Need recomendation for GPUs on a budget for WoW Classic

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awawa

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Me and my wife will play WoW Classic when it releases.

I got two Lenovo SFF sporting i5-3570s and I need a GPU for each. I am pretty sure they have to be low profile.

Of course that means I am on a budget, so I was thinking RX 590 or GTX 1060. Both go for around 400CAD right now. Alas, I can't seem to find any low profile options for those. So far I've stumbled upon RX 560s and GTX 1050s for low profiles. The price on those make me happy, but I wonder if it would be enough.

I've been out of the GPU field for a while, and I honestly just want to be able to run dungeons and raids with her having good FPS and decent graphics using 1080p monitors.

Thanks!
 
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A RX 580 would be great for 1080p.

They are very affordable ATM .

But they do take 2 slots and need a 8pin power connection as well.

Personally I think a 560 would be a little on the weak side especially on crowded screens like raids or large scale PvP.
 
Which Lenovo model is it exactly?

I think a 1660 Ti would have the performance, but they are all double or triple slot, so probably too big.

I agree that the 560 or 1050 are pretty weak, even at 1080p. They would work, not sure how intensive WoW Classic is, but probably on lower settings.
 
I have not played the new Classic yet (many many many hours on old Classic with my Radeon 4890) but if I'm in current content playing outdoors (i.e. 40 character raids) the 1070 in both the laptop and desktop PC can be brought to their knees. Depending on how much detail you want on the screen the new 1660 Ti may be your minimum choice.
 
awawa said:
Me and my wife will play WoW Classic when it releases.

I got two Lenovo SFF sporting i5-3570s and I need a GPU for each. I am pretty sure they have to be low profile.

Of course that means I am on a budget, so I was thinking RX 590 or GTX 1060. Both go for around 400CAD right now. Alas, I can't seem to find any low profile options for those. So far I've stumbled upon RX 560s and GTX 1050s for low profiles. The price on those make me happy, but I wonder if it would be enough.

I've been out of the GPU field for a while, and I honestly just want to be able to run dungeons and raids with her having good FPS and decent graphics using 1080p monitors.

Thanks!
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If you require a low profile card, the best you can do is a 1050 Ti. They're also the most powerful GPU you can get that don't require a PCIe power connector, which the Lenovo SFF probably also doesn't have.
 
It just occurred to me that the PSU in those SFF Lenovo's is most likely under 300w so the 1050 is probably about max.
 
Lenovo M92p. Core i5 3570.

I don't have a lot of experience with SFF systems, so I don't know if I could get a beefier PSU for it. That means nothing if I can't get a suitable low profile card to bask in the extra juice, of course.

Alternatively, I could just transfer the guts to a standard case, assuming Lenovo motherboards allow me to do that, which I have no idea. That would make my question moot of course, as I could get a beefier PSU and GPU. But wifey would rather have the tiny one, so...

Also, about the VGAs suggested: 1) is a 1050 better than the 560?; and 2) is there a 1660 low profile? I can't seem to find any.
 
It says on the Lenovo page:

1 Mini-PCI Express
Click to expand...

I don't think you can even add any GPU to that using that slot.

Not to mention the power supply.

External 65W
Click to expand...

It's so low-end as it is, you're probably better off just building a new computer from scratch.
 
awawa said:
Lenovo M92p. Core i5 3570.

I don't have a lot of experience with SFF systems, so I don't know if I could get a beefier PSU for it. That means nothing if I can't get a suitable low profile card to bask in the extra juice, of course.

Alternatively, I could just transfer the guts to a standard case, assuming Lenovo motherboards allow me to do that, which I have no idea. That would make my question moot of course, as I could get a beefier PSU and GPU. But wifey would rather have the tiny one, so...

Also, about the VGAs suggested: 1) is a 1050 better than the 560?; and 2) is there a 1660 low profile? I can't seem to find any.
Click to expand...

People have been recommending a lot of cards that can't fit inside that SFF case. Like I said earlier, the best low profile GPU you can get is a 1050 Ti, which is better than the 560.

Alternatively, like you said, you can possibly transfer the lenovo guts to a new case as long as the mounts are ITX/MATX, or if you... drill your own holes in a new case. I'd recommend looking inside to figure out if that's the case. If you do go with the transfer, I'd probably recommend the RX570 if you want to go budget(4gb version can go as low as $130, 8gb $160-170), or the GTX 1660 if you're alright with spending around $220.

