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GPU recommendation for the future, please

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Regtom

Regtom

Joined
Mar 31, 2012
Messages
50
Motherboard
GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 (U1C UEFI)
CPU
i3-2105
Graphics
EVGA GTX 650
Mac
  1. Mac mini
Mobile Phone
  1. iOS
I have an older Hack that's still running great (the one in my signature) with a GTX 650. With both my birthday and the holidays approaching, I often get one piece of tech and am thinking about a graphics card upgrade with a plan to switch the 650 to a used Win10 box my daughter uses for homework and doubles as a media server.

With an eye on the future, knowing I plan to upgrade the Hack to a more modern mobo/processor, what would be the best Hack friendly GPU for both efficiency (my office gets hot in the summer) and gaming performance? Probably has to stay under $100 and $125 at the max. And if the GPU is limited by the i3, will it matter for the health of the GPU? I'm assuming it will just run below threshold

Thanks, because figuring out the overlaps isn't always easy and I'm sure some of you know this off the top of your heads.

PS - I have a massive power supply in this thing. Spent a lot for one both efficient and capable of whatever I throw at it.

*I'm not a hardcore gamer, saving that for the Playstation. But my 6 year old likes "us" playing LOTRO and the graphics can get punchy with what I have. What's sad is my i3 Hack with the 650 runs it better than Win10 on the newer A8-5500 with the 650. So I hope a GPU upgrade can help smooth out cities and such, and allow us to play some lighter dungeon crawls she also enjoys.
 
Main Hack
GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 |  i3 2105 |  GeForce GTX 650
The choice should be easy, GTX 1050 2GB. I use the Gigabyte branded version. The specific brand doesn't matter though. They run cool and quiet. My fan hardly ever even spins up. I do live in a cool climate and don't play graphics intensive games at all. I'm using it with Sierra and not High Sierra. The HS web drivers are not working perfectly yet according to most reports so I'm staying with Sierra for now.
 
trs96 said:
The choice should be easy, GTX 1050 2GB. I use the Gigabyte branded version. The specific brand doesn't matter though. They run cool and quiet. My fan hardly ever even spins up. I do live in a cool climate and don't play graphics intensive games at all. I'm using it with Sierra and not High Sierra. The HS web drivers are not working perfectly yet according to most reports so I'm staying with Sierra for now.
Click to expand...

With the new RadeonDeInit=True and clover version 4296 or greater it is now safe to go with high end AMD cards. The booting to black screens and no wake from sleep are fixed with this. Avoiding the web driver problems.
 
@carpentryplus25 you missed the part about budget limitations.
Regtom said:
What would be the best Hack friendly GPU for both efficiency (my office gets hot in the summer) and gaming performance? Probably has to stay under $100 and $125 at the max.
Click to expand...
 
RX 560 .. and never worry about the nvidia drivers.
 
RX560, best for old CPU with or without QSV, full 4K@60 10bit HEVC decoding supported (need iMac.kext for Radeon RX injection or edited AMDRadeonX4250 info.plist), does not need IGPU assistance.

Tested with RX460 standalone and compared to HD630, 4K@60 HEVC 10 bit HDR @75.8Mbps video playback, much smoother than HD630, in high bitrate H265 video playback, video quality, response/initiate time and power consumption are better, now my IGPU is disabled.
 
Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I'm going to sum up a bit of research I've done both before and now based on what you all have provided for anyone who comes after.

At this time, the GTX 1050 with 2GB is @ $110+ new. The RX560 is a touch more expensive at $120+. The GTX gets better performance metrics at GPUBOSS.com - http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-RX-560-vs-GeForce-GTX-1050 - though the RX does clock better with Passmark.

Going to the GTX 1050 TI completely outstrips the RX 560, but adds $50-60 to the price. It also ups the RAM to 4GB.

I discovered 4GB vs 2GB comes in to play when considering 4k vs 1080p (or even 2k). The extra memory is required to run the higher pixel array. So depending on what someone is planning, they may need 4GB just in case.

When I researched 4GB vs 2GB, I ran into a discussion over VR and then found this guide - https://www.vrheads.com/heres-what-you-need-your-pc-run-vr

For Macs, and perhaps Hacks (I've never been completely clear on how modern mobile (M) processors fare against their discreet cousins), this part matters:

HTC Vive and Steam VR are coming to Mac, and many new, high-end iMacs will have support right out of the box thanks to a beefy Radeon Pro 560 GPU with 4GB of VRAM. The rest of the specs remain pretty much the same as the PC specs; you still need at least 4GB of RAM and a strong processor, both of which the new iMac crushes. You will, however, need to invest in a Thunderbolt 3 adapter or two in order to have the correct ports.

Don't forget, the new MacBook Pro has support for an external GPU, effectively making it an option as well as long as the rest of the specs match.
Click to expand...

Now the GTX 1050 outperforms a 560 Pro in most tests, but only has the 2GB which - I believe - means it won't run VR well. The GTX 1050 Ti way outperforms the 560 Pro, meaning it should run VR as well or better.

+++++++

So that's just my quick analysis. It looks as though I have a decision to make. I can ask for a GTX 1050 with 2 GB, which trs96 mentioned and does look like the best option for the money based on my current needs. Or I might upgrade a bit to the Ti (I've always preferred NVIDIA for some reason, not that it seems to matter in this day and age) with a bit of my own money and feel like I'm a bit better future proofed. And one last thing to mention, all of these (1050, 1050 Ti, 560) get the same rating - 9.4 - for "Noise and Power" from GPUBOSS. So it appears the RAM amount doesn't impact that.

Thanks again, all. I'll think some more and post what I decide.
 
Main Hack
GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 |  i3 2105 |  GeForce GTX 650
Brianm801 said:
RX 560 .. and never worry about the nvidia drivers.
Click to expand...
What about AMD RX 550? For me,i want less power consumtion than RX 560 - i use now Nvidia GT 1030 (very less watt, fast for that 30 watt! - working good but future + hassle with Webdrivers = think about 50 Watt RX 550...)
i cant find any RX 550 user / working RX 550 here.
Can it be that RX 550 doesnt work - even using LILU+WEG because AMD drivers didnt know DEV ID 699F + perhaps cant handle that Polaris 12 gpu type even some inject the dev id?
Any RX 550 OS X Sierra user here tried that card already ? :)
 
Last edited:
Main Hack
GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 |  i3 2105 |  GeForce GTX 650
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