Help a newbie to gaming choose a graphics card
Discussion
The wife has it in her head that she wants the game Star Citizen. Being a Linix user I was horrified that it was only available on windows 10, but for a quiet life I decided to put a gaming PC together for her.
The game needs a minimum of a DirectX 11, 3GB (recommended 4GB) graphics card so I started looking on amazon, no I won't buy anything from amazon but I will use other buyers reviews. I could not believe how many reviews said that the cards were junk, didn't ever work, quit within a few days, were not new despite being advertized as such, only had 2GB of RAM and not the advertized 4GB etc.
And these weren't all one hung low Chinese clones, these were ASUS, MSI, NVIDIA and other supposedly quality cards.
b
hing over, now can anyone recommend a quality video card with a warranty with those specs that won't break the bank and will actually work for more than a few days?
The game needs a minimum of a DirectX 11, 3GB (recommended 4GB) graphics card so I started looking on amazon, no I won't buy anything from amazon but I will use other buyers reviews. I could not believe how many reviews said that the cards were junk, didn't ever work, quit within a few days, were not new despite being advertized as such, only had 2GB of RAM and not the advertized 4GB etc.
And these weren't all one hung low Chinese clones, these were ASUS, MSI, NVIDIA and other supposedly quality cards.
b
hing over, now can anyone recommend a quality video card with a warranty with those specs that won't break the bank and will actually work for more than a few days?xeny said:
What screen resolution are you targeting?
The plan was to use it on our 4K TV, which the specs say has a 3840 x 2160 resolution.https://www.tcl.com/us/en/products/home-theater/4-...
Buy cheap, buy twice.
Stick with recognised brands gigabyte, MSI, ASUS, Powercolor, Sapphire they are all about the same price. Each brand probably makes 3 different versions of the ‘same’ card, so learn to recognise the naming conventions and differences. I got my last one from Overclockers cos it was on special offer, but do your research on the one u choose.
Stick with recognised brands gigabyte, MSI, ASUS, Powercolor, Sapphire they are all about the same price. Each brand probably makes 3 different versions of the ‘same’ card, so learn to recognise the naming conventions and differences. I got my last one from Overclockers cos it was on special offer, but do your research on the one u choose.
sparkyhx said:
Buy cheap, buy twice.
Stick with recognised brands gigabyte, MSI, ASUS, Powercolor, Sapphire they are all about the same price. Each brand probably makes 3 different versions of the ‘same’ card, so learn to recognise the naming conventions and differences. I got my last one from Overclockers cos it was on special offer, but do your research on the one u choose.
Thanks for the link to Overclockers, and I'll take your advice on buying cheap. Stick with recognised brands gigabyte, MSI, ASUS, Powercolor, Sapphire they are all about the same price. Each brand probably makes 3 different versions of the ‘same’ card, so learn to recognise the naming conventions and differences. I got my last one from Overclockers cos it was on special offer, but do your research on the one u choose.
NMNeil said:
sparkyhx said:
Buy cheap, buy twice.
Stick with recognised brands gigabyte, MSI, ASUS, Powercolor, Sapphire they are all about the same price. Each brand probably makes 3 different versions of the ‘same’ card, so learn to recognise the naming conventions and differences. I got my last one from Overclockers cos it was on special offer, but do your research on the one u choose.
Thanks for the link to Overclockers, and I'll take your advice on buying cheap. Stick with recognised brands gigabyte, MSI, ASUS, Powercolor, Sapphire they are all about the same price. Each brand probably makes 3 different versions of the ‘same’ card, so learn to recognise the naming conventions and differences. I got my last one from Overclockers cos it was on special offer, but do your research on the one u choose.
I tried star citizen on an old 1060, it was not playable, I upgrade my rig, 3060, new cpu etc. star citizen now looks excellent, shame the gameplay is pretty crap and after around 20 hours I gave up with it. Guess there is no way for your wife to try the game for a bit without having to splurge a load of cash?
You do know what Star Citizen is all about don't you? The huge unfinished money sponge. Has she played it?
The minimum spec PC listed on the game website is out of date and unless she wants to play in single figure frame rates don't follow it.
This is so wrong
At 1080p you will need a system with a Ryzen 5 3600, 16GB RAM and a GTX 1660 Super at minimum frame rates will be between 30-40 fps and don't put the game onto an HDD, SDD will cut load times and any potential stuttering of loading textures/models.
This guy shows action (fps) with a 3600x/1660 Super and also a 3070 - https://youtu.be/oEIuJgySLpw?t=325
The minimum spec PC listed on the game website is out of date and unless she wants to play in single figure frame rates don't follow it.
