4w ago

hey can one of you PC gamers tell me what the fuck graphics card i should upgrade to

i dunno how it happened but somehow in between me getting this 1060 6gb in 2016 and now, I've lost the ability to numb my brain to the deluge of information like 'the 6600 is only marginally worse than the 6650 so you should get a 6600 if you can't budget the extra $100' that is comparing modern graphics cards.

I've had this 1060 6GB for almost 10 years, I love it - it is and was a good card. Still chugs along reliably for most modern games - but unfortunately I've started to notice its age in the last few years (most recently with the stupid ass Dragon Ball Sparking Zero game my friend bought for me on Steam this Christmas specifically so he could play with me - imagine my shock and surprise when I'm getting like 10fps on all Low settings...

). Almost a decade without upgrading is a long enough run for me though.

Anyways I'm basically clueless on the last decade of graphics cards and have no idea what is the economical & viable (I'd prefer to at least get 5+ years out of whatever I upgrade to - not saying it has to push Ultra High settings on some AAA 2029 release or anything, but I'd love it to at least perform decently with new releases for the next few years like the 1060 has.)

Here's my current build:

Current Build:
Processor:	Ryzen 7 3700X
Motherboard:	ASUS B550-F
RAM:	32GB DDR4
GPU:	GTX 1060 6GB

From the research I've done, an AMD card is probably my best bet although I am leery of them simply because I've only ever used nvidia cards but I'm not too worried about the software/driver/etc differences.

I would prefer not to spend more than like $500 on one but if it's like 600-700 and you think it is truly the best card on the market, list it and I'll consider just scrounging up the extra $$ for it - not like I have a girlfriend or boyfriend to spend it on

Anyways here's the cards I've currently been recommended by friends and/or found in my searching. Have listed the price I found on Amazon for each:

Potential Upgrade:
AMD 7700 XT 12gb	$400 on Amazon
6600 XT 8gb	$260~

Eager to hear your thoughts & opinions & suggestions nerds. Thanks.

52 comments

Voodoo2
- how does that compare to the intel hd graphics 4000 cause I'm thinking I might go with that
  
  probably a joke because the voodoo 2 was from like 1996
  
  Intel hd 4000
  real gamers play with the intel gma 950

Easy powerful upgrade would be a 5700x3D cpu and a 7700XT gpu for gaming.
This would be an extremely balanced build for 1080/1440 and you should get away with 650w psu pretty easily.
You just might need to update the bios on the motherboard before you swap in the new cpu.
- It seems like the 7700XT is probably the way to go. You think the CPU will bottleneck it to the point where a 5700X3D is needed or could I get away with the 3700X?
  
  You can definitely get away without the X3D chip for most games. If you play something like Cyberpunk or Balders Gate 3 that cpu will give you a big bump over the 3700x. But it’s not world ending.

Don’t buy anything yet. Nvidia is probably going to announce the 5000 series soon (within the next 3 months). Even if you aren’t planning to get an overpriced Nvidia card, wait until they announce the release dates and then see if you can hold off on a purchase till then because retailers might lower prices on the previous generation of cards in response.
- its gonna be announced at CES in a week

I watched this paradoxically titled video "Don't Upgrade" a couple of weeks back. It actually has some good advice on where to aim at for value for money as far as the current/last gen cards go given that the incoming generation will not net you any noticeable benefits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5oG9xk79Vw
It's a pretty good video in general and covers more than video cards, but IIRC there was some useful advice in there for what to do if you DO need to upgrade objectively old stuff. One caveat may be that "you should wait" until this that or the other happens as far as announcements for new shit comes out so the price drops on existing stock. That was definitely what I got from his talk on CPUs n shit.
tbh I can't keep up either at the moment (or ever,) it's like, at least a week of research for me personally when I'm deciding on a decision like that. I used to build crazy overclocked beasts of machines but it's all so tiresome.
- I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
  yewtu.be
  inv.nadeko.net
  yt.artemislena.eu
  piped.video

If you do upgrade, I would recommend an AMD card just because AMD GPUs are known to work flawlessly on Linux and Wayland especially. NVIDIA works ok on X11, but has a lot of issues on Wayland. If you don't know what those are, those are essentially your two options for getting graphics on Linux; Wayland is the more modern one which most people, and most Linux distros, are moving towards.
Even if you are a Windows user, I imagine a lot of people will realise they want to switch to Linux in the coming years as Windows continues to enshittify, and you don't want to end up reinstalling Windows purely because of poor hardware support.
If you're wondering, gaming on Linux is nearly on par with Windows at this point thanks to Valve's Proton, allowing Windows games to be run on Linux. I get great performance on popular Windows games by running them through Proton on Linux.

