Video Card market stabilizing; anything worth buying yet?

The Game Room
21

My resolve has been weakening; I almost bought a video card several times over the past week. But now this was just too much, I had to go for it:

Not the model I want, but it has fan stop (my only bright line requirement) and it’s a 3050 at actual MSRP, which is $250. (Plus $10 shipping; my total is $276 after tax.) Sold! Well, backordered at least. We’ll see if I get one. (It said “more than 12 people have this item on backorder.” Pretty vague.)

I’m aware a 3050 is only the equivalent of a 1660 super, but coming from a 1050 ti I’m still expecting big jumps in fps. Plus it has DLSS. This is exactly the card I spent 2021 pining away for, wishing such a thing existed. (Specifically, I wanted a low-power 30 series budget card with DLSS, but the 3050 didn’t exist yet.)

EDIT: Oh yeah, and:

It was open box, that’s what was up with it.

22

Congratulations on the new card. Despite being fairly low on the New Card stack, it’s still a solid performer for 1080p gaming. I have one in a “sleeper build” I made out of an old beige Dell Dimension and it performed admirably (with reasonable expectations) when I tested it with Cyberpunk and Elden Ring.

Supposedly there’s a GTX 1630 coming out in a few weeks that will be a low-power GPU to supplant the 1030. Curious about that one since I still have an old Optiplex around here and don’t feel like going through the hassle of replacing the PSU and adapter to put in a GPU requiring its own power. I actually bought an RX 6400 since that’s board-powered but the benchmarks on it were so dire that I just returned it unopened. Here’s hoping Nvidia does better than AMD in the entry level space this generation.

23

The best part is that I don’t know any better. It will be a significant improvement over anything I’ve known – over double my current fps – and should pair perfectly with my shiny new 1080p TN panel screen, because again, I don’t know any better. I’ve only ever gamed on a 1080p TN panel, plus of course many lower-res CRTs before that.

So much room to grow years from now when I build my next computer. My average has been every 8 years, but I suspect this next new build will be more like 6 years, and it’s already been 16 months…

But anyway, the box and all its innards (and new monitor) are finally complete, woohoo! Well, except, I do still want a second M.2 drive for games, but haven’t yet conceded that I’ll have to settle for only 1 TB instead of 2. And then just recently I’ve also been thinking about trying VR.

24

Got an email this morning saying the shipment came in, my payment cleared and it should be shipped out in the next 24-48 hours. Checking my order history, it says “Packaging” as the status.

Time to start running some benchmarks in the games I play to see what actual difference this upgrade will make.

25

Yeah, RSR is pretty cool, in that it works on any game. FSR seems pretty good, but thus far I haven’t really needed to use it, since my 5600XT has enough oomph to play the games I want at 1440p with reasonable framerates.

26

Good for you! Happy gaming with the new card.

27

Did some benchmarks to check my FPS in various games, and also volume levels. I’m pretty sure the new card is going to be significantly louder than my existing card if only because of how ridiculously quiet my existing card is. But only while gaming, so not the end of the world.

It’s not easy to test for sound. I just lay my phone on top of the computer and run the Sound Meter app, but it’s remarkably sensitive. Here are all the variables I have to take out of the equation in order to measure sound properly:

  1. No cars going by on my busy street, so has to be in the middle of the night.
  2. No planes flying overhead.
  3. No trains in the distance. (Connecticut is big on trains.)
  4. No wind, rain, or weather of any kind.
  5. No noisy appliances running, which includes the dishwasher, heat, central air, and water softener.
  6. With all that removed, the small desk clock then becomes very loud with the ticking, so I have to move that to a different room.
  7. I have to consciously breathe very quietly, and cannot move lest the chair squeak.

So tonight I did some testing and satisfied all of the above, though I did have to wait for both an airplane and a train to go by at different times. It was the middle of the night so only a couple cars.

