Thinking about GPU options...

[NaffNaffBobFace]

...which aren't nVidia / AMD.

I am impressed with their current generation of cards but, man, I can't afford them even at Recommended Retail Price and rumours are rife they don't want to cater to the budget market any more. What happened to the days when the best consumer card you could buy was only $500? I understand the pandemic pressures but it's looking like there will never be a sub $300 card again.

I'm not looking for amazing, I'm only looking for Good Enough. 60fps at 1080 would be nice but I can live all day long with 30fps.

I'd be very happy trying something new be it a nobody GPU maker or some other way of running games which doesn't need a GPU but would be local, my internet isn't good enough for streaming from a rented pc. My limit is a budget of £200 GBP and no more. To reiterate, I'm only looking for good enough, not amazing, currently running an RX570 4gb which is starting to struggle with SC and will definitely be obsolete once the game comes out :-)

 

[BUTUZ]

It's tough at the moment in graphics card land. You'll have to wait for GPU prices to become a bit more normal to be honest. £200 doesn't buy much at all at the moment. A 1080 or 1080ti would be a good upgrade for you but not with current prices.

 

[Vavrik]

I have no idea about AMD pricing, but you certainly don't have to aim at the latest and greatest. Example, I'm still using a Nvidia 1080Ti. I can get up to 50 FPS in SC, but it depends on which monitor I'm using and which resolution. I get 30 FPS at 3440 X 1440. That is the highest resolution I can use anyway. There are things in SC that happen at 22 FPS, like quantum travel, but that is because the game has not been optimized.

Also, for the last few weeks there has been a degradation of the PU servers related to network throughput. That's the part of network speed that everyone has forgotten about. It is responsible for things like 0-10 FPS we've been getting periodically lately.

 

[Cugino83]

...which aren't nVidia / AMD.

I am impressed with their current generation of cards but, man, I can't afford them even at Recommended Retail Price and rumours are rife they don't want to cater to the budget market any more. What happened to the days when the best consumer card you could buy was only $500? I understand the pandemic pressures but it's looking like there will never be a sub $300 card again.

I'm not looking for amazing, I'm only looking for Good Enough. 60fps at 1080 would be nice but I can live all day long with 30fps.

I'd be very happy trying something new be it a nobody GPU maker or some other way of running games which doesn't need a GPU but would be local, my internet isn't good enough for streaming from a rented pc. My limit is a budget of £200 GBP and no more. To reiterate, I'm only looking for good enough, not amazing, currently running an RX570 4gb which is starting to struggle with SC and will definitely be obsolete once the game comes out :-)

Good luck with this search: there are only two GPU producer that are actually in the game market: AMD and NVidia so if you cut them out.....
Intel is going to introduce some GPU card, but none of them are actually in the retail market at the moment, the only one I'm aware of is dedicated to system integrator (aka PC producer) and not available to DIY market.

As @Vavrik stated your best chance right now is going on a used gard of the old gen, like an Nvidia 10_series can't say they'll come oout cheep these days but you should be able to find some used one at a "good" price (still a scam considering they are 2 generation old...).

BTW, it appear that the cinese policy on the criptocurrency and the conseguantial loss of value have start to affect the GPU market, so if you are not in a hurry I'll suggest to wait for around Christmass or the Black friday's offer, there is a chance we'll be a ble to have some "reasonable" price for GPU by then

 

[Aramsolari]

Try getting them used but be careful not to get a gpu that was previously used by miners.

I'll consider the AMD stuff due to the price to performance factor. I have a 2080ti and although I love it, I can't help but feel I've overpaid lol.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

If you know any computing wizards, you might construct a PS3 cluster.

US Air Force connects 1,760 PlayStation 3's to build supercomputer

(Phys.org)—About the 33rd largest supercomputer in the world right now is the US Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) newest system, which has a core made of 1,760 Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) consoles. In addition to its large capacity, the so-called "Condor Cluster" is capable of performing 500...

phys.org

in 2010, Sony disabled the ability of these machines to be clustered using other operating systems, but there appears a workaround: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3_cluster

see "The Decline of the PS3 cluster".

You can buy PS3's for about $100, and if you have someone who could cluster them, might find them in bulk for half that. The cluster would be huge and power hungry, but could keep you in gaming for a decade or more.

General-purpose computing on graphics processing units - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

Many thanks for all responses so far :-)

Second hand I think I'd only really go for something from a known retail source with a warranty or from someone I know so would know their story is straight. I can imagine there have been a thousand 'only used on weekends' cards with a pound of dust in them.

I'll keep an eye on Intel, I have a feeling their new GPU isn't going to be in my budget but will cross my fingers. A drowning man only needs something that will float, he cares not if it is a lifebelt or drift wood. I'd like to stick with AMD but I did join them when they were the underdog and would be doing the same with an Intel card. Perhaps I have a thing for seeing if the odds play out?

I'll look further into that PS3 clustering, I remember an illegal Crypto farm using PS3's was recently busted so there may be an amount already prepped laying around out there. The power draw is a concern but as I'm a casual with no free time that should not be excessive.

 

[Aramsolari]

I'll look further into that PS3 clustering, I remember an illegal Crypto farm using PS3's was recently busted so there may be an amount already prepped laying around out there. The power draw is a concern but as I'm a casual with no free time that should not be excessive.

I wouldn't look into the PS3 clustering. PS3 are purpose built machines that are no longer supported. They're practically ASIC machines within the Sony OS. Sure you might be able to make them work but it'll probably be beyond most people.

