Budget video card for minecraft/LEGO games?

[MiddleOfTheRoad]

That HD 6950 1GB card for $70 ($50 after rebate) would be a mistake, mostly because the limited 1GB VRAM, but also because of its huge power requirements for such a low performance card (by today's standards) and because the support is discontinued (meaning no new drivers), as already stated by others in this thread.

I still think that a second hand GTX 750 Ti 2GB would be the best option with such a limited budget. Maybe it can not be found at $50, but certainly it should not be more expensive than a used R7 370 2GB (or a used HD 7850 2GB - which is basically the same thing as R7 370 2GB).

A GTX 750 Ti is really no better than an HD 6950. It's only got 640 cuda cores -- half the bandwidth of the 6950 (128 bit bus versus a 256 bit bus). Plus, it's barely architecturally better (DirectX 11.2 versus DirectX 11).

Beyond that.... Buying a used card with likely no warranty is risky.

At the $125 price point, I'd recommend the R7 370 over the Ti. Nvidia's high end cards are very compelling buys, but their affordable cards are pretty low performers.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Could get a MSI GT 740 1gb GDDR5 brand new in box for $62+$4 shipping.A hair bit more then your $50 but considering the rest of these run $90+ new it may just be your best option.

Used,there should be plenty of better options if you dig about.The 750 Ti is nearly twice the price but also nearly twice the performance as well.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...27804&cm_re=msi_gt_740-_-14-127-804-_-Product

The GT 740 i mentioned.It's a rebadged GTX650 pretty much.

 

[tweakboy]

Grab a 9800 GT

 

[MrTeal]

Could get a MSI GT 740 1gb GDDR5 brand new in box for $62+$4 shipping.A hair bit more then your $50 but considering the rest of these run $90+ new it may just be your best option.

Used,there should be plenty of better options if you dig about.The 750 Ti is nearly twice the price but also nearly twice the performance as well.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...27804&cm_re=msi_gt_740-_-14-127-804-_-Product

The GT 740 i mentioned.

How on earth is a GT740 (aka a downclocked GTX650) @ $67 a better deal than the 6950 @ $70+$20MIR? Even after the launch of the GTX7xx series the 6970 was still twice as fast as a GT 740.

Especially considering your issues with throttling and needing to remove parts to get decent thermals with that card.

 

[MeldarthX]

Here are a couple to look at.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/XFX-Radeon-...647881?hash=item3abab6d6c9:g:j6gAAOSwX~dWjcWQ

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-AMD-Ra...756082?hash=item280f433af2:g:iAUAAOSwLN5Wjv-s

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sapphire-HD...153735?hash=item3d0e5fa307:g:5AkAAOSwYIhWkrw0

 

[MeldarthX]

740 is a terrible buy - same as 750 ti compared to 370

 

[Headfoot]

OP: I'd consider moving your budget slightly up to ~$70 so you can get a used 7850 2GB (or if you are able to find these cards for that price, any of these would be good buys at $70: 660 2GB, 760 2GB, 750 Ti 2GB, 7850 2GB, 7870 2GB, R7 265 2GB, R7 260x 2GB, etc. Some of these cards are better than others but I doubt you'd find them at $70 though you can get lucky). Just bumping up that $20 will probably get you years of extra lifetime on the tail end of this card. If the $50 is strict, then I must agree the 6950 is the better buy since all the other $50 cards are more or less junk.

I'd keep an eye out particularly for used R7 260x and 7850 2G. I've seen those go on the forum For Sale/Trade around $50-60. Check this forum, Overclockers.net, HardOCP forum, and ArsTechnica forum. Those are my preferred for sale trade forums, I get the best deals there, much better than ebay. And I've never gotten screwed over on the forums and I've gotten screwed over on ebay a few times.

 

[MrTeal]

Here are a couple to look at.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/XFX-Radeon-...647881?hash=item3abab6d6c9:g:j6gAAOSwX~dWjcWQ

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-AMD-Ra...756082?hash=item280f433af2:g:iAUAAOSwLN5Wjv-s

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sapphire-HD...153735?hash=item3d0e5fa307:g:5AkAAOSwYIhWkrw0

Are you seriously linking auctions that are still underway and saying you can get a 7850 for under $50? Even the cheapest of those is already $46.

 

[tweakboy]

Get a 750 GTX nvidia.. gl

 

[gradoman]

For my daughter's PC, we have a 2600k (overkill, but I upgraded and never sold the parts) at stock with a GTX660 at stock and I see dips into the high 40s, low 50s Lego Movie in the more taxing areas like Unikitty's area and it does kind of chug in Lego World with the huge views and open world nature -- down around 40s with everything turned to max at 1080p.

Anything around a GTX660 (sorry, can't think of any off the top of my head, but others will be able to help) would be 99% okay. My daughter, at 8, can notice the FPS dips and if the resolution isn't turned to native or at least not upscaled to fit so when she played some DA: I just to get the horse mount, I turned the resolution down, turned most everything to medium or low and turned off scaling and she was okay with the borders and the FPS.

