Question Please help me pick out a video card for my desktop PC!

hoyaguru

Senior member
Jun 9, 2003
893
3
81
As stated in my last post regarding problems with an SSD drive, I've been out of the computer building game for a long time now, so ignorance is my worst enemy. I've upgraded my desktop computer here and there, with the SSD being my latest purchase (thanks stimulus check!), and now the slowest thing in my computer is the video card. I currently have an AMD Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of Ram. My motherboard is an ASUS Z97-E, which has:

2 PCI Express 3.0/2.0 x16 slots (single at x16 or dual at x8/x8 mode)
3 PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots
2 PCI slots

So I went online a couple of days ago to see what's out there, and after two days of looking, I'm a lot more confused than when I started. The amount of different video cards out now is astounding, yet at the same time, every time I think I find a good one, it isn't in stock anywhere.

My budget is between $300 and $400. I don't even know what to look for any more, there are so many types of memory (like GGDR5 and GGDR6, I'm guessing the R6 is better, but only because it's a higher number) and other things in the description of these cards, I have no idea what's good/better/best. Any input would be most appreciated, I just need someone to point me in the right direction. I do some photoshop and video editing, and play some games that my current video card can't keep up with.

Also, just curious, why does it seem that just about every card I look up is out of stock everywhere?

Oops, one more thing: I seem to be finding the best prices at a place called shopblt.com. They are beating just about everywhere else by quite a big amount in some cases. I've found that they have a 92% "Excellent" rating, but their website looks like something from the 1990's.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,226
9,990
126
My budget is between $300 and $400.
Maybe a Fe RTX 3060 Ti @ BestBuy.com, IF (big IF) you canget in on their stock drops.

If not, you should be able to find a GTX 1660 Super on ebay for $399 (MSRP of $239).

If you want to know WHY, search for "Ethereum hashrate chart".

Edit: Might be able to find a RX 5500 XT 4GB for $220 or so. Those are the newest non-mining cards out there.)
 

hoyaguru

Senior member
Jun 9, 2003
893
3
81
Maybe a Fe RTX 3060 Ti @ BestBuy.com, IF (big IF) you canget in on their stock drops.

If not, you should be able to find a GTX 1660 Super on ebay for $399 (MSRP of $239).

If you want to know WHY, search for "Ethereum hashrate chart".

Edit: Might be able to find a RX 5500 XT 4GB for $220 or so. Those are the newest non-mining cards out there.)

So everyone is buying up video cards to "mine" the new Bitcoin? Oh brother...

Thanks for the video card info, I'll start with these and see what I can find. Question: Does the amount of RAM on the card matter? It seems that a lot of cards with less RAM are more expensive than cards with more RAM. I'm looking for something with 8GB, but it seems like I'm looking for the wrong thing.
 

hoyaguru

Senior member
Jun 9, 2003
893
3
81
Wow, how long has it been like this? Just about everywhere I go, every video card I look for is out of stock, sold out, back-ordered, etc. I did find the GTX 1660 Super in stock at Best Buy, I'm just going to get one asap before they are sold out. Hope this ine lasts me until all this craziness is over. Thanks for the help!
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,226
9,990
126
Wow, how long has it been like this? Just about everywhere I go, every video card I look for is out of stock, sold out, back-ordered, etc. I did find the GTX 1660 Super in stock at Best Buy, I'm just going to get one asap before they are sold out. Hope this ine lasts me until all this craziness is over. Thanks for the help!
Welcome to the "mining craze of 2020". OK, it wasn't ALL mining, but that's a BIG chunk of the issue, along with CyberPunk 2077 release, and money-printing by the gov't to fund stimulus checks, which fuels Bitcoin and Ethereum, because the dollar is getting de-valued, which encourages more mining, repeat.