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GPU for Christmas

crescent

Philosopher
crescent
Joined
Jul 7, 2011
Messages
6,021
Location
Colorado
Thinking of getting a GPU for Christmas.

For reference, my current build:

AMD Ryzen 7 5700G with Radeon Graphics (3.8 Ghz)
32 gb RAM
MSI B550 Tomahawk motherboard
750 watt power supply

The on-board graphics have been surprisingly good. My "old man" games (Obduction and Firmament) play at near the highest settings.

My son played Star Wars Jedi Survivor with lower graphics settings but it was still very playable and cool looking.

But we would like to upgrade, courtesy of Mr. Claus. I am looking at these two GPUs:

https://www.microcenter.com/product/669379/asus-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4060-ti-proart-overclocked-triple-fan-16gb-gddr6-pcie-40-graphics-card?ob=1

and

https://www.microcenter.com/product/667403/msi-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4060-ti-ventus-3x-overclocked-triple-fan-8gb-gddr6-pcie-40-graphics-card?ob=1

and

https://www.microcenter.com/product/668350/gigabyte-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4060-eagle-overclocked-triple-fan-8gb-gddr6-pcie-40-graphics-card?ob=1

The main issue is that I have no idea what to look for. I know that my computer takes PCIe 4.0, I know that 16 gb ram is more than 8 gb and I'm (pretty sure) that my 750 watt power supply is enough. I'm not that much of an idiot.

But I really have no idea what the performance difference is between this or that GPU, or how much better they would be than the on-board graphics (which, as I say are better than I expected).

This forum was very helpful when I initially first put together the computer. I really appreciated and I'm hoping for it will happen again with the GPU shopping.
 
Sorry, I'm not up-to-date on graphics cards but I will point out one thing frequently overlooked: make sure the physical size is compatible with your case! Some of these new cards are pretty big and might stick out too far to fit where you need them.
 
Well, I went with a 7800XT Sapphire for power reasons on a 750 watt supply.
Did have a few crashes, but once they updated the driver, no problems after.

I looked at the Video Card Bench Mark first, then I went to PC Part Picker
and checked compatibility. Didn't really put much thought into the matter
really. But now I can run this without dropped frames and screen tearing.
 
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My feeling is, buy the absolute best you can, then you can coast through the next two or three generations. I can't remember the last time I needed to upgrade my graphics card to play the latest game I wanted to play.

I guess if you can't figure out which of the two top of the line cards is the better value, buy the cheaper one. Outside of extreme niche applications it's been at least two decades since having the exact make and model of absolute bleeding edge graphics card actually mattered. Anything in the general neighborhood will do you just fine for the next five to ten years. Don't overthink it.
 
I gave up waiting and bought a new GPU a few weeks back. My old one was a RX 590 about 6 years old. It has kept up with the games I've wanted to play since I got it, including games this year, Diablo 4 was fine, however Starfield was unplayable. It was also fine for the art I do on the PC - mainly Photoshop - running at my monitor's native 2560x1440 and I'm not planning on changing my primary monitor any time soon.

I've plumped for the RX 7800 XT, seemed to be good at the 1440 resolution I run at and has 16GB RAM so some future proofing. It was cheaper when I bought it than the Nvidia card I was considering the RTX 4060 Ti - which seemed to be about the same real-world performance, but only 8Gb RAM.

Slotted it in and off it went, no issues, flies with Starfield but I have to say Diablo 4 seems the same as it did on my 6-year-old RX590 - hats off to Blizzard.

One of the nice things I wasn't expecting is that I can now run my second monitor at 2560x1440 - it's actually a 1920x1080 monitor - and then the card downscales it to 1920x1080. The reason this is nice is it means there is no "resolution jump" for windows and apps when I move things from one monitor to another, something which always bugged me. Very small text is ever so slightly less clear and crisp but otherwise the image is great.

I reckon I can get one more major upgrade for my system - the CPU which will see me through for another 3 or 5 years before I must bite the bullet and start all over again.
 
crescent said:
The main issue is that I have no idea what to look for. I know that my computer takes PCIe 4.0, I know that 16 gb ram is more than 8 gb and I'm (pretty sure) that my 750 watt power supply is enough. I'm not that much of an idiot.

