Is the GT 1030 worth it's price for light gaming?

[Dr Seuss]

Okay, I love playing pc games. I'm not much of a hardcore gamer, but I enjoy the hours I play. Right now, I game on a really old laptop, AMD A6-4400M 2.7Ghz, 6 gig of ram, Radeon 7520G integrated. I know, it sucks. I'm trying to upgrade to a better system, but my budget is very low. I've already found a desktop with an i5-2500 and 8gb ram, and was planning on adding a gpu with it. I saw the GT 1030 and figured it's pretty good for what I'm aiming for, but pretty much everyone hates on this card. I don't want to pay 140$ for a gtx 1050, like I said, my budget is low.

 

I guess what I'm getting to, is, is this card worth it for me if I dont dedicate my life to gaming?

[FlpDaMattress]

It's not great but not insultingly terrible. just make sure you don't get the one with Dram instead if GDDR 5

 

 

[Rainverm38]

5 minutes ago, Dr Seuss said:

Okay, I love playing pc games. I'm not much of a hardcore gamer, but I enjoy the hours I play. Right now, I game on a really old laptop, AMD A6-4400M 2.7Ghz, 6 gig of ram, Radeon 7520G integrated. I know, it sucks. I'm trying to upgrade to a better system, but my budget is very low. I've already found a desktop with an i5-2500 and 8gb ram, and was planning on adding a gpu with it. I saw the GT 1030 and figured it's pretty good for what I'm aiming for, but pretty much everyone hates on this card. I don't want to pay 140$ for a gtx 1050, like I said, my budget is low.

 

I guess what I'm getting to, is, is this card worth it for me if I dont dedicate my life to gaming?

I mean, it's probably fine but you could do much better if you are willing to buy used. You can get an RX 550 for about $70 on eBay

[Crunchy Dragon]

1 minute ago, FlpDaMattress said:

make sure you don't get the one with Dram

I believe you mean DDR4.

[Fraser Cow]

It's not worth it, you can get a 960 for like $100USD. You can also check out the EVGA website, they normally have B-stock for cheap. AMD RX400 series cards are pretty cheap now too.

[Dr Seuss]

13 minutes ago, Rainverm38 said:

I mean, it's probably fine but you could do much better if you are willing to buy used. You can get an RX 550 for about $70 on eBay

I dont know if I dare get a used card...

 

[EspinalAndres]

I played battlefield 4 at low with mesh at high at 90 fps with a 1030 DDR5 so yes i consider it a good card if you know what are you gonna play.

Make sure to get DDR5, DDr4 is 50% slower.

[Dr Seuss]

16 minutes ago, Fraser Cow said:

It's not worth it, you can get a 960 for like $100USD. You can also check out the EVGA website, they normally have B-stock for cheap. AMD RX400 series cards are pretty cheap now too.

I've looked at those, most of them are in the 120-160$ range

[PlayStation 2]

USED CARDS REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

The 1030 is a fine low-end gaming card for the most part. Just get a GDDR5 variant and not any DDR4 variant.

[Dr Seuss]

I don't plan on playing high demand games like assasin's creed odyssey or gta 5. I'm looking more into overwatch and other fps games

[Turtle Rig]

1 hour ago, EspinalAndres said:

I played battlefield 4 at low with mesh at high at 90 fps with a 1030 DDR5 so yes i consider it a good card if you know what are you gonna play.

Make sure to get DDR5, DDr4 is 50% slower.

What resolution if I may ask.

[xAcid9]

GTA5@720p low is pretty playable. GDDR5 version though. 

[EspinalAndres]

12 hours ago, Turtle Rig said:

What resolution if I may ask.

1080P.

With i5 8400, 16 GB ram, H310 pro m2, GT 1030 DDR5.

[Princess Luna]

14 hours ago, EspinalAndres said:

Make sure to get DDR5, DDr4 is 50% slower

50%? There're cases it's 120% slower kek

 

Worse bait and switch in computer hardware existence.

[aisle9]

14 hours ago, Dr Seuss said:

Okay, I love playing pc games. I'm not much of a hardcore gamer, but I enjoy the hours I play. Right now, I game on a really old laptop, AMD A6-4400M 2.7Ghz, 6 gig of ram, Radeon 7520G integrated. I know, it sucks. I'm trying to upgrade to a better system, but my budget is very low. I've already found a desktop with an i5-2500 and 8gb ram, and was planning on adding a gpu with it. I saw the GT 1030 and figured it's pretty good for what I'm aiming for, but pretty much everyone hates on this card. I don't want to pay 140$ for a gtx 1050, like I said, my budget is low.

 

I guess what I'm getting to, is, is this card worth it for me if I dont dedicate my life to gaming?

Meh. The RX 550 is better, but it's also even more extremely price gougey for what you get. If you're interested in a GT 1030, save yourself the hassle and get a GTX 750 Ti off of eBay instead. It's better than the 1030, and if you shop around and wait for the right one to pop up, you can get it for $50 as opposed to the GDDR5 1030's $80.

[Turtle Rig]

52 minutes ago, EspinalAndres said:

1080P.

With i5 8400, 16 GB ram, H310 pro m2, GT 1030 DDR5.

Gaming is not going to be fun and enjoyable for you.  When its chugging along at 30fps ..... bottleneck ,, which means hold out until you have a proper CPU that can drive the video card to its fullest potential.  Not only is your CPU a bottleneck but the 1030 is really a desktop card ,, not meant for gaming and what not.

[Dr Seuss]

6 hours ago, aisle9 said:

Meh. The RX 550 is better, but it's also even more extremely price gougey for what you get. If you're interested in a GT 1030, save yourself the hassle and get a GTX 750 Ti off of eBay instead. It's better than the 1030, and if you shop around and wait for the right one to pop up, you can get it for $50 as opposed to the GDDR5 1030's $80.

I'm hesitant to buy used graphics cards, no matter the seller. I got screwed over far too many times buying used items

[Guest]

2200g apu build 

[aisle9]

1 minute ago, Dr Seuss said:

I'm hesitant to buy used graphics cards, no matter the seller. I got screwed over far too many times buying used items

Understandable, but if you buy from a reputable seller on eBay--particularly one based in the US--you're highly unlikely to get screwed. Even if you do, eBay's policy is "the buyer has 30 days to rape the seller". PayPal's policy is even looser if you pay with them: you get 180 days to file for (and 99.95% of the time receive) a refund if something's not as described in the listing. I buy used parts off of eBay all the time and haven't had an issue that went unresolved. The bang for your buck is much greater with a 750 Ti.

 

If your desktop's power supply has a PCIe connector, you can find killer deals on the GTX 960 right now. I got one for $70 a few weeks back, used off of eBay from a first-time seller. It works perfectly after plenty of hours stressing it and gaming on it, and the 960 outperforms the GTX 1050. The value prop for eBay is there, and it's a very safe platform for buyers these days.