I recently got my first PC from my uncle, and it's a bit of a Frankenstein build. I mostly play Doom, Minecraft with shaders, and Red Dead Redemption 2, but my RX 480 struggles with newer games such as Doom: The Dark Ages. My current specifications are an Intel Core i7-7700, Intel HD Graphics 360 integrated graphics, an AMD Radeon RX 480, and 24 GB of RAM. I'm mainly looking to replace the graphics card rather than rebuild the whole system, with a budget of roughly $100–$250. What GPU would be a meaningful upgrade without being held back too badly by the rest of the system?
4 Answers
An RX 580 would be inexpensive, but it is only a small step up from an RX 480 and probably isn’t worth spending much on. If you’re upgrading, aim for something like an RX 6600 or RTX 3060 so the difference is actually noticeable. A much faster card could also be limited by the older i7-7700 in CPU-heavy games.
Check the used market for an RTX 3060 12 GB, RX 5700 XT, or RX 6700 XT. A 3060 is probably the safest choice around $200, while the 6700 XT can offer more performance if you find a good deal and your power supply can handle it.
Before buying anything, find out the exact model and wattage of your power supply, plus which PCIe power connectors it has. Some upgrades draw considerably more power than the RX 480 and may require a better PSU. Also, make sure the card physically fits in the case.
For this system, an RX 6600 or RTX 3060 would be a sensible upper range. Both are strong 1080p cards and should pair reasonably well with the i7-7700 without excessive bottlenecking. The RTX 3060’s 12 GB of VRAM is also useful for newer games and shader-heavy Minecraft.
I’m planning to keep the current CPU and motherboard for now, so I’ll check prices on those cards first.