I'm trying to help my friend with upgrading his integrated GPU to a discrete graphics card since he's on a budget. He's younger and knows I have a decent PC setup (16GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, AMD Ryzen 5 5600x), but I'm still a bit of a rookie when it comes to advice. His budget is ideally below $300 to $400. He initially considered a 3050, but that doesn't seem to be a great option. With his setup, which includes an AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT CPU and integrated Radeon graphics, I'm sure anything will be a substantial upgrade. He's using a 1080p monitor and would ideally prefer something future-proof with a DisplayPort. I was considering the GeForce RTX 3060 or 4060, but I've heard good things about the Radeon 6600. They mostly play games like Overwatch, Marvel Rivals, and Minecraft together. What do you all recommend?
2 Answers
Look at used options as there are good deals out there. If you can find a 6700XT or even 6800/6800 XT for around $300-400, that's a solid pick. On the Nvidia side, the 3080 would be the best route if he can swing it, but honestly, the prices for Nvidia have been steep lately. The 3060 Ti was great, but we haven't seen much else come out that's worth it recently.
Definitely skip the 3050. Instead, check out the RX 6600; it's a better bang for the buck. You can also look for used cards like the RTX 2070 Super if he’s okay with secondhand. The 3060 or 4060 are good choices too, but prices are kinda inflated right now. As for HDMI vs. DisplayPort, at 1080p you probably won't notice a difference, so don't stress about that financially.
That totally makes sense! Glad to know switching to DisplayPort isn't critical right now, and I’ll make sure he knows that. I’m also thinking about sharing the other card suggestions as well since he might want to get something sooner rather than waiting for new releases.
Yeah, I’m guessing he’ll likely be hunting for used options since his PC is quite basic. I’ll try to get him to check what kind of PSU he has, even though he might need help figuring that out from a distance.