This is so wrong
At 1080p you will need a system with a Ryzen 5 3600, 16GB RAM and a GTX 1660 Super at minimum frame rates will be between 30-40 fps and don't put the game onto an HDD, SDD will cut load times and any potential stuttering of loading textures/models.
This guy shows action (fps) with a 3600x/1660 Super and also a 3070 - https://youtu.be/oEIuJgySLpw?t=325
jjones said:
I tried star citizen on an old 1060, it was not playable, I upgrade my rig, 3060, new cpu etc. star citizen now looks excellent, shame the gameplay is pretty crap and after around 20 hours I gave up with it. Guess there is no way for your wife to try the game for a bit without having to splurge a load of cash?
That's why I wanted to build a PC within the specs of the game and not get overloaded with computing power I'd never need. And it's an introduction to gaming for both of us.No problem with cash, just my reluctance to part with it unnecessarily
NMNeil said:
The wife has it in her head that she wants the game Star Citizen. Being a Linix user I was horrified that it was only available on windows 10, but for a quiet life I decided to put a gaming PC together for her.
The game needs a minimum of a DirectX 11, 3GB (recommended 4GB) graphics card so I started looking on amazon, no I won't buy anything from amazon but I will use other buyers reviews. I could not believe how many reviews said that the cards were junk, didn't ever work, quit within a few days, were not new despite being advertized as such, only had 2GB of RAM and not the advertized 4GB etc.
And these weren't all one hung low Chinese clones, these were ASUS, MSI, NVIDIA and other supposedly quality cards.
bhing over, now can anyone recommend a quality video card with a warranty with those specs that won't break the bank and will actually work for more than a few days?
May I politely ask you to politely ask her . . . Why?The game needs a minimum of a DirectX 11, 3GB (recommended 4GB) graphics card so I started looking on amazon, no I won't buy anything from amazon but I will use other buyers reviews. I could not believe how many reviews said that the cards were junk, didn't ever work, quit within a few days, were not new despite being advertized as such, only had 2GB of RAM and not the advertized 4GB etc.
And these weren't all one hung low Chinese clones, these were ASUS, MSI, NVIDIA and other supposedly quality cards.
b
hing over, now can anyone recommend a quality video card with a warranty with those specs that won't break the bank and will actually work for more than a few days?It is still in perpetual Beta
Digger said:
NMNeil said:
The wife has it in her head that she wants the game Star Citizen. Being a Linix user I was horrified that it was only available on windows 10, but for a quiet life I decided to put a gaming PC together for her.
The game needs a minimum of a DirectX 11, 3GB (recommended 4GB) graphics card so I started looking on amazon, no I won't buy anything from amazon but I will use other buyers reviews. I could not believe how many reviews said that the cards were junk, didn't ever work, quit within a few days, were not new despite being advertized as such, only had 2GB of RAM and not the advertized 4GB etc.
And these weren't all one hung low Chinese clones, these were ASUS, MSI, NVIDIA and other supposedly quality cards.
bhing over, now can anyone recommend a quality video card with a warranty with those specs that won't break the bank and will actually work for more than a few days?
May I politely ask you to politely ask her . . . Why?The game needs a minimum of a DirectX 11, 3GB (recommended 4GB) graphics card so I started looking on amazon, no I won't buy anything from amazon but I will use other buyers reviews. I could not believe how many reviews said that the cards were junk, didn't ever work, quit within a few days, were not new despite being advertized as such, only had 2GB of RAM and not the advertized 4GB etc.
And these weren't all one hung low Chinese clones, these were ASUS, MSI, NVIDIA and other supposedly quality cards.
b
hing over, now can anyone recommend a quality video card with a warranty with those specs that won't break the bank and will actually work for more than a few days?It is still in perpetual Beta
If Star Citizen is really the only game she is going to play then she won’t be playing anything, you’ll be wasting your money.
For decent performance at 4K on a modern title I’ll bet you need 16GB VRAM which means your options are 4090, 4080, 3090ti, 3090, 7900XTX, 7900XT, 6950xt, 6900x. I also bet it’ll be in early access for a decade and run like st forever. Good luck!
For decent performance at 4K on a modern title I’ll bet you need 16GB VRAM which means your options are 4090, 4080, 3090ti, 3090, 7900XTX, 7900XT, 6950xt, 6900x. I also bet it’ll be in early access for a decade and run like s
t forever. Good luck!Edited by Brainpox on Monday 13th February 06:46
Brainpox said:
If Star Citizen is really the only game she is going to play then she won’t be playing anything, you’ll be wasting your money.
