Confused on Older Graphics Card Pricing

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G

grrrrrrrr

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I'm getting ready to buy what will only be my second graphics card, and my first in many years. Suffice it to say I won't be doing anything high end, I'd just like improved performance in screen savers, OpenGL particle animation rendering, and OpenGL 3D animation rendering (nothing high resolution, and I save the little bit of gaming I do for gaming consoles).

It will definitely be an nVidia due to spectacular OpenGL performance in my first nVidia card and mediocre OpenGL performance in an AMD card that shipped with another computer. I have no desire to debate the brand issue here.

I'm looking at:
1. I'm confused as to why the first two items are priced the same when the second item has 8 times more RAM.

2. I'm confused as to why the 3rd item is so highly priced.

So, please help to clear up my confusion! Thank you.
 
Solution
BFG-9000
1: yep
2: not if both ends are HDCP. In that respect it's no different than DVI
3: if it's not it will be very soon. To check browser acceleration go to chrome://gpu in the address bar for Chrome, or about:support for Firefox. WebGL2 is still a bit experimental at the moment while WebGL is widely used for those videos with the white arrow in a blue box or circle. Both require hardware support which the card has for sure--it's the software driver side that's still being worked on.
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little_me

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May 9, 2015
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1. they are old cards, supply and demand dictate prices more than real amount of memory or performance. Also on 2nd point, 128 bit refers to cards bus width, nothing really to do with computer, it's card internal thing only between it's GPU and it's VRAM.

2. good question, no idea, it's overclocked/has better cooler? (not really explaining the price difference completely but... supply/demand?)
 
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BFG-9000

BFG-9000

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Just so you know, all of those cards are worth about $5 each. In fact I recently bought a GT730 for $5, and it's one of the good Kepler models instead of the much worse 128-bit Fermi model you listed. The 128-bit DDR3 version is the worst GT730 made and the 64-bit GDDR5 one is the best one. Forget about the amount of RAM because all of these cards are too slow for it to matter.

BTW the 9600GT is so old it cannot hardware accelerate Flash, and may have problems with WebGL or WebGL2 on the modern internet. It is highly priced because the seller can ask whatever they want and may get lucky by finding a sucker willing to pay that much for a 9 year old card. It's so old it only supports OpenGL v3.3. At least the GT730 supports the current v4.5.
 
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BurgerandChips66

BurgerandChips66

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Jan 11, 2016
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The 9600 GT is prehistoric! Avoid it like the plague.

I am surprised people even try to sell them. I have one sitting in a cupboard as I assume nobody would even want it for free. It can only run games effectively in sub-1080p from around 2009 or 2010 at most and it only supports up to DX10 in hardware (and DX11 via software).

As said above, they are worth next to nothing. So ignore those crazy prices.

If you are on a very strict budget, try getting a GT 1030 or failing that, an RX 550. They support all the latest API versions and draw less power than a 9600 GT, while offering better performance than everything in that list.

https://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-GeForce-GV-N1030D5-2GL-Computer-Graphics/dp/B071DY2VJR/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1499100643&sr=1-1&keywords=rx+550

For $99.99 you can get a GTX 1050. That offers the most bang for your buck in the sub $100 bracket in terms of new cards.

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Support-Graphics-02G-P4-6150-KR/dp/B01M9FD3PC/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1499100643&sr=1-8&keywords=rx+550
 
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G

grrrrrrrr

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Okay, I think you guys have made me see the light on this, thank you! :) I hadn't taken into account newer versions of OpenGL and WebGL had completely slipped my mind. I'm guessing that anything in the GeForce 10 series, such as the GeForce GT 1030 mentioned by BurgerandChips66 will have me covered with the latest OpenGL and WebGL, correct?

I could up to $100 for a card if I absolutely had to, but I do need to stay with a single slot card for space reasons.

Thanks again
 
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G

grrrrrrrr

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BurgerandChips66, and everyone, your comments are invited, I'm narrowing down my search for an inexpensive, single slot, nVidia GPU.



Thanks for the insight! I have some followup questions.

Regarding my power supply. It appears to be a 300 Watt, here's a picture of the specs.

1. The graphics cards I'm looking at now generally require a 300 Watt PSU, and sometimes a 20 Amp 12+ rail. Am I there, or close enough to get by?

2. Also, what is the essential difference in the following two cards? One is presented as a "GT 1030", the other as a "GT 1030 SC".

https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N1030D5-2GL#kf
https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=02G-P4-6333-KR

3. Is the 64 bit memory bandwidth a concern?

4. Will the GT 1030, or any modern card for that matter, handle WebGL / WebGL 2?

Again, thank you very much.
 
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BFG-9000

BFG-9000

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1: should work fine
2: the SC model has a factory overclock and also isn't a single-slot heatsink, even though it only has a single-slot backplate
3: no
4: any modern card should work with everything used today, although oddly enough the 1030 cannot hardware accelerate the VP9 most Youtube videos are nowadays
 
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G

grrrrrrrr

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Thank you BFG-9000 looks like I've settled in on the GeForce 1030 with 2 GB, and you and BurgerandChips66 and others were right, this card is a monster compared to the outdated GeForce 9600, at the same price. 64 processors versus over 300 and modern OpenGL (and hopefully WebGL and well). A couple final questions before I hit the "purchase" button:

I see it has HDMI and DVI ports.

1. Does that mean I'll be able to use dual monitors?

2. Are there any real issues with HDMI blocking content?

3. Also, is WebGL 2 supported?

Thank you once again, very very much!
 
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BFG-9000

BFG-9000

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1: yep
2: not if both ends are HDCP. In that respect it's no different than DVI
3: if it's not it will be very soon. To check browser acceleration go to chrome://gpu in the address bar for Chrome, or about:support for Firefox. WebGL2 is still a bit experimental at the moment while WebGL is widely used for those videos with the white arrow in a blue box or circle. Both require hardware support which the card has for sure--it's the software driver side that's still being worked on.
 
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