Do you have a backup GPU?

[Tech87]

I have been thinking about getting myself a backup GPU, in the event I need it for troubleshooting or god forbid, my main card dies.

 

I need one that has triple monitor capability, and if it could do some light gaming, that would be a bonus.

 

I was thinking of something like a gt 1050 ti. Not sure, going to look around. Also not in a rush as my main rig is fine.

Just looking to be prepared.

 

Do any of you keep backup GPUs on hand?

[Radium_Angel]

I have several, but none are gaming cards (the strongest one being a GT 1030) 

They are pulls from older systems, kept for the same reasons...backup, testing, etc.

[minibois]

Come to think of it, I do. It is a rather old Quadro 410 though (GTX 560 based chip), from my previous PC.

It could only do dual monitor, whereas I use triple monitors.

 

People that have CPU's with internal GPU's have less to worry I'd think, since worst case scenario without a GPU they can still do something on their PC.

[Tech87]

2 minutes ago, minibois said:

Come to think of it, I do. It is a rather old Quadro 410 though (GTX 560 based chip), from my previous PC.

It could only do dual monitor, whereas I use triple monitors.

 

People that have CPU's with internal GPU's have less to worry I'd think, since worst case scenario without a GPU they can still do something on their PC.

I built an AMD 5600x system recently, and I definitely miss that about Intel.

[Fasauceome]

All my backups have backups. My main PC has integrated graphics, my backup PC has a 750 TI and it also has integrated graphics off the motherboard.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Yeah, o have some gpus to use, not of which can game well, beypnd mc and csgo

[8-Bit Ninja]

I think most people that had "backups" sold them. I sold my 1050ti, 980ti and 1080 because I pretty much sold them for what I paid new. I have an old 660ti lying round more because its not worth selling than as a backup if my GPU dies. 

[m9x3mos]

36 minutes ago, Tech87 said:

I have been thinking about getting myself a backup GPU, in the event I need it for troubleshooting or god forbid, my main card dies.

 

I need one that has triple monitor capability, and if it could do some light gaming, that would be a bonus.

 

I was thinking of something like a gt 1050 ti. Not sure, going to look around. Also not in a rush as my main rig is fine.

Just looking to be prepared.

 

Do any of you keep backup GPUs on hand?

I have kept a 1070 in another box for plex transcoding. I also kept a 650 ti just in case. 

[Jarsky]

I always keep a few GPU's on hand. I have a spare RTX 2080Super, GTX1070 and GTX960. I use the GTX1070 for my Plex transcoding server so I often have taken that out and used it for troubleshooting. 

[PianoPlayer88Key]

I don't currently have a backup GPU, but I've thought about it a bit.

 

My desktop has integrated graphics on the CPU (i7-4790K); also I have a 1060 3GB (EVGA SC) that's not currently installed.

 

My laptop has a GTX 970M in an MXM slot so it is swappable.  That particular laptop (Clevo P750DM-G) is set up so that even though my CPU (i7-6700K) has an iGPU, the dGPU is required.

Getting a spare MXM GPU would be crazy expensive though, last I checked.

 

 

If I go with an HEDT or server platform with my next build (thinking Q4 2022 to 2024 timeframe or so, to replace my desktop), then I might want to have a backup GPU.  Although, I think I've heard a couple rumors about some HEDT platforms having an iGPU / APU setup.  Also, while I know that servers have existed for many years or more that have onboard graphics, pretty much all of the ones I've ever seen use VGA.  I don't have any monitors with VGA inputs (only HDMI and DisplayPort), and I don't plan on buying any, probably ever (unless I get the itch to do some retro build ... but actually, when I think retro, I think more EGA or CGA or older, which I think used 9-pin D-Sub connectors).

