What Graphics card should I get?

R

RailPilgrim

Wannabe Driver
I currently have a dead Graphics card. (got cooked I think) That card was a AMD Radeon HD 7770 ( R7770 2PMD1GD5 ) which, though old, was still performing to fill my needs.

Now looking to get a replacement but am somewhat confused with all the different cards.

The Trainz Portal says I need a Minimum of GT430 or ATI 5550 but recommends a GTX 660 or AMD HD6950

Not too sure what is available, but I am leaning towards a GTX 1060 3Gb card as my budget won't go too much further. This will run to about AU$500 - 550. I hope it won't be too much more.

Is there a AMD card that is similar? Or is Nvidea the better option?

Are there any other cards in this price range that I should consider?

Thanks,
 
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html

I'd go with nVidia as they support people such asN3V and give them hints how to get the most out of an nVidia card.

The GTX 1060 3 gig seems very reasonable for the price. Check your power supply will handle it. Note there is a 6 gig model that has a slightly different bandwidth and better performance but the difference isn't that much except in the price.

Cheerio John
 
I have a GTX 1070 6GB overclocked. I love it and I would definitely recommend it. Something I should warn you though, is that older CPU's may cause a bottleneck and you wouldn't be able to unlock the GPU's full potential, that's the problem I'm currently having with my 1070 and my aging AMD FX4300.

Matt
 
Yes a GTX 1080 would be nice but take into account N3V's recommendation which is lower than a GTX 1060 and the cash available plus the problems with case size and power supply and given the constraints saving up for a GTX 1080 in ten years time may not be the optimum choice.

Cheerio John
 
GTX 1080 is a very nice card. I use it on a day to day basis, and it's able to run T:ANE at the highest detail, and Minecraft at a higher levels of loading as well.
 
RailPilgrim - One of the best-rated AMD cards you should consider that is within your price range is the Radeon RX580 graphics card. There are many different variations available from 3rd party card manufacturers.
I see you are in Hornsby, Sydney. If so, check out the excellent product range and prices at Ti Computers in Crows Nest - the guys there supplied most of my computer training company and ISP needs for many years whilst I was in Sydney.
http://www.ticomputers.com.au/

For example: Here's a listing for an MSI version of the 580 from their range:

product name:RADEON RX580 DIRECTX 8GB VIDEO CARD (MSI Components Graphics Cards)
description: RADEON RX 580 DIRECTX 12 RX 580 GAMING X 8G 8GB 256-BIT GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS 3.0 X16 HDCP READY CROSSFIREX SUPPORT VIDEO CARD
manufacturer:MSI
Warranty Detail:
Code: RADEON RX580 GAMING X 8G
Weight: 1.6100 kg
Price: $444
Gross Dimensions: 34.4000 x 27.2000 x 8.8000 (CM)
First Avail:
Stock on hand(Supplier Stock): 46

The RX580 is currently rated as one of the best value Gaming GPUs for Full HD (1920 by 1080) and Good @ 1440p.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gpus,4380.html

Better still, consider the proven performer in T:ANE that is the NVidia GTX 1070 which, though it might be a stretch for your current budget, it is easily the most powerful GPU within reach.
This is a card that can run T:ANE at 1080p with all the wicks turned up - and at 1440p at very high visual quality settings and high framerates.
 
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Thanks everyone.

I am ordering a GTX 1060 Dual OC 3Gb (AU$309) as this looks to be the best value for money I can find. While it would have been nice to get the 6Gb version or even move up to the 1070, The price starts climbing exponentially from here. Also the 6gb card is 5.5 cm longer and won't physically fit.

Further to the need for a new GPU, it seems my main C: drive decided to go out with it. The repair bloke says the data is recoverable and he should be able to clone the HDD to a new one for me. Luckily all my Trainz are on 2 other drives plus an external USB drive.

Hopefully I should have it all up and running again after the weekend.
 
RailPilgrim said:
I am ordering a GTX 1060 Dual OC 3Gb (AU$309) as this looks to be the best value for money I can find.
Click to expand...

That card is excellent value for money, because you are not paying for the gaming hype that goes with the more powerful models.

The next upgrade will be to a SSD. Both the GPU and the SSD will migrate to whatever CPU/Motherboard upgrade comes after that, and by then the GPU will be old enough that you can start looking for whatever replacement is best value at that time. Your system will always be unbalanced to some extent, but the important thing is that you are able to improve the weakest link as the budget allows without compromising the other components. The worst thing would be to have to upgrade two components at once, such as motherboard and GPU because the best value GPU only fits in the newest layout motherboards.
 
RailPilgrim said:
Thanks everyone.

I am ordering a GTX 1060 Dual OC 3Gb (AU$309) as this looks to be the best value for money I can find. While it would have been nice to get the 6Gb version or even move up to the 1070, The price starts climbing exponentially from here. Also the 6gb card is 5.5 cm longer and won't physically fit.

Further to the need for a new GPU, it seems my main C: drive decided to go out with it. The repair bloke says the data is recoverable and he should be able to clone the HDD to a new one for me. Luckily all my Trainz are on 2 other drives plus an external USB drive.

Hopefully I should have it all up and running again after the weekend.
Click to expand...

Also invest in bringing up your ram to at least 16GB, memory is relatively cheap and makes a big difference in Windows 10 .............
 
