Is it worth upgrading to an RX 480 from a 750Ti?

[dcgreen2k]

Hello there! I currently have an EVGA GTX 750Ti SC, but I can really only play games with high settings at 720p to get 60fps+. I've looked at Nvidia's offerings, but everything, including used cards are still too expensive. However, used RX 480s can be found from about 175 to 250USD, so would this upgrade be worth it for playing things similar in hardware intensiveness to GTA 5 with high/max settings at 1080p?

 

I don't care if the card has been mined on, but what differences are there in a mining BIOS compared to the stock BIOS?

How hot could I expect the card to get?

Finally, what brands would be the best in terms of light overclocking, cooling, and noise?

If I do decide to get the RX480, should I get the 4GB or 8GB version?

[GDRRiley]

I can get a new 580 for 250. A used 780Ti or 970 wouldn't be bad cards either 

[KarathKasun]

If you get an ex-mining card, make sure its a normal consumer GPU.  The mining specific cards are very limited on monitor IO.

 

This also means that you will be able to flash it back to stock with relative ease.

[mikedrewsmy]

1 minute ago, thegreengamers said:

Hello there! I currently have an EVGA GTX 750Ti SC, but I can really only play games with high settings at 720p to get 60fps+. I've looked at Nvidia's offerings, but everything, including used cards are still too expensive. However, used RX 480s can be found from about 175 to 250USD, so would this upgrade be worth it for playing things similar in hardware intensiveness to GTA 5 with high/max settings at 1080p?

 

I don't care if the card has been mined on, but what differences are there in a mining BIOS compared to the stock BIOS?

How hot could I expect the card to get?

Finally, what brands would be the best in terms of light overclocking, cooling, and noise?

You have the higher chances of damaging the gpu + gddr of the gpu especially if the miners actually overclocked their gpu/memory.

[dcgreen2k]

1 minute ago, GDRRiley said:

I can get a new 580 for 250. A used 780Ti or 970 wouldn't be bad cards either 

 

Just now, KarathKasun said:

If you get an ex-mining card, make sure its a normal consumer GPU.  The mining specific cards are very limited on monitor IO.

 

This also means that you will be able to flash it back to stock with relative ease.

Thanks, do you guys know if there would be anything I would miss out on or lose by switching to the AMD ecosystem, such as NVENC for video encoding?

[KarathKasun]

1 minute ago, mikedrewsmy said:

You have the higher chances of damaging the gpu + gddr of the gpu especially if the miners actually overclocked their gpu/memory.

Many miners drop clocks for increased payout per watt.

[dcgreen2k]

Just now, mikedrewsmy said:

You have the higher chances of damaging the gpu + gddr of the gpu especially if the miners actually overclocked their gpu/memory.

If I remember correctly, the main cryptocurrency these cards were used for the most relied on the memory speed, so they underclocked and undervolted the GPU core to get better power efficiency. Thanks for the reply!

[mikedrewsmy]

Just now, thegreengamers said:

If I remember correctly, the main cryptocurrency these cards were used for the most relied on the memory speed, so they underclocked and undervolted the GPU core to get better power efficiency. Thanks for the reply!

But they do overclock the memory.

[KarathKasun]

Just now, thegreengamers said:

 

Thanks, do you guys know if there would be anything I would miss out on or lose by switching to the AMD ecosystem, such as NVENC for video encoding?

You obviously lose NVENC, also CUDA/gameworks.  Thats about it.  AMD does have their own NVENC thing though.

[dcgreen2k]

1 minute ago, mikedrewsmy said:

But they do overclock the memory.

I don't think this has as much of an impact on lifespan as the GPU core though.

 

1 minute ago, KarathKasun said:

You obviously lose NVENC, also CUDA/gameworks.  Thats about it.  AMD does have their own NVENC thing though.

Well that's reassuring!

[mikedrewsmy]

Just now, thegreengamers said:

I don't think this has as much of an impact on lifespan as the GPU core though.

 

Well that's reassuring!

Yeah it doesn't but what'd u do if the VRAM is damaged? Replace them?

[dcgreen2k]

2 minutes ago, mikedrewsmy said:

Yeah it doesn't but what'd u do if the VRAM is damaged? Replace them?

I'd probably send ebay an email, since the product would be nonfunctional and then I'd get my money back. It doesn't seem like the majority of RX480s were used for mining, but I'll search carefully.

[mikedrewsmy]

Just now, thegreengamers said:

I'd probably send ebay an email, since the product would be nonfunctional and then I'd get my money back. It doesn't seem like the majority of RX480s were used for mining though, but I'll search carefully.

Seems that u've already figured it out
I'm just afraid if it fails after a few months of usage.

[dcgreen2k]

1 minute ago, mikedrewsmy said:

Seems that u've already figured it out
I'm just afraid if it fails after a few months of usage.

Regarding memory, any problems or malfunctions it has usually show up very quickly, so it isn't likely to develop any problems if it works at first.

[i_build_nanosuits]

13 minutes ago, thegreengamers said:

Hello there! I currently have an EVGA GTX 750Ti SC, but I can really only play games with high settings at 720p to get 60fps+. I've looked at Nvidia's offerings, but everything, including used cards are still too expensive. However, used RX 480s can be found from about 175 to 250USD, so would this upgrade be worth it for playing things similar in hardware intensiveness to GTA 5 with high/max settings at 1080p?

 

I don't care if the card has been mined on, but what differences are there in a mining BIOS compared to the stock BIOS?

How hot could I expect the card to get?

Finally, what brands would be the best in terms of light overclocking, cooling, and noise?

If I do decide to get the RX480, should I get the 4GB or 8GB version?

it's a massive upgrade

http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-750-Ti-vs-AMD-RX-480/2187vs3634

[dcgreen2k]

*Bump*

 

Would there be a noticeable difference in performance between the 4GB and 8GB variants of the 480?

[Mega Boosto]

16 minutes ago, thegreengamers said:

Would there be a noticeable difference in performance between the 4GB and 8GB variants of the 480?

If you always wanna use the textures at the best possibly quality I would choose the 8GB version.