prices? No new GPU has ever actually had a sane price tag from day one.

There was a tiny window where you could grab cards at high prices, sure, but they weren't those insane miner or scalper rates.

Look, the thing is, the RX 6700 XT just hit the market right in the middle of all that madness, so it never actually had a reasonable price tag to begin with.

The admin just dropped a teaser in the newsletter about some upcoming "event" involving better availability or deals on graphics cards. Apparently, we’re supposed to keep a close eye on our social media feeds to catch the news.

I wonder what they actually have in mind? Is it going to be some kind of giveaway on Facebook or Twitter where it's a race to see who can click fast enough?

Timothy Kim60 said:Look, the 6700 XT just hit the market—right in the middle of this massive craze—so it’s never actually seen a reasonable price tag

I paid over $450 for my RTX 2060 super back when prices were actually somewhat sane. Just ten days ago, I managed to snag an RX 6700 XT for about $650...
Obviously, I didn't buy it here in the States, but that's the reality of how much things have shifted compared to the old days. Prices have been completely trashed for years now...
PS—now even the cheapest 6700 is sitting above $850. Most of them are pushing $1,100+. So there you go.
And no, I don't think a new Intel GPU is going to fix this mess...

Did you overpay for this card, or did you just miss out when they were at "normal prices"? You could find an RTX 2080 super 8gb for anywhere from $2,800-$$1067 if you were looking at the budget models—and those were brand new, obviously
.
Looking at the MSRP, in a normal market, an RX 6700 XT would be going for about $1333 here in the States. If you managed to snag one for $600 ($1500), then you actually landed a great deal; that’s almost what a standard price looks like
.

Back at the end of 2019, I picked up my 2019 RTX 2060 for less than $833, probably right around $230, which felt pretty standard for the time.

wanderingbison9 said:Back at the end of 2019, I picked up an RTX 2060 Super for under $833, probably around $230. Totally standard price.

It was never priced below $1000 here in the States; maybe you're thinking of the base 2060...

1 * Inno3D RTX2080 SUPER TWIN X2 OC
Sifra: INO-N208S2-08D6X1180 - $2130 2.12.2019.

1 * MSI Video Card Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 VENTUS SUPER OC GDDR6 8GB/256bit, 1785MHz/14000MHz, PCI-E 3.0 x16, 3xDP, HDMI, torx 2 x Cooler(Double Slot) Backplate, Retail
Sifra: RTX_2070_SUPER_VENTUS_OC - $1445 8.11.2019.

1 * Gainward GF RTX2060 Phoenix GS, 6GB
Sifra: gai-2060-pgs-6g - $1000 26.7.2019.

Alexander Moore67 said:It has honestly never once dipped below that level, has it? $1000 Maybe around here, an RTX 2060 is just considered standard equipment?

I’ve just picked up an Inno3D RTX 2080 SUPER TWIN X2 OC. Is there anything quite like that feeling of unboxing a brand-new piece of hardware, knowing you're about to see your frame rates climb?
Retail Sifra: INO-N208S2-08D6X1180 - $2130 2.12.2019.

I’m looking at this one MSI Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 VENTUS SUPER OC, featuring 8GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with clock speeds hitting 1785MHz and 14000MHz. It runs on a PCI-E 3.0 x16 interface and comes equipped with three DisplayPorts and an HDMI port, all cooled by that torx 2 x Cooler setup in a double-slot design with a backplate included. Since it's listed as Retail Sifra, does anyone have thoughts on how this performs compared to other high-end cards?
Retail Sifra: RTX_2070_SUPER_VENTUS_OC - $1445 8.11.2019.

I’ve recently come across a single Gainward GF RTX 2060 Phoenix GS with 6GB of VRAM. Has anyone here had much experience with this specific model lately?
Retail Sifra: gai-2060-pgs-6g - $1000 26.7.2019.

What on earth? An organization actually pulled the trigger on a card based on my recommendation, though I can't get my hands on the specific invoice right now. They were giving me such a hard time about the cost, too—asking if there wasn't some kind of AMD option better suited for video editing or post-production since they felt the RTX 2060 Super was just a bit too steep for their budget. It's funny how things work out, because back when the RX580 was sitting around the $150 mark, nobody seemed to think twice about it, didn't they?$600 I honestly think they wouldn't even consider an offer of $450, let alone agree to anything close to that. I’m absolutely certain it was an Inno3D card, though I’d probably be cutting off my own hand if I claimed to have a perfect memory of exactly which model it was. $767 I have to admit, I was actually a bit surprised that the price wasn't higher than I expected... but after putting it through its paces, it turns out the performance gap isn't nearly as large as I thought it would be when compared to the RX580, especially once you start running heavy video post-production software. Is it really worth the extra investment if the results are so similar?

