GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

bluesailor16 said:Look, I'm just here for advice from people who actually know their stuff. I'm not trying to start an argument. My graphics card is fine. I just need help deciding what else to buy. I don't want to spend an insane amount of money, just something reasonable that will last as long as my current gear. I need suggestions for a motherboard, RAM, and a CPU. Thanks.

What's your budget?

Zachary Nguyen2 said:What’s your budget looking like?

And some $1333

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First thing you need to do is swap out the platform, because the CPU is the bottleneck here:

1 * Intel Core Desktop CPU i5-12400 6C/12T (3.3/4.4GHz Boost, 18MB, 65W, LGA 1200) Box
Part Number: 100-100000457BOX
1 * GIGABYTE Motherboard Intel B460 (LGA 1200, 2xDDR4, 1xPCI-E3.0x16, 2xPCI-Ex1, USB3.1, USB2.0, 4xSATA, 1xM.2, Raid, HDMI, VGA, GLAN) mATX Retail
Part Number: B460M H
1 * G.Skill 3000MHz AEGIS C16 DDR4 16GB (2x8)
Part Number: F4-3000C16D-16GISB

Total after discount: $671
Free shipping (prices sourced from Accenture)
- just a quick heads-up, if you grab this combo, ask them before buying if the motherboard has the latest BIOS installed to support the newer chips. If not, have them flash it before they ship it out.-

See how it performs with the new platform and a fresh GPU. If you're still feeling underwhelmed, you can always put an extra $300 toward a beefier graphics card.
Right now, you can pick up a brand new GTX 1660 for about $300, or if you're looking at the used market, hunt for an RTX 2060 that still carries a warranty.

If you're sticking with the LGA 1200 platform, go for the Core i5-12400. The performance jump is legit. If there's any extra cash, don't skimp on the motherboard—get one with decent VRM heatsinks.

Check out Accenture too.

1 * Intel Core Desktop CPU i5-12400 6C/12T (3.5/4.4GHz Boost, 20MB, 65W, LGA 1200) Box
SKU: 100-100000927BOX
1 * GIGABYTE Main Board Desktop Intel B460M GAMING
SKU: B460M_GAMING
1 * G.Skill 3000MHz AEGIS C16 DDR4 16GB (2x8)
SKU: F4-3000C16D-16GISB
Total: $366.76 $921
Discounted Total: $330.08 $829

Just wait until after New Year's to swap out the GPU.

Much appreciated.

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When it comes to FIFA, it honestly doesn't matter much; the game isn't exactly a heavy hitter for the CPU. You could probably even get away with an i3, but since Intel tends to price their motherboards higher, that combo ends up being way too expensive for someone trying to build a budget rig.
For gaming, he can just go with the most basic motherboard possible—nothing is going to overheat. I was actually looking at putting together a build on a tight budget so he’d have about $300 left over for a GPU, which is why I opted for the slightly cheaper Core i5-12400 instead. 🙂

Which card would be the best value right now, the RTX 3070?
I see options from ASUS, EVGA, and MSI ranging from $450 up to $1833.
Which one would you guys recommend and what's the reasoning behind it?
Thanks in advance!

Just grab the cheapest model you can find; the differences are pretty much negligible:
- Performance varies by maybe 0 to 5%, depending on how much a specific model is overclocked. Those cards claiming a 5% boost are usually way more expensive and totally not worth the money.
- Cooling solutions—you might see some variation between models, but generally at this level, you won't run into single-fan setups, so any of them will be fine.

For example: It has triple-fan cooling, so it's great in that regard, though it isn't factory overclocked. It might not even be possible to overclock it since it's essentially just an overclocked version of the RTX 3070.

Frank Evans5 said:Which is the best/most cost-effective card, the RTX 3070?
I see options from ASUS, EVGA, and MSI ranging from $450 up to $1833.
What would you recommend and why?
Thanks in advance

Adam Moore3 said:Just grab the cheapest model you find; the differences are mostly negligible:
- performance gaps are maybe 0 to 5%, depending on how much a specific model is overclocked. Those cards sitting at the top end of that 5% range are usually way more expensive and totally not worth it
- cooling solutions - there can be differences between models, but generally in this tier, you won't see single-fan setups, so any of them will be fine

Example: https://www.newegg.com/evga-speedster-qick-...dr6-p491508920. It has triple-fan cooling so it's great in that regard, though it isn't factory overclocked. You might not even be able to OC it since it's basically just an overclocked version of the 6700XT anyway.

