Is a $400 GPU overkill if I'm not going to be playing really demanding AAA games in 1440p?

[catalinashenanigans]

Currently trying to decide on a GPU for my build and have considered most of the options in the $200-450 range (i.e., 1660 Super, 2060, 5600 XT, 5700, 2060 Super, 2070, 5700 XT). Was initially set on getting something from the upper end of that range—either a 2060S/2070 or 5700 XT. While I could definitely afford it, it would be at the upper threshold for my budget and when I think about it...do I really need it?

 

I don't play a lot of really demanding AAA games (e.g., RDR2, Asassin's Creed, etc.) and am not planning on playing in 1440p. Mostly stick to competitive or ARPG games like Apex Legends, R6S, and Diablo 3. With my new build, I'd really love to give The Division 2 and Borderlands 3 a try but can't think of many other super demanding games that interest me.

 

Is spending $400 on a GPU overkill for me? I could pick up the Gigabyte 5600 XT GAMING OC (3 fans) for $260 right now. For what I want to do, do you think this makes more sense? I have no problem spending more for a GPU (~$400) but am wondering if I can really justify it. Alternatively, I could split the difference and pick up an RX 5700 for ~$330 (albeit not a great 5700 card—MSI Evoke).

 

Tentative build would be pairing this with a Ryzen 5 3600 and B450 TOMAHAWK. 

[kelvinhall05]

If you aren't gonna use it, don't pay for it.

 

 

But one thing to keep in mind is that $200 extra now could save you $500 later when you decide you need an upgrade from the slower card.

[TetraSky]

Considering we don't know what the future has in store for you, if you'll be more into "hardcore gaming" instead of what are essentially e-sports titles...

Go with what you can afford. If you can afford to pay $400 now, go for it. You'll at least know it will run most of everything without any issues and it will last you longer, too.

 

If not, then just get the bare minimum. At the end of the day, it's all about whether you mind spending that extra $200 for a GPU that you may not use "right now".

[pstarlord]

Maybe my experience can help you out.  I do play AAA titles at 1440p and I like to be able to just max out the settings and get playing. (Tomb Raider, Assassin's Creed, Resident Evil etc.)   Every now and then I do find myself going quite a long time playing more retro inspired indie games that do not tax my GPU at all.  (Bloodstained, Katana Zero, The Messenger) and there are times when I'm playing those thinking I'm completely wasting my money, but then it dawns on me that my GPU is dead silent when playing those games.  

 

So, if you are the type of person who values less noise from you GPU, then buying one that is "technically" overkill for the games you want to play may be nice. 

 

Aside from that, maybe one day a AAA title will come out that you want to play, it'll be nice to be able to just not worry about and play. 

[SteveGrabowski0]

You'll be way below console level on your gpu in a few months if you go any lower than RTX 2070 Super. On the other hand, I doubt you'll need a next gen console level gpu to play Diablo IV at half decent framerates after how low the recommended system specs were for Diablo 3 in 2012 (HD 4870) unless Diablo IV is going to make use of RT.

[VincentVolaju]

8 hours ago, catalinashenanigans said:

Currently trying to decide on a GPU for my build and have considered most of the options in the $200-450 range (i.e., 1660 Super, 2060, 5600 XT, 5700, 2060 Super, 2070, 5700 XT). Was initially set on getting something from the upper end of that range—either a 2060S/2070 or 5700 XT. While I could definitely afford it, it would be at the upper threshold for my budget and when I think about it...do I really need it?

 

Tentative build would be pairing this with a Ryzen 5 3600 and B450 TOMAHAWK. 

I'm pretty much in this exact position. Building a desktop soon on a Ryzen 5 3600 with a B450 Tomahawk MAX and was planning to get a $400-$500 5700 XT or 2060 Super Then I watched Tech Deals video recently about him bottle necking himself with his 2700x; and his explanation on how even if you have an amazing and expensive GPU, you might not actually be getting any performance boost compared to a cheaper one. Also, I've read that the Nvidia 3000 series coming out later this year is supposed to have a much bigger performance jump compared to previous generation performance jumps. So I've pretty much decided that whatever GPU I get now for my the initial build, will be replaced in 6-12 months with most likely a 3070.