 

 

Anyway ... if I was looking at getting a backup GPU, I'd probably want:

• Something that is not weaker than current / recent APUs (like the Athlon 3000G / Ryzen 3 2200G/3200G. or Comet Lake Celerons/Pentiums / Core i5-11400)
  • Or, is capable of at least launching & kind-of playing modern games like Cyberpunk 2077 (at like 800x600, medium/low, 20fps, no RT), or running 5 year old titles at 720p 30fps medium.
• Costs preferably no more than $40-70 or so,
• Single-slot, passively cooled / sub-30W TDP ; bonus points for using PCIe x1
• Lasts through several main GPU upgrades.  (I'd probably do main upgrades when any of these are true:
  • New generation's entry level (GT xx10) beats my card's generation's flagship (Titan / xx80/90 Ti) ; bonus points for the new entry-level card beating the past flagship Quadro in workstation tasks, like FP64 or whatever is normally gimped on gaming cards;
  • Old card struggles to get 10 fps at 640x480 low settings in a then-10-year-old casual game, while new card does 120+ fps at 4K ultra in the newest AAA titles, AND is half the price & TDP (or lower) vs the previous card when it was new
  • My card dies.
  • (Of course I'd expect the gaming performance to be even more lacking as the GPU ages, but I'd hope that even after 7 or 8 main GPU upgrades, it would still be able to run few-year-old casual games at low settings & resolution & teens/20s fps, or 10-15 year old AAA titles with the same specs.

 

When I was thinking about this a few days ago there were a couple other criteria I was thinking of, but I can't remember off the top of my head.

 

If I had to make some sacrifices though, the important points would be low-TDP / single-slot passively cooled, not weaker than current APUs, and priced like the normal retail cost of GT x10 cards when scalpers aren't involved, and I'd probably only be keeping it for like 10-15 years or so, or through maybe 2 or 3 upgrades.

 

 

 

[Tech87]

Wow. A lot of you are very well prepared in the event of a problem. Good to see.

 

I was thinking of grabbing a GT 1030, but it only has 2 outputs, and so that's a no go for me.

 

It may be best to wait for the GPU market madness to calm down as well.

[m9x3mos]

1 hour ago, Tech87 said:

Wow. A lot of you are very well prepared in the event of a problem. Good to see.

 

I was thinking of grabbing a GT 1030, but it only has 2 outputs, and so that's a no go for me.

 

It may be best to wait for the GPU market madness to calm down as well.

Yeah, now is not exactly a good time to buy a gpu. Backup or otherwise. 

If you can find like a 750 ti for around 50 that would be one thing. But even the old cards are marked up now. 

[SolarNova]

I keep my systems so long that by the time I upgrade its barely worth selling on, as such i keep my old hardware in storage.

 

For spare GPU's i have a 780 Classified, 560ti SOC, and 2x GTX 8800.

 

I would not purposefully buy a GPU for spare though even if I didnt have them. As far as im concerned its a waste of money purchasing something in the event something 'might' go wrong with the primary item. If something goes wrong, THEN , i may buy one.

[Tech87]

35 minutes ago, SolarNova said:

I keep my systems so long that by the time I upgrade its barely worth selling on, as such i keep my old hardware in storage.

 

For spare GPU's i have a 780 Classified, 560ti SOC, and 2x GTX 8800.

 

I would not purposefully buy a GPU for spare though even if I didnt have them. As far as im concerned its a waste of money purchasing something in the event something 'might' go wrong with the primary item. If something goes wrong, THEN , i may buy one.

I hear ya, but the problem with this logic is that if my GPU were to die and I had no backup, then I would be scrambling, and my system would be done until I got my hands on another one.

 

Not the end of the world to be sure, but definitely not ideal.

[Tech87]

Another reason for a decent backup, although I've never had to go through this, is for RMA.

 

I've heard some of these companies can take several weeks to get your card back to you and/or replace it?

[da na]

I have two: One for ATI/AMD based systems, which is an R5 240.

Then, I've got a Quadro K620 that I use in my main system along my K2200, but if the K2200 dies I can switch over to the K620 in under 3 minutes.

