Best GPU at between $150-200 for the AMD A8 6600k with F2A88XM-DS2 Motherboard

Bingeljell

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Jul 16, 2014
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10,510
Hello,

I currently have the AMD A8-6600k with the GA-F2A88XM-DS2 board with 4 gigs of RAM. PSU; It's a 500W PSU with a cooler master cabinet.


My objective is to be able to play some games, like Overwatch or whatever else on as high settings as possible, but equally I want to be able to kinda be VR ready sometime in the near future without needing to upgrade anything more than then RAM.

With a Budget of $200 or so, what would be the best graphics card to buy that would be good?

I was considering the GTX 960 - but which card do I buy? I found this on part picker; Part Picker Setup

The Zotac GeForce GTX 960; Is this any good? Will it work with my setup?

Any other recommendations? Any help is most appreciated.

Edit: Updated links to the APU and Mobo and added details on PSU.
 

maxalge

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your cpu is too weak to keep up with the minimum required gpu

your budget will not allow a gtx 970 or r9 390 which are minimum for VR


you also have not mentioned your power supply make and model, we need to know this before we know what can run first

 

Bingeljell

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Jul 16, 2014
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10,510
Hello. Apologies, forgot to mention the PSU; It's a 500W PSU with a cooler master cabinet.

A couple of points to help clarify my stance:

1) I don't intend on buying any VR equipment till Christmas, so there's a good chance I might upgrade my motherboard / CPU before that. However, I don't want to buy a GPU now and then be in a position where I have to upgrade that as well, come holiday time.

So in a sense, what GPU within this budget would be a good buy that would work with my current setup, but would also scale up well if I needed to upgrade my CPU / Mobo sometime towards the holidays to make it VR friendly?
Or do you think it makes more sense to increase by budget for the GPU up by a $100 or so for a better investment that will scale better when I do get VR?

2) Will the current CPU / Mobo setup with the card that would ideally be recommended run stuff like Overwatch / Division / Android Studio etc...

I don't want to do an all out upgrade of everything so a piece meal approach is fine by me since it's more financially feasibly.
 

maxalge

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"500w" can mean anything, it could be a tin can chinese made in actuality 300w psu that blows up your entire system when you hook up a gtx 960 to it.



please be specific with make and model!



1- then a gtx 960 is a waste of money, as it does not meet minimum requirements for VR so you would need to buy one that is if you really want to use VR after upgrading cpu/mobo.


2 - gtx 960 is max your system can handle ( if you actually have a decent 500w psu )


 
My quick answer is this R9-380X:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202183&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker,%20LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

Hey,
I suggest you wait and look at the upcoming AMD Polaris or NVidia Pascal cards.

It's NOT clear, but current rough estimates are:

AMD Polaris 11 (4GB?) - similar to GTX960? ($120 to $160? Similar to R9-380X?)

AMD Polaris 10 (8GB?) - similar to GTX970? ($250 approx?)

NVidia Pascal GTX1070 (8GB) - similar to GTX980? ($300 to $400?)

NVidia Pascal GTX1080 (8GB) - similar to GTX980Ti? ($400 to $500?)

*The GTX970 is the minimum entry for VR from Oculus Rift and others. So for your budget we MAY see the Polaris 10 card as the best option.

(unfortunately your CPU doesn't meet the minimum recommendation for VR anyway)

Summary:
- I'd avoid VR for a while. Wait for your next build (Intel, or suitable AMD ZEN CPU. Both require new motherboard etc though)

- Polaris 10 or better recommended

- if you can't wait, I'd get an R9-380X if you can swing the budget. It's a better value than a GTX960, even if we factor in DX11 AMD driver support.
 
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/R9_380X_Strix/23.html

This is how the various GPU's compare though your FPS will be lower if your CPU becomes a bottleneck. The 2013(?) Tomb Raider for example had minimal CPU bottlenecking so results are very comparable.

Just using the benchmark numbers we see the AVERAGE performance is 30% faster on an R9-380X compared to the GTX960.

The GTX960 also only has 2GB though 4GB models exist. I can't recommend a 2GB card to most people for gaming now if spending around $200.

 

Bingeljell

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Jul 16, 2014
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Thanks a lot Photonboy & Max;

So clearly I'm going to have to upgrade my CPU / Motherboard before I can hop on to an Occulus; which I'd much rather do near the holidays and hope for a good deal then. I was going to ask the difference between the R9 380 and the R9 380X, but your chart helps a lot. There's 10 to 12% difference between the two, though of course I'm getting the R9 380 for a lot cheaper, if neither of these cut it for VR, I might be better off getting the R9 380.

Though, I think I'll wait this week out like you said. The new announcement might be well worth it and hopefully will affect the prices significantly enough for me to maybe get a 390 equivalent.

I don't remember the PSU I have at home, will go home and check. I know it's a 500W PSU, not sure if it's a Cooler Master 500W or an Antec 500W since I believe true wattage is important. Though that's easier to fix and relatively cheaper than a Gfx card and if the prices don't change too much, I'll get the R9 380 and use the spare $50 or so on a better PSU. (Though I don't think that should be necessary)
 
https://jet.com/product/Zotac-ZT-90308-10M-GeForce-GTX-960-Graphic-Card-118-GHz-Core-124-GHz-Boost-Clock/2a051e356362431fa562d3986c9513ee?jcmp=afl:link:lw9MynSeamY:414378:1:10&siteID=lw9MynSeamY-a8QTWG_MP5oeNJkgavDsuA


Guy just Bought one of these on another thread .
A 4gb 960 for less than $150 is a great deal.

You for need to look into your PSU specs though mate , pull the case side off & either post the model number or take a photo & post it.

That card above will leave you $50 for a new PSU should it be required.

A 960 is never going to be vr ready though , vr is tantamount to powering dual displays , a 970 or a 390 are pretty much the minimum for that.

 

Bingeljell

Honorable
Jul 16, 2014
14
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10,510
Hello,

As it turns out, I was actually wrong about my PSU; For some strange reason I'm rocking an Xpro - White Horse 400W, which is strange cause I do not ever remember buying that.

Guess I'll have to upgrade my PSU as well; Any suggestions for that?

Is there a due date on when the Polaris cards will be out? I live in India and I'll need to time my purchase with when someone's coming down, and I think someone will probably be flying down next month or so.

If things are going to be expensive, I'm leaning towards an R9 380 or equivalent for around $150 and hope that there's some good VR stuff around the holidays, which seems more likely to happen given the possible deals & sales.

Looks like no VR for me now, but at least I should be able to run some games at a high setting.