Budget Upgrade

[jdalphin92]

I'm not the hardcore gamer I once was as my career and other hobbies have taken over.  My rig is a bit dated, and I really don't want to invest a whole lot of money into upgrading everything.  But at a minimum, I would like to upgrade my two 7770's to a single graphics card.  I hardly play anything anymore except maybe EVE-Online from time to time as a background app while I work on photos, videos, etc.  Looking for some ideas.

[Sorenson]

What resolution and frame rate do you want to play the games on? also what is your current setup?

[Fasauceome]

What CPU have you got? For most cases like this I'd recommend a 1050 ti, pretty decent bump over the HD line and super low power. They go for around $100 on eBay. Or the RX 570, not as power efficient but more graphically capable, also around $100.

[dizmo]

You're missing so much info that we need to help you. Like what you want to play, what the rest of your rig is like, and most importantly, your budget.
Also your country would help.

[jdalphin92]

Just now, Sorenson said:

What resolution and frame rate do you want to play the games on? also what is your current setup?

I run dual 1080 monitors.  24's.  They're nothing fancy.  I'm more of a console gamer at heart, but my 7770's are showing their age and I stupidly passed on my backup cards a year or so ago.

Just now, fasauceome said:

What CPU have you got? For most cases like this I'd recommend a 1050 ti, pretty decent bump over the HD line and super low power. They go for around $100 on eBay. Or the RX 570, not as power efficient but more graphically capable, also around $100.

It's an old alienware tower.  i7 960.  My AMD tower that the 7770's were in kicked the bucket, and I had no interest in replacing the board...just transplanted the cards into this alienware tower with some massaging and cable rerouting...tis a tight squeeze.

[SolarNova]

@jdalphin92

 

I'd probably recommend a RX580 / Nvidia 1060. Good for 1080p gaming. ~$170-$220

 

 

[Fasauceome]

Just now, jdalphin92 said:

It's an old alienware tower.  i7 960.  My AMD tower that the 7770's were in kicked the bucket, and I had no interest in replacing the board...just transplanted the cards into this alienware tower with some massaging and cable rerouting...tis a tight squeeze.

ok for an old i7 then the 570 should probably do nicely. You'll get a huge performance boost and it'll consume less power than the dual 7770 setup.

[jdalphin92]

Just now, dizmo said:

You're missing so much info that we need to help you. Like what you want to play, what the rest of your rig is like, and most importantly, your budget.
Also your country would help.

You're not wrong.  Been a long time since I've made a forum post like this.  It's an old alienware rig, i7-960.  Budget like 100-200.  I don't really play AAA titles on PC, so it's mainly MMO's, video editing, photo editing, etc.  I'm contemplating getting back into PC gaming...but for now, just something to replace the two cards I have with one and get a bit more out of my rig.

[Sorenson]

1 minute ago, SolarNova said:

I'd probably recommend a RX580 / Nvidia 1060. Good for 1080p gaming.

if you go with the 1060, make sure you get the 6gb version. 

[jdalphin92]

8 minutes ago, SolarNova said:

@jdalphin92

 

I'd probably recommend a RX580 / Nvidia 1060. Good for 1080p gaming. ~$170-$220

 

 

@SolarNova

 

For longevity sake, which of the two would recommend?

[dizmo]

12 minutes ago, jdalphin92 said:

You're not wrong.  Been a long time since I've made a forum post like this.  It's an old alienware rig, i7-960.  Budget like 100-200.  I don't really play AAA titles on PC, so it's mainly MMO's, video editing, photo editing, etc.  I'm contemplating getting back into PC gaming...but for now, just something to replace the two cards I have with one and get a bit more out of my rig.

Are you fine with going used?
If so, track down a GTX 1070. Well within your budget, with a little haggling.

[jdalphin92]

Just now, dizmo said:

Are you fine with going used?
If so, track down a GTX 1070. Well within your budget, with a little haggling.

Used is no problem. 

[Sat1600]

9 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Are you fine with going used?
If so, track down a GTX 1070. Well within your budget, with a little haggling.

Overkill for 1080p

[dizmo]

5 minutes ago, Sat1600 said:

Overkill for 1080p

And your point is...at the cost, it's not bad. Plus depending on the settings he's going with, not every game will be maxed out.

It'll also last farther into the future, pushing back the need to upgrade sooner.

[SolarNova]

21 minutes ago, jdalphin92 said:

@SolarNova

 

For longevity sake, which of the two would recommend?

Either is fine tbh. The perfomance of the core is more than likely going to affect you befor the difference in memory between the two.

 

As others have said though , if u can find better cards used, like a 1070 ..go for that.

[Sat1600]

1 minute ago, dizmo said:

And your point is...at the cost, it's not bad. Plus depending on the settings he's going with, not every game will be maxed out.

It'll also last farther into the future, pushing back the need to upgrade sooner.

The title of the post is budget upgrade.

The rx 570 is the best bang for the buck right now. You can get one used for $75. That's what I consider budget. The 1070 will be $200 at least. For OPs needs that's not "budget"

[Sat1600]

Offer this guy $60

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Powercolor-RX-570-4GB-GDDR5-original-box/323713104412?hash=item4b5ecdfa1c%3Ag%3AnmAAAOSwBlRcdqfj&LH_BIN=1

[dizmo]

Just now, Sat1600 said:

The title of the post is budget upgrade.

The rx 570 is the best bang for the buck right now. You can get one used for $75. That's what I consider budget. The 1070 will be $200 at least. For OPs needs that's not "budget"

Budget doesn't necessarily mean cheap. He also included a budget, up to $200. The RX570, even now, is finding it hard to push 1080p. It can, but not as well across all titles. You have to factor in longevity into the equation, otherwise you'll be spending again a lot sooner, which doesn't make sense either. If you look, you can find 1070's under $200. Same with the GTX 980, which aside from the drop in VRAM, would also be a decent choice; albeit not as good, as even it doesn't do as well across all 1080p titles.

[Tristerin]

42 minutes ago, jdalphin92 said:

I'm not the hardcore gamer I once was as my career and other hobbies have taken over.  My rig is a bit dated, and I really don't want to invest a whole lot of money into upgrading everything.  But at a minimum, I would like to upgrade my two 7770's to a single graphics card.  I hardly play anything anymore except maybe EVE-Online from time to time as a background app while I work on photos, videos, etc.  Looking for some ideas.

I just upgraded from 2x HD 7850s in crossfire.  They scaled well.

 

Best idea, and one I was against till I did it - buy a used GPU on Ebay (just read reviews of the seller, will know if they are legit or not).  I got an R9 Fury Nitro for $130.  I now play everything on Ultra without a hiccup and didn't replace anything in my dated 2012 build.  Such a good buy, I bought another @ $140 the next day for my Ryzen rig (replaced a R7 260x)

[Sat1600]

23 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Budget doesn't necessarily mean cheap. He also included a budget, up to $200. The RX570, even now, is finding it hard to push 1080p. It can, but not as well across all titles. You have to factor in longevity into the equation, otherwise you'll be spending again a lot sooner, which doesn't make sense either. If you look, you can find 1070's under $200. Same with the GTX 980, which aside from the drop in VRAM, would also be a decent choice; albeit not as good, as even it doesn't do as well across all 1080p titles.

I didn't see where he said he had a $200 budget. In that case I agree with the 1070. Vega GPU's will drop in price soon so I would get whichever is cheaper 1070 or vega 56