Decent graphics card for under $120

[PrimeMinister]

Hey guys, so a friend of mine is window shopping for a graphics card that he might want to buy in future under R2000 (120 USD). What decent budget graphics card can you buy with that budget?

 

What we've found so far:

https://www.takealot.com/gigabyte-gt-710-2gb-graphics-card/PLID64859838

https://www.takealot.com/nvidia-geforce-graphic-card-gt-730-2gb-64bit/PLID70478857

https://www.takealot.com/gigabyte-geforce-gt-1030-low-profile-2gb/PLID60868806

 

Thanks in advance for the help!

[nox_]

6 minutes ago, PrimeMinister said:

What decent budget graphics card can you buy with that budget?

None. Used cards is the only logical choice.

[Thom_0203]

Buying something new thats so weak is a waste of your money. I'd recommend to look for used stuff thats cheaper and probably more powerful. Im not sure how the prices are in your country but for that kind of money I could easily get a rx 580, or save a lot of money by scoring something like a 1050 ti.

[Som3a]

19 minutes ago, PrimeMinister said:

Hey guys, so a friend of mine is window shopping for a graphics card that he might want to buy in future under R2000 (120 USD). What decent budget graphics card can you buy with that budget?

 

What we've found so far:

https://www.takealot.com/gigabyte-gt-710-2gb-graphics-card/PLID64859838

https://www.takealot.com/nvidia-geforce-graphic-card-gt-730-2gb-64bit/PLID70478857

https://www.takealot.com/gigabyte-geforce-gt-1030-low-profile-2gb/PLID60868806

 

Thanks in advance for the help!

Definitely consider the used market the GT 710, GT 730 and GT 1030 are horrible cards. If you can get an RX 580 or a 1050 Ti that would be great but if you can scrounge up some more cash you can get a 980 Ti since they go for about 180-200 bucks used, but you can obviously bargain and haggle to get a lower price

[PrimeMinister]

3 minutes ago, Thom_0203 said:

Buying something new thats so weak is a waste of your money. I'd recommend to look for used stuff thats cheaper and probably more powerful. Im not sure how the prices are in your country but for that kind of money I could easily get a rx 580, or save a lot of money by scoring something like a 1050 ti.

Nope, you can only get anything that's old or beginner for lower than R2000 here(it costs about R3000+ here to get anything like a 1050,etc which is about 180 USD if bought brand new). Tbh anything tech here is excruciatingly expensive..that's Africa for you...

But thx anyway for the suggestion.

[Kanna]

Dear salvatore /s I would get used cards at that range

[nox_]

Just now, PrimeMinister said:

Nope, you can only get anything that's old or beginner for lower than R2000 here(it costs about R3000+ here to get anything like a 1050,etc which is about 180 USD if bought brand new). Tbh anything tech here is excruciatingly expensive..that's Africa for you...

But thx anyway for the suggestion.

Then use an apu.

[PrimeMinister]

Just now, Kanna said:

Dear salvatore /s I would get used cards at that range

 

1 minute ago, Som3a said:

Definitely consider the used market the GT 710, GT 730 and GT 1030 are horrible cards. If you can get an RX 580 or a 1050 Ti that would be great but if you can scrounge up some more cash you can get a 980 Ti since they go for about 180-200 bucks used, but you can obviously bargain and haggle to get a lower price

 

14 minutes ago, nox_ said:

None. Used cards is the only logical choice.

Ok, I'll try to convince my friend to buy used and I have to ask him for his specs first, but thx for the advice guys!

[ItsMeRachata]

23 minutes ago, PrimeMinister said:

Hey guys, so a friend of mine is window shopping for a graphics card that he might want to buy in future under R2000 (120 USD). What decent budget graphics card can you buy with that budget?

 

What we've found so far:

https://www.takealot.com/gigabyte-gt-710-2gb-graphics-card/PLID64859838

https://www.takealot.com/nvidia-geforce-graphic-card-gt-730-2gb-64bit/PLID70478857

https://www.takealot.com/gigabyte-geforce-gt-1030-low-profile-2gb/PLID60868806

 

Thanks in advance for the help!

