New video card time

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xpd

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#319894 12-Jun-2025 12:43

So its time for a new video card, and I'm so lost with them now....

Current specs :

AMD 5800X3D, 32GB RAM, 4Gb Nvidia 1650S, 3440x1440 resolution

This will probably be the last video card I ever buy new. $600 budget (Where did the $300 for decent cards go ? :D )

I game a mixture of things, some old, some newer, and one or two games not released yet (but due in next month or so), preferably at native res. Otherwise I use PC for watching media, general internet, work, and occasional video creation.

Keep seeing articles saying to avoid 8GB cards at all costs, yet some articles saying cards like the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB are better performers than the Intel B580 12GB etc.....

Originally I was eyeing up the B580....

Thoughts / experiences ?

XPD / Gavin

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#3383170 12-Jun-2025 12:46

You can get Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB

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xpd

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#3383179 12-Jun-2025 13:26

Considering the 8GB version is almost $700, the 16 will be out of my budget reach.

I know the RAM on GPUs is usually used by textures..... very rare I have games all cranked up to max settings, so maybe 8 is enough for someone like me.....

XPD / Gavin

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#3383180 12-Jun-2025 13:27

8GB not enough for 1440p, textures will bog it down in time.

Suggest you share actual examples of games you play as something old can be way more demanding than something new depending on the game.

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#3383186 12-Jun-2025 14:10

You haven't mentioned your power supply?

Id stay away from 8gb cards. the 9060xt 16gb seems be around the $729 mark if your budget can stretch

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#3383187 12-Jun-2025 14:12

No technical opinion. I saw this offer recently..

Gigabyte RX 9070 XT $1385, RTX 5060 Ti $755, RTX 5060 $625 + Shipping from $14 (Bank Transfer / extra for cc)

https://www.cheapies.nz/node/51927

xpd

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#3383196 12-Jun-2025 14:24

PSU is 750W, so fine there. No other HDDs etc drawing power.

Textures, yes they use a bit but I highly doubt Id have them cranked to highest quality.

Game wise, I play anything from Sims 4 (runs on a potato), to Grounded 2 (due out soon). In between is things like Satisfactory (which I found likes powerful cards once factories grow :D ),PUBG, CSGO, Dead By Daylight.....

XPD / Gavin

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#3383197 12-Jun-2025 14:28

Worth noting when talking about 1440p performance, generally that refers to 2560x1440, not 3440x1440.. That's ~34% more pixels being pushed around, so if a review says something is adequate at 1440p, it probably won't be at 3440x1440.

PC gaming, especially at premium resolutions, is an expensive hobby and getting more so. To be brutally honest, I don't think you're going to get a card that does that resolution justice for that budget. I'd be aiming to double it and get a 9070 or something. If the budget is firm, I think a 12gb B850, despite the pitfalls, is the best bang for the buck you can get. My last GPU upgrade cost me 2k and I expect my next one will be even more.

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#3383198 12-Jun-2025 14:36

Midrange budge is now in the realm of $900-1200. For 3440x1440 you’d want at least a 5070 level otherwise lean heavily into DLSS or FSR4 upscaling (nvidia 2000-5000 series, amd 9000 series). You won’t be doing native on anything except older/lower requirement games.

Vram size can vary on games, 8GB is fine as a minimum but if you want to play modern games they are increasingly using more memory for not just textures but raytracing too (Indiana Jones, DOOM Dark Ages).

If you had the cash 5070ti is best for value at your resolution but it is at least $1800. The xx60 class cards have low memory bandwidth and perform worse at higher resolutions. The Intel cards would be great but do not get sold here much and are also unreliable for day 1 release support, older games thats have been out for a while fair better. Intel also releasing a B770 sometime soon.

AMD 9000 is the only one supporting FSR4 with ai upscaling. Previous 7000 series performs well but limited to fsr3. You could try second hand but the older cards have retained their value thanks to the high prices for the new stuff.