A modern GPU isn't just the machine, you need software and drivers as well. Imagine trying to play a brand new game. Nothing will be optimized for your machine.

 

[BUTUZ]

Clustering is a waste of time for gaming as most games can barely manage to use 4 or 8 threads properly or more than 1 gpu - a cluster of a thousand old slow cpu/gpus is about the worst you can get for gaming really.

Still it sounds cool.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

From Reading the links Shadow shared 1,760 PS3's made a 500 tflop supercomputer, a current lower price GPU is about 10 tflops so I'd need 35 PS3's to match that.

Out of my scope, but it's definitely an interesting idea and definitely something I'd give a thought to if there were a more practical way, the current GPU market is kind of alienating :-)

 

[Jolly_Green_Giant]

I looked into it, if you get any card it looks like it will be the GTX 1600 series cards. Your 570 beats a 1550 Ti according to some article I ran across and the 1600 series is the one that starts to outperform yours. Its twice your budget, but thats what youre looking at if you want cheap but also a worth your money performance improvement. Like everyone else has said, the prices for GPU's and their current and foreseeable availability is absurd. You could go used, but even an upgrade to an rx580 would cost you 200+ pounds off of ebay.

 

[Radegast74]

The whole GPU market is mess, for several reasons...first it was because Nvidia was basically a monopoly that controlled the market, then cryptomining became huge, and then the pandemic.

Based on a price/performance ratio, the vanilla 3080 is hands-down the best card, if you can get one anywhere near retail. I wouldn't look at anything less, all those 1050's and 1600's are basically crippled cards that Nvidia released just because they could, before AMD started coming around. I'm hopeful that the next gen of AMD cards will (again) force Nvidia to offer decent lower prices on their cards.

Just realize that if you are playing SC, upgrading just for that is a waste, you aren't going to get a whopping huge new bunch of frames. I just upgraded to a 3080 and I can tell you, SC in Orison at 37fps never looked so good LOL.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

How to Boost Your Older Graphics Card's Performance

If you're stuck on old hardware and need to save your pennies, this guide may help you squeeze a bit more performance out of an older graphics card.

www.extremetech.com

 

[Aramsolari]

The whole GPU market is mess, for several reasons...first it was because Nvidia was basically a monopoly that controlled the market, then cryptomining became huge, and then the pandemic.

Based on a price/performance ratio, the vanilla 3080 is hands-down the best card, if you can get one anywhere near retail. I wouldn't look at anything less, all those 1050's and 1600's are basically crippled cards that Nvidia released just because they could, before AMD started coming around. I'm hopeful that the next gen of AMD cards will (again) force Nvidia to offer decent lower prices on their cards.

Just realize that if you are playing SC, upgrading just for that is a waste, you aren't going to get a whopping huge new bunch of frames. I just upgraded to a 3080 and I can tell you, SC in Orison at 37fps never looked so good LOL.

Despite the scalping, shortage, and ridiculous prices I think we’re in a golden age of GPUs. The AMD cards are finally catching up and Intel ones are not that far away. Hopefully we’ll see more competition and this better options/prices in the future.

Yeah the 3000 series of cards are great. Too bad they’re always out lol.

 

[Cugino83]

Despite the scalping, shortage, and ridiculous prices I think we’re in a golden age of GPUs. The AMD cards are finally catching up and Intel ones are not that far away. Hopefully we’ll see more competition and this better options/prices in the future.

Yeah the 3000 series of cards are great. Too bad they’re always out lol.

A good way to have a GPU these days is either the used market OR some program of distribution, like the EVGA gamer program:: sure you don't know when your chance will arrive, and sure the prices are still hight, but at this point I don't thing we won't see the price dropping significantly for at least another 6 months.

Concerning the GPU choice right now the 3080TI is the best choice provided you can afforth it: MSRP is slightly more then the standard 3080 but the performance will rival with the 3090... at half the price.
AMD GPU looks promesing, but right now they are at the level of the nvidia's 20## series: not bad card, but still a bit rough around the edges and lack the hump in performance.
If the history will be the same as for the CPU market next AMD generation of GPU i will going to kick ass and we'll finially have a real competitive market... untill now I'll stay with Nvidia

 

[Sirus7264]

...which aren't nVidia / AMD.

I am impressed with their current generation of cards but, man, I can't afford them even at Recommended Retail Price and rumours are rife they don't want to cater to the budget market any more. What happened to the days when the best consumer card you could buy was only $500? I understand the pandemic pressures but it's looking like there will never be a sub $300 card again.

I'm not looking for amazing, I'm only looking for Good Enough. 60fps at 1080 would be nice but I can live all day long with 30fps.

I'd be very happy trying something new be it a nobody GPU maker or some other way of running games which doesn't need a GPU but would be local, my internet isn't good enough for streaming from a rented pc. My limit is a budget of £200 GBP and no more. To reiterate, I'm only looking for good enough, not amazing, currently running an RX570 4gb which is starting to struggle with SC and will definitely be obsolete once the game comes out :-)

you could get some of the newer gen for about 400 usd. see the wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_30_series. I know here in america newegg has been doing what is called the "Newegg Shuffle" which allows you a chance to get a card(most of the time bundled with another item) for retail prices. This was made to prevent scalpers from stealing all the cards. Not sure if they have anything like that in the UK also but worth a shot looking for it.