What's the oldest GPU you can get away with in 2020? (Discussion)

[DeuteriumTSM]

I wanna hear everyone's opinion on this: Assuming we're aiming for plain old 1080p60 gaming, or even 30 at a stretch, what's the oldest/cheapest/weakest GPU you can get away with playing modern games on?
For my part, my low-end is running a GTX 760 outputting to a 1080p TV and can run Dishonored 2 (still unusually GPU-heavy even in 2020) rather comfortably on high at 30fps, Borderlands 3 quite comfortably at locked 30fps on Medium and can manage Snowrunner at 60, again Medium.

[Skiiwee29]

anything less than 60 is noticeable to me now a days after having gamed at higher refreshes.. heck, even when I lock my screen to 75 when its not my focus and I just sit and watch it I can tell the difference. 

[DeuteriumTSM]

Just now, Skiiwee29 said:

anything less than 60 is noticeable to me now a days after having gamed at higher refreshes.. heck, even when I lock my screen to 75 when its not my focus and I just sit and watch it I can tell the difference. 

So what d'you reckon is the "worst" GPU you could get away with for that in 2020?

[Skiiwee29]

Just now, DeuteriumTSM said:

So what d'you reckon is the "worst" GPU you could get away with for that in 2020?

depends on the type of game, resolution.. assuming all minimum at 1080p I would say a RX570 minimum. 

[Prodigy_Smit]

A GTX 760, 670, RX 470, 480.

 

I can comfortably play most games that I do at 30 fps I dont really mind. Only in FPS games do I feel like I need my 90hz gaming.

[Tristerin]

R9 Fury

[mahyar]

gtx 1050 ti

[da na]

RX 470 you can still sorta get away with.

[2plash6]

Gtx 750 Ti / Gt1030.

 

These are pretty similar GPUs.

[DeuteriumTSM]

4 minutes ago, 2plash6 said:

Gtx 750 Ti / Gt1030.

 

These are pretty similar GPUs.

I thought a 1030 was weaker than a 760...

[jaslion]

My hd 5870 honestly still works for esports titles and the older games I play (gw2, dishonored, bloons td6,..). You can get away with a lot if you don't mind lowering the settings.

[2plash6]

2 minutes ago, DeuteriumTSM said:

I thought a 1030 was weaker than a 760...

It is. 

[Levent]

HD7970/R9 280X or GTX970 (and above) HD series and R9 280 cards are dime a dozen and you can get them for dirt cheap. I am currently using a GTX970 and mine overclocks well and it handles 1080p gaming very well, even finished RDR2 on high/medium settings.

[2plash6]

Just now, 2plash6 said:

It is. 

The 1030 is pretty similar to a 750(non ti).

The 760 is a lot better.

[Mateyyy]

I reckon an HD 7970 (later rebadged as the R9 280X in 2013) would offer very decent 1080p60 gaming even today, and that's what, 9 years old at this point?

GCN in general aged a lot better than Kepler, which is why if I had to go for a GPU from back then, I'd pick AMD over Nvidia (HD 7970 vs GTX 680, R9 290 vs GTX 780).

 

If you're not too bothered about gaming at lower than 60FPS, then even an HD 7870 (later rebadged as the R9 270X) should do an alright job.

 

With older, non-GCN AMD GPUs or pre-Maxwell Nvidia GPUs, you'll potentially be looking at compatibility issues in newer DX12 games. If you're not planning on playing overly new games though, then heck, you could still probably game on Fermi or TeraScale 2.

[Eigenvektor]

30 minutes ago, DeuteriumTSM said:

what's the oldest/cheapest/weakest GPU you can get away with playing modern games on?

Depends on what types of games you play. I'm using an RX 480 and most single player games are still fairly playable even at 1440p. For some games (e.g. Metro Exodus) I had to lower details and turn it down to 1080p to be somewhere between 50-60. It's not the greatest but still playable.

[Biomecanoid]

36 minutes ago, DeuteriumTSM said:

I wanna hear everyone's opinion on this: Assuming we're aiming for plain old 1080p60 gaming, or even 30 at a stretch, what's the oldest/cheapest/weakest GPU you can get away with playing modern games on?
For my part, my low-end is running a GTX 760 outputting to a 1080p TV and can run Dishonored 2 (still unusually GPU-heavy even in 2020) rather comfortably on high at 30fps, Borderlands 3 quite comfortably at locked 30fps on Medium and can manage Snowrunner at 60, again Medium.

I am happy with my Nvidia 1060 and I can play Metro exodus and a whole lot of other games in Triple Screen 5040x1050 resolution 48:10 aspect ratio.

 

I would say the bare minimum is an Nvidia 1030

[SFFDesigns]

Depends on the game? 1080p 60 fps in older titles? GTX 780 I'd say. (or AMD equivalents)

[starry]

Im going to say something controversial and say the HD 6850

[Tan3l6]

GTX 1060 3GB

[Aragorn-]

1060 3gb and/or RX470 are the low end i'd really recommend for gaming these days. Not just due to performance, but due to cost as well. The AMD card especially can be had for really low prices relative to its performance, which often makes buying a slower card a fairly poor choice. They're not that much cheaper, but they're often a LOT slower. These two models also draw little enough power that you can typically stuff one into any old PC and it'll work.

 

Some older cards that might also be acceptable, say a 970 or 780Ti if you can get them cheaper than the RX470. 

Techspot/Hardware Unboxed do an annual roundup of cards which is very useful, especially when you include the cost per frame analysis:

https://www.techspot.com/article/2007-buying-guide-used-graphics-cards/

 

You will note what i mention above, the cost per frame of the RX470 is excellent, and many slower GPU's end up costing more! Some cards like the 1050 series are awful value in comparison.

[DeuteriumTSM]

On 1/12/2021 at 4:59 PM, Aragorn- said:

1060 3gb and/or RX470 are the low end i'd really recommend for gaming these days. Not just due to performance, but due to cost as well. The AMD card especially can be had for really low prices relative to its performance, which often makes buying a slower card a fairly poor choice. They're not that much cheaper, but they're often a LOT slower. These two models also draw little enough power that you can typically stuff one into any old PC and it'll work.

 

Some older cards that might also be acceptable, say a 970 or 780Ti if you can get them cheaper than the RX470. 

Techspot/Hardware Unboxed do an annual roundup of cards which is very useful, especially when you include the cost per frame analysis:

https://www.techspot.com/article/2007-buying-guide-used-graphics-cards/

 

You will note what i mention above, the cost per frame of the RX470 is excellent, and many slower GPU's end up costing more! Some cards like the 1050 series are awful value in comparison.

I think I got my 760 for about £40 (US$55-ish) in CeX. Then again, I've discovered that CeX is bad value for old secondhand cards, they do 970s for £115 (US$156-ish) and I can see at least one 970 for about £50 (US$68-ish) on eBay.