New Graphics Card Without Bottleneck

[Moromillas Radec]

1. Budget & Location

I have very little to my name. I basically live on a pension, which is less than minimum wage, and save money by both spending wisely (such as making food from scratch instead of buying overpriced junk food) and eating every second day. So, if I can't afford it, I should be able to _eventually_ afford it.

I'm in Australia, I've looked around at the prices at computer stores, and I think MSY has the most competitive prices.

Here's the parts sheet for the local computer shop:

http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf

2. Aim

I do everything from my system. Video editing, web browsing, gaming. With gaming being the main focus.

3. Monitors

I don't plan on doing multiple monitors any time soon. I don't see a point to 4k to be honest. 1080p 60fps seems great, I don't know why you would want more.

4. Peripherals

I just need a new graphics card ehy.

5. Why are you upgrading?

My graphics card died! I went through all this trouble shooting, hoping that it was something else, and not my Radeon HD 7970. But it was the graphics card. I cannibalised a very very old computer, and put a Radeon HD 4870 in it, and that works just fine for most things. But with such an old graphics card, it no longer has drivers that are supported by AMD for windows 10. Yeah, I'm running on drivers from Microsoft. Then there's all these new games that E3 just showcased.... And all the games I have that won't run any more.

 

I basically want to buy a new video card, that matches my CPU, as in: Their isn't a bottleneck at the graphics card, nor does a bottleneck occur at the CPU.

I've been searching for information on how to determine this, but there isn't concrete information on how to find out what setups will or won't have a bottleneck.

Just a bunch of people speculating and disagreeing with each other.

So, I have no idea where to start.

 

The CPU is an AMD FX-8150 8-core processor, unfortunately.

Not sure if RAM impacts any calculation, but I have 32GB of G.Skill Ares F3-1866C10Q (1866MHz DDR3)

 

I also wouldn't mind something with low power consumption, to save on utilities.

[GER_T4IGA]

I can't exactly tell what is the best option there but an RX 460 for 145 seems to be a good option though I might want to add that I question you valuing gaming over food

[19_blackie_73]

10 minutes ago, Moromillas Radec said:

The CPU is an AMD FX-8150 8-core processor

well for limited budget, this processor is perfectly fine, though not very power efficient.

I'd suggest the 1050ti Galax OC at the bare minimum. If you can get one of the 1060 6GB models, get it.

[Ordinarily_Greater]

RX 470 can be the best option, it is not intense as NVidia cards so your CPU can handle it.

 

Also if you are going for RX 480 instead of RX 470 that means you are using it for VR (RX 480 is 470+VR basically in my mind)

[Moromillas Radec]

21 minutes ago, GER_T4IGA said:

I can't exactly tell what is the best option there but an RX 460 for 145 seems to be a good option though I might want to add that I question you valuing gaming over food

And therein lies the problem. No one knows how to determine what setups will cause a bottleneck and where.

Like, how did you end up at the RX 460?

[Moromillas Radec]

2 hours ago, Ordinarily_Greater said:

RX 470 can be the best option, it is not intense as NVidia cards so your CPU can handle it.

 

Also if you are going for RX 480 instead of RX 470 that means you are using it for VR (RX 480 is 470+VR basically in my mind)

The RX 470 isn't for sale for some reason.

 

Should I just get the RX 550? It's around the same price as the RX 460, or even less by some comparisons.

 

It's a bit strange that a higher model would sell for less, you would think it would sell for more than the previous models.

 

Also, how did you arrive at RX 470?

[DocSwag]

8 hours ago, Moromillas Radec said:

The RX 470 isn't for sale for some reason.

 

Should I just get the RX 550? It's around the same price as the RX 460, or even less by some comparisons.

 

It's a bit strange that a higher model would sell for less, you would think it would sell for more than the previous models.

 

Also, how did you arrive at RX 470?

550 is worse than 460, by a considerable amount in fact.

 

Reviews peg the fx 8370 around the G4560 in performance on average. An 8150 is a lower clocked 8370, for the most part. The g4560 starts bottlenecking around rx 570-580 range (source is the gamers nexus finding the bottleneck g4560 article), so I'd guess the same would apply for the 8350. Bump it down a little for the 8150 and I would guess around rx 470-570 range.

