Any good cheap low profile video card options?

[Budmantom]

I'm looking at something super cheap and used is okay for around $20 my reference point is a Radeon 5670 - this would be for my son so he could play Minecraft.

 

[MajinCry]

You'll want an NVidia GPU since Minecraft uses OpenGL.

 

[VirtualLarry]

How much "oomph" does MineCraft need?

Edit: Scratch those two, you said low-profile.

Look for a LP 1050ti on Newegg.

 

[ao_ika_red]

for around $20 my reference point is a Radeon 5670

I've found this on YT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN-NY_ajhFw
It's said you'll have 99 fps (avg) in 1080p, so GT730 should be more than enough.

Plenty of used GT 730 on the bay (like this), just make sure it has GDDR5 because there's also DDR3 version that noticably slower than GDDR5 counterpart.

I believe @VirtualLarry still has some GT730 around, I hope he will confirm this.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yeah, I think that those "Zotac GT730 GDDR5 1GB" versions are still floating around in various channels, Altatac is selling them on ebay and Newegg Marketplace. I bought five of them (refurb), when I put two into a cruncher, they were crashing hard, but the other three, crunched just fine in my other quad-GPU mobo/rig. And yet, an RX 460 and RX 570 are crunching away in the first PC. So I don't know what the issue was, other than maybe bad card.

I paid $40 ea., haven't tried any games on them (they are only 1GB, but GDDR5), found a YT vid of one of these cards supposedly playing GTA V. I guess they can play it, with appropriate settings.

Edit: But those Zotac cards aren't Low-Profile. Again, I guess not a contender.

I think that there does exist a LP GT730 GDDR5 card, but it may be hard to find these days.

Sorry, OP, your price range doesn't leave much.

A LP GT710 is like $30-50, and a LP GT1030 2GB GDDR5 is like $85-120.

 

[wilds]

I play Minecraft on my HD 4000 graphics on my old laptop. Really any GPU whether AMD or Nvidia can do this.

 

[chrx144]

Hi. I suggest ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT 256MB DDR2 SDRAM PCI Express x16. It's only $15.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Cheapest GT710 you can find. If you don't mind used, you may be able to snag an older GT520/610 cheaply.

Alternatively an Oland-based card from AMD. They were called Radeon R5 240, I don't know were rebranding has taken them. Anything lower then that is really no improvement on your HD5670. Avoid the 230, they're nothing more then rebranded HD6450's.

If you run 10, you'll want something DX11 compatible minimum. For used cards, anything Fermi and newer from NV still get driver updates. AMD has effectively killed off anything older then 1st gen GCN, so you'll want to avoid those if you're running 10.

 

[Budmantom]

How much "oomph" does MineCraft need?

Edit: Scratch those two, you said low-profile.

Look for a LP 1050ti on Newegg.

When I search LP 1050ti the 2 options I see are both over $450.

 

[ao_ika_red]

When I search LP 1050ti the 2 options I see are both over $450.

Any video card that has 4GB of VRAM or more is priced like no tomorrow. Better off with GT 1030, GTX1050 2GB, RX550 2GB, and RX 560 2GB or with older card like GT 710, GT 730, HD 7730, and R7 240.

 

[VirtualLarry]

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814137215&ignorebbr=1

Get one of these for $55! Hurry! (2GB GDDR5 GT730 model, low-profile)

 

[ao_ika_red]

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814137215&ignorebbr=1

Get one of these for $55! Hurry! (2GB GDDR5 GT730 model, low-profile)

If only GT1030 is sold in its MSRP price, that GT730 deal won't look so good.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yeah. GT1030 2GB is around $110-130 USD now. (Which is what you could get a GTX1050ti 4GB for, at one point.)

 

[cbn]

GT 710 GDDR5 is another option.

Here is one for $42.99 free shipping:

https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/159674/Asus-GeForce-GT-710-Graphic-Card/

(I wonder how much slower than GT 730 GDDR5? I suppose it depends how bandwidth limited the GT 730 GDDR5 relative to its more powerful GPU core?)

 

[wilds]

Just realized that the Radeon 5670 is significantly faster than my HD 4000 graphics I use to play Minecraft at 60fps.

This thread is confusing to me. If OP has a 5670, just use that!

My old Nvidia GT 6800 rig runs Minecraft above 40fps. The ancient dual core is the main bottleneck in that rig.