 

[skipsneeky2]

How on earth is a GT740 (aka a downclocked GTX650) @ $67 a better deal than the 6950 @ $70+$20MIR? Even after the launch of the GTX7xx series the 6970 was still twice as fast as a GT 740.

Especially considering your issues with throttling and needing to remove parts to get decent thermals with that card.

I am running with the assumption that maybe the Op has a lower end power supply that could possibly not run that 6950.The GT 740 certainly would work with about anything but its far from a good deal compared to the 6950 true.

If the op has the power supply to run a 6950,completely forget the GT 740 all together.

Also despite my issues,someone else with the 750 ti version of the same card and cooler reported excellent temps so perhaps like with every brand there is a lemon or 2 to be had.In all honestly since 2006,this is the first card that has ever given me a single issue out of the box.

 

[nanaki333]

not to beat a dead horse, but i love the 750 ti cards. little power sippers and they are on par performance wise with the gtx 480s of old. it's fast enough to feed my twins full blown physx (game permitting of course) without slowing them down.

EDIT: the 750 non-Ti wouldn't be a bad choice for the OP either. http://www.ebay.com/itm/EVGA-GTX-75...026325?hash=item1c5fa978d5:g:TssAAOSw4HVWDJS~

http://www.amazon.com/PNY-GeForce-G...=UTF8&qid=1452705748&sr=1-16&keywords=gtx+750 used starting at $79.99


pain in the butt to search for non-Ti cards but they're out there and can be had a bit cheaper. still going to sip power and should play minecraft and more pretty easily.

 

[skipsneeky2]

not to beat a dead horse, but i love the 750 ti cards. little power sippers and they are on par performance wise with the gtx 480s of old. it's fast enough to feed my twins full blown physx (game permitting of course) without slowing them down.

The 750 ti is gonna end up in my wifes rig with a i3 4170 soon enough.Got the modular Corsair CX430M so get a model without the 6 pin and overall the build is going to be as clean as it could possibly ever get.:thumbsup:

 

[Xellis]

I've got a HIS IceQ HD 6950 2GB that I'm more than willing to part with for $50 total includes shipping!

 

[MiddleOfTheRoad]

Could get a MSI GT 740 1gb GDDR5 brand new in box for $62+$4 shipping.A hair bit more then your $50 but considering the rest of these run $90+ new it may just be your best option.

The GT 740 barely outperforms modern integrated graphics. 384 Cuda Cores? Seriously. Probably not worth purchasing unless you are currently running onboard graphics on an AM3+ motherboard.

 

[tweakboy]

Grab the 750 GTX,, gl

 

[skipsneeky2]

The GT 740 barely outperforms modern integrated graphics. 384 Cuda Cores? Seriously. Probably not worth purchasing unless you are currently running onboard graphics on an AM3+ motherboard.

It certainly outperforms the HD2000 that came on the Sandy Bridge i5 chips.Having ran both i can certainly tell you there is a major difference between the 2.

Hell i nearly bought a a6-7600 myself but more people then not recommended the $60 GT 740 and G1820 and charts certainly show a pairing to be more potent then any APU except maybe for HD530.

HD2000 is bottom of the barrel performance,its miles slower then HD4600 or HD530.

 

[Seba]

A GTX 750 Ti is really no better than an HD 6950. It's only got 640 cuda cores -- half the bandwidth of the 6950 (128 bit bus versus a 256 bit bus). Plus, it's barely architecturally better (DirectX 11.2 versus DirectX 11).

The cards have about the same performance. But that HD 6950 only has 1GB, which is not enough even for older games. Also, the driver support is discontinued. GTX 750 Ti 2GB on the other hand is a Maxwell card and should be supported for a long time from now. I already explained these things in the post you quoted.

Beyond that.... Buying a used card with likely no warranty is risky..

With such a small budget, second hand cards should be considered.

At the $125 price point, I'd recommend the R7 370 over the Ti. Nvidia's high end cards are very compelling buys, but their affordable cards are pretty low performers.

Then why stop at R7 370? There are much better cards than that and his PC is good enough otherwise. Like I said, a second hand GTX 750 Ti 2GB should be the closest card to his $50 budget that still can be considered for games (obviously not as capable as a GTX 980 Ti, but still usable in many games).

 

[SPBHM]

this is pretty common on games from 2015
http://pclab.pl/art67232-6.html

check the 6970...

the old Radeons are a lot worse than they were relative to newer low end cards 2-3 years ago, and they are not getting drivers update now, so...

6950 will probably be quite good for lego, but a 750 ti is a way better card IMO (much higher performance on newer games, lower power usage, currently supported)

 

[MiddleOfTheRoad]

The cards have about the same performance. But that HD 6950 only has 1GB, which is not enough even for older games. Also, the driver support is discontinued. GTX 750 Ti 2GB on the other hand is a Maxwell card and should be supported for a long time from now. I already explained these things in the post you quoted.

