EVGA GT 710 2GB DDR3 for $43.59 - An alternative to sky high AMD graphics card prices

[trs96]

Only the 1GB version is still available. Works fine with 1080p monitors.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AZ8EJQ2/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

These give you a DVI and HDMI output you can use for dual monitors. Works with all the most recent macOS versions including Big Sur OOB. A plug and play experience, the drivers are in macOS. As you should know, these are not gaming cards. Note that the HDMI version is 1.4 so the best refresh rate you'll get at 4K will be 30Hz.

EVGA is one of the better brands to buy. Well built cards that last a long time. If you are using a Xeon or other Intel or CPU without igfx these give you basic graphics support (Metal 2). If you are building an AMD CPU system these will work as well. No need to spend 300 dollars or more on a new AMD card if you just want some basic graphics acceleration for your build. Prices seem to keep going higher even on the older Polaris based cards. Many of the newer 5000 series AMD cards are out of stock everywhere. This may help you hold out a little longer till prices come down to earth again.

UPDATE: The EVGA 2GB cards are sold out at the $43 price. Now the best GT 710 DDR3 card available is from MSI.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DOFD0G8/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

You can also spend a little more for the Zotac GT 730 fanless. Not great, but better performance than a GT 710.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R5UW038/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

 

[phunguss]

And the VGA port does work on these, even in Catalina. I use the VGA to drive the display in my Macintosh Classic II Color+ Conversion.

 

[trs96]

When we are seeing insane prices like this for a normally $160 RX 570 it signals another bubble in the crypto mining sphere. Ethereum is one of the biggest crypto currency crazes right now. Since the GT 710 cards are never even considered for use as a mining card, the prices will remain stable.

Here's what Ethereum has done since early August 2020. Look at the huge price run up just since January 1st. Bitcoins have gotten really expensive so the "little guys" are buying and mining Ethereum. Miners love AMD graphics cards because they work well in their mining rigs and generally cost less than Nvidia cards.

 

[Bustycat]

This trend is damaging not only the hackintosh community but the entire PC industry. Since AMD and Nvidia focus on the premium market only, more people will refuse to build a PC.

 

[Gigamaxx]

This trend is damaging not only the hackintosh community but the entire PC industry. Since AMD and Nvidia focus on the premium market only, more people will refuse to build a PC.

It is fairly normal for the card makers to launch their top tier cards first. As they have Q&A go through the silicon rejects and categorize them for the lower tier cards. They have to map out which silicon to disable and rank them. The RTX 3060 is out and probably some of the just inferior to 3070 chips can be used for the up coming 3060ti cards. AMD is launching the 6700 series in a couple of months too.

What really surprises me is the longevity of the Polaris cards. They’re still selling after 4 + years. They keep on ticking and ticking.

 

[phunguss]

The Ethereum DAG file reached 4Gb in December 2020, so mining ETH with 4GB cards is no longer possible. There are some shady workarounds with diminishing returns. The prices of 4GB cards should not be affected as miners should be buying 6Gb or greater cards.

 

[Nodarkthings]

If my GT210 ever lets me down, I'll probably buy this one.
(the workaround for Mojave is working great and I don't plan updating my build upper than 10.14, for the time being — I don't use games or 4K, so it's well enough for watching films and all)
I suppose I'm not the only one who came to hackintosh to escape from Apple high prices... My current build cost me half of what I've generally spent on a used Mac and lasted 3 to 8 times longer until now!

 

[trs96]

The prices of 4GB cards should not be affected as miners should be buying 6Gb or greater cards.

As the saying goes "A rising tide lifts all boats." The graphics card sellers are taking advantage of gamers that can play their games at 1080p with only 4GB of Vram. Hard to imagine anyone paying over $500 for an RX 570 4GB.

 

[trs96]

I'm not sure if everyone remembers how quickly the Bitcoin bubble broke back in December of 2017, just 4 short years ago. If it does the same this year expect the market to be flooded with very cheap AMD graphics cards.

The bubble, however, brutally popped on 22nd December 2017; crashing from a record peak at the time of $19,783.06 to below $11,000 in mere 5 days. While many of the venerated financial institutions, like JP Morgan, mocked the craze of Bitcoin, they also warned of the worst market crash the world has ever seen, due to the relentless rise in value of Bitcoin, despite of the steep risks involved.

With the onset of 2021, however, the financial institutions who once steered clear of the digital phenomenon, now have taken a polar position with yet another price surge of Bitcoin. This time around, the high volatility in Bitcoin is associated with Institutional investors as opposed to the speculators deemed the culprits of the bubble back in 2017.

However, the waves are more raucous than ever. Trading at $40,797.61, Bitcoin slumped down to $34,039 on closing of 12th January 2021, just in a span of 4 days. Bitcoin has posted an astounding 300% growth in returns; bouncing from $5,000, just before the hit of the Covid pandemic, to the record highs above $40,000.

When miners are making 5 times the money invested in crypto currency in a matter of weeks, they have no problem with paying $500 or more for an 8GB AMD RX 580, they're the ones paying the excessively high prices and making it difficult for hackintoshers and gamers to even obtain a new card at a reasonable price.

 

[disconap]

I have the x1 version of this card in my Unraid rig. It works well for workflow in VMs and as a "blind head" with a plug for a networked VM retro gaming rig. If you need a basic gpu in a simple build I highly recommend it.

Added bonus? The tdp is 25W and it idles around 3-5W.