What is your backup GPU?

I have a XFX Radeon HD 5450 1Gb card as a back up for my RTX 2060. I quit gaming over a year ago so it wouldn't be a huge loss if my RTX 2060 died but I do like to have it for crypto mining.
 
TangledThornz said:
I have a XFX Radeon HD 5450 1Gb card as a back up for my RTX 2060. I quit gaming over a year ago so it wouldn't be a huge loss if my RTX 2060 died but I do like to have it for crypto mining.
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Quit gaming? You make it sound like a narcotic addiction. 😎
 
I had a 1080 Ti laying around doing nothing, but I sold it and it's just a 3 gig 1060 Dual right now. I got a fancy studio interface with the cash though, I'm using that with my mics for karaoke. I was keeping the card in case I invite people for gaming with a secondary PC, but the pandemic made that real hard so I finally let it go.
 
Unfortunately, nothing is odd since I have 3 brand new PSU for backups, about 15 4tb-6tb hard drives standing by for my TrueNAS and Unraid server in case I lose a parity drive, data drive or a zpool drive drops on my TrueNAS server, multiple brand new ssd, keyboards,mouses, but no GPU :nailbiting:

I pretty much accepted that I won't be getting a GPU any time soon and if my current GPU crap outs I manage to get a PS5 back in November and a xbox series s for gaming until there's GPU available in 2030 :rolleyes:
 
Sickb0y said:
I manage to get a PS5 back in November and a xbox series s for gaming until there's GPU available in 2030 :rolleyes:
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I saw a PS5 available in Walmart around 6 months ago and didn't buy it. I made the wrong choice since it's hard to even get it now. If only I can turn back the hands of time.
Now, there's no GPU's or Consoles available.
 
bobzdar said:
My laptop is my backup (Zephyrus G14 with 4900HS/RTX2060). Basically have to downgrade from 4k to 1080p, but it's honestly not all that big a deal and makes for a great portable setup.
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G14 is a sick machine, honestly good enough to be the main system for a lot of folks. I almost got one recently but ended up getting a b33fier 15" laptop because I need maxi power, but for what's basically an Ultrabook, the G14 doesn't give up much perf compared to the larger machines.
 
I got a G15 coming back from warranty service this week. The fans started making grinding buzzing noises. Not real impressed with that. Hopefully the issue is resolved because down the road if it happens again I'm spending $60 for replacements and performing the surgery myself.
 
NattyKathy said:
G14 is a sick machine, honestly good enough to be the main system for a lot of folks. I almost got one recently but ended up getting a b33fier 15" laptop because I need maxi power, but for what's basically an Ultrabook, the G14 doesn't give up much perf compared to the larger machines.
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Yeah, I previously had the acer helios 500 which was a monster of a DTR, but the power brick alone for that thing outweighed the g14 and it just wasn't portable enough. I've been really happy with the g14 so far, desktop class power with an 8-10 hour battery and ultra portable, plus it doesn't look all gamery. It has a few minor downsides: no webcam, half the ram is soldered, single ssd, but it has truly amazing performance and cooling for the size with no usability or ergonomic hiccups. It basically ended my sff experimentation as there's no way to fit more power in anywhere near the same size form factor.
 
6800XT in main machine, 3070 in wife's machine I would annex in the event of an emergency....barring that would be G15 laptop wit the 4800HS/RTX 2060.
 
I am using a 3070 I stripped from a prebuilt; have a 980 as a backup, followed by a a Radeon 7970, 7870, 6950, GTS 250, and then my ancient Radeon x1900xt and 9800 Pro.
 
Backup? This. Hardware bought back in the day. Got the card free actually. The profit driven upgrade crap got old long ago. No need for uber fancy graphics here. Plenty of great older titles that can be had dirt cheap. And no need for 27 button mouse.


voodoo4.jpg
 
Susquehannock said:
Backup? This. Hardware bought back in the day. Got the card free actually. The profit driven upgrade crap got old long ago. No need for uber fancy graphics here. Plenty of great older titles that can be had dirt cheap. And no need for 27 button mouse.
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I have a couple of those, but unfortunately none of my motherboards from that era can still POST. They probably just need recapping, but that's not my forte.
 
JSHamlet234 said:
I have a couple of those, but unfortunately none of my motherboards from that era can still POST. They probably just need recapping, but that's not my forte.
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Can relate. This is in a Abit kr7a, second revision made with better caps. Also have an early revision kr7a with the fail prone ones that went bad.
 
