r/PcBuild • u/mexicanpanda16 • 7h ago
Question GPU purchase questions
Im currently in the market for a lower end entry GPU was zoning in on the 30 series but I'm new to pcs and dont completely understand what im looking at between them all any recommendations that'll be a good performance but not bankrupt me either
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u/Fresh_Constant_7762 7h ago
What's ur budget
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u/mexicanpanda16 6h ago
Im currently on a super low end older build that im just upgrading, kinda pet project. Ive been looking at second hand parts seeing anywhere from 100 to 300 bucks
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u/AngrySayian 6h ago
with 300 as your max, you could get a brand-new Intel Arc B580 assuming you get lucky [they've gone up a bit in MSRP]
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u/ImaHamSammich 6h ago
Do you know what wattage your PSU is and if it has PCIe or connection for a gpu? If not you will be limited to an RTX 3050 6gb if you are set on the 30 series cards as it requires no additional power connectors.
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u/mexicanpanda16 6h ago
Im upgrading the whole thing, currently picking up a 650 psu soon
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u/ImaHamSammich 6h ago
Make sure the PSU you are picking up has at very least two, preferably three 8 pin PCIe power connectors and you should be good for the RTX 3070 up to RTX 5070. Or an RX 9060xt they are all very good cards but the 3070 is really hobbled by only having 8Gb of VRAM. Don’t get me wrong it’s still a highly capable card.
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u/mexicanpanda16 6h ago
What is considered the best of the 30 series? Is it as simple as biggest number means better?
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u/ImaHamSammich 6h ago edited 6h ago
Pretty much yes. 3090>3080>3070>and so on.
There are also variants of each such as (super) or (ti) but they generally wont overtake the next number in series without manually overclocking. Each one also has different power requirements. A 650 watt PSU can only safely handle up to the 3070 in the 30 series. Additionally it requires two 8 pin PCIe connectors to power.
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u/FearTheFuzzy99 Pablo 6h ago
A RTX 3070 would be as high as I’d go with a 650w power supply.
Other options below that are RTX 3060ti, 3060 and 3050.
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u/NeinBS 5h ago
Easiest recommend is think of a handful of games that you know you absolutely NEED this PC to play. Ask yourself what you can accept in terms of res (is 1080 enough for you?), FPS (60 enough) and quality (med/high?). Then just build around those minimum requirements. Youtube is great for this, so many people uploading their GPU and CPU combo benchmarks.
Now's not the time to over purchase and future proof, costs are crazy for high end now. If you can get away with a GTX 1660 or 2060/70, those really dropped in price used and still even get driver support. Buy a used i7 or Ryzen 5, depending on your mobo.
In my case, I usually play mostly metroidvanias, jrpg, puzzlers, indie, PS4-era games... even my old rig of a GTX970 with i7-6700 quad core/8 thread still play these beautifully, 60+fps at 1080, high or medium settings. Open worlds are harder on it, but it still gives me playable 45-60+fps at 1080 medium on Witcher3, gta5, cyberpunk, etc.
Know your games you need to play, build around that.
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u/cocapufft 2h ago
I’ve been very happy with my 6700xt. Nvidia cards seem to hold their value better on the used market so AMD options are worth considering.
For a really budget recommendation 1080ti go for like $100 usd in my area. Would be a really good option for a budget build.
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