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#3383199 12-Jun-2025 14:39

xpd:

So its time for a new video card, and I'm so lost with them now....

Current specs :

AMD 5800X3D, 32GB RAM, 4Gb Nvidia 1650S, 3440x1440 resolution

This will probably be the last video card I ever buy new. $600 budget (Where did the $300 for decent cards go ? :D )

I game a mixture of things, some old, some newer, and one or two games not released yet (but due in next month or so), preferably at native res. Otherwise I use PC for watching media, general internet, work, and occasional video creation.

Keep seeing articles saying to avoid 8GB cards at all costs, yet some articles saying cards like the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB are better performers than the Intel B580 12GB etc.....

Originally I was eyeing up the B580....

Thoughts / experiences ?

The main problem with the Intel cards is the immaturity of them, they have had some pretty serious driver issues which to be fair are improving but nowhere near what you will get from the other 2 manufacturers.

Older games on the intel card suffer so if you are playing older DX9 titles for example expect a not great experience. Also the intel performance is just a bit behind the other 2 at this point in time.

Nvidia, Sadly the 8GB 5060 is just not really worth it and to get up to 16GB you have to step up to the 5060Ti and the Ti is within spitting distance of the 5060XT in non ray tracing frame rate.

AMD seems to have the price to performance hold when it comes to raster graphics.

You have a good platform so you dont need to worry about the PCI-E shennaigans that are being played out in the xx60 series cards right now. But you are gaming on an ultrawide which really does mean you will at some point hit that VRAM problem.

If it were me id be biting the bullet and trying to get one of the 9060XT models, Powercolor or Sapphire. Or risking it you could try and find a 2nd hand nvidia 3080 which can be had in 10/12GB variants.

Worth checking out the Gamers Nexus review which has all the cards mentioned.

https://youtu.be/O9u3UPkqp_0?si=n9JvnzG7P-wi_Q_B

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#3383200 12-Jun-2025 14:40

Grounded 2 is on Unreal 5. All the games being made on it see 8gb as Min and 16gb as recommended. Its not just textures buffer that is smashing the GPU ram its also map sizes and bandwidth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LhS0_ra9c4&t=456s

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#3383201 12-Jun-2025 14:48

“Older games on the intel card suffer so if you are playing older DX9 titles for example expect a not great experience. Also the intel performance is just a bit behind the other 2 at this point in time”.

Intel are using DXVK so effectively translating to Vulkan. Afaik they are using Valve’s implementation now so performance is okay now.

The performance for cost is good but you do suffer from some bugs/incompatibilities on newly released games. Also they aren’t popular here so almost never get stocked, you have to order from amazon aus.

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#3383249 12-Jun-2025 14:52

For that budget I'd be looking second hand. RX 6800 XT could be possible if you take your time and snipe. If you want NVIDIA you are probably looking at a 30 series card.

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#3383251 12-Jun-2025 15:09

I'd definitely look at your used options - I recently sold a 3080 on here for $700, you'd really want at least 10GB of VRAM. I had no issues using the 3080 with a 3440 x 1440 panel but it couldn't hold up at 4K.

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#3383265 12-Jun-2025 17:05

Lias: PC gaming, especially at premium resolutions, is an expensive hobby and getting more so.

For sure. I'm really looking forward to the new Microsoft data center bringing game streaming to NZ for that reason. It can't come soon enough. Also with the continuing bottlenecks in GPU supply it will ease some of that pressure and use resources more efficiently too.

Edit: It's here. How did I miss that?

- https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2022/06/09/xbox-cloud-gaming-now-available-in-argentina-and-new-zealand/

- https://www.xbox.com/en-NZ/cloud-gaming

Edit: Hmm. Limited selection and still in beta. I might have ignored it.

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#3383346 12-Jun-2025 19:20

What’s bad about 8Gb cards? We build a gaming pc the Nvidia RTX 4060 has been solid

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