Best graphics card around $150-$200?

[jadamsuw]

Hi all,

I've been perusing tom's hardware and anandtech and thought I'd ask the community for a little bit of input as well. About 4-5 years ago I built a PC with this community's help (specs at bottom), and am wanting to upgrade the graphics card. It looks like the GTX 670 I installed has held up pretty well, and the main game that I'm eyeing is playerunknown's Battlegrounds, which it seems may baaaarely tolerate my old card. I'd like to be able to play on higher settings, though do not need to be able to max everything out. The monitor is an old 23.6" 1080p monitor I've had for a long time that I don't feel the need to replace ATM unless necessary, but I would like to be able to upgrade it in the near future to higher resolution. I'm open to AMD or nVidia, though I'm pretty sure I recall that nVidia was a better fit for my motherboard.

My budget is around $100-$200, though I could stretch a tiny bit if an extra $15-$20 nabbed a significant upgrade in terms of RAM or other hardware. What would be a good upgrade over my current card?

Thank you all in advance!

---

Monitor - ASUS VH242H

Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 996776 -

ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard -

ANTEC 302 case

Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W Modular High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandybridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom -

Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) -

GIGABYTE 02G-P4-2670-KR GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card -

Intel Core i5-3550 Ivy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2500 BX80637I53550 -

LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS424-98 LightScribe Support -

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel

 

[Guru]

The best option used to be RX 470/570, and I say it used to be because these cards are very hard to find these days thanks to another virtual coin mine craze, so you either can't find one or prices are at an absurd levels now.

The RX 470 8GB cards used to be around $180, so a perfect mid range gpu, way better than the 1050ti, close in performance to the RX 480.

The RX 570 is even better, the higher clocks added 10% performance and the cards still have large enough OC headroom as well. Unfortunately finding one is very hard or if you do find one, price may easily be $250, I've even seen prices of $300 because of the mining craze.

I think you should wait for about a month, when the mining craze subsides and pick up a RX 470 or 580.

alternatively you could go for a 1060 6GB, but the cheapest one is $240, cards with beefier cooling usually go for $260. The 1060 3GB version is NOT worth buying. It costs $200, but its already outdated, its ram is a huge limiting factor, there are at least 4-5 games that already require 4gb vram to function properly like Deus-EX, Resident Evil, etc...

So I guess your best option is to wait about a month, things should go back to normal by then.

 

[bononos]

.........
So I guess your best option is to wait about a month, things should go back to normal by then.

So AMD Vega's release going to help availability for the RX mid range? I thought Vega was for the high end segment to compete with the 1080ti only?

 

[jadamsuw]

The best option used to be RX 470/570, and I say it used to be because these cards are very hard to find these days thanks to another virtual coin mine craze, so you either can't find one or prices are at an absurd levels now.

The RX 470 8GB cards used to be around $180, so a perfect mid range gpu, way better than the 1050ti, close in performance to the RX 480.

The RX 570 is even better, the higher clocks added 10% performance and the cards still have large enough OC headroom as well. Unfortunately finding one is very hard or if you do find one, price may easily be $250, I've even seen prices of $300 because of the mining craze.

I think you should wait for about a month, when the mining craze subsides and pick up a RX 470 or 580.

alternatively you could go for a 1060 6GB, but the cheapest one is $240, cards with beefier cooling usually go for $260. The 1060 3GB version is NOT worth buying. It costs $200, but its already outdated, its ram is a huge limiting factor, there are at least 4-5 games that already require 4gb vram to function properly like Deus-EX, Resident Evil, etc...

So I guess your best option is to wait about a month, things should go back to normal by then.

Thanks so much. I haven't used an AMD card in a very long time so am even less familiar with their hardware. I'm not savvy enough to worry about overclocking, though I suppose that doesn't mean I couldn't learn. I agree it seems the 1050 is fairly underwhelming. What are your opinions on the 1060 6gb as it compares to the gtx that I have? I'd be OK with stretching up towards $250 if it meant the difference between buying now or buying in a month.