[Moromillas Radec]

Yeah, I was just looking at bench marks before. When the RX 460 is the same price, yet performs better, you have to wonder who the RX 550 is for. Very strange. Perhaps there's some feature that I'm missing, such as a smaller form factor.

 

Just had a look at that article. It appears that the only way to tell with any certainty is by bench marking the games themselves?

 

$145....4G RX 460 - Gigabyte Windforce OC

$339....4G RX 480 - Asus DUAL OC

$299....4G RX 570 - Sapphire PULSE OC

$339....4G RX 580 - PULSE OC

 

Going from $150 to $300 is quite the jump. Will it really make such a difference?

Also, what about the GTX 1050 Ti? Those range from $200 to $250.

[Moromillas Radec]

Ok, I've been looking at benchmarks and sort of mulling it over. I've drawn the following conclusions, please let me know if they look stupid, or off.

 

 

1. The RX 570 mops the floor with the RX 460, to the point where the RX 570 is actually better value for money.

 

2. The GTX 1050 Ti is somewhere in between the RX 460 and the RX 570, both in terms of price and performance.

 

3. The RX 580 and RX 480 are the same price, yet the RX 580 performs better on average, thus superseding the RX 480.

 

4. The RX 580 performs slightly better, for just $40 more than the RX 570. Therefore, it might be worth waiting a little more for.

 

5. The GTX 1060 6gb doesn't performs as well as the RX 580 on average, yet is slightly more expensive than the RX 580.

 

 

Also thanks for helping me with this. I would be lost without someone to springboard this off.

[Ordinarily_Greater]

15 hours ago, Moromillas Radec said:

The RX 470 isn't for sale for some reason.

 

Should I just get the RX 550? It's around the same price as the RX 460, or even less by some comparisons.

 

It's a bit strange that a higher model would sell for less, you would think it would sell for more than the previous models.

 

Also, how did you arrive at RX 470?

RX 470 is an efficient card (for it's size, not the thermal design power A.K.A TDP).

 

No RX 470 cards have use three fans from aftermarket coolers, even strix RX 470 just using Two Fans. I like it and if you want the 8GB version of RX 470 it's available too.

 

Or RX 570? RX 560?

[Ordinarily_Greater]

15 hours ago, Moromillas Radec said:

The RX 470 isn't for sale for some reason.

 

Should I just get the RX 550? It's around the same price as the RX 460, or even less by some comparisons.

 

It's a bit strange that a higher model would sell for less, you would think it would sell for more than the previous models.

 

Also, how did you arrive at RX 470?

RX 470 is an efficient card (for it's size, not the thermal design power A.K.A TDP).

 

No RX 470 cards have use three fans from aftermarket coolers, even strix RX 470 just using Two Fans. I like it and if you want the 8GB version of RX 470 it's available too.

 

Or RX 570? RX 560?

[Moromillas Radec]

4 minutes ago, Ordinarily_Greater said:

RX 470 is an efficient card (for it's size, not the thermal design power A.K.A TDP).

 

No RX 470 cards have use three fans from aftermarket coolers, even strix RX 470 just using Two Fans. I like it and if you want the 8GB version of RX 470 it's available too.

 

Or RX 570? RX 560?

The only 8gb versions they have at MSY, are the RX 580's. They don't have RX 470's either. And other places like Umart have even less.

 

Based on my conclusions.... I'm leaning more towards saving $40 more and getting the RX 580.

[GER_T4IGA]

20 hours ago, Moromillas Radec said:

And therein lies the problem. No one knows how to determine what setups will cause a bottleneck and where.

Like, how did you end up at the RX 460?

Saving money -> THIS

20 hours ago, GER_T4IGA said:

I question you valuing gaming over food

 

[Moromillas Radec]

I don't think I'm valuing one over the other.

[Ordinarily_Greater]

17 hours ago, Moromillas Radec said:

The only 8gb versions they have at MSY, are the RX 580's. They don't have RX 470's either. And other places like Umart have even less.

 

Based on my conclusions.... I'm leaning more towards saving $40 more and getting the RX 580.

That's great then!