Searching for a good budget graphics card

[maxicosi]

So I've been using my budget gaming PC for almost one and a half year now, mostly to play Minecraft.

But now I want to upgrade my PC build to play heavier games, like Battlefield.

Right now BF4 runs with low settings at around 30-40 FPS.

My current PC build is:

Quote

Case:Sharkoon BD28 Green edition

Processor:AMD Richland A8 6600K (4x 3900 MHz) Quad Core

Processor-Cooler:Standard AMD Processor cooler

Motherboard:GIGABYTE GA-F2A78M-DS2 (rev. 3.0)

Memory[RAM]:8GB DDR3 1600Mhz (Corsair Memory - Dual Channel)

Harddrive 1:128GB Solid State Drive (Crucial MX100)

Graphics Card:AMD Radeon R7 250 (MSI R7 250 2GD3 OC)

Soundcard:Onboard audio 7.1

Network:Gigabit LAN (100/1000 Mbit) connection

Drive:DVD-RW Dual Layer Burner

Power Supply:Corsair VS Series VS450

 

I know I should probably upgrade my graphics card, so what card would you think suits my PC best?

Thanks in advance!

 

[RedLineGamer]

Get a gtx 950 used and you will be all fine.

Or get the r7 470 since it has the same performance as the gtx 970 on a lower price.

You can also consider r9 390 used.

[SLIClocker]

Amd radeon RX 480 when it comes out.

[minibois]

RX 370 sounds like it should be alright for you, but the CPU is also another reason why it doesn't perform super good (in BF4).

I think @deWaardt has an Athlon X4 860K and he has said in the past it doesn't perform super good in BF4 (That Athlon has about the same CPU power, your A8 CPU just has a better iGPU, because it's an APU).

[don_svetlio]

RX 460 or 470

[Held657]

This really depends on how much you want to spend. Anything above a RX470 / GTX950 will make no sense with that CPU though. 

 

EDIT: RX460 not RX470!!!

Edited June 25, 2016 by Held657
typo

[don_svetlio]

2 minutes ago, Held657 said:

This really depends on how much you want to spend. Anything above a RX470 / GTX950 will make no sense with that CPU though. 

RX 470 is a LOT faster than a 950, I think you meant a 370

[Held657]

3 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

RX 470 is a LOT faster than a 950, I think you meant a 370

 

Oh right, I actually meant a RX460. Thanks for noticing.

[deWaardt]

20 minutes ago, Minibois said:

RX 370 sounds like it should be alright for you, but the CPU is also another reason why it doesn't perform super good (in BF4).

I think @deWaardt has an Athlon X4 860K and he has said in the past it doesn't perform super good in BF4 (That Athlon has about the same CPU power, your A8 CPU just has a better iGPU, because it's an APU).

No, the Athlon 860k will give you about 60fps on medium settings with some settings turned down in Nvidia control panel, with frequent dips to 50's and even low 40's.

In GTA V it is simply impossible to get 60fps as the CPU is always stressed to a 100%

[Held657]

21 minutes ago, deWaardt said:

No, the Athlon 860k will give you about 60fps on medium settings with some settings turned down in Nvidia control panel, with frequent dips to 50's and even low 40's.

In GTA V it is simply impossible to get 60fps as the CPU is always stressed to a 100%

 

1. I think you didn't get his point

2. I don't get your point

 

All he's saying is that the Athlon 860K / A8 6600K (they really are pretty close regarding CPU performance) can limit performance in CPU demanding games like Battlefield 4, and I agree with him the 6600K isn't the best gaming CPU. He also suggested a RX370 which will defenetly be bottlenecked by the CPU compared to something like an i7.

[deWaardt]

1 hour ago, Held657 said:

 

1. I think you didn't get his point

2. I don't get your point

 

All he's saying is that the Athlon 860K / A8 6600K (they really are pretty close regarding CPU performance) can limit performance in CPU demanding games like Battlefield 4, and I agree with him the 6600K isn't the best gaming CPU. He also suggested a RX370 which will defenetly be bottlenecked by the CPU compared to something like an i7.

And I responded to Minibois because he mentioned me, agreeing with what he said and confirming that the 860k is a poor choice for demanding games.

 

So I don't get what you're trying to say, sorry.

[Held657]

1 hour ago, deWaardt said:

And I responded to Minibois because he mentioned me, agreeing with what he said and confirming that the 860k is a poor choice for demanding games.

 

So I don't get what you're trying to say, sorry.

Okay at least I understand you now xD.

[maxicosi]

Thanks for all the quick replies!

I have looked around, and although @Held657 said that I should not go above the GTX 950, I found that the GTX 960 is only 10 euros more expensive for me and I also asked my friend, he said that he has an Athlon 860k with the 960 and as far as I know he doesn't experience any problems.

I won't buy it anytime soon so please keep posting suggestions!

[deWaardt]

6 minutes ago, maxicosi said:

Thanks for all the quick replies!

