Nvidia 50 Series

[Raggamuffin]

It feels like over 50% of the GPU's, RAM, and all in one coolers have RGB as standard.

I like to put all my non-RGB kit into a simple, noise dampened black case, with no windows and silent, unlit case fans.

Ed

 

[Judge]

It feels like over 50% of the GPU's, RAM, and all in one coolers have RGB as standard.

I like to put all my non-RGB kit into a simple, noise dampened black case, with no windows and silent, unlit case fans.

Ed

My only reservation about this one is that airflow seems nominal at best. Often reading reviews citing the "air" version is a better deal. Though I still like the "silent" version. I also have no interest in RGB anything with the computers I build.

If I really wanted RGB I'd just go out and buy a well-adorned Christmas tree.

Pop Silent

 

[Raggamuffin]

Touch wood, but my PC is 8 years old, asides from the 3070 TI upgrade. And still on all original components including AIO cooler. I enjoy a quiet machine, it's very nice.

Similar to @Jonn I used to build a high end PC every 2-3 years. But when I finally got out the other side of a life long video game addiction, I simply stuck with the PC I'd built all those years ago.

I play Phantasy Star Universe, which could run on a toaster. Phantasy Star Online (which is even older). And occasionally Fallout 3, New Vegas and 4. Admittedly the FPS on 4 saw a huge jump going from a 1080 GTX to a 3070 TI. So I can't justify a new build other than wanting a larger monitor and faster M.2 and a more capable processor. But seeing as that's a lot of a new PC build, I figure I'd just build a brand new machine.

I'd like to play No Man's Sky flawlessly. I even got the top end Xbox to see if that'd be a plug and play option, but the framerate was diabolical compared to my PC. Same with Fallout 4, no matter what (limited) settings I changed on the Xbox settings, it ran like it was playing in slow motion. Very frustrating.

I sold the Xbox within 2 months of owning it. It even had the terrible framerate issues on Skate 3 which is a Xbox 360 game. The original game on 360 didn't have the smoothest framerate in places, but I expected more from the latest Xbox given it's impressive specs (for a console).

Ed

 

[Judge]

I enjoy a quiet machine, it's very nice.

Me too. Though always pursuing a relatively quiet system continues to be the bane of my existence in building PCs. Inevitably having to compromise given thermodynamic issues.

Definitely incentive in avoiding playing or wanting contemporary video games for the pc. Though the greatest incentive in avoiding gaming continues to be Microsoft alone.

One thing for sure though, with Linux Mint 22.0, Nvidia drivers continue to be problematic for me, even with a GTX 1660Ti. Still trying to chase down the random freezes. Recently rolled back to the earliest driver and added a new command line in the GRUB. Still waiting to see if it crashes again.

 

[WildCat]

Much like when I tuned my cars, with a PC I'm all about the sleeper look. This RGB nonsense is vile and childish looking imo.

Ed

Just from browsing parts, I'm seeing a LOT more of this lately and I wholeheartedly agree. Started almost 2 decades ago (since 2006) building PCs from scratch, when LED lighting on everything was not trending, and now there's LED lighting on RAM, CPU coolers, GPUs, and what's next? Did I miss out on the rainbow edition (insert part here)?

I want to build a PC for goodness sake, not build a bowl of Froot Loops.

 

[Slyfox]

I'm seriously considering going all red (AMD) for my next build, mainly for the budget. I'm going to have to upgrade sooner or later since my current build is starting to age with some possible hardware and/or software problems I still can't figure out, and support for Windows 10 is ending soon.

Most of my previous builds were Nvidia and Intel, but next build I think I'm going to explore what AMD has to offer. I'm sorta out of the loop and a little rusty, but still got it and know what I'll need. I can carry over some parts from my current build as well, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Nvidia and Intel may still be leading in performance, okay, but I don't understand this concept of shelling out extra money for...what? A $500 or $1000 bump in price gets you how much more performance? How much more per dollar? I'm not one of the types to game to witness the latest trend in computer graphics, I game to game. I don't need a 16-core CPU with hyper-threading and a GPU 10000 for my favorite games (many emulated games only need a fraction of that kind of power, mind you), and they're not my favorite games because of the eye candy, they're my favorite games because of the gameplay.

im likely going amd for foreseeable future until intel can fix their design flaw. given they didn't find it until tale in of last gen and current gen suffers from it to. it seems likely it's too late to design it out of 15th gen cpus. I was about to buy a laptop until I saw it was 13th gen intel. cant find any 12th gen and doesn't seem bestbuy really stocks any amd laptops.

 

[Boogs]

Hi everyone, I hope you don't mind me butting in here but this is kinda on topic I think, and it would be great to have some up to date advice.

I've been a keen gamer since the first coin-op pong games launched, but in recent years started to grow a little weary of playing, but with the launch of Stalker 2 (even with it's faults) I've been draw back in.

So, my PC is about 7 years old now, custom job, i7-8700K overclocked, GTX 1080 and 16G ram, and is obviously feeling it's age. Past experience has show me the best value for money upgrade for a PC gamer, assuming the m/board isn't pretty much out-dated, is a better graphics card. Having just been made redundant I feel a little self-indulgence wouldn't go amiss as this game is just so perfect for what I most like and I'd like to get a better experience out of it.

I'm not fussed about resolution, my monitor only goes up to 1900x1200 anyway, but more to the point I can't appreciate it once the game is moving, frame rate matters more than fine detail. That said, graphics technology has moved on since my card came out, and I'm keen to see how pretty it can look, especially with Stalker 2's atmospheric environment.