 

Considering that, it's probably better to get a cheaper GPU now, so when it's replaced within a year, it isn't as big of a deal. Maybe even recoup a little money on it by trying to selling it used.

 

So rather than a $400-$500 card, I'm now looking at a 5700 Pulse that's roughly $350, or more likely, a 1660 Super that's roughly $250. However, the difference between you and I is I plan to mostly play Bannerlord, which may require something stronger than a 1660 Super, so... still undecided exactly which I'll go, but I know for sure I am not buying a really expensive one now; I'll do that next year.

[JoostinOnline]

Unless we know about something right around the corner that will change the market (a new GPU release for example), not really. People spend way too much on CPU's and are seriously limited by their GPU. The GPU is the quickest part to replace.

 

The real question is, what refresh rate will you be playing at? If it's over 60hz, you'll want a higher end GPU.

 

[catalinashenanigans]

45 minutes ago, VincentVolaju said:

So rather than a $400-$500 card, I'm now looking at a 5700 Pulse that's roughly $350, or more likely, a 1660 Super that's roughly $250. However, the difference between you and I is I plan to mostly play Bannerlord, which may require something stronger than a 1660 Super, so... still undecided exactly which I'll go, but I know for sure I am not buying a really expensive one now; I'll do that next year.

If you see this in time, the Gigabyte 5600 XT is available for $260 on NewEgg right now. Only about an hour left on the sale though.

 

12 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

Unless we know about something right around the corner that will change the market (a new GPU release for example), not really. People spend way too much on CPU's and are seriously limited by their GPU. The GPU is the quickest part to replace.

 

The real question is, what refresh rate will you be playing at? If it's over 60hz, you'll want a higher end GPU.

 

This is a good point. I'm going to play on 144hz...got the ASUS VG249Q. Will be my first time playing on 144hz since that's a big requirement for me. I'm thinking about going for an MSI RX 5700 EVOKE OC when it goes on sale again at NewEgg for around $270. Know it's not the best 5700 card but bang for your buck is pretty hard to beat. And I could also flash with 5700 XT BIOS.

[SavageNeo]

4 minutes ago, catalinashenanigans said:

If you see this in time, the Gigabyte 5600 XT is available for $260 on NewEgg right now. Only about an hour left on the sale though.

 

This is a good point. I'm going to play on 144hz...got the ASUS VG249Q. Will be my first time playing on 144hz since that's a big requirement for me. I'm thinking about going for an MSI RX 5700 EVOKE OC when it goes on sale again at NewEgg for around $270. Know it's not the best 5700 card but bang for your buck is pretty hard to beat. And I could also flash with 5700 XT BIOS.

get the rx 5700 and bios flas it to 5700 XT's bios. check guides

[SavageNeo]

4 minutes ago, SavageNeo said:

get the rx 5700 and bios flas it to 5700 XT's bios. check guides

rx 5700 can play at 1440p just fine

[catalinashenanigans]

4 minutes ago, SavageNeo said:

rx 5700 can play at 1440p just fine

I'll be playing at 1080p 144hz.

[SavageNeo]

2 minutes ago, catalinashenanigans said:

I'll be playing at 1080p 144hz.

then it is more than fine. what cpu and psu you have?

[catalinashenanigans]

1 minute ago, SavageNeo said:

then it is more than fine. what cpu and psu you have?

5600 XT would be fine for 1080p 144hz?

Haven't got everything yet. CPU will likely be R5 3600 and PSU will be RMx (2018) 550W. Might get a stronger PSU since they recommend a 750W PSU on the AMD website.

[SavageNeo]

1 minute ago, catalinashenanigans said:

5600 XT would be fine for 1080p 144hz?

Haven't got everything yet. CPU will likely be R5 3600 and PSU will be RMx (2018) 550W. Might get a stronger PSU since they recommend a 750W PSU on the AMD website.