Edit: Forgot to mention that if you do transfer the lenovo PC to a new case and get anything beyond a 1050 Ti, you will need to buy a new PSU with a PCIe power connector as well.
 
cybereality said:
Yeah, I'd open the case and do some measurements to see what will fit.

I think something like this would be okay but you'll have to make sure the PC can handle it.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500411
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That's not a low profile card, it's just a short card. These are the options:
https://us.msi.com/Graphics-card/GeForce-GTX-1050-Ti-4GT-LP
https://www.zotac.com/us/product/graphics_card/zotac-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-low-profile
https://www.asus.com/us/Graphics-Cards/GTX1050TI-O4G-LP-BRK
https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N105TOC-4GL#kf

All aren't great value, cheapest I've seen is $180 except an MSI refurb for $150 on newegg(RX570 has almost always been a better value(minus mining craze)), but with an SFF and a PSU with no PCIe power it's what they're stuck with unless going through the hassle of taking the system out of the SFF and buying a new case & PSU.
 
As I decided to move the guts out of the case and get the whole hardware to support that (e.g PSU and a new case of course), what would be the best bang for the buck then? 570?

(edit: if anyone is curious, I have two machines running on boards that are compatible with those processors. I will switch some parts around and get the two game machines I want, sporting the better hardware found on those I just bought, sans the tiny case, PSU and MoBo. Wife agreed reluctantly, as she wanted the tiny stuff, but so far the low profile stuff is expensive to the point where it is the same price to just go to the next model number with a big card)
 
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If you're going to go through the trouble of a rebuild, you might as well get a GTX 1660 at least to be worth it.
 
cybereality said:
If you're going to go through the trouble of a rebuild, you might as well get a GTX 1660 at least to be worth it.
Click to expand...

See my edit. I am back to the point where I want to get bang for the buck GPUs for a i5-3570 build. PSU and case are taken care of. Nothing fancy of course, good brand 500W PSU and generic mATX case, but I already have everything.
 
So, how much are you looking to spend?

I think either the GTX 1660 or 1660 Ti would be good, but I don't play WoW and I don't know what the requirements are.

I assume your monitor is 1080P?
 
awawa said:
As I decided to move the guts out of the case and get the whole hardware to support that (e.g PSU and a new case of course), what would be the best bang for the buck then? 570?

(edit: if anyone is curious, I have two machines running on boards that are compatible with those processors. I will switch some parts around and get the two game machines I want, sporting the better hardware found on those I just bought, sans the tiny case, PSU and MoBo. Wife agreed reluctantly, as she wanted the tiny stuff, but so far the low profile stuff is expensive to the point where it is the same price to just go to the next model number with a big card)
Click to expand...

570 definitely is the best value currently. From a recent 1660 review on Techpowerup(you can shave off a few % on the 570(8gb), as it's about $10 more expensive than they used for this graph):
performance-per-dollar_1920-1080.png

I imagine In many cases your CPU may end up being the component holding your framerate down in WoW with a 570 in the system.
 
If you do go with the beefier case/powersupply and don't mind used, you might be able to pick up a RX580 8g on ebay for ~100cad. Most I saw were shipped from the us though. Might be able to do better on your local Craigslist equivalent.
 
WoW, especially Classic, was always relatively poorly optimized. I imagine a 1050 Ti should be fine for 1080p if it truly will be like the original. Hard to tell especially if they make modifications.
 
The motherboard power connectors are proprietary and it might not conform to the ATX standard. I would honestly look at used ATX motherboards for it and transfer the CPU/Ram/hdd into a new case without the motherboard. You might be able to find connectors that convert a 24 pin into whatever abomination that motherboard accepts but thats going to be janky and unreliable.

If you decide to just leave the systems as-is, you will need a half height card without a 6 pin power connector. Ignore the people here saying to get a 580's or 1660's, they don't understand what small form factor means. You need a "low profile" or "half height" card for it to fit in the stock case.
 
Minimum:

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560 2GB or
AMD™ Radeon™ HD 7850 2GB or
Intel® HD Graphics 530 (45W TDP)

Recommended:

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960 4GB or
AMD™ Radeon™ R9 280 or better.
 
Auer said:
Minimum:

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560 2GB or
AMD™ Radeon™ HD 7850 2GB or
Intel® HD Graphics 530 (45W TDP)

Recommended:

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960 4GB or
AMD™ Radeon™ R9 280 or better.
Click to expand...

Left off the i7 on recommended which I was shocked to see.Im going to reinstall the game and see how it is now this weekend
 
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