$150-$200 best value? 280x has died

Derfnofred

Gawd
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Dec 11, 2009
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Had been getting some BSOD's lately and this morning the graphics card was throwning funky lines all over the place. Bought the sucker used in 2016, so I'm not too heartbroken. I have been living under a rock in terms of computer hardware so could use some help.

Truth be told, I was pretty content with the 280x's performance since I'm not too [H]ard about my gaming, although if I'm spending money, might as well get *some* improvement! Little bit here and there game wise . 1920x1200 monitor 60Hz monitor, r5 1600 and 16gb main memory. Wouldn't mind going a lot more power (heat) efficient, though. Used market for anything but RX580's seems terrible from what I was looking at today. So the sweet spot looks like the 5500xt and the 1650 super in 4gb?

Am I missing anything? 1060 6gb?

Thanks
 
If it's a strict 150-200$ budget, RX580 or the 1650Super should be good, the cheaper the better.

If you can stretch to 250$, the 1660 SUPERs are nice and will let you play @ all high at 1080p

The 1060s and the RX580s are about a even except for power consumption in the 1060's favor... so boils down to price.

I wouldn't get the 5500XT unless you're running PCIE 4.0 (which you are not), the 8x link on the 5500/XT series seems to gimp it a little.
 
RX 580/590 is still basically the best value cards on the market IMO and can be had for under $150 very easily. GTX 1060 was about the same or better performance when they were new and on Open GL titles, but on newer games using Vulkan, the AMD cards can perform considerably better in a lot of games. My son has a RX 570 8GB in his rig with a 2560x1080p (ultrawide) monitor and it can play pretty much all of his games at 60+ FPS still on medium-high IQ settings and I got that card for him like 19 months ago for $140 new at the time.

If you want to spend a bit more towards $200 for a little better performance and much better power and thermal efficiency though, I'd go with the 1650 super, which I'd recommend overall just because I always recommend the fasted and newest hardware you can afford; in general I'd much rather have a newer budget card than an older mid-range or enthusiast card just for much better power efficiency/thermals and also longer software support.
 
I picked up a used Vega to replace an rx570. The rx570 was the replacement for a 280x. The rx570 was faster by a bit, given prices today I would get a 580 though. During the mining craze when I bought the 570 (got lucky found it in stock for MSRP), the 580's where a lot more.
You can pick up an rx580 for around $165 new, used I've seen them $100-$125 (seem to go really fast).
But if you are lucky and/or quick you can get some pretty great used deals too.
 
Thanks all -- you guys did seem to reinforce that that 1650 super is probably the best bet new in the price range I'm looking and the RX580 is the go-to used card. Sadly, a used GTX 1080 isn't in the budget, nor the 1660 super (which does seem like another good performer!). Appreciate the help on the pcie 4.0 bit!

Since I need the computer up sooner rather than later, I think I'll order a 1650 super off Amazon and get on with things. Thanks again.
 
personally I'd try to score a nice 980ti off ebay, shouldn't have any trouble getting one of those on the lower end. It's not the most recent but still a beast of a card.
 
Buy a used 390X for around 125, still able to game at 2K 144 Hz with minimal settings reductions. PM me if you need specifics on fps for modern titles that I play.
 
It's all good; thanks guys. Did manage to score a returned 1650 super for $<150 and Amazon already told me it's in the mail. I didn't necessarily have the luxury of waiting too long to get the best bargain since the machine is down until I get a replacement (I have a habit of running video cards until they're dead, so no hot replacements).
 
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It's all good; thanks guys. Did manage to score a returned 1650 super for $<150 and Amazon already told me it's in the mail. I didn't necessarily have the luxury of waiting too long to get the best bargain since the machine is down until I get a replacement (I have a habit of running video cards until they're dead, so no hot replacements).

Just for the money it will slowly save you in power over the years if you run it until it croaks is worth it over the RX580.
 
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