1 dB when the computer is asleep
1 dB when the computer is awake and idling
2 dB when gaming with the fan going “full”

My GPU fan never really goes above 1100 RPM, which is why it’s so quiet. (The sound dampening case also helps.) But I think it only goes to like 1300 or so. The new GPU has fans that go up to 3000 RPM I think I read. Yikes.

Tracking says it should arrive Monday. Can’t wait.

28

I’m seeing various flavors of RTX 3070s from different stores for about $700 give or take $20-$50. I don’t think they’ll ever drop all the way back to $499, but I’d be a buyer closer to $600. At least the prices are more or less consistent at this point and we’re not seeing massive day-to-day swings anymore.

29

The budget models are $600 right now on Newegg.

Gigabyte’s gaming model is on sale and in stock for $600 even (free shipping!) for the next 11 hours:

No idea what the “Vision” line is. Maybe for video work, so no RGB? Either way, it’s also $600 but shipping costs an extra $10.

MSI’s budget line is the Ventus, currently $10 more at $610, plus another $10 shipping.

EDIT: The ASUS Rog Strix is $650, free shipping. This seems like a winner.

There’s a bunch seemingly in your price range. Here’s a list by price:

30

I occasionally see MB’s with the ability to put in two graphics cards, (I think mine does, but I’m not sure.)

Would there be better value in getting two 3060’s than one 3090? Or is there actually value in having two cards at all? I really don’t know how that is supposed to work.

31

That was a thing but not anymore, no. You probably still can, but it doesn’t really help.

32

SLI is almost never a good idea. It’s not universally supported, it almost never actually doubles performance (even when supported well it’s more like 1.5-1.6x, and hardware manufacturers and games are getting away from supporting it. You’re almost always better off spending the money on one card. If I remember correctly, low end nvidia cards don’t even have SLI capability anymore, only the high end stuff for people in silly competitions trying to set new computing records.

That said, the 3090 is not at all a good value and you’re paying out the nose for a little bit of extra performance. The 3080 is the best high end value. Sometimes you can find the 10gb version for $800.

33

Right now on Newegg, those same two Gigabyte models linked above (Gaming and Vision) in the 3080 flavor are in stock at $800, both with free shipping. Both say 10 GB.

34

Correct. You need a 3090 or 3090ti to run in SLI. It does still have some application for machine learning and intensive rendering and other things that the 3090 is actually designed for. For gaming, it’s pointless since games aren’t even designed to support it any longer.

35

I just checked my order on Newegg and saw a notification regarding one of those 3070 cards I linked above. (I guess I set a price watch on a bunch of them a while ago.) The notification said it went on sale 9 hours ago, so all of the good 3070 and 3080 prices I posted above may have just gone into effect today.

36

My shiny new EVGA XC Black 3050 showed up today. Popped it in, fired it up, everything looks great, jumped into my most-played games to compare frame rates. I left all the settings the same as how I run them with the 1050 ti to get a raw speed comparison:

Game 1050 ti 3050 DLSS
Subnautica 44* 85
Cities Skylines 31 31
Steep 52 105
Tomb Raider 82 142
Control 27 85 110
Grid 2 77 150

Subnautica, Steep and Grid 2 essentially get double the fps, which is fine. (Grid 2 exceeds my monitor’s 144 Hz.) I was expecting more of a +130% fps increase, but +100% is at least in the ballpark. Cities Skylines is almost comically CPU-limited with my scrotty i5 10400, but that’s okay, I knew that already. Tomb Raider not hitting a steady 144 is disappointing.

Control is crazy: +315% fps without DLSS, +407% with. And I didn’t really see any difference in picture quality with DLSS. It kind of is like magic, so that’s nice to see.

The problem is that it’s REALLY FUCKING LOUD!!! Within seconds of starting up the first game I heard a sickly, high-pitched keening whine coming from the case. To be clear, I assume it’s perfectly normal fan noise, but that’s how fan noise sounds to me now. Utterly intolerable. The app on my phone says it’s 16 dB. That means:

dB
Ambient in room 1
1050 ti 2
3050 16
Old Computer 44

That old computer was loud as shit; no idea how or why I tolerated it for 8 years. But it appears that the utter silence of my new computer running the 1050 ti – I literally cannot hear the computer at all while gaming – has ruined me. I can no longer tolerate any noise.