5600 xT will be nice, but if the rx 5700 is 10 dollars more expensive get rx 5700. mayby this can get you a little perspective

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$174.99 @ B&H
Motherboard	MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard	$114.99 @ Best Buy
Memory	Patriot Viper Steel 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$84.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Crucial P1 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$68.95 @ Adorama
Storage	Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$50.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	MSI Radeon RX 5700 8 GB MECH OC Video Card	$329.09 @ B&H
Case	Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case	$56.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair RMx (2018) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$108.98 @ Newegg
Case Fan	ARCTIC P12 PWM PST(5-pack) 56.3 CFM 120 mm Fans	$27.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1037.95
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1017.95
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-21 01:56 EDT-0400

no need for higher than 550w, your system will consume under 400w. but if you are comfortable with that psu get 650/750w. note that for this build anything over 600w will be overkill in my opinion.

[catalinashenanigans]

Would you go for a good RX 5600 XT card or a mediocre/entry-level RX 5700 card? That's the dilemma for me at the moment. I've read the 5700 EVOKEs are so-so at best.

[GDRRiley]

19 minutes ago, catalinashenanigans said:

Would you go for a good RX 5600 XT card or a mediocre/entry-level RX 5700 card? That's the dilemma for me at the moment. I've read the 5700 EVOKEs are so-so at best.

here is roughly how they all stack up. this is only about cooler/PCB not noise level or size.

Tier S The best (Highest end PCB, exceeding cards)

AMD: Reference with custom cooler

Gigabyte: Aorus

MSI: Gaming X

Powercolor: Red Devil

Sapphire: Nitro+

XFX: Thicc III

 

Tier A High end (great cooling)

Gigabyte: Gaming OC

Sapphire: Pulse

Powercolor: Red Dragon

MSI: Evoke (after fix), Mech (after fix)

XFX: Thicc II (after fix), RAW II (after fix)

 

Tier B High-Midrange (midrange cooling)

Asus: ROG Strix

Asrock: Challenger, taichi

 

Tier C Midrange (borderline cooler)

MSI: Evoke, Mech

XFX: Thicc II, RAW II

 

Tier D Low-Midrange (hot running cards, can be solved with a 3rd party cooler or slight modifications)

Asus: Founders/Blower, TUF X3

Asrock: Founders/Blower

Gigabyte: Founders/Blower

Powercolor: Founders/Blower

MSI: Founders/Blower

Sapphire: Founders/Blower

XFX: Founders/Blower

[Xkillerpn]

Get a 5700xt 3 fan any of them. Not asus.

 

Or used get a vega 64 any 3 fan, not asus.

[catalinashenanigans]

8 minutes ago, GDRRiley said:

here is roughly how they all stack up. this is only about cooler/PCB not noise level or size.

Tier A High end (great cooling)

Gigabyte: Gaming OC

Sapphire: Pulse

Powercolor: Red Dragon

MSI: Evoke (after fix), Mech (after fix)

XFX: Thicc II (after fix), RAW II (after fix)

 

Didn't realize the EVOKEs are better after the fix. Think I'll hold out for one of those. They seem to drop in price pretty regularly. Unless I can find a 2060S or 2070 for cheap.

[GDRRiley]

4 minutes ago, catalinashenanigans said:

Didn't realize the EVOKEs are better after the fix. Think I'll hold out for one of those. They seem to drop in price pretty regularly. Unless I can find a 2060S or 2070 for cheap.

the 2060S still gets beat by a 5700.

2070 don't tend to drop in price.

[catalinashenanigans]

1 hour ago, GDRRiley said:

the 2060S still gets beat by a 5700.

2070 don't tend to drop in price.

Aren't the 2060S and 2070 nearly identical? Anyways, know it's a long shot that either of them will drop in price. Hard to beat the value of the 5700 series it seems.

[GDRRiley]

1 hour ago, catalinashenanigans said:

Aren't the 2060S and 2070 nearly identical? Anyways, know it's a long shot that either of them will drop in price. Hard to beat the value of the 5700 series it seems.

close but the 5700 still is a better value