But I really have no idea what the performance difference is between this or that GPU, or how much better they would be than the on-board graphics (which, as I say are better than I expected).
Click to expand...

They're all based on the same chipset from Nvidia and while there may be some speed differences they'll be minor unless you're a slave to benchmarking numbers.
The RAM on the other hand can make a big difference if you want to really crank the visual settings so I'd plump for the 16Gb offering.
 
There's a website called "Can I Run It?" which is pretty useful for comparing card's
 
Mongrel said:
They're all based on the same chipset from Nvidia and while there may be some speed differences they'll be minor unless you're a slave to benchmarking numbers.
The RAM on the other hand can make a big difference if you want to really crank the visual settings so I'd plump for the 16Gb offering.
Click to expand...

There is a huge difference in price for the 16Gb version and the 8Gb version. That was what put me off for the 4060Ti, only a few 16Gb available when I was looking and the price was like £200 more.
 
The Great Zaganza said:
I'm about to take the giant leap from a GTX 670 to a GTX 970 !
Click to expand...

I picked up a reconditioned gaming PC a while back then did the same upgrade (2nd hand card unsurprisingly) after having thrown in a faster CPU & a bit more RAM, it was a very cost effective and noticeable upgrade.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I can't remember the model number of mine but it's basically a gerbil in a beret doing lots of drawings really fast with tiny colored pencils in its little paws. So cute!
Click to expand...

You do know the beret was only a marketing gimmick? It really didn't make it draw faster.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I can't remember the model number of mine but it's basically a gerbil in a beret doing lots of drawings really fast with tiny colored pencils in its little paws. So cute!
Click to expand...

I tried that, but it wasn't compatible with my mouse.
 
Darat said:
There is a huge difference in price for the 16Gb version and the 8Gb version. That was what put me off for the 4060Ti, only a few 16Gb available when I was looking and the price was like £200 more.
Click to expand...

Eh, it was in the list of options available and I'd always get more RAM now if I can because it prolongs the useful life of the card.
 
Mongrel said:
Eh, it was in the list of options available and I'd always get more RAM now if I can because it prolongs the useful life of the card.
Click to expand...

I was surprised that Nvidia was offering such a powerful card with only 8Gb, thought 12Gb would have been the minimum for a card today. The RX590 I replaced had 8Gb all those years ago.
 
Nvidia is also working with the Israelis on a pretty fast computer.
The 'Israel-1' model boasts impressive specifications, including eight exaflops of peak AI performance and 130 petaflops of scientific computing.
(An exaflop is one quintillion floating point operations per second, while a petaflop is one thousand trillion, or one quadrillion, operations per second.)
https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/article-774415
(cool pix of it, BTW)
 
TragicMonkey said:
I can't remember the model number of mine but it's basically a gerbil in a beret doing lots of drawings really fast with tiny colored pencils in its little paws. So cute!
Click to expand...

The miniaturization of tech is incredible, I remember when you'd have needed a capybara in a smock with chunky crayons & it it still would have been half the speed.
 
My recommendation is to go here:

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html

And get whats in your budget that they recommend.

I would not buy a factory overclocked GPU.

Also I'm an Nvidia "fanboy" I think their DLSS is superior to AMD's equivalent.

Since I'd like to play MS flightsim in photorealistic mode I'm saving my pennies and dimes for when the 5 series comes out. My 3070 is struggling.
 
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So I went with the 4060 ti 16 gb overclocked thing. Picked it up open box for $450, which is $100 above my budget but was still below normal price.

According to the build-guide thing it'll fit and work and the power supply is more than sufficient. I guess we'll see come next month.

I have no idea what games he (my son, it is a Christmas present for me and him) will play. Today he was watching one of his friends play Assassins' Creed. Maybe he'll go back through and replay some Jedi Survivor. Or get something new. He's a good kid who doesn't ask for much, so I'm happy to spend a bit more than anticipated. He even does his homework without us asking at all. He also does some video editing, makes videos of Minecraft and Splatoon for his Youtube channel.

I might play with it a bit. Being an old fuddyduddy I'll probably set the games for the easiest game play so I can just look at the worlds they build. Sometimes that's the coolest part.
 
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crescent said:
So I went with the 4060 ti 16 gb overclocked thing. Picked it up open box for $450, which is $100 above my budget but was still below normal price.