So either I’m returning this thing, or just trying to sell it used for $276, same as I paid for it. Card works flawlessly, only used for around 15 minutes of gaming. And I’m sure the fan noise is normal. Several Newegg comments specifically described it as “quiet”, even.

It’s so loud that I want it out of my computer right now so I can go back to playing Subnautica, but I’m too lazy to swap cards again right away so I’m going to go watch tv instead.

Pretty disappointing.

*Subnautica hovers around 50 fps while swimming around, but sitting on the bench in my base it’s a steady 44. Better for comparison.

37

Could always try to use software to set the fan curve so it doesn’t ramp up until the card gets hotter. EVGA has their own software or else the usual standard is MSI Afterburner (which works with all cards despite the MSI part).

Some dB charts tell me that 16 dB is under “leaves rustling” so you’re unlikely to do better than that with active cooling. You might be unlucky and got a fan with a bad pitch that just sounds extra annoying or coil whine.

38

The thing those charts don’t tell you is that leaves rustling is actually pretty darn loud. Think of a giant pile of autumn leaves, and then a gust of wind blows it. That’s fuckin’ loud. As in, if two of you are standing right next to it, you have to raise your voices to have a conversation.

Remember that the 16 dB I’m getting is after sound-dampening from my sound insulated hotbox case. Here’s a link from a quick googling for sound levels:

The ASUS Rog Strix running “quiet bios” is the quietest at 24 dB, the EVGA XC Black is 33 dB, and the MSI Gaming X is 34 dB. So, I guess I’m looking for an Asus Rog Strix or bust. Should have grabbed that open box for $320 when I had the chance.

I am curious, though, at how loud reviews say my 1050 ti is. The fan runs between 700 and 1100 RPM but is as quiet as a churchmouse. At absolute full blast I can actually hear it, but it never really gets hot enough to run that fast. The XC black runs at 2000 RPM, but even as it slows down below 1000 it’s still loud as hell. It doesn’t get completely quiet until it drops to zero, but then there’s still an aftertaste of sound ringing in my ears for a little bit.

Here’s one. The MSI Gaming X is pretty much the quietest 1050 TI you can get. That doesn’t surprise me; during initial research, when I was looking at 3060 TI’s, the two quietest at the top of the charts were the MSI Gaming X Trio and Asus Rog Strix.

39

For a non-computer comparison, I’m sitting on the couch right now having a cigarette and it happens to be quiet as hell. No appliances running right now, can’t hear cars in this part of the house, etc… Holding the phone in my hand measures 5 dB.

Firing up last night’s Daily Show on my DVR and playing the intro at the normal volume I listen to it, while holding the phone in my hand sitting on the couch the theme song registers 22 dB. I wouldn’t want to have a conversation with the theme song running on a loop at that volume level. I’d have to turn it down.

If anyone wants to try their own measurements, I’m using the free Android app called Sound Meter.

EDIT: it occurs to me that if I upgraded directly from my old 44 dB computer to this new computer with the XC black, I would also describe the XC black as ‘quiet.’ I think it’s a matter of not knowing what an actual quiet computer sounds like, sort of like how I don’t really know what having a fast computer feels like, so by the same token I would also call the XC black ‘fast.’

I’m actually kind of leaning towards just keeping the 1050 ti and calling it good enough.

40

Since this thread is about pricing, I’ll ask a relevant question. I’ve always noted that there can be hundreds of dollars difference between the top rated video card and others that are rated in the top five or six. Given the fact that they have become so powerful and sophisticated, is that price difference warranted, or is it just a matter of prestige? Or, to ask it another way, are there actually games that require the top card as opposed to those in the top five or six that make the added cost worth it?