Overall, I think I could probably try to limp by on my gtx until prices come down (as you say, the cards you recommend are sold out everywhere ATM).

 

[Elixer]

What games are you playing the most?

If you don't have a need right now, as in, the stuff you are playing is running fine, then, if you can wait until Fall, you will have many more options available to you.

 

[jadamsuw]

What games are you playing the most?

If you don't have a need right now, as in, the stuff you are playing is running fine, then, if you can wait until Fall, you will have many more options available to you.

The only game I've any urgency to play is Battlegrounds. Everything else I'm just fine with and could wait on. If I can limp by ok battlegrounds with the gtx I can try to do that, though the system recs make it seem like that might not be likely...

 

[tamz_msc]

That game is using UE4, plus early access, and as usual developers have not bothered with the code base of UE4 to make it run well, especially on AMD GPUs. So an NVIDIA card would be a better option.

Something like a GTX 1060 6GB if you can find one for less than 200$, or the GTX 1060 3GB.

 

[tential]

I can't recommend Nvidia midrange when Gsync/Freesync should always be looked at. If you're this price conscious, you should just wait and get an AMD GPU and an AMD Freesync capable monitor down the line when you can.

Otherwise, use slickdeals and pick up a cheap gtx 1060 6GB

 

[Guru]

Thanks so much. I haven't used an AMD card in a very long time so am even less familiar with their hardware. I'm not savvy enough to worry about overclocking, though I suppose that doesn't mean I couldn't learn. I agree it seems the 1050 is fairly underwhelming. What are your opinions on the 1060 6gb as it compares to the gtx that I have? I'd be OK with stretching up towards $250 if it meant the difference between buying now or buying in a month.

Overall, I think I could probably try to limp by on my gtx until prices come down (as you say, the cards you recommend are sold out everywhere ATM).

The 1050 and 1050ti are very very underwhelming, the RX 470 is up to 40% faster, 570% up to 50% faster in many games, though on average more like 20% faster, newer games and DX12 games probably 25% to 30% faster.

The 1060 6GB is pretty much the only good option right now, but not the perfect one. Right now it loses to the RX 580 in the majority of games, especially decently OC'ed factory cards like the Sapphire+ or Zotac, its worse in DX12 and Vulkan and has 2GB less vram.

Technically the performance difference is only 3% overall in favor of the RX 580, that is before any factory overclocks or manual overclocks, and 2GB vram difference is not going to mean much anytime soon, you would much likely be GPU bound, rather than vram bound.

Ultimately do you want to wait about a month for the craze to subside, so you can get the best value which is the RX470/580 8GB or you can stretch up to $250 (around $70 more) and get a decent 1060 6GB, I recommend the MSI Gaming or Aorus. Many of the Asus Strix 1060 6GB had bad thermal paste on them and performed really crappy in terms of cooling with such a massive cooler, the MSI is the best looker and has one of the best coolers on the market, quiet, extremely efficient, even at 40% it keeps the card below 60C.

 

[XSoldier77X]

GTX 1060 3GB is around 190-200. AMD Radeon XFX 4GB is around 140. GTX 1050 4GB is around 150-160. The lowest you'll get in EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB is $235-240. If you can go for that, that'll be great.

 

[bononos]

GTX 1060 3GB is around 190-200. AMD Radeon XFX 4GB is around 140. GTX 1050 4GB is around 150-160. The lowest you'll get in EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB is $235-240. If you can go for that, that'll be great.

3Gb is already insufficient for some current big titles at high settings. The RX400-500 series are better buys or go for the cheaper single fan 1060 6Gb cards.

 

[OatisCampbell]

I don't know that I can agree with a "you have to consider some form of adaptive sync".

The OP has a 24" 1080P 60Hz TN panel. 24" is a pretty small panel for immersion.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...&cm_re=27_inch_monitor-_-24-236-809-_-Product

27" 75Hz 1440P for $269 might be an upgrade path.

I've seen used 30" 1600p IPS panels in the $250-300 price range, and a 6" screen size jump + the big resolution change definitely has more "Wow" factor than adaptive sync. I used a panel like that for a lot of years, and it blew me away when I made the jump from a 24" monitor to that.