For decent performance at 4K on a modern title I’ll bet you need 16GB VRAM which means your options are 4090, 4080, 3090ti, 3090, 7900XTX, 7900XT, 6950xt, 6900x. I also bet it’ll be in early access for a decade and run like st forever. Good luck!
Thank you so much.For decent performance at 4K on a modern title I’ll bet you need 16GB VRAM which means your options are 4090, 4080, 3090ti, 3090, 7900XTX, 7900XT, 6950xt, 6900x. I also bet it’ll be in early access for a decade and run like s
t forever. Good luck!Edited by Brainpox on Monday 13th February 06:46
I showed the wife your suggestions and then showed her how much they each cost.
She's in sticker shock and doesn't want Star Citizen anymore
If she's after a space sim then Elite Dangerous is an actual game (rather than a never-to-be-released tech demo) that isn't going to gouge you every time you want a new ship, and can be picked up quite cheaply on Steam. It's also very good and has modest system requirements. See also No Mans Sky.
But very seriously she should do some googling on Star Citizen before investing a single penny, or indeed a single second of her life into it. It's quite simply the biggest scam the gaming industry has ever seen.
But very seriously she should do some googling on Star Citizen before investing a single penny, or indeed a single second of her life into it. It's quite simply the biggest scam the gaming industry has ever seen.
I have bouts of playing SC - currently not playing after the last total -wipe / reset. Waiting for the big patch to come out about now, when there is likey to be another wipe.
I play at 2k, and my RTX 2060 just coped, with some specific locations turning into a slide show.
I now have a 3070 and it is worlds better, almost excellent but SC is still very poorly "optimised" in places.
You need a good card, and a good proc. (your processor has to do a lot of work in non-optimised areas I guess?).
4K SC must be expensive!
SC overall, as an aside, can be spectacular and enthralling. The level of detail is astonishing at times, but god alive its buggy. Half the skill is learning how to avoid the game breaking bugs each patch.
I've spend many enjoyable hours mining Quant and then buying bigger ships with play money.
There are dedicated threads on the subject, but in summary they worked out that enough players will consistently spend a LOT of real money on new ships, so a lot of development focus is lost in the constant pursuit of cash from the "backers". i.e. you can STILL fall through the floor in lifts,after years and years and years, and yet, shiney new ships with amazing attention to detail are regularly released for real money.
My advice - give it a go but pay the cheapest starting price - with no extras, and never, ever spend a penny more. That's how I've enjoyed it so far.
I play at 2k, and my RTX 2060 just coped, with some specific locations turning into a slide show.
I now have a 3070 and it is worlds better, almost excellent but SC is still very poorly "optimised" in places.
You need a good card, and a good proc. (your processor has to do a lot of work in non-optimised areas I guess?).
4K SC must be expensive!
SC overall, as an aside, can be spectacular and enthralling. The level of detail is astonishing at times, but god alive its buggy. Half the skill is learning how to avoid the game breaking bugs each patch.
I've spend many enjoyable hours mining Quant and then buying bigger ships with play money.
There are dedicated threads on the subject, but in summary they worked out that enough players will consistently spend a LOT of real money on new ships, so a lot of development focus is lost in the constant pursuit of cash from the "backers". i.e. you can STILL fall through the floor in lifts,after years and years and years, and yet, shiney new ships with amazing attention to detail are regularly released for real money.
My advice - give it a go but pay the cheapest starting price - with no extras, and never, ever spend a penny more. That's how I've enjoyed it so far.
NMNeil said:
Brainpox said:
If Star Citizen is really the only game she is going to play then she won’t be playing anything, you’ll be wasting your money.
For decent performance at 4K on a modern title I’ll bet you need 16GB VRAM which means your options are 4090, 4080, 3090ti, 3090, 7900XTX, 7900XT, 6950xt, 6900x. I also bet it’ll be in early access for a decade and run like st forever. Good luck!
Thank you so much.For decent performance at 4K on a modern title I’ll bet you need 16GB VRAM which means your options are 4090, 4080, 3090ti, 3090, 7900XTX, 7900XT, 6950xt, 6900x. I also bet it’ll be in early access for a decade and run like s
t forever. Good luck!Edited by Brainpox on Monday 13th February 06:46
I showed the wife your suggestions and then showed her how much they each cost.
She's in sticker shock and doesn't want Star Citizen anymore
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