Then why stop at R7 370? There are much better cards than that and his PC is good enough otherwise. Like I said, a second hand GTX 750 Ti 2GB should be the closest card to his $50 budget that still can be considered for games (obviously not as capable as a GTX 980 Ti, but still usable in many games).

Considering the cheapest used GTX 750 TI 2GB is currently listed for $100 plus $16 on eBay (Buy It Now)..... It's a ridiculous recommendation. You can't touch those cards for anywhere near $50.... They cost twice that, even used.

....and Used is really damn risky. You can actually buy one brand new from NewEgg for $109 after rebate. There really isn't any cost savings.... Plus, doing the Craig's List thing will probably lead you to buy a Vamery clone / fake instead of an actual GTX 750 Ti.... So buy used at your own peril.

That 1GB HD 6950 will play games all day long @ 1440p as long as you keep the games in medium detail settings and leave AA and AF turned off -- it's the only card that you can buy for $49 brand new video that comes with a 2 year warranty with good gaming performance (which is what the OP asked for). Plus its sold by a reputable vendor, so the chance of getting ripped off is nearly non-existent.

 

[MiddleOfTheRoad]

this is pretty common on games from 2015
http://pclab.pl/art67232-6.html

check the 6970...

the old Radeons are a lot worse than they were relative to newer low end cards 2-3 years ago, and they are not getting drivers update now, so...

6950 will probably be quite good for lego, but a 750 ti is a way better card IMO (much higher performance on newer games, lower power usage, currently supported)

That's a pretty useless benchmark -- I seriously doubt anyone who buys a $49 DirectX 11 generation video card is going to max out AF to 16x and FXAA on a brand new game.
I'd also wager a bet that the similarly priced GT 740 would choke much, much harder at those settings. I'd guestimate around 6 to 10 FPS.

 

[MrTeal]

this is pretty common on games from 2015
http://pclab.pl/art67232-6.html

check the 6970...

the old Radeons are a lot worse than they were relative to newer low end cards 2-3 years ago, and they are not getting drivers update now, so...

6950 will probably be quite good for lego, but a 750 ti is a way better card IMO (much higher performance on newer games, lower power usage, currently supported)

Depends on the game really. Some newer games get a big boost from limiting tessellation in CCC, or a little ini editing. Things like God Rays in FO4 are rough, but can be disabled.

Kind of a moot point though, since the MIR expires tonight. The OP will really have to either stretch a lot on his budget, put the legwork into finding a used card, or settle for something terrible like a GT 730 DDR3.

 

[SPBHM]

That's a pretty useless benchmark -- I seriously doubt anyone who buys a $49 DirectX 11 generation video card is going to max out AF to 16x and FXAA on a brand new game.
I'd also wager a bet that the similarly priced GT 740 would choke much, much harder at those settings. I'd guestimate around 6 to 10 FPS.

what about low settings?
http://pclab.pl/art67250-4.html
maybe it will be playable at 720p?

same result, a 7770 is destroying it.

Depends on the game really. Some newer games get a big boost from limiting tessellation in CCC, or a little ini editing. Things like God Rays in FO4 are rough, but can be disabled.

Kind of a moot point though, since the MIR expires tonight. The OP will really have to either stretch a lot on his budget, put the legwork into finding a used card, or settle for something terrible like a GT 730 DDR3.

god rays are glitched with the old Radeons, it's not just about performance, also, good luck with 1GB and Fallout 4, some parts of the map will be basically unplayable and the game will be unable to properly load the textures most of the time, also I don't think you can blame the horrible performance on tessellation, so it doesn't help much.

a lot of the newer games perform horribly with pre-GCN Radeons, and it's only getting worse with no driver updates.

it's much safer to try and get at least a 750/260, but between a 730 and a 6950, sure the 6950 should be less horrible, but if you are not playing more than lego at low settings perhaps the 730 could make more sense due to lower power draw.

if you are playing newer, more demanding games, I don't see the 6950 1GB as a good choice, you need to get something a little more expensive.

 

[dogen1]

A GTX 750 Ti is really no better than an HD 6950. It's only got 640 cuda cores -- half the bandwidth of the 6950 (128 bit bus versus a 256 bit bus). Plus, it's barely architecturally better (DirectX 11.2 versus DirectX 11).

Beyond that.... Buying a used card with likely no warranty is risky.

At the $125 price point, I'd recommend the R7 370 over the Ti. Nvidia's high end cards are very compelling buys, but their affordable cards are pretty low performers.

API support =/= architecture...

You're saying terascale is almost as good as maxwell?

 

[Seba]

Considering the cheapest used GTX 750 TI 2GB is currently listed for $100 plus $16 on eBay (Buy It Now)..... It's a ridiculous recommendation. You can't touch those cards for anywhere near $50.... They cost twice that, even used.

At about $100 (no rebates) you can buy a new GTX 750 Ti 2GB, like this Zotac card for $105 (or for $125/$110 after rebate that R7 370), so $100 for a used GTX 750 Ti 2GB is obviously an aberrant price.