I would say get a used RX 480/GTX 960, that would be much better

 

[PrimeMinister]

https://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/482529502/MSI_RX_550_2G_GDDR5.html

 

Is this card any good? (it's used)

[Som3a]

It's a good entry level card, very comparable to a 1050 but since AMD and nvidia cards are very different on many accounts they trade blows.

[Bombastinator]

28 minutes ago, PrimeMinister said:

 

 

Ok, I'll try to convince my friend to buy used and I have to ask him for his specs first, but thx for the advice guys!

Might be able to get a 570 or 970 or something like that used. Part of the problem is AMD never came out with a competitive card at the very low end and the result is new very low end cards are overpriced. 

[PrimeMinister]

Ok so I got my friend's specs:

 

i5-2300 @ 2.80 GHz

8GB DDR3

465GB HDD

450W PSU

 

Would this card work for this build or would it bottleneck it?

Card in question:

https://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/482529502/MSI_RX_550_2G_GDDR5.html

 

[Bombastinator]

4 minutes ago, PrimeMinister said:

Ok so I got my friend's specs:

 

i5-2300 @ 2.80 GHz

8GB DDR3

465GB HDD

450W PSU

 

Would this card work for this build or would it bottleneck it?

Card in question:

https://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/482529502/MSI_RX_550_2G_GDDR5.html

 

Link horked for me but that’s some low end PC.  I wouldn’t worry about “decent” so much.  4 threads of under 3 ghz with not great ips isn’t going to do a lot.  There are phones with more cpu power than this.  I doubt it will play much in the way of games.  Anything that will push video to his monitor is probably fine. 

[TrainFan475]

In the US you can sometimes find used rx 580s on ebay for around the $120 mark, but I don't know about South Africa

[Bombastinator]

Just now, TrainFan2020 said:

In the US you can sometimes find used rx 580s on ebay for around the $120 mark, but I don't know about South Africa

South Africa... hmm the UFDtech people used to be based there.  Might be an opinion available there about local availability.  I think a 580 may actually be more gpu than that cpu can handle. I’ve got a 4/8 of newer vintage and it can bury a 580 running at 4.0ghz but it has to work pretty hard to do it.  This doesn’t hurt anything. A 580 would still function.  It would also be nice and quiet.  570, or 560 are probably near enough to its upper limit. 

[PrimeMinister]

1 hour ago, TrainFan2020 said:

In the US you can sometimes find used rx 580s on ebay for around the $120 mark, but I don't know about South Africa

The problem is buying overseas is usually cheaper than buying in SA but you end up paying more than it would cost here thanks to import costs.

[PrimeMinister]

1 hour ago, Bombastinator said:

Link horked for me but that’s some low end PC.  I wouldn’t worry about “decent” so much.  4 threads of under 3 ghz with not great ips isn’t going to do a lot.  There are phones with more cpu power than this.  I doubt it will play much in the way of games.  Anything that will push video to his monitor is probably fine. 

Well, the PC ain't half bad with games and we bought those PC's at our school for cheap. (I'm converting mine to an office pc for my mom) P.S the link was for a RX 550

[SavageNeo]

4 minutes ago, PrimeMinister said:

Well, the PC ain't half bad with games and we bought those PC's at our school for cheap. (I'm converting mine to an office pc for my mom) P.S the link was for a RX 550

rx 550 is not bad for that pc. what about gtx 950,960,1050,1050ti?

 

rx 550 is pretty much gtx 1050.

[Bombastinator]

5 minutes ago, PrimeMinister said:

Well, the PC ain't half bad with games and we bought those PC's at our school for cheap. (I'm converting mine to an office pc for my mom) P.S the link was for a RX 550

Older games it will do fine for.  Might have a bit of a problem with something like RDR2. 550 would be a tad light but it’s reasonably close. 560 or 570 (so also gtx960 or 970) are more in line for burying both cpu and gpu. 

[agent2]

Let's just be honest here guys buying Kepler new nowadays is like buying a Hard Drive as a Boot Drive. 

So over my dead body would I do that

[Bombastinator]

3 hours ago, agent2 said:

Let's just be honest here guys buying Kepler new nowadays is like buying a Hard Drive as a Boot Drive. 

So over my dead body would I do that

Goes to definition of decent.  “Decent gpu for $120” can be taken a couple ways.  Part of the issue is the rest of the computer isn’t that great either, so putting something faster on it is kind of a waste anyway.