Need advice on choosing the best graphics card?
Need advice on choosing the best graphics card?
My budget is 300 dollars, I need a used card to get better value.
I’ve considered two options:
RTX 3070 TI 8GB Aorus Master for 310 dollars
RX 6800 16GB Asrock Phantom Gaming for 300 dollars
Both have similar condition and temperature performance.
My specs are: I5 11400, Gigabyte B560M H, 16GB 3200MHz, PSU: Bitfinx Formula 650w Gold.
RTX 3070 Ti is a bit better,
comparison:
https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AM...4088vs4116
However, since it's used RTX 30-series GPU, it most likely is ex-mining GPU and i would not buy it. Since it may die soon after. (Actually, same could be with RX 6800, since you never know with used GPUs.)
Oh, RTX 30-series has high transient power spikes and your 650W unit isn't enough for it. GPU alone is 290W and with transient power spikes, you're looking towards ~500W for GPU alone. So, better to get RX 6800 instead.
What are GPU transient power spikes? A video to watch:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnRyyCsuHFQ
And here, at 11:42 mark, is few words about buying used mining GPU:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1Yp6pQRdns#t=11m42s
👍
Great quality PSU. Rare sight these days.
But PSU is bit old (came out in 2018) and now, is past it's warranty as well (it ever came with 5 year warranty).
PSU should be fine if you had it since it was brand new. But if you bought it used, then it's completely different ballpark.
I tend to agree with the above, in that if you don't want to replace PSU, go with the AMD variant. The extra VRAM is a nice to have. The choice is far easier if you don't care about ray tracing.
It may be worthwhile to consider a new CPU, but honestly think it would be better waited for a 'next update' cycle where you get something more modern. If someone gifts you an 11700 or K variant it wouldn't be a bad thing if mobo and power delivery support it.
The formula is a solid PSU, although it's a bit outdated. However, these types of units can often provide more than their rated capacity in the short term. In fact, this unit started outputting power at 850W during testing, leaving plenty of headroom. Excluding the video card, the rest of the system won't draw more than 150W. The 11400 model rarely reaches 100W under typical use, including gaming. Stress tests might push it over 100W in certain cases, but not during regular gameplay. The largest power spikes I observed with the RTX 3070 Ti were around 420W, and even a brief 500W spike wouldn't trigger the PSU's overcurrent protection, preventing shutdowns—even considering its age and performance decline.
Despite this, I wouldn’t suggest purchasing this GPU for several reasons. Although it has sufficient raw power, its 8GB VRAM limits its performance. For that reason, I’d prefer a slightly slower 4060Ti with 16GB of VRAM instead. In my region, I found one for around $350 in used condition, and there’s always room to negotiate.
After upgrading the GPU, your processor might become a bottleneck in certain games. This is especially true for lower frame rates and overall gameplay smoothness on CPU-intensive titles. I personally tested the 10400 (slightly slower CPU than the 11400) alongside the 9700K and 5700X using GTX 1080. Even with GTX 1080, the experience was better with an 8-core CPU and higher clock speeds. (FPS drops were minimal, and micro stuttering was rare.)
Intel’s older 6-core chip with a locked multiplier isn’t ideal for modern gaming either. You can still play games on it, but if you upgrade to an i7K, you’d be better off sticking with the current setup.
I recently received the RTX 3070 TI. The graphics card is in excellent condition, never opened, and comes with its original packaging. The temperatures are great. I believe there’s no issue with this used card since it’s intended for personal use only and not for mining.
I reached out to the seller in my country, who suggested I could return it and receive an RX 6800.
Before testing, I ran the card on Furmark to check for PSU issues, and everything worked perfectly. The PSU doesn’t seem to be the problem here.
However, when I started playing games like Marvel's Spider-Man 2, I encountered a lot of stuttering and the frame rate fluctuated significantly. I played the game on my old RX 5700 XT and it performed well. I’m still trying to figure out why this happened.
I believe the PSU isn't the issue since it's a high-quality unit. Ray tracing is a solid choice—it would let me play AAA titles, though RX seems better than my current setup. I watched a comparison and noticed RX performed slightly better in some games, but overall framerates were similar. Does the improved ray tracing in RTX explain this?
Thank you for your reply.
I have an RTX 3070 Ti and I'm getting the card, but I believe it's intended for personal use rather than mining.
You can check the image here: https://imgur.com/a/BvHW4r1
For more details, see the view: https://imgur.com/a/BvHW4r1
Ray tracing works more efficiently on the RTX cards compared to the RX cards. In my setup, I have an RX 7800XT paired with a 3070, and the 3070 outperforms the 7800 in pure rasterization, while the 7800 still does better with RT effects.
Considering whether to prioritize x2 VRAM or RayTracing, what guidance would you like to receive?
This is something you can do any day of the week. Ray Tracing improves visuals by adding more realistic shadows and reflections, though it only affects FPS by about half. It doesn't really add value. For example, on an RTX 3070 Ti with 2K resolution, performance drops significantly when Ray Tracing is enabled. Source: