Question What GPU should I get to go with my 2700X?

jamesdsimone

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Dec 21, 2015
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I have been putting off upgrading for a long time. I got a 2700X with an MSI X470 Gaming Plus Max a while ago when video card prices were ridiculous. So I put it aside. I'm looking at finally getting a video card. AMD 7000 series are going to be released so the 6000 series should be getting a little more affordable. So which GPU? I'm leaning toward a 6800 at the moment but a 6700XT would be less money. Any thoughts?
 

GodisanAtheist

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I'd wait a bit and buy when the new cards come out. You'll see some nice price drops on the previous gen. Then I'd just buy the best you can that's within your budget.

-Yup.

Not knowing what you're willing to spend, buy the most you can afford. Your computer isn't really that old.

Alternatively, wait a couple weeks, prices should be coming down a bit further. The sweet spot for buying current gen is likely going to be late September to late November. New gen will get released in time for Christmas.
 
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Shmee

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Depending on what games and what resolution you play at, you may be CPU bottle necked on that 2700X, particularly on something like a mid-high tier RX 6000. Luckily, since you have a good AM4 board, there are newer CPUs you can drop in if need be along with the GPU. You may need a BIOS update however, for some of the newer Ryzen 5000 series.

I would probably recommend a Ryzen 5700X and a Radeon RX 6800 XT, provided they are in budget, and of course depending on games played and resolution.
 

fleshconsumed

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Generally speaking AMD cards provide batter bang for the buck unless you really want raytracing. Anything from 5700/5700xt/6800 would be decent if buying right now. However, I will echo everybody else and would suggest waiting a couple of months. ETH is going PoS in just 15 days which means no more GPU mining after that, new cards will be announced soon, so I fully expect prices to tank in 1-2 months from now.
 

Leeea

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I have been putting off upgrading for a long time. I got a 2700X with an MSI X470 Gaming Plus Max a while ago when video card prices were ridiculous. So I put it aside. I'm looking at finally getting a video card. AMD 7000 series are going to be released so the 6000 series should be getting a little more affordable. So which GPU? I'm leaning toward a 6800 at the moment but a 6700XT would be less money. Any thoughts?
Go with the rx6700xt, rx6700, or rx6600xt, and use the extra money to upgrade your CPU next year.

Unlike the others, I suggest you buy now. That old rx470 GPU was a budget part even when it was new. Considerable quality of life improvement to be had upgrading that.


Dropping in rx6700xt will see massive performance improvement for you even without a CPU upgrade.


But then you will be CPU bottlenecked. So much so that a rx6600xt, rx6700, rx6700xt, rx6800, rx6800xt, rx6900, and rx6950 all would yield similar performance for you. Allocate $150 from your GPU budget to a CPU replacement purchased next year, and purchase accordingly.

--------------------------------------------


Suggest you wait until next year, q1 or q2 2023, and drop in a Ryzen 5000 series of your choice.

For productivity, yes, the 2700x keeps right up with the 5600x. But in games the single threaded power on the 5600x allows it to pull around +40% ahead in many titles.


Would not be surprised to see a 5600x around $125 sometime next year.
 
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Stuka87

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With that CPU, you don't want an nVidia card because of their CPU overhead. As mentioned above, a 6700 would be a great matchup for that CPU, and they are priced really well right now. Tough to beat $350.
 
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jamesdsimone

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Depending on what games and what resolution you play at, you may be CPU bottle necked on that 2700X, particularly on something like a mid-high tier RX 6000. Luckily, since you have a good AM4 board, there are newer CPUs you can drop in if need be along with the GPU. You may need a BIOS update however, for some of the newer Ryzen 5000 series.

I would probably recommend a Ryzen 5700X and a Radeon RX 6800 XT, provided they are in budget, and of course depending on games played and resolution.

With the whole mining thing tanking I expect prices to drop especially when the next generation of cards come out. I'm leaning toward waiting a couple months. I got the 2700X over a year ago so it was pretty good at the time for the price. Things got in the way and then the video card price issue so now it's a little dated. I do a lot of transcoding so that is also something I considered when I got the 2700X. I thinking I should go with a card that would match a 5700X so if I upgrade the CPU later I won't have to buy a GPU twice.
 

Shmee

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I agree, but I am kind of concerned with Nvidia delaying the RTX 4000, that AMD may be delaying a bit as well. They don't have too, and they may not, they may do the opposite and try to take market share while Nvidia sells off lots of RTX 3000s, but I haven't heard much on RDNA3 recently, so who knows. If anyone knows more about the release, please do tell :p
 
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jamesdsimone

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Yup video card prices are back to reasonable. Last year people were trying to sell broken RX580's for 150 on ebay now they are 75 for ones that work. Vega 64's are around 200. That might be a good option for me.
 

Shmee

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HBM cards did not do well in the mines.

Suggest you avoid the Vega56, Vega64, and Radeon 7.
That is an oversimplification IMO, I think a good Vega 64 such as the Sapphire Nitro+ would be a good card, or any card that were/are water cooled. That said, I would look for a 5700XT honestly as a more recent and powerful option. Though the 6700XT or 6800XT would be even better.
 

SteveGrabowski

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Yup video card prices are back to reasonable. Last year people were trying to sell broken RX580's for 150 on ebay now they are 75 for ones that work. Vega 64's are around 200. That might be a good option for me.

Would not touch Vega 64 at $200 with a ten foot pole. These days you can find RX 6600 new for $250 and they're faster than Vega 64.
 

Shmee

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Would not touch Vega 64 at $200 with a ten foot pole. These days you can find RX 6600 new for $250 and they're faster than Vega 64.
That is a pretty good price for a new card like that. I wasn't aware the 6600s were available for that already.
 
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OVerLoRDI

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Yeah I suggest avoiding the Vega GPUs as well. Just not a great option for the power, heat, and I've also had reliability problems with them over time too.
 
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GodisanAtheist

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The price curve on used PC parts has always been weird. Terrible deal shortly after parts have released, usually a pretty good chunk of change off after 1-2 years, then back to being a terrible deal as the parts age out.

Nothing like looking for some old socket 775 processor and seeing that anything that counts as an upgrade is still $150. Sellers figure that if you're looking for something that old at this point, its because you HAVE to have it for a work or office setting where ancient software compatibility is king or you are a collector of some sort and are operating on a totally different cost curve.
 
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Leeea

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Yeah I suggest avoiding the Vega GPUs as well. Just not a great option for the power, heat, and I've also had reliability problems with them over time too.

I bought a Vega 56 new back in the day, and it has been a very nice card for me. Very happy.


Would not touch one used now though. Standard mining practice was to reflash the bios with a custom one that let them boost the HBM voltage and overclock the HBM memory. They then undervolted the GPU.

Great and all, but the HBM was the weak spot. When the memory started to flake, reflash it to stock and sell it on ebay. It will work long enough for the sale to be good.
 

jamesdsimone

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Dec 21, 2015
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Thanks for the input on the Vega 64. I thinking I will get a "place holder card". Maybe a RX580? Then decide on something more up to date. Prices are definitely coming down. I don't play at high resolutions. I usually play at 1680x1050. I play on my Sony 55" 4k LED TV and when I use higher resolutions I have trouble reading text. Eye aren't what they used to be. I'm also playing older stuff. And going from an FX8350 7970x2 to a 2700X RX590 would be huge upgrade for me. Any other sub 100 dollar suggestions? I do want to stick with an AMD card though. I used to use Nvidia way back but switched to AMD with my 8500.