Always aim for the strongest GPU your budget allows. If you have $1833, go for the RTX 3080 instead; it's more powerful than the RTX 3070 and has more VRAM (16GB vs 12GB).

https://www.bestbuy.com/xfx-rx6800-speeds...m_medium=click

https://www.amazon.com/graphics-cards...ddr6-192454691

The 3070Ti is also worth considering, but I wouldn't pick it over the RTX 3080 because of the measly 8GB of VRAM.

The RTX 3070 isn't a bad card, but it sits closer to $1333

Can I get some love for my MSI motherboard and Intel Core i7-4770K setup?

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Since I'm just hanging out waiting for those new mid-range cards to drop next year, I figured I’d jump in here and see if anyone has some solid upgrade advice.

My current setup:
CPU - Intel Core i3-8100
GPU - GTX 1060

What's coming next:
CPU - Intel Core i5-11400 (ordering this any day now!)
GPU - I think I'll hold off for a bit—basically using this time to go down an absolute rabbit hole on YouTube watching benchmarks and trying to figure out the best move without totally overspending.

I'm mostly doing 1080P gaming on a 144 Hz monitor. Honestly, the more I read about this stuff, the more confused I get!
I'm really looking for that sweet spot where the CPU and GPU are balanced so I'm not just throwing money away. As the Frames Per Second climb, it feels like the load shifts from the card to the processor and you hit that bottleneck thing. I'm definitely no expert, but my gut tells me that for 1080P, there's probably no point in buying a beastly high-end card because the CPU will just end up capping the performance anyway. I get that bottlenecks matter more at higher frame rates and it might not even affect the actual experience, but since I'm just a casual, occasional gamer—and I actually handed my old rig over to my son who basically just plays Minecraft—I don't want to waste cash.🙄

Logic suggests I shouldn't be aiming for anything much beefier than an
RTX 3060
RTX 3060
RTX 3060

or maybe even some used 5700XT.

All I really want is to roughly "double" my current Frames Per Second compared to what my GTX 1060 is doing now.

Does it make sense to wait for the last round of mid-range cards from Nvidia and Intel?
It looks like the market is getting flooded with used cards lately, and prices seem to be dropping.

I'm in no rush, though. My GTX 1060 still holds its own pretty well, even if I have to tweak some settings.

Anyone got any smart suggestions?

Actually, you might want to aim a bit higher than what you listed. An RTX 3060 Ti or an RTX 3070 would pretty much be the ceiling for that processor if you want any sense of balance. Even then, you’re looking at maybe a 5% bottleneck, which most people consider negligible.
There are some calculators out there if you want to mess around with the numbers.

https://pc-builds.com/bottleneck-calculator/
https://www.cpuagent.com/fps-bottleneck-calculator

But look here, just because a CPU can bottleneck a GPU doesn't mean your graphics card will constantly sit there underutilized. That only happens when one of those CPU cores hits 100% usage. How often that actually occurs depends entirely on the game. Some are optimized to spread the load across multiple cores, others aren't. It's hard to give a definitive answer, but usually, when a bottleneck does hit, it's just a momentary stutter or a quick dip in Frames Per Second. Your average performance won't stay low unless the CPU is genuinely ancient.
Basically, those cards are your upper limit. If you're eyeing something more powerful, it'd be smarter to upgrade the CPU too.

Wow🙏
That’s such a killer response! Thanks so much.
I decided to stick with 1080p since I'm switching over to a 27-inch monitor at home—it's gonna be sitting on a pretty deep desk. On my current 24-inch setup, the icons already feel a little cramped, you know?

What you suggested seems totally reasonable either way.

I think I'll keep an eye on the prices for a bit, and I'm sure something in that ballpark will pop up eventually.

thanks!👍

Hey, I’ve finished most of my upgrade path, leaving just the GPU as the final purchase.
Right now, I have an RTX 3060 Ti and an RTX 3070 sitting at home, and frankly, neither is cutting it for me.

It’s a multi-layered issue. My setup uses a 1440P Ultrawide monitor connected via a Dell at 120Hz.
https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/e7df113a

Nvidia isn't the right move for me currently because almost every game I play demands significantly more VRAM if I want to crank the settings up to my liking.