I'd also love to know. Nvidia is so expensive these days I can't imagine buying one of their cards. Best value seems to be Intel but there is a lot of potential pitfalls there. It's tough right now
- I got lucky and snagged a prebuilt on sale, the Nvidia card in it is half the value that I got the whole computer for. It does have one of the fucked up Intel CPUs though. To the OP though I do recommend your next card get at least 8GB, or more, games seem to be chewing for more RAM as they get less and less optimized.
- Nvidia is so expensive these days I can't imagine buying one of their cards.
  I feel like most modern cards are insanely expensive these days. I need to know who is spending $1500 on a 4080 because
  if I'm gonna spend more than $1000 on a single piece of hardware for a PC it better be able to do something like find me a boyfriend.
  
  I mean having a 4080 can definitely find you a boyfriend, but probably not one you want

I got a used RTX 3060 12GB around a year ago for 230 bucks, which seemed like the best deal I could get at the time.
- That does sound like a sweet deal. The amount of AI slop I could generate with one of those badboys, whoo..

don't buy nvidia or intel, they're both BDS targets. The 6600/6650 are great choices and are more than enough for modern games. even for vr, amd's whole lineup will do you good enough. I have a 1660 super i bought from a reseller and it runs overwatch, helldivers, dota, league, valorant, counterstrike, and no man's sky really well at 1080p. As for VR, half life: alyx ran great on it as well as blade and sorcery and some other assortment as well. and in comparison to the amd lineup my card is on the lower end, so you can't go wrong.
If you want my opinion, go for the 6600 as it's plenty for your dollar unless you're on 4k, in which case it might be worth it to get the 6650 or one of the 7000 series. good luck shopping and happy computing!
- Intel yeah, but nvidia doesn't seem to be a BDS target though?
  Probably should go with AMD regardless ig. I haven't had any GPU related issues on Linux with my 5600xt
  
  oh shit, really? i guess i just dreamed that though. nevermind. AMD seems to be a better pick anyway.

I have a 6650XT in a very old Intel system (4790k) over a year ago now and there has been nothing that it can’t run at 1080p/60fps. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend a 7600xt that should be a little bit faster.
- Recently built a new machine for my partner (they had never had a new computer, always used or hand-me-downs) that had a 4790k. BEAST of a processor. The only things it struggled with were like No Man’s Sky and Subnautica, microstutters when going in and out of vehicles. I built that machine like nine years ago and it still runs great. Using it for a Beatsaber machine when I get less lazy, cuz it can run it at 120FPS still!

I see some people suggesting a 7800 XT might be better value. It looks like you'd be getting somewhere in the neighborhood of NVIDIA 4070 performance which isn't too bad, it'll be good for a few years. You might need to upgrade your power supply though I see AMD recommends 700W as a minimum. You might also find other components like your CPU or HD become bottlenecks once you upgrade your GPU.

just go to https://www.logicalincrements.com/ and get whatever it recommends for your budget
- why don't you want to help me :(
  
  that's pretty much how I'd do it lol unless you want to comb through lists of benchmarks (which I'm pretty sure is how the LI people figure out what to recommend)

What kind of power supply do you have? Some of these new cards chew ridiculous amounts of power.
- Ooh good point.
  It's a 600w EVGA if I remember correctly. I'd have to flip my tower over and pull it out the bottom to be 100% sure but I just popped the side off and peered at the psu's model number through the small grille holes & I'm like 80% sure it is an EVGA 600w.
  To be honest if I get limited by power supply, that isn't the end of the world given they're relatively cheap and I should be able to easily replace it with like a 650 or 700w.
  
  600w will run most any card that isn’t top-of-the-line! I ran a 9900k at 5GHz with a 3070ti with zero issues. I upgraded to a 1KW platinum cuz I found a dope deal on one, and gave my partner my 600w for a 12600k/3070. The 600w PSU is like eight years old and runs amazingly.

