GPU

[drogulus]

     I just came back from worship (MicroCenter) to examine options for a new PC. Some things are pretty much resolved, like the Core i5 13600 w/32GB DDR5 5600 memory. Because I use Handbrake to squish my videos at high quality and all deliberate speed QSV is essential.

     For now I might choose a budget level GPU, so......

[DavidW]

There is not really such thing as a budget gpu anymore, sad to say.  That is apu territory now.  You can get an Intel Arc 750 for $200 or an AMD RX 7600 for $250.  If you're aiming for $100-200 you might have to buy used to get a decent deal.

[drogulus]

There is not really such thing as a budget gpu anymore, sad to say.  That is apu territory now.  You can get an Intel Arc 750 for $200 or an AMD RX 7600 for $250.  If you're aiming for $100-200 you might have to buy used to get a decent deal.

     Aha......certainly the 750 would make sense, but even better might be the Arc A580.

[drogulus]

     Here's an odd thing I've run into while looking at various GPUs. One thing I might do is put a new GPU in my present PC (Core i7-8700, PCIe 3.0 blah etc.) just to get aquainted with it and, you know, do stuff. So I Googled something like "What's the best low to mid-priced GPU for a PCIe 3.0 system?" I wasn't asking about a PCI 3.0 card, but what I read was all about that, old cards in an old PC, not a new card that performs well in an old PC.

     What I really wanted to know was what cards would perform close to optimum despite the 3.0 limitation, and I finally found out that many current cards do quite well on older PCs, even PCs older than mine.

[DavidW]

Yeah the only I know that wouldn't run well on that older pcie is the 4060ti because Nvidia gimped the number of lanes (8 instead of 16) which wouldn't have much impact on PCIe 5.0 but on older it hurts performance.

[drogulus]

   
     Truly, the RX 6400 is heinous!

     I mean, I wouldn't consider an A380 but shit, man, this is totally embarrassing!

[drogulus]

    I can dream.

    NVIDIA RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation



     PassMark Score ~20,000

     Maximum Power Consumption    70W | No Auxiliary Power Required

     

[drogulus]

    The RX 6600 is now selling for as low as $186, making the card one of the best price/performance options out there. The ARC A580 comes in a little behind it but is vastly better for encoding.

[drogulus]

    ARC A580 vs RTX 3050 - Test in 10 Games

    The ARC is $179

    The 3050 is $215

[DavidW]

Are you going to pull the trigger on the A580?

[drogulus]

Are you going to pull the trigger on the A580?

     I can't say, but it seems likely. It will be an Intel card for sure.

     

[drogulus]

    

     Given that Handbrake encoding is the main reason I need a powerful card and I have no desire to play Starfield or any other torture test game, the A580 looks prett-y, prett-y good.