GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

With mining prices going absolutely crazy right now, I'm wondering what "normal" prices look like for graphics cards—basically, what would be a fair deal to grab one? I haven't really kept up with hardware for about 10 years, so I’ve lost all sense of what things should actually cost.

For instance, looking at these specific cards and their current prices on government.us:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, 8 GB DDR5, 256-bit, 1822/8008 MHz - $1433 (code 62640ADM)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, 6 GB DDR5, 192-bit, 1797/8008 MHz - $917 (code 62708ADM)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, 4GB GDDR5, WF2 - $480 (code 62733ADM)

What would be a decent price for these GPUs?

Is it just GPU prices blowing up, or is this happening with pretty much every other component too?

This one looks okay, I guess. Everything else isn't really up to par. 😬

Aside from the GPUs, RAM prices are pretty brutal right now too. They seem to be creeping up because of all the demand from mobile platforms.

Roughly $1233 for an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, whereas the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB models were going for about $767 (and those competitive RX 480 8GB cards actually had even better pricing, sometimes dropping below $667). An NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti would run around 1250-$450, and the latter wasn't really impacted by the recent mining crisis

It looks like the miners might have messed up a bit;

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/a...graphics-cards

Anyway, I had put off buying a GPU, but now I'm thinking about pulling the trigger by the end of the month.

So, for under $220, would an RX 470 or a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 with 4GB still be a decent pick?

Keep in mind I have the option to pick one up in Germany, just mentioning it for availability—I doubt the prices will be significantly different.

The pros who stay in this game long-term have made a killing... but those "weekend warriors" who thought they could just jump in for a few months and grab some quick cash? They got absolutely wrecked.

hollowmaker6 said:It looks like the miners really messed things up;

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/a...graphics-cards

Anyway, I had put off buying a GPU for a bit, but now I'm thinking about pulling the trigger by the end of the month.

So, for under $200, is an RX 470 or a GTX 1050 with 4GB still my best bet?

Keep in mind I have the option to pick one up in Germany, just mentioning it for availability reasons—though I doubt the prices will be significantly different.

The situation in Germany and everywhere else globally is pretty much identical to what we're seeing here. You might want to check out their Geizhals site (it's like using a price comparison tool like Google Shopping)

What PCI-E graphics card would you guys suggest for $333
?

If you register the card on the Zotac website, I guess you get a 5-year warranty.

crimsonstag84 said:If you register the card on the Zotac website, you get a 5-year warranty.

Fair enough... I was actually looking at this one, but I figured I'd ask just to be safe. 👍

That one would actually be even better, though finding it might be a bit of a struggle (it says available on order, so maybe give it a shot).

I could really use some advice on a new purchase because, honestly, I haven't kept up with the GPU market at all over the last few years.

Here’s what I’m running right now:

• CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955
• RAM: 8 GB DDR3
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760
• Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster T220

I'm stuck in a bit of a three-way dilemma regarding these specific cards:

• AMD Radeon RX 560 4 GB
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
• AMD Radeon RX 570

The real headache is mostly between the first two when it comes to the price tag—I'm just not sure if the RX 570 is actually worth jumping up for if it costs an extra $50 or so. And of course, if I start leaning toward the RX 570, then I realize the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 isn't much more expensive, and the whole cycle just starts all over again...
Beyond raw performance, I care about decent cooling, quiet operation, and how long the card will actually last before dying on me. It's strictly for gaming; I have zero interest in mining. Also, does it make sense to think about upgrading to a new monitor now that I'm looking at a new GPU?

Thanks in advance. 🙂

Well, an AMD Radeon RX 560 or an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti aren't really upgrades. 😁

The AMD Radeon RX 560 is roughly on par with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is maybe 20% faster. An AMD Radeon RX 570 would absolutely crush both—it's twice as fast as the RX 560 and about 40-60% faster than the GTX 1050 Ti—but you can't find them right now because crypto miners grabbed them all up. Honestly, the RX 570 is basically identical to, or just slightly faster than, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB, though it does pull a bit more power.

A fair price for an RX 570 used to be around $533, but they aren't selling for less than $800 lately, at least for the next month or so.

By the way, is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 giving you trouble at that resolution? It should handle everything just fine on High settings...

Also, and this might be the biggest issue, your CPU is probably too weak... I suspect it's struggling even with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760. In my opinion, you'll likely see a much bigger jump in performance by upgrading your processor rather than your GPU, especially since you're running at such a low resolution where the CPU becomes the bottleneck if the graphics card isn't pinned at 99-100% usage.

Exactly. You've reached the point where you need to overhaul your entire platform before even thinking about upgrading the GPU.

Eventually, you might be able to hang onto your MBO and RAM if you happen to have an AM3+ motherboard that supportsthis
one.

I don't actually have any major issues with my rig, except for the fact that one of the fans on my graphics card finally gave up the ghost. Now, temperatures are spiking north of 80°C while I'm gaming—which means half the chips on that board are probably slowly dying, right? Everything still runs fine on mid-to-high settings, though. Since the card is getting pretty old, I've been thinking about an upgrade... I could always try overclocking the CPU, since it's still sitting at 3.2 GHz.

Honestly, I never realized just how competitive this card actually was. So, for an upgrade, should I just hold out for an AMD Radeon RX 570, or stretch my budget a bit for a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060? If I go that route, I’d definitely be aiming for the 6 GB version. Or, is there even a way to just swap out the fans myself if that's even possible? 😬

Look, you have to understand that you won't see those gains because the CPU would just bottleneck it. Even as things stand, your CPU is preventing you from seeing the full potential of your GPU in quite a few games.

Interesting. Should I grab this? Or maybe aim for something a bit better? And what’s the deal with the graphics card—am I stuck with this one for a while longer, or not? You guys just completely flipped my priority list on me. 😁

What motherboard are you running?

Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3

That should work fine for an AMD FX-8300 or the 8370E. Both are solid picks, though the 8300 is a bit easier on the wallet based on that link Timothy Kim60 posted. You’ll definitely want to grab a decent Cooler if you don't have one already.
If you manage to overclock it to around 4GHz, you can pretty much pair it with whatever you want.

I didn't even catch the link up there. Nice. Besides, I've already got a
Cooler
. So, the real question is what to do about the graphics card. 🙂