Video Card on a Budget. Advice please! (Solved)

OneHaplessGamer

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Mar 15, 2016
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EDIT/UPDATE: So, seeing as no one else has given their advice, and as requested, this topic is considered solved. Thank you to Hellfire, madmatt, and jeffredo to responding and giving their advice.

Hello everyone. It's been awhile since I've last posted anything on these forums, but I have some questions I want to ask about video cards - not for a necessary replacement, but as a desire to upgrade/add to my computer.

So, I'm wanting to buy a new video card to improve the overall quality of my games and expand what I'd be able to play in general. My CPU will need a replacement eventually, sure, but it's not as bad as my current/main form of graphics. However, money is... somewhat of an issue (saving helps, sure, but even then, I still have limits on how much I'd want to spend and have available).

So I'll go ahead and say this - my motherboard is a Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 R5, CPU is an AMD FX 4130 (which lacks integrated graphics), and acting in place of the integrated graphics, a Radeon R7 250.

Now on to the questions...

First up, what would be a good price range for a good video card? Before anyone says the Titan - I don't have the cash to drop for one of those, or anything even remotely close to its price. The budget I'm thinking is $200 to $300 at most for now. Would there be a good (not perfect, obviously) card for that much regarding the listed components above?

Second, as a follow-up - what cards would you recommend around that range that would greatly improve the quality of games such as Skyrim, GTA V (which looks like garbage for me with what I have now), Heroes of the Storm, and maybe even add to the list of playable games things such as Fallout 4? If any for the latter, of course.

Third , would there be any issues using the Radeon R7 250 as well as the additional video card? Or would it be alright to have both in use? I'm guessing it would be beneficial to keep the original one in still since I can support multiple cards, but if there's anything I should know, feel free to mention it.*smiles*

Last question is a bit different. So, my brother recommended a card to me - the Radeon RX 460. It seems decent, but I want something a bit... stronger. I was looking at the RX 470 and 480 on my own - I heard both are good as well, but with the 470, there is an issue with the fans being less than silent when gaming. Then there have been some reviews of each that are a bit mixed online. How are these cards, in your opinions?

If needed, I think I can show you guys the various builds I have bookmarked from UserBenchmark - one with my current set, then one of each for the three RX cards (although they replace the R7 250 according to the build).
 

OneHaplessGamer

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Mar 15, 2016
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Huh. So, madmatt30, the Sapphire Nitro versions of the RX cards are the best versions in your opinion? My brother sent me an Amazon link of the ASUS Raden RX 460, that's how I found out about the card originally - yet I looked around at the various versions of the 460, 470, and 480. Not too familiar, unfortunately, with who has the best version of each video card - this will be my first actual purchase of a video card.

And really? I could have sworn people whined about the fans of the 470 being too loud. I guess it's a matter of which brand they go for, like ASUS.

Also, I suppose I should ask this - just how good is the RX 480 performance-wise? Could it handle games like Fallout 4 or GTA V to your knowledge? I'll check out what I can still, but hearing any personal experience with recommended cards can help.

Hellfire13, how about the GTX 1060 - how exactly is the performance for games like Skyrim, GTA V, Fallout 4, etc? And if used with a Radeon card, would I have to worry about any conflicts between the two cards? Noobish answer, I know, but I want to cover all my bases and concerns.

*sigh* Thought I'd be able to quote you both without needing to make it a reply... Hopefully you both see this post though.
 
In general, the GTX 1060 competes with the competition by the following:

At 1080p the 1060 was 37.5% slower than a 1080, 26.3% slower than a 1070, 1.3% slower than a 980 and 20.2% faster than the 970. The RX 480 was beaten by 13.1% and the 390 by 7.8% but lost to the Fury by 5.8%

At 1440p the 1060 was 41% slower than a 1080, 28.1% slower than a 1070, 2.5% slower than a 980 and 21.6% faster than a 970. The RX 480 was beaten by 10.7% and the 390 by 2.2%, but lost to the Fury by 13.9%

At 2160p the 1060 was 41.7% slower than a 1080, 28.9% slower than a 1070, 3.1% slower than a 980 and 21.2% faster than a 970. The RX 480 was beaten by 9.8% and lost to the 390 by 1.6% and the Fury by 18%


http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3047729/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1000-series-megathread-faq-resources.html
 
^ Those results are a little too generalised imo.

OneHaplessGamer - the simple fact is all the cards you're thinking about (1060 3gb/6g, RX 470/480 ) are stronger than your CPU.

They're all good for 1080p 60fos high or ultra.
You will be limited on fps by your CPU ultimately.
Meaning there is no point spending more than you have to , an rx470 would do exactly the same job as a stronger card when paired with that 4130.

What's best for you depends on your location? , ultimately I'm not convinced with the 3gb 1060 simply because of the vram , 4gb has been the staple for 2 years now for 1080p gaming.
 

jeffredo

Distinguished
First off let me preface this with the disclaimer I own a bunch of hardware I'm constantly buying/selling/building and swapping around for the heck of it. I have a PC I assembled last week with a second hand FX-4130 I bought. Its overclocked to 4.5 Ghz. I stuck an MSI GTX 970 I own in it and it is bottlenecking the video card so badly its not even funny. I also own an FX-8300 that I overclocked to 4.3 Ghz and used the same video card with and its like night and day. Much smoother gameplay and higher FPS since the 8-core Vishera isn't choking the GTX 970 nearly as much as the quad core Zambezi. Fallout 4 is the game I tested them on in particularly.

Here's what I would do with the $300 upper limit of your budget given my direct experience with the hardware:

FX-8300 for $113.95 @ Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/AMD-Fx-Processor-3-8-FD8300WMHKBOX/dp/B00TR8YL4W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1475735503&sr=8-1&keywords=fx-8300

ASUS RX-470 ROX STRIX @ Newegg - $184.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16814126123

 

OneHaplessGamer

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So you're all in agreement that I should replace both the CPU (which would, as you said, limit the GPU), as well as the GPU in one go?

Also, to madmatt and Hellfire, would you agree with jeffredo's recommended CPU and GPU? Or should the CPU be something else, something that's 4 GHz for example? Or would that not make too big a difference? Forgive me - I'm still relatively new to upgrading components.
 
go for the gpu upgrade first.
Im in agreement with jeffredo in that the 4130 is going to be a limitation in all honesty.
It will limit upper fps & it will also affect minimum on titles that are very cpu intensive.

It absolutely will not make games unplayable though at all.

drop the money on a 4gb 470 or a 3gb 1060 is my advice - make the choice on price is also my advice,theyre both good cards,the 1060 is superior but if you can get a 470 for $20+ cheaper then it would be my first choice.
See if youre happy with performance,you likely will be to the point of astonishment coming from a r7 250.

If for some reason youre not happy then your board is good enough to run just about any cpu apart from the fx 9*** series (which are not worth the money anyway)
Then think about the cpu upgrade not before youve actually tested your current setup with the new gpu