Upgrading From a 1050 2GB

[Litecrystal]

So after some thinking and wanting to play some more demanding games, I have started to think about upgrading from my trusty but rusty 1050 (not Ti)

I am unsure if I should get something like a second hand 2060 super or if I should go for one of the new "budget cards" like the 3060, or wait for the rumoured 4060 & 4050.

 

I really don't feel like spending a lot on it at all though (trying to keep it under 100$) the reason for this is I simply want a little boost in performance and to try out ray tracing. In most of the games I play the 1050, while yes running constantly at 100% manages to run it at a playable but stuttering frame rate. 

I was also thinking about if I should have a look at the AMD side of things since I have a 5800x (clearly very bottlenecked by my 1050). Any budget builder advice out there would be great!

 

My current card

[rippy4500]

A 2060 super or 3060 would be a decent option if you want nvidia, if you want an amd card then a 6600 xt/6650 xt can be a good option as well.

[Zando_]

18 minutes ago, rippy4500 said:

A 2060 super or 3060 would be a decent option if you want nvidia, if you want an amd card then a 6600 xt/6650 xt can be a good option as well.

^^^ This. Though the AMD cards are mostly bleh at ray tracing, so if you do want that then they're a poor option. Otherwise they're typically faster than the equivalent Nvidia card for less $$. 

 

If you're trying to keep it under $100 you'd have to look at used cards, but anything below a 2060 Super likely won't run ray tracing playably enough to make any difference, and those look around $200 still at least from my quick peek on eBay earlier today. 

 

Really any modern card above like, a 1630 will blow your socks off coming from a 1050 though, the 1050 2GB is slow even vs the sibling 1050 Ti. 

 

Intel's ARC cards will do ray tracing somewhere in-between Nvidia and AMD, and they can be had cheaper as well, but you have to deal with driver teething issues and a some DX11 or earlier games still run quite badly. Though it has improved a lot lately, before the last driver update I couldn't play Destiny 2 (DX11 title) without getting motion sick, now it runs fine. Fallout 76 is still near unplayable, I haven't gone through the rest of my library and seen if it's just the outlier though.