Question Looking to replace my Radeon R9 270....thoughts?

[Jim Bancroft]

I have a 5 year old PC with:

Core i5-7600 CPU
16 GB RAM
1 SSD drive, 512 MB
2 HDD, 4 GB each
Blu-Ray DVD
Radeon R9 270
550W PSU


The setup right now is fine for some racing sims I play on occasion; I don't need 4K graphics with full eye candy but I don't want a 3 FPS experience either if I get Doom Eternal at some point. I've been out of the market for a while and wondered what a good GPU replacement would be for <=$150? I'd like to stick with Radeon but if there's an NVidia offering that blows it out of the water at that price point I'm listening.

The PSU is a temporary replacement for one that died recently; I'll probably upgrade to a 650W soon. Thanks for your advice.

 

[Glo.]

At that price point the choices you have:
GTX 1650 Super
RX 5500 XT 4 GB,
RX 580
RX 570.

Between RX 580, 5500 XT and 1650 Super there is no performance difference, but GTX 1650 Super is the most efficient one of them all.

 

[Shmee]

I would go with a good RX 580 8GB.

 

[Stuka87]

The only card that is actually less than $150 (brand new, not counting used) is the RX 570. Which is a lot faster than your current card. It is several years old now, but at that price, its the best bang for the buck.

 

[Jim Bancroft]

Thanks everyone.

 

[guachi]

If you wish to go new and will accept good 1080 performance the 570 is far and away the value leader.

After that, the 1650 Super is a good buy, but it's definitely more money.

 

[Hitman928]

If the 550W PSU is a decent model, it probably doesn't need to be replaced either.

 

[Stuka87]

If the 550W PSU is a decent model, it probably doesn't need to be replaced either.

Yeah, I ran my RX480 off a 520W PSU (Made by SeaSonic) for many years with no issues.

 

[Zstream]

I'd get a used 480 and call it a day. Unless you're going to do an overhaul of your pc, it's not worth spending money like that on a new gpu.

 

[SPBHM]

would go with the cheapest RX 570/480 you can find to hold until the new consoles and gen of GPUs is out.

 

[Tup3x]

GTX 1650 Super has better video decoding and encoding. It also supports some newer things like VRS which may be beneficial in the future. RX 580 8GB would still be rather nice for pure gaming. I'd expect them to optimise for Navi in the future. Polaris is getting old.

 

[Jim Bancroft]

Thanks again for your advice. Regarding used GPUs, I know it's a crapshoot out there, but in dipping my toes in the eBay waters I see a number of listings mention things like 'Bitcoin mining use only, for six months.'

Is that really a selling point? I'd figure bitcoin mining would involve extreme overclocking to get maximum $$ out of the card before it blew a gasket. Maybe I'm wrong. If I do go used, what tells should I look for as a first pass filter, things that to you would indicate an immediate 'no-go'?

If the fans on a card are shot, are they generally of a 'standard' size or two that can be replaced, or do the manufacturers all have proprietary ones that cost $$ to replace?

 

[Arkaign]

All the smart miners (at least those who paid for their own power) generally undervolted their RX470/480/570/580/590/Vega stuff, because efficiency on those can be a little to a huge amount better with some judiciously tweaked lowered power and I think even core clocks, with some minor boost to ram clocks for best results per watt.

So mining isn't always a no-go, but it is quite a lot more usage time than normal gaming, even if a gamer plays 4hrs a day or something crazy.

Of course, too many unknowns. How hot was it ambient? How good airflow in a case, if in a case at all? What quality PSU was used? Was it humid there? Too dry, potential static environment? Yadda/etc.

I've had generally good luck with used hardware, though I bought an RX580 here that was pretty underwhelming (at no fault of the seller, it was just a thirsty/hot example).

If you can stretch your budget to a used Vega56 or 1070 8GB, you'll probably be in better shape for a bit longer. I'm starting to notice 590 and down start to struggle a bit even at 1080p in newer titles (Control, RDR2, etc), but YMMV. I think I saw a Vega56 here in FS/FT for 200 recently.