I have looked around, and although @Held657 said that I should not go above the GTX 950, I found that the GTX 960 is only 10 euros more expensive for me and I also asked my friend, he said that he has an Athlon 860k with the 960 and as far as I know he doesn't experience any problems.

I won't buy it anytime soon so please keep posting suggestions!

It's all up to how long you wait until you buy it.

You could wait out for Zen, or get the 880k.

The 880k is not that much more expensive, but makes quite a difference and can be overclocked higher than the 860k.

 

I would recommend on staying away from the 860/880k though, as there is no upgrade path for the chip and it isn't that strong.

 

I personally have that chip, Bf4 does not run great on it. You will be severely bottenecked as to the point your GPU is only being used 40/50% while the CPU is locked at a 100% and your framerate is suffering.

 

 

[Coaxialgamer]

i would buy the rx 460/ 470 when it comes out in a few days . According to rumors , 470 is at gtx 970 level , and rx 460 should be at gtx 950 level

[maxicosi]

35 minutes ago, deWaardt said:

It's all up to how long you wait until you buy it.

You could wait out for Zen, or get the 880k.

The 880k is not that much more expensive, but makes quite a difference and can be overclocked higher than the 860k.

 

I would recommend on staying away from the 860/880k though, as there is no upgrade path for the chip and it isn't that strong.

 

I personally have that chip, Bf4 does not run great on it. You will be severely bottenecked as to the point your GPU is only being used 40/50% while the CPU is locked at a 100% and your framerate is suffering.

 

 

The reason I mentioned my friend has that CPU was because someone said earlier that this is around the same as my current processor. I don't want to upgrade my CPU yet.

[deWaardt]

1 minute ago, maxicosi said:

The reason I mentioned my friend has that CPU was because someone said earlier that this is around the same as my current processor. I don't want to upgrade my CPU yet.

You don't have to upgrade your CPU, but I recommend doing it in the future as the chip you have right now might disappoint you

[maxicosi]

43 minutes ago, Coaxialgamer said:

i would buy the rx 460/ 470 when it comes out in a few days . According to rumors , 470 is at gtx 970 level , and rx 460 should be at gtx 950 level

Hmm. Maybe I should wait until the 470 gets released (or maybe even the 480 if it is not much more expensive). Thanks!

[Held657]

On 25.6.2016 at 9:16 PM, maxicosi said:

Thanks for all the quick replies!

I have looked around, and although @Held657 said that I should not go above the GTX 950, I found that the GTX 960 is only 10 euros more expensive for me and I also asked my friend, he said that he has an Athlon 860k with the 960 and as far as I know he doesn't experience any problems.

I won't buy it anytime soon so please keep posting suggestions!

 

If it's only 10€ more expensive you should defenetly go for the GTX960. It might be throttled by the CPU, but it will still be faster than the GTX950. It just woudln't have made much sense to buy the 960 if it would be a lot more expensive.

 

On 25.6.2016 at 9:29 PM, Coaxialgamer said:

i would buy the rx 460/ 470 when it comes out in a few days . According to rumors , 470 is at gtx 970 level , and rx 460 should be at gtx 950 level

 

Unfortunetly we now know that the RX480 is only GTX970 level. Since it was rumored it would be GTX1070 level I would stay away from assumptions what the RX470/460 will be for now (meaning no offense).

 

On 25.6.2016 at 10:02 PM, deWaardt said:

You don't have to upgrade your CPU, but I recommend doing it in the future as the chip you have right now might disappoint you

 

I agree with @deWaardt you should upgrade your CPU in the furute, the 6600K really isn't great for gaming. But as he already said you should wait for Zen to arrive, that is if you want to stick to AMD of course.

[maxicosi]

5 minutes ago, Held657 said:

you should wait for Zen to arrive

Zen is rumoured to be around 300 dollars, which would be above my budget at around 200 euro's.

I was thinking about the FX 8350, do you think this is a solid choice?

[Held657]

1 minute ago, maxicosi said:

Zen is rumoured to be around 300 dollars, which would be above my budget at around 200 euro's.

I was thinking about the FX 8350, do you think this is a solid choice?

Personally I'd say no. The Bulldozer (FX) Chips run very hot, the power consumption is very high and the single core performance very poor. They really aren't worth the money, especially since AM3+ boards are very expensive. There will be a lot of different price points of Zen, top of the line will be 300$ but there will defenetly also be cheaper CPUs.

But switching to a FX8350 would be a very expensive choice with a rather small upgrade in gaming performance.

[maxicosi]

1 minute ago, Held657 said:

Personally I'd say no. The Bulldozer (FX) Chips run very hot, the power consumption is very high and the single core performance very poor. They really aren't worth the money, especially since AM3+ boards are very expensive. There will be a lot of different price points of Zen, top of the line will be 300$ but there will defenetly also be cheaper CPUs.

But switching to a FX8350 would be a very expensive choice with a rather small upgrade in gaming performance.

Alright thanks!