GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

My only priority is video editing; anything else is irrelevant to me.
I expect to spend about three hours a day on video processing, maybe less, though I'll likely put in more time over the weekend.

Hey everyone ☕ , I’m looking for some solid advice on a GPU upgrade that won't choke this setup 🙂

CPU: Intel i7 10700K
MOBO: ROG STRIX Z590-F GAMING WIFI
RAM: VENGEANCE® RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 DRAM 3.200 MHz
CASE: be quiet! Silent Base 801
SSD: Samsung 870 EVO SSD
PSU: STRAIGHT POWER 11 750W

HDD: I’d also like to pick up a 1TB drive, so any suggestions there would be appreciated 🙂

I use this machine for pretty much everything—gaming, running stuff like FIFA 21 or Call of Duty: Warzone on the big screen, spinning up virtual machines, browsing, you name it

First round of beer is on me! 🙂

I know supply chains are still a mess, but I've reached my limit with waiting; if anyone has a recommendation around the $450 mark that plays nice with my current build, I'm all ears since I'm certainly no hardware expert myself 🙂

Are you picking that up here in the States or ordering from somewhere abroad?

wiredotter14 said:Are you buying that here in the States or somewhere abroad?

Hey wiredotter14, I actually pick up my gear abroad—specifically over in Germany—so I was hoping you could point me toward some reliable GPU brands in the ballpark of $400, maybe give or take $100.
🙂

At the end of the day, I care way more about getting a card that won't die on me than chasing some niche brand that promises insane performance but has zero track record for reliability.🙂

Zachary Young6 said:Hey wiredotter14, I usually buy stuff abroad—mostly over in Germany—so I was wondering which reliable GPU brands I should be looking at. My budget is roughly $400, maybe give or take $100.
🙂

Reliability matters more to me than chasing some high-end performance card that might flake out on me. 🙂

Are you building this rig yourself or buying a pre-built?
If you're going with a pre-built, it’s usually worth just grabbing one that already has a GPU included; they tend to price them better that way than if you buy the card separately.
Personally, I'd aim for an RTX 3060.

Man, it’s about time we started posting component lists on the forum because they are actually a much better deal. 😲

wiredotter14 said:Are you building this rig yourself, or are you looking at a pre-built system?
If you go the pre-built route, you might actually come out ahead since they often bundle the GPU at a better price point than buying it separately.
I’d personally aim for a Raytheon 3060.

wiredotter14, thanks for the input 🙂 ,

I actually already have this exact setup; I spent quite a bit of time sourcing every individual component before finally putting it all together myself... now I'm just sitting here waiting on a GPU and a single terabyte hard drive to arrive.

Here is the link—what’s your take on this one? 🙂

Zachary Young6 said:wiredotter14, thanks for the reply 🙂 ,

I already have that setup. Bought everything piece by piece and built it myself... just need a GPU and a 1TB hard drive now.

Check this link out. What's your take on this one? 🙂

Seems fine. I don't know much about specific models, maybe someone else can give a better recommendation.
Go for a 2TB HDD; they're barely more expensive than the 1TB ones anyway.

https://www.caseking.de/western-digi...-hdwd-161.html

Look, I’m not one to stick my nose where it doesn't belong—but we’ve got Dell models for $1467 right here. It’s only got two fans instead of three, if that actually matters to you.
When you order from Germany, you’ve gotta factor in an extra 5% for the tax gap plus shipping, so your total ends up closer to $1600.

Why wouldn't you just grab the 3060 Ti instead?

The NVIDIA RTX 3060 models from EVGA are basically the same price as that ASUS 3060 12GB model in the link.

https://www.caseking.de/EVGA-GeForce...plview=desktop

https://www.caseking.de/EVGA-GeForce...plview=desktop

https://www.caseking.de/EVGA-GeForce...plview=desktop

From what I've read online, there's about a 20-30% performance gap.

William Clark86 said:Why don't you just grab a 3060?

The NVIDIA RTX 3060 from EVGA is basically the same price as that ASUS 3060 12GB in the link.

https://www.caseking.de/EVGA-GeForce...plview=desktop

https://www.caseking.de/EVGA-GeForce...plview=desktop

https://www.caseking.de/EVGA-GeForce...plview=desktop

Online reviews say there's a performance gap of about 20-30%.

Sounds good, but they aren't available.