I have 2 backup GPUs - a GTX 660 Ti and another one in the same family of slightly less power that I inherited from my sister after she passed away (I was the one who picked it out for her). My current GPU is an Asus STRIX GTX 1070 that I paid about $350 for on sale when it first came out. It amazes me that we no longer have quick and easy purchasing options anymore, not to mention absolutely no discounts from retailers :(
 
GTX 1080 Ti is my main card, GTX 970 was my backup, but I gave it to my brother on the other side of the continent. I still have a GTX 570 and a GeForce 8800 GT lying around if I need a PCI-Express card to serve as a temporary replacement to the 1080 Ti if something should happen to it.
 
R9 290X which I'm currently using. Reference card so a noisy bastard.
 
LFaWolf said:
Same dilemma as me, although my backup is the identical 3090. So tough to even get anything so I decide to keep it for now.


I love my 8800 GTS! One of the most fun card I have when I had abundant of time for gaming.
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I still have 3 640MB 8800GTS and 1 is the rare 112sp version. They were great cards.
 
I have a GTX770 as my backup, plan to use it when I step-up to an EVGA 3080i.

Sold my old GTX1080 and GTX1060 for truly insane prices already. Amazingly it looks like I could get >$100 for the 770, but really not worth my time.
 
Now:

3090
6800XT
3080 (in a system with issues or it would be higher)
3070
2080TI
 
2080 RTX is my main. Backup is in my exercise room computer, a 1080 GTX that I got as a replacement from Gigabyte when my 980 Ti burned down. I didn't know how long it would take them to replace it so that's why I just bought the 2080 since I was driving a bigger screen at that point anyway.

I have a 780 GTX but I guess its vram is corrupt, gets artifacts on the display on black screens. My other 780 GTX I gave to a friend of mine to use. My 7870 Ghz got killed by a friend that I let use it. It's got artifacts on the screen, too.

Aaaand so that makes my current backup, running in my mini-ITX build... a 5850HD. I also have a 7800 GT sitting around that still runs, but it looks pretty awful. It ain't gonna hold up much longer.

Honestly I wouldn't even have upgraded to the 2080 if my 980 Ti didn't burn down. I've kind of stopped giving as much of a crap about experiencing the newfangled high end graphics. I find that no matter how much G-Sync I have going on or how much I upgrade my CPU or GPU, it just always has micro stutters. The build doesn't matter, how new the windows installation is doesn't matter. Nothing matters. I'll just have micro stutters. That's the only constant. So I don't care, I'll go for a decent amount of eye candy but I'm not gonna sit there and do huge upgrades for it.
 
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LFaWolf said:
I was able to get another RTX as my backup GPU and that got me thinking - what is your primary GPU and your backup GPU, if you have one at all? It seems a bit wasteful for me, but I need my GPU for work (and very light gaming nowadays). I used to keep a pretty low end GPU and if I need to RMA my main one, I can put it in and order another one right away. But given the current stock situation, I think I need it to do this.
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Geforce Now is my “backup GPU”, or there’s always XCom2 on my iPad.
I tried Stadia, but not having my Steam library is a major issue. NVidia has steadily been improving their streaming.
:)
 
Susquehannock said:
Backup? This. Hardware bought back in the day. Got the card free actually. The profit driven upgrade crap got old long ago. No need for uber fancy graphics here. Plenty of great older titles that can be had dirt cheap. And no need for 27 button mouse.


View attachment 360891
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The irony here is that your Voodoo5 4500 is now worth a startling amount on eBay, as all 3dfx cards seem to be nowadays.

GPU scalping: not just for the latest and greatest!

I admit, half the fun of doing retro PC builds was that the parts used to be dirt cheap after years of depreciation and obsolescence, but now prominent YouTube channels featuring a lot of desirable parts from the era have made prices shoot way up all of a sudden, so now it's no longer cheap regardless of which period of PC gaming you want to indulge in.
 
OG Titan. Currently on a 1080ti FTW3, soon to become backup to a 3080ti FTW3 :)
 
2080Ti is my primary. If it dies, I'll take the 2080 that I put in one of my son's rigs and place the GTX 960 that's in my plex server into his system. Doubt there's much risk of this happening, since my Ti's on a custom loop and barely peaks at 45C.
 
Mi|enko said:
2080Ti is my primary. If it dies, I'll take the 2080 that I put in one of my son's rigs and place the GTX 960 that's in my plex server into his system. Doubt there's much risk of this happening, since my Ti's on a custom loop and barely peaks at 45C.
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I died laughing when I read that. I should put my spare 960 in my son's rig while he's asleep and see how long it takes him to notice.
 
JSHamlet234 said:
I died laughing when I read that. I should put my spare 960 in my son's rig while he's asleep and see how long it takes him to notice.
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lol Yeah. Kind of a DB move, but between Minecraft, TABS, and Fortnite, he wouldn't even notice. He's only 9 (birthday today) and I just upgraded him from his 1660 & 2600x to my secondary rig (8700k & 2080) so that I could pass his original rig down to our soon to be 6yo for his birthday.

I'm building my own clan. :-D
 
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