According to the build-guide thing it'll fit and work and the power supply is more than sufficient. I guess we'll see come next month.

I have no idea what games he (my son, it is a Christmas present for me and him) will play. Today he was watching one of his friends play Assassins' Creed. Maybe he'll go back through and replay some Jedi Survivor. Or get something new. He's a good kid who doesn't ask for much, so I'm happy to spend a bit more than anticipated. He even does his homework without us asking at all. He also does some video editing, makes videos of Minecraft and Splatoon for his Youtube channel.

I might play with it a bit. Being an old fuddyduddy I'll probably set the games for the easiest game play so I can just look at the worlds they build. Sometimes that's the coolest part.
Click to expand...

Hmm. definitely a serial-killer in the making.

Seriously - that card should last you a few years.
 
Darat said:
And then totally ignore them! :)
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Well, sometimes the suggestions are ridiculous. "Adjust settings to ULTRA MAXIMUM to see each mote of dust in every sunbeam from max distance (may cause performance to drop)." Then your computer makes sounds like a whale beaching itself and then bursts into flame like a whale beaching itself.
 
Don't even know what I'm running anymore, to be honest. I just buy a new "gaming computer" every five years or so that already has some sort of graphics card installed.

Anyway, just checked, and it's an Nvidia Geforce GTX 1650. I'm on an Intel processor, so that won't help you. Does what I want it to. Runs on my TV when I want to watch a movie, hooked up like a second monitor. Also play a few games. Newest one is Balder's Gate 3. Played Skyrim into the ground with it, I think on the highest settings.

I used to know these things. Not anymore. Supposedly usable for virtual reality, but I've never even had a headset. Never been interested in it -- a monitor is fine for me.
 
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Darat said:
Hmm. definitely a serial-killer in the making.
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The homework thing is weird. I was always terrible about doing homework. Not him, he just does it. Good kid, I have apparently not screwed up too badly on the parenting thing.
 
Amazon is offering 4-day delivery on graphics cards in North America right now. In the time this thread has been open, someone could have ordered and received a high-end card.
 
I wouldn't mind have an ultra-fancy graphics card but I don't want to break the barrier between air cooling and needing water cooling. Just the notion of water in my case freaks me out. Are these new fancy ones sufficiently cooled by fans, or do they require making that leap into water?
 
TragicMonkey said:
I wouldn't mind have an ultra-fancy graphics card but I don't want to break the barrier between air cooling and needing water cooling. Just the notion of water in my case freaks me out. Are these new fancy ones sufficiently cooled by fans, or do they require making that leap into water?
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I have an RTX 4090 which is about the hottest running card you can get right now. It does just fine with the fan cooling built into it, but I have the sides of my case open, which can make a big difference.

I run it full on for Folding@Home 24/7 .

I think the liquid cooling crowd is more into show than blow.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I wouldn't mind have an ultra-fancy graphics card but I don't want to break the barrier between air cooling and needing water cooling. Just the notion of water in my case freaks me out. Are these new fancy ones sufficiently cooled by fans, or do they require making that leap into water?
Click to expand...

I just bought a new Dell "business" computer, which just so happens to have a high-end graphics card and a water-cooled CPU.

The CPU's cooling system is entirely self-contained and integrated. It's not like the old days of DIY water cooling kits you add to a stock CPU. I like it because it doesn't have an exposed fan and heatsink that gets clogged with dust and needs to be cleaned periodically. I have cats, so this is a huge improvement.

The notion of water in your case should not freak you out, any more than the notion of water in your automobile engine compartment.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I wouldn't mind have an ultra-fancy graphics card but I don't want to break the barrier between air cooling and needing water cooling. Just the notion of water in my case freaks me out. Are these new fancy ones sufficiently cooled by fans, or do they require making that leap into water?
Click to expand...

My new graphic card runs cooler with its two fans - which are a lot quieter than my CPU cooler's fan - than my CPU. I'm using a CPU cooler that came with the chip - think it would cost about $25 to buy and boy-o-boy don't you hear every one of those "saved" dollars. Probably should change it and the CPU for the last gasp of my current setup. As the P says above modern "water" coolers are self-contained and as easy to set up as traditional fan coolers, a lot depends on your case and the physical space as to which to use these days.

Long winded way of saying you don't need to have any fancy cooling for a new GPU.
 
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