When I finally replaced it I went 34" Ultrawide, and did not get adaptive.

I've used adaptive many times at friends homes, but I never thought "OMG! Have to have this!. It's nice, but other things like panel speed, size, type, ultrawide also factor into display satisfaction.

 

[4960X]

I'd go with either a gtx 1060 or RX580/570. Whichever card you go with can handle 1080p games fine.
http://www.relaxedtech.com/reviews/amd/radeon-rx-580-rx-570/3

 

[XSoldier77X]

3Gb is already insufficient for some current big titles at high settings. The RX400-500 series are better buys or go for the cheaper single fan 1060 6Gb cards.

Agreed. Though 500 series is going to take his expense well over 200. If he can spend another 50-100 bucks, that'd be be the best option.

 

[SPBHM]

due to the mining thing I think the 1060 3GB becomes perhaps the best option on this range,
the memory is concerning, you can certainly make it become a bottleneck in some current games, but it's also true that on those games you can normally turn down settings like texture quality and in many of them it's really hard to notice the difference in visual quality (from ultra to high for example)
as for the future, not sure how much things will change, games are still going to be made for consoles with limited memory (yes they have 8GB physical, but some is reserved and other used for non GPU stuff, many console games are using texture quality lower than the top quality on PC, which runs OK with 4GB cards), also 2GB cards with decent perf are still being made (like the 1050), so 3GB is a problem but I don't think it will make the card useless soon.

if you could find a card with more vram within your budget... but the 6GB and 8GB cards are a bit more expensive.
from past experience buying cards with limited vram is normally a bad deal on the long run (like 7850 1GB), but...

 

[cbn]

due to the mining thing I think the 1060 3GB becomes perhaps the best option on this range

There was an EVGA GTX 1060 3GB on sale for $160 AR.

Its gone now, but in general I agree that pretty much the GTX 1060 3GB is only option* at this time.

*due to the Radeon RX 570 and RX 580 supply being bought up by miners.

 

[TeknoBug]

GL finding an AMD card these days, the GTX1060 is the optimal option IMO.

 

[ultimatebob]

Yeah, I'd go with a 3 or 6 GB (on sale) GTX 1060. My PC only had a 450W power supply, so that was a no brainer for me. Something like an RX 580 would likely overtax it.

 

[LostPassword]

Newegg has some rebates going on this week for their single fan 1060 6gb cards. With free rocket league game. Im building a new pc myself. Cannot find any decent amd card in stock so i went over my $200 budget myself.

 

[lukart]

If you could find a 470 its a great card, just sold my 470 Red Devil which almost clocks as 480 by default. Was a good card.

 

[Leyawiin]

GTX 1060 3GB is just about the only card you'll find in the $150 - $200 range in this crypto currency mining market. AMD cards aren't worth mentioning not for performance but for availability. They're just not there if you need to buy right now.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

In under 5 sentences, could someone please explain to a guy who's been out of the loop for a while how you can use your GPU to make money by crpto currency etherium mining?

 

[ultimatebob]

In under 5 sentences, could someone please explain to a guy who's been out of the loop for a while how you can use your GPU to make money by crpto currency etherium mining?

You probably won't at this point. Either the price of Etherium will crash (making mining it unprofitable), or the difficulty of mining it will go through the roof (also making mining it unprofitable). It's lose/lose for people just starting out now.

If you're gonna make money mining crypto, you gotta do it while the coins are cheap and easy to mine. The only time I made any real money doing this on a $150 class video card is when I mined Litecoin when it was worth around 4 cents. Now it's around what... $40? I guess that I should have held onto it a while longer.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Uh...in English please. How do you use your video card to make money and "mine" crypto? What does the person paying you get out of it?

 

[ultimatebob]

Uh...in English please. How do you use your video card to make money and "mine" crypto? What does the person paying you get out of it?

https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/questions/110/how-to-mine-ether-and-use-ethereum-on-windows

But, seriously, I wouldn't bother at this point. At best, you'll make enough from mining to pay for your video card after a few weeks.