Not trying to butt in here, but you can find Gigabyte models for $1467 around here. It’s got two fans instead of three, if that matters to you.
If you're ordering from Germany, factor in an extra 5% for the sales tax difference plus shipping. That puts yours at roughly $1600.

I assume the guy is ordering from Germany because he lives there.

wiredotter14 said:Sounds great, but they aren't even available.

I’m assuming the guy is ordering from Germany since that’s where he’s based.

Well, you're right, wiredotter14; I eventually settled on this graphics card, and while I truly hope I'm not making a massive mistake here—given my own lack of deep expertise regarding
total system compatibility and how to squeeze every last drop of performance out of individual hardware components...

Of course, if anyone actually knows what they're talking about and would be willing to share their thoughts, it wouldn't hurt, though it would certainly be appreciated. 🙂

Looks like an RTX 3060 Ti is sitting right around $750, which makes it the better move.
Check out Best Buy or PCPartPicker to see what's actually in stock.

https://www.pcpartpicker.com/productsearch/?cp=NVIDIA%20RTX%203060%20Ti

It’s pretty ironic that the RTX 3060 has 12GB while the 3060 Ti only has 8GB, but honestly, I’d still take the Ti if the price is basically the same.

wiredotter14 said:Looks like there’s an NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti sitting right around $750—honestly, that makes way more sense.
Check out PriceGrabber to see what's actually in stock.

https://www.pricegrabber.com/price-comparison...dr6-zotac.html

It’s kind of a joke that the RTX 3060 has 12GB while the 3060 Ti only has 8GB—but for basically the same price? I’m taking the Ti.

The Ti has 448 bandwidth compared to 360—plus that 256-bit bus vs the 192.

@Zachary Young6/">@@Zachary Young6, take a look at Google Shopping—I think it's better than PriceGrabber.

Hi everyone! It’s been quite a while since I last checked in here. I was hoping I might be able to get some advice from you all. I'm currently looking to pick up a new graphics card, and I find myself torn between the NVIDIA RTX 3060 and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT. My usage will mostly consist of a mix of professional work and gaming, though I suppose staying quiet is a pretty important factor for me too. Does anyone have any specific recommendations? I've noticed those Radeon RX 6600 XT models don't seem to draw much power, which is interesting. Thanks!

Don't overspend on an NVIDIA RTX 3060 either. What kind of work are you actually doing?

Having 12GB of VRAM and access to CUDA might actually be a better move for your workflow.

wiredotter14 said:I wouldn't go overboard with even a 3060. What kind of work are you planning to do?

Having 12GB of VRAM and access to CUDA might actually be a bit more beneficial for professional tasks.

I appreciate the suggestion, though I was actually looking at an EVGA NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti with 8GB.
I'm just not entirely sure which would be the better choice here—that EVGA card or perhaps an XFX AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT?

My workflow mostly involves using Adobe software and maybe doing some streaming on the side. I'm really hoping to find something that I won't feel the need to upgrade for at least the next five years.

Working within the Adobe ecosystem really opens up such a massive range of possibilities, doesn't it? Whether you're diving into heavy photo manipulation, complex video editing, or intense post-production work, the hardware demands change quite a bit. If you're aiming to tackle 4K video, having as much video RAM as possible is definitely the way to go, especially when you start dealing with 6K or 8K source footage—which seems to be becoming the standard more often than not. Even high-resolution projects in Photoshop can get pretty hungry for VRAM if you want to take advantage of GPU acceleration. Since you mentioned wanting a card that will "last" for several years, I have to point out that five years is actually an incredibly long time given how fast technology moves these days
While there's a strong argument to be made for leaning toward AMD, sticking with NVIDIA is generally considered the Safer bet.

If you're trying to "future-proof"—which is a pretty shaky concept anyway—you're better off grabbing the NVIDIA RTX 3060 with its 12GB of VRAM. Once you hit that VRAM ceiling, performance doesn't just dip; it falls off a cliff. Raw speed is one thing, but running out of memory is a whole different disaster. A card that's 20% slower will always just be slightly slower, but
missing VRAM ruins everything. Aside from the 3060, I wouldn't touch the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT for any serious work unless you're specifically looking for something optimized for AMD or you're planning on mining.

It doesn't just tank your performance; you end up staring at an "insufficient video RAM" error message before being left with nothing but a black screen until you manually restart the application or maybe even reboot Windows altogether.