 

I recommend a GTS 295. They are insanely cheap, they can be found for like $11 on ebay. They suck, but the key to a backup GPU is 3 steps: 1. it works 2. You won't feel bad if it explodes and 3. cheap to buy.

[da na]

42 minutes ago, Tech87 said:

Another reason for a decent backup, although I've never had to go through this, is for RMA.

 

I've heard some of these companies can take several weeks to get your card back to you and/or replace it?

I bought my r5 240 for that exact reason, had to RMA my rx 570 8gb because of artifacting issues. It had 16 days of warranty left in fact. So yeah luckily it broke right then. They got it back to me in around 10 days. The r5 240 wasn't absolute garbage, it could play Crossout on 75% render scale and everything cranked to low at around 45 FPS. I was just glad to be able to play my games at all. 

I did the RMA around 3 months ago, in the middle of the Scalpocalypse. I was honestly impressed with how fast it was. However, the card I got back wasn't new - the PCIe bracket was bent around the screw hole indicating it had been used, but the display outputs had the plastic plugs put in them, and it shipped in a brand new original box. It wasn't my card though, since it had a different serial number and the warranty sticker wasn't pierced, which I had done for thermal paste. I wonder if they wanted to send me a card back because they had to for replacement, but didn't have a new one, so just made a used one look brand new... 

[Tech87]

28 minutes ago, Mel0nMan said:

I have two: One for ATI/AMD based systems, which is an R5 240.

Then, I've got a Quadro K620 that I use in my main system along my K2200, but if the K2200 dies I can switch over to the K620 in under 3 minutes.

 

I recommend a GTS 295. They are insanely cheap, they can be found for like $11 on ebay. They suck, but the key to a backup GPU is 3 steps: 1. it works 2. You won't feel bad if it explodes and 3. cheap to buy.

Yeah, that's a fair point.

I could actually get away with a dual monitor card as my backup, and afaik almost any card is capable of dual monitors. I know my old GTX 560 ti could do dual monitors at least.

 

I'll take a look around my local area and online for something like that.

 

I'm honestly not as worried about gaming as much as I am just getting my system up and running.

I watch all my shows and movies off my PC, so definitely need a backup GPU.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

I would have to raid my HTPC but I could swap to a 1080

[Tech87]

10 minutes ago, orbitalbuzzsaw said:

I would have to raid my HTPC but I could swap to a 1080

That's quite the luxury to have!

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

1 minute ago, Tech87 said:

That's quite the luxury to have!

yeah lol, also might win an ebay auction for a 1080 Ti for less than $100 US (50-50 it's a scam but ebay buyer protection so)

[Falkentyne]

I have a backup but it's a r9 290X 4 GB.  Not really useful for any thing close to modern.  Even in 2017 it was showing its age severely.

The Vega 64 I replaced it with in november 2018 was much faster and far more enjoyable.  It was fine until it just decided to die while my 3090 FE was being shipped from the Oct 9th Best Buy drop

 

My other backup is a laptop with a GTX 1070 MXM (TDP mod to 230W).

[tdkid]

i want to say yes and no because i have an i7 8700k CPU and it has intergrated graphics, so if my graphics card was to fail i could at least still use my computer until i get a new graphics card. as for another GPU like my 2070 super? no i do not.

[jones177]

Now that I have a 30 series GPU my backup is a GTX 1080 ti.

I don't sell GPUs so I always have spares.

 

 

[CT854]

I have a project rig I stuck an RTX 3060 into which I could raid in case, god forbid, my 3070 conks out and dies **knocks on wood**. This is a dual-Xeon build that I initially planned to just put a 750 Ti or something in, but when I was looking for a cheap graphics card my EVGA queue for a 3060 popped so I thought... eh what the hell.

 

If all else fails, I gave my old gaming rig (4690K/GTX 970) to my mom who lives downtown so I could just swing by and pop the 970 out in the interim... I don't like selling old cards, really. I know for a fact I had older cards (I had an HD 6850 whose fans just... died) I got rid of but I wanna just put on display all of my cards once I get a place with enough display room.