Are you sure those are high-end? Because $767 cost about the same as a standard RTX 2060 6GB. As far as I can recall, the budget models were actually going for $933 (you can check the price history on Best Buy).
The only other explanation is if they finally slapped the sales tax on it, then I guess that explains the jump.

Maybe sales tax isn't included?
2300x1.25=2875

It sounds like a solid deal, though I personally wouldn't touch anything with less than 8GB of VRAM when you're doing heavy post-production work. I suspect the price they mentioned included sales tax, especially since they complained about the extra cost—I think they were mentioning they're part of a public institution, which often complicates those things. Honestly, I might have just had a momentary brain lapse and swapped an 8 for a 3 in my head since the numbers look so similar. It’s also quite possible the price was actually $2,800 if they went with the budget-friendly Inno3D model. If I manage to track down the specifics, I'll be sure to let everyone know, even if this thread has gone a bit quiet lately 😬. Regardless, paying over $600 wouldn't have been a reasonable price at all.

And look... theoretically, it’s possible, even if there was a massive sale going on. I know that during major clearance events, competing RX 5700 and 5700XT cards could be picked up for $767 in the US or around $400 (maybe one or two specific 5700XT models at Best Buy)😁

I was wondering, does anyone know if there are actually any decent 8GB AMD cards on the market right now that would hold up well for video editing?

Daniel Robinson59 said:Does anyone know if there's actually an AMD card out there right now with 8GB of VRAM that wouldn't suck for video editing?

And you get all that for a measly $7,999.00.

Adam Moore3 said:All this for a measly $7,999.00.

You can grab an RX580 8GB for just a few bucks $1667.
For more than 7, you're looking at a Quadro RTX 4000, which is less than 1.5x the price of the RX580 😵😵

Daniel Robinson59 said:Is there actually any AMD card out there right now with 8GB of VRAM that would perform well enough for video editing?

Not really, unless you want to feel like you've been completely ripped off... but before we go down that road, we should probably figure out exactly which software you're planning to run.

Man, this is getting ridiculous...

I’m working in Premiere Pro, and I’ve reached the point where I seriously need a new rig. My current setup just can't handle 4K footage without making me wait for hours on end, and honestly, wasting all that time just sitting around waiting for progress bars is driving me crazy.
That said, I’m really hesitant to drop a massive amount of cash on a high-end GPU, especially since I don't actually play PC games—I pretty much stick to my PS5 for all my gaming.

Does having a beefy graphics card in Premiere Pro only help speed up the final render, or does it actually make a difference with things like playback smoothness while I'm editing? Because if it's strictly about the rendering stage, maybe I don't need to go overboard, since I figure a powerful enough processor could probably handle most of the heavy lifting at a decent pace.

Daniel Robinson59 said:Man, that’s just not right...

I'm working in Premiere, and I am in desperate need of a new rig because my current setup simply cannot handle 4K video editing without me wasting hours upon hours just sitting there waiting around...
I don't really feel like dropping a massive amount of cash on a high-end graphics card, especially since I don't play games on my PC—I stick to my PS5...

Does having a powerful GPU in Premiere Pro help specifically with rendering speeds, or does it also affect things like playback smoothness and general responsiveness? Because if it's strictly about the final render, maybe it isn't such a huge deal for me, since I assume a beefy enough processor could probably handle most of that heavy lifting at a decent pace, right?

A good graphics card takes a lot of the pressure off your CPU when you're dealing with effects, image manipulations, playback, and rendering. If you're just doing basic cuts, the GPU barely breaks a sweat. However, for 4K work, a GPU is absolutely essential because the CPU will start to choke once you add even a few necessary effects. So, it's not necessarily that you need the most expensive card on the market unless you're stacking tons of effects on a single track; what matters more is having enough VRAM to process those 4K frames effectively.

What kind of system are you running at the moment? What's your current GPU and CPU combo? Since some of the folks here are pretty savvy at spotting a good deal, maybe they can suggest a pre-built PC that fits your budget, given that you mentioned needing an entirely new machine. As a general rule of thumb, 6GB of VRAM should be plenty for Premiere. Something like an RTX 1660 Super would actually be a pretty solid choice if you can find a reasonable price on it compared to buying everything separately.