Intel offers more VRAM, but even then, it's still not enough. Plus, I lose G-Sync functionality when I try to use it, and I'm dealing with driver-related crashes—something I don't experience at all with Nvidia in those same titles.

I don't technically have a strict budget, but I refuse to pay for overpriced bullshit. I watched the RTX 4000 series launch livestream, saw the prices, and thought "forget that." Yesterday, I followed the Intel 13th Gen release which had much better pricing, but even then, the RTX 4080 will likely sit around $1,100-$1,200 on the US market.
I'm also getting zero benefit from G-Sync, though I'm not entirely sure if that's a massive loss for my specific usage or not. 🤦

For now, I'm eyeing used RTX 3090s, as I don't want to sink more than that into a card. $1833Otherwise, I might just wait to see how things shake out, especially since that slightly downgraded RTX 4080 will probably be rebranded as a 4070 at a new price point.

To be honest, I'm at a total loss on what to do next. Fortunately, there's no immediate pressure since I can still limp along with what I currently have. So, I'm just waiting and weighing my options to find the absolute best price-to-performance pick. It’s a shame there isn't an RTX 3070 Ti or a 3080 with, say, 16GB or 20GB of VRAM available. 👎

What kind of setup are you running in terms of the CPU, RAM, and motherboard?

I honestly don't think you need more than 12GB for that resolution.



If there's extra VRAM available, the game might load more assets, but that doesn't mean it actually needs them. I highly doubt you'd see any noticeable difference in Frames Per Second between 12GB and 16GB at that resolution.

If you want to avoid buying overpriced bullshit, you should probably just wait for both Nvidia and Intel to drop their mid-range cards. Maybe then prices will actually start making sense. But hey, nothing is guaranteed.

Lawrence Phillips said:Since I'm waiting for those mid-range cards to drop next year, I figured I’d jump in here and ask for some advice on the best upgrade path.

Current setup:
CPU - Intel Core i3-8100
GPU - GTX 1060

Future plans:
CPU - Intel Core i5-11400 (ordering it this week!)
GPU - I think I'll wait a bit longer—using this time to basically lose my mind watching YouTube reviews and trying to figure out the best option without going totally overboard.

I play at 1080P on a 144 Hz monitor. Honestly, the more I read, the more confused I get!
I'm looking for that sweet spot where the CPU and GPU are balanced so I'm not just throwing money away. As the Frames Per Second go up, the load shifts from the GPU to the CPU, which leads to that whole bottleneck thing. I'm no expert, but it seems to me that for 1080P, there's no point in buying a monster card because the CPU will just cap the performance anyway. I get that bottlenecks happen at high frame rates and it doesn't really ruin the experience, but since I'm just a casual player—and I actually handed my main rig over to my son who mostly plays Minecraft—I don't want to waste cash.🙄

My gut tells me I shouldn't aim for anything beefier than an
RTX 3060
RTX 3060
RTX 3060

or maybe even a used 5700 XT.

Basically, I just want to roughly "double" my current Frames Per Second compared to what the GTX 1060 is doing now.

Does it make sense to wait for the last round of mid-range cards from Nvidia and Intel?
The market is getting flooded with used cards, and prices seem to be dropping.

I'm in no rush, though. The GTX 1060 still holds its own if I tweak the settings down a bit.

Anyone got any smart suggestions?

Update on this!
A friend offered me a 2080 for $200. She barely ever used it for gaming.

First, I gotta check my power supply. I swapped it a while back... can't quite remember what I picked.

What do you guys think about that? That card might actually be way too much for my CPU at 1080p.

Is the deal decent?
It doesn't have a warranty.

Edit.
The CPU is sitting at like 2% theoretical bottleneck with it.
So, it should be perfect.

The real question is... is the price right?

A Corsair RM550... man, that might be cutting it a little too close, don't you think?

Lawrence Phillips said:Edit.
The CPU is sitting at maybe 2% theoretical bottleneck with that card.
So, it's fine.

The real question is if the price is right...

I think the money is fine; you won't find anything close to this new for under two hundred bucks.

As for that bottleneck thing... it depends. In some games, the GPU is still the massive bottleneck, in others, it's the CPU, but overall the balance is okay.

Power supply should be fine. The Intel Core i5-11400 and the rest of the build pulls about 100W total, plus the GPU takes another 200W.