So, I'm not looking to spend loads, I'm hoping to keep within around £300 ukp (~$375us, ~$575aus) but I try to aim for the best performance/cost band and if an extra £50 doubles the performance I'll consider that as it gives longer lifespan in the thing. Currently I'm running at roughly medium graphics settings and the frame rate is acceptable, but I know there's a lot of improvement to had in the quality with a better card.

I'm also thinking of a faster HD and some extra ram, but that's a no-brainer in working out what to get, but anyone who can give any input into some general advice and/or some good choices (nvidia or amd) to start to look at and compare, that will save considerable tedious internet research, thanks!

 

[Outdated]

This is slightly more than you want to spend but doing a quick search in the UK shows this to be about the best value you're going to find in that price range.

**** Note the 256 bit bandwidth. That's what makes the biggest difference to your framerate. You won't find an nVidia card anywhere near as fast in that price range.

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/g...xt-16-gb-gaming-oc-graphic-card-10257561.html

 

[Boogs]

Hmmm, that's a tough one - top edge of budget plus a little. But good info. Way I see it, these suggestions give me a way of homing in on the best value/performance models within my budget. If I left the disk and ram I guess I could stretch to that, and sort the others out at a later date.
Out of interest do you know roughly what model nvidia would match it? Be interesting to see the comparison.

 

[Outdated]

Out of interest do you know roughly what model nvidia would match it? Be interesting to see the comparison.

I don't. Just like you I have a limited budget and I always organise lists by lowest price. Once I hit that limit I don't go looking any further. That 256 bit bandwidth is the key, it doesn't matter how fast your gpu is if it can't pass information back through the bus quickly enough.

My card is 2 years old now, an RX 6700 XT. I think it was the last of it's line though, it has the same 256 bit bandwidth and 12 gig of ram, works really well but was considerably cheaper than what I can find today.

 

[Boogs]

Is it safe to assume (I know, being lazy not looking it up! ) the connections are all the same or has there been any changes to PCI or power connections? I don't think so, but it's always a good marketing ploy to force more people to have to upgrade.

 

[Outdated]

Is it safe to assume (I know, being lazy not looking it up! ) the connections are all the same or has there been any changes to PCI or power connections? I don't think so, but it's always a good marketing ploy to force more people to have to upgrade.

As long as your PCI-E bus is 16x you should be good to go. Do check the power leads it needs, some need 2, some need only 1.

The biggest thing that everyone forgets though is to check the physical size of the card and if it'll fit in your case. They only plug in to one slot but their physical width covers two, and some are also quite long.

 

[Boogs]

My current card is in a 16x and uses two power leads, one of which is a split connector (two together going into one socket, plus the normal one they all use). Sounds like PCI tech hasn't changed much then - phew! New m/board is definitely beyond budget!

 

[Outdated]

Sounds like PCI tech hasn't changed much then - phew! New m/board is definitely beyond budget!

Nothing ground breakingly new, no. Not in 20 years, in fact a reversion - harddrives being faster through the pci bus than the old ide.

 

[Judge]

Hmmm, that's a tough one - top edge of budget plus a little. But good info. Way I see it, these suggestions give me a way of homing in on the best value/performance models within my budget. If I left the disk and ram I guess I could stretch to that, and sort the others out at a later date.
Out of interest do you know roughly what model nvidia would match it? Be interesting to see the comparison.

RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB benchmark with i7-8700K 1080p, 1440p, Ultrawide, 4K benchmarks at Ultra Quality

RTX 4060 benchmark with i7-8700K 1080p, 1440p, Ultrawide, 4K benchmarks at Ultra Quality

 

[Outdated]

RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB benchmark with i7-8700K 1080p, 1440p, Ultrawide, 4K benchmarks at Ultra Quality

RTX 4060 benchmark with i7-8700K 1080p, 1440p, Ultrawide, 4K benchmarks at Ultra Quality

Always check the specs at the manufacturer's website, never believe the hype.

 

[Judge]

Always check the specs at the manufacturer's website, never believe the hype.

View attachment 137725

I simply posted that not to get specs on the card, but to see how it is assessed relative to being paired to a much older CPU. Given the age of such a CPU and MB, I don't know if the video card manufacturer can really assure a likelihood of no bottlenecks happening.

For individual cards I always bookmark the manufacturer's specs. LOL...have to in my case because I can't fit a three-fan card of any kind given space limitations. No more than nine inches....so I have to know those details in the specs.

With Nvidia it's critical....as the specs of their lower tier of 3 series cards might actually reveal them to be little better than 2 series cards. Though the 4 series seem to be definitely more efficient and faster. Just time enough to hear Nvidia releasing 6 and 7 series cards...

FOMO-FOMO-FOMO!

 

[Outdated]

For individual cards I always bookmark the manufacturer's specs. LOL...have to in my case because I can't fit a three-fan card of any kind given space limitations. No more than nine inches....so I have to know the details in the specs.

I just learnt early on that the card's bandwidth makes far more difference than it's gpu speed or how much ram it's got. So that's how I shop. There's some intermediate cards that are 192 bit but they're almost as expensive as the 256 bit cards so poor value.

 

[Boogs]

Well my CPU and m/board can't be upgraded (on my budget), so really I just don't want to waste money on a card that's not going to be fully useable without a faster setup. But I'm guessing at this sort of price range it's not likely to be an issue.

 

[Outdated]

But I'm guessing at this sort of price range it's not likely to be an issue.

I can't see there being any issues at all. The whole idea of a big graphics card is to take work away from the cpu. I'm only running a Core i3, plays all the latest games sweet as.