Railhead001 said:
Also invest in bringing up your ram to at least 16GB, memory is relatively cheap and makes a big difference in Windows 10 .............
Click to expand...


Do you have any evidence for this statement?

Note to Sailordan an SSD will not give faster frame rates or at least greater than 2% on the existing ones so why are you saying it is good value for money?

Cheerio John
 
Whatever card you choose, check first that it will fit into your existing computer case. A lot of the new cards are around the 295mm range in length. Several PC cases that I've worked on recently only had around 280mm - 285mm of room for the new card to fit in. There a a few new cards that are 280mm or under.

The other thing to check is your existing power supply has enough horsepower to run your new card. (what wattage it is). - Check the new cards manufactures recommended minimum wattage.

I use to be a AMD die hard fan years ago, until they started slipping behind the eight ball. Especially with there "latest drivers" back then. They appear to now have their poop together and are now giving NVIDIA a genuine run for their money. Especially bang for buck on price...

I upgraded from a 660Ti to a 1080 a while ago and are very happy with the new card. I had to sell one of my yachts and take out a mortgage on my house to afford it. :hehe:

Cheers, Mac...
 
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johnwhelan said:
Note to Sailordan an SSD will not give faster frame rates or at least greater than 2% on the existing ones so why are you saying it is good value for money?
Click to expand...
Please restrict your commentary to what I wrote not what you think you read. The card is great value for money. The SSD is the next upgrade that OP will install. I did not comment on the value of the SSD because there is no information about the model or price. I did not comment on what the SSD will do for the frame rates. The reason that I stated that it would be the next upgrade is that if the new hard drive is not an SSD then it will be the weakest part of the system, and therefore the first component to be replaced.
 
SailorDan said:
Please restrict your commentary to what I wrote not what you think you read. The card is great value for money. The SSD is the next upgrade that OP will install. I did not comment on the value of the SSD because there is no information about the model or price. I did not comment on what the SSD will do for the frame rates. The reason that I stated that it would be the next upgrade is that if the new hard drive is not an SSD then it will be the weakest part of the system, and therefore the first component to be replaced.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry I misunderstood your comment. So based on your experience of TANE, noting your registered copies, you feel that an SSD would be a worthwhile upgrade and eliminate some sort of bottleneck in performance. Is that correct? I'm just mystified how you would measure the improvement if not in frame rates.

Cheerio John
 
Railhead001 said:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram-memory-upgrade,2778-9.html
Click to expand...

Read it again it doesn't say 16 gigs min it says it depends on the software. Yes memory is good but above 8 gigs you're probably into diminishing returns with TANE and that's the problem very few benchmarks are done with TANE so you need to guess.

Balancing a system I'd spend the money on the GPU first rather than take the memory up to 32 gigs which your statement of 16 gigs implies.

It depends on how much cash you have available. These days my personal preference would be a GTX1080ti something like a 6 core xeon, 16 gigs ECC memory and use SSDs for storage but reality says my old 4 core XEON will have to stagger on for a little longer and ECC memory is just something I prefer.

Cheerio John
 
johnwhelan said:
I'm sorry I misunderstood your comment. So based on your experience of TANE, noting your registered copies, you feel that an SSD would be a worthwhile upgrade and eliminate some sort of bottleneck in performance. Is that correct? I'm just mystified how you would measure the improvement if not in frame rates.

Cheerio John
Click to expand...

My recent h/w upgrade has Trainz installed on an SSD for the first time. My empirical observation is that routes load (much) faster, and when the draw distance comes within range of a town (with many previously unreferenced objects) there is no lag. These improvements would not necessarily be reflected quantitatively in a tool monitoring frame rates.

BTW: the new config runs a i7/GTX1070 combo, which is great. But I also have on order a laptop with an GTX1050Ti (and slower SATA3 SSD with i5), which I plan to use for testing sessions at the same time I'm working on the cosmetics of the route on the desktop. If I can I will post (in a separate thread) my thoughts on the differences between the two.


Phil
 
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Same route, same location, same PC but different drives, route loading times:

500GB SSD = 13 seconds
2GB 7200rpm = 33 seconds

No difference in Frame rates or noticeable lag on loading assets on the spinner.

Full Database repairs are a lot quicker on the SSD.
 
clam1952 said:
Same route, same location, same PC but different drives, route loading times:

500GB SSD = 13 seconds
2GB 7200rpm = 33 seconds

No difference in Frame rates or noticeable lag on loading assets on the spinner.

Full Database repairs are a lot quicker on the SSD.
Click to expand...

and I think that sums up the argument for SSDs. Loading time is faster and full database repairs are faster which is nice and I do run TONE on one myself but if you're after performance per dollar in frame rates this isn't where to spend your money.

Cheerio John
 
johnwhelan said:
I'm just mystified how you would measure the improvement if not in frame rates.
Click to expand...
I don't know what thread you are reading but it isn't the one I am posting in.

Nowhere did I connect the SSD to frame rates. I said that the next component to be upgraded would be the hard disk (if the tech didn't just do it as a matter of course) and I then expanded that comment with a reason - because the hard disk drive would then be the weakest component in the system, and is therefore the next candidate for upgrade. You introduced the talk about frame rates. Creating a straw man just so you can argue about it amounts to trolling.
 
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