For that kind of money you could just get a Playstation
- Or a proper gaming tablet. ;D
  
  Yeah the Steamdeck is a pretty ok gaming tablet

I've been enjoying my 6600 non-XT on my rig. I also have AMD (a Ryzen 5600G) and it's been able to play basically any game on medium to high settings. I play Cyberpunk on medium settings with a couple of the less intensive raytracing options and it runs at about 40-60 fps. With raytracing off its able to run at a consistent 60. It also runs Mirrors Edge Catalyst on ultra settings quite handily, about 50-60 FPS I also use this rig for VR, and I have to use medium to low settings, but it runs those games smoothly too! Hope this helps!
- ty for your input. it sounds like the 6600xt or 7700xt is probably the ideal route

I just got a 7700 XT and have been very pleased

Do you play on Windows or Linux? I think Nvidia kind of sucks in general, but they especially suck if you're on Linux. They're fine if you need them for DLSS (AMD has FSR, but it's not as good) or some AI stuff. Things have improved dramatically and I don't really have problems day-to-day with my 3070, but I would go AMD 100% if I knew I was going to make this switch to Linux a few years ago. NVIDIA sucks at fixing issues related to their Linux drivers, whereas AMD drivers are built into the kernel and just update and receive fixes with the rest of your system.
Old ATI cards had really bad drivers, but the two have flip flopped back and forth during different time periods, so in Windows, they're relatively the same now. AMD is a more consumer friendly company and generally cheaper.
8GB of VRAM is not great in 2024, despite what NVIDIA says, so if you plan to play relatively modern games, I'd go with something that has more.
A good way I've found to compare is to search YouTube for benchmarks comparing a few cards you're thinking of and just watch the footage for the games you're interested in playing. If it keeps a stable 60 FPS or whatever your target is, then you know you'll be fine for now, but probably become obsolete a little quicker if that's your minimum.
I would absolutely not get an Intel card unless you're willing to be a beta tester or really enthusiastic about adopting new technology/supporting a 3rd competitor in the GPU space. They frequently need to release driver fixes for games that don't work and older games are still iffy since it doesn't support anything below DirectX 9(?) and uses software translation layers to run anything older.

As long as you aren't invested in doing ray tracing then AMD gpus are the way to go. Have a 7900xt and tbh it's overkill for what I use it for. If you just want to run games at 1080p then an RX 7700xt will do just fine, or throw an extra $100 and snag a 7800xt for the 16gbs of vram (I'd wait for after or during CES to see if there's any additional discounts or deals as old inventory gets cleared out) and not have to worry about upgrading within the next 6-7 years as long as you'll game within the 1080p-1440p resolution.

the 6600xt is still 260 usd? wtf in any case AMD is going to release new cards at CES this weekend so it might be a good idea to hold for any last gen price drops or a new gen card if the performance boost and bang for buck is there

The 7700 XT looks like a pretty great option right now for $400, it would hold up for 5+ years for sure. For reference, I bought the 6700 XT two years ago to replace my 1060 3GB and it has held up really well playing modern games on high settings at 1440p, and the 7700 XT is substantially better all around than the 6700 XT so new games should run super smoothly.

You could probably get a used 3070 or something for a good deal when new stuff drops.

FWIW i feel like the $250 i spent on a 6600XT SWFT has been the best $250 ive ever spent on a PC component.
But if the 7700 is in your budget i guess go ahead, the 6600 doesnt run any fancy raytracing and that sort of stuff.

An actual big question you really have to ask these days is: do you give a shit about 4k gaming?
If you don't and you're fine with 1080p then I would wait a few more weeks when the rtx 5 series is announced and get a discounted 3060 or even 4060.
- Not in the US, but won't overall card prices increase with the tariffs?

Echoing others just to say that if you plan on switching to Linux (and you should, gaming on Linux is a breeze and better than ever) you should definitely lean towards an AMD GPU for ease and convenience. It just works™

I don't have a recent AMD card and am not informed enough to make declarative opinions on individual cards, but I do want to discuss a more philosophical side of the decision. Spoilering because it's mildly ranty and not fully thought out.

Idk, I guess the whole point i was trying to make is that regardless of what you choose, you're gonna buyers remorse or confirmation bias yourself one way or the other about the purchase afterward. Any thoughts on which way you're more likely to head?
Confirmation bias

Buyers remorse

I built a new rig last year with a newer gen r5 cpu and a Radeon 7800xt. It's more than I'll ever need, just pretty neat to be able to max out settings. But honestly, I can hardly tell a difference. I would have probably been fine with a 7700xt. I was running a gtx960 for like 7 years or so without issue, you really don't need the latest and greatest.

52 comments