New graphics card - recommendations required

[pubrunner]

Hi All,

I'm looking to upgrade the graphics card in my son's PC. Currently, he is using a Radeon 7870, which has two 6-pin PCI-E power connectors.

I'm looking to spend up to about £350 on a replacement card and I like the look of this :

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/zotac-geforce-rtx-...

If I were to go for this graphics card, it requires 160W power and an 8 pin PCI-E power connect - would it just be a matter of using a dual 4 pin molex to 8 pin PCI-E adaptor to provide the power (160W) ? (The PSU is 600W, so that will be sufficient)


I've up to 30.5 cm of space for a new card; I thought it would be enough for any card, but some are over 32cm !

I have a leaning towards NVIDIA over Radeon, because they seem to get better ratings re. ease of setting up and reliability.

I did look at the Radeon RX XT THICC II PRO 6GB which seem very powerful, but some users have had problems with BSODs & driver issues.

Can suggest any other graphics cards I should consider ? Or do you think I've made a reasonable choice ?

Thank you !

Edited by pubrunner on Tuesday 14th April 22:11

Edited by pubrunner on Tuesday 14th April 22:12

[Brother D]

Depends on the PSU you have, but I ended up using a similar adaptor in my box but it has a hefty PSU. I purchased the Raedon 5700 XT recently after researching for about a week on cards (I've not used it more than a couple of times as I'm stuck in Arizona and it's in Chicago) - not sure what they go for in the UK but might be worth consideration.

[DuncsGTi]

Keep an eye on ebay.

About 2 or 3 months ago I picked up a palit RTX 2070 for £330 brand new, sealed box. Bang for buck, it was the best I could find anywhere.

They seem to be about the £420 mark right now but they definitely do pop up for less.

Edit to add, it's just under 30cm so should fit in your lads case

Edited by DuncsGTi on Wednesday 15th April 00:06

[peterperkins]

I've been very impressed with my Geforce GTX1050 TI.

Cheap as chips IIRC. Around £140

1290mhz.
768 cuda cores whatever that is.
4GB memory.

[Derek Smith]

I logged onto ebuyer, put my needs and budget for a graphics card to the online chat person, and was given a choice of two, both items cheaper than my limit of £150. (That's almost a first for me. I could have gone a bit higher.) I bought one, delivered the next day, and was chuffed to find it was recommended in Computer Shopper or PC Pro a week later. Made me feel as if I knew stuff.

It is, remarkably, just what I was after. 4gb, quiet as long as I'm not stressing it a bit, and noticeably faster. It gives sort of smoother graphics for the software I use: video and 3D in particular. I can make it change colour. Given that the case has solid sides, it's an interesting ability but of no use, neither practical nor artistic.

My graphics card is an Asus ROG Strix RX 570OC. Computer Shopper said 'you won't get better performance for less money'. A bit limp I thought. It's their best buy for budget gaming.

Edited by Derek Smith on Wednesday 15th April 09:49

[Derek Smith]

Regarding the PSU: I've got a Corsair 750 watt unit. It came with umpteen connectors that seemed superfluous, so rather than clutter the inside of the mid-tower I left them off, putting them away in a safe place. So damned safe that it took me nearly four hours to find them.

[Matt..]

A 2060 is a good option. Everything is way more expensive now than a month ago though!

You could get a 2060 for £250 a few weeks back!

[stevesingo]

2060 Super are worth the extra over the non-super. I fitted one to my sons computer and now the cooling is sorted it plays Fortnite at 77-80FPS on 1440p with the highest graphics settings.

His is a Gigabyte 2060 Super OC Windforce. https://proclockers.com/review/gigabyte-rtx-2060-s...

There is a Gigabyte app (AORUS) which scans and overclocks. He now gets 90-100FPS.

With all these graphics cards, make sure the cooling is adequate. We were seeing 83degC at first which causes the GPU to throttle core speeds to prevent damage. Now running at 67-68dec with overclock.

pcpartpicker is useful https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c...

[DuncsGTi]

Matt.. said:

A 2060 is a good option. Everything is way more expensive now than a month ago though!

You could get a 2060 for £250 a few weeks back!

I just had a look on pcpartpicker, you're not wrong!!!!!!

Just for reference, the 2070 I bought on Jan 9th was £333.

OP, if I was in your situation, I'd probably wait for the prices to move a little before buying anything. If that's not an option then the best you'll get for the £350 budget is going to be a 2060 with the 2060 super coming in at about 390.

[Jinx]

DuncsGTi said:

I just had a look on pcpartpicker, you're not wrong!!!!!!

Just for reference, the 2070 I bought on Jan 9th was £333.

OP, if I was in your situation, I'd probably wait for the prices to move a little before buying anything. If that's not an option then the best you'll get for the £350 budget is going to be a 2060 with the 2060 super coming in at about 390.

I would suggest the 5700XT as according to most reports the driver situation is pretty much solved. It is around 9% faster than a 2060 super and can get a dual fan cooler (not blower style) for £350

[Taff107]

Jinx said:

I would suggest the 5700XT as according to most reports the driver situation is pretty much solved. It is around 9% faster than a 2060 super and can get a dual fan cooler (not blower style) for £350

I chose a 5700 XT and don't have any dramas with it at all. Handles every game I have thrown at it effortlessly and bang per buck is much better than the good but over priced Nvidias. It was a pain with drivers but as has been said, it seems to be sorted now.
Its performance is closer to the 2070 than the 2060 but far cheaper than the NVidia