Graphics card help

[Kawaii Spicy]

not sure if im even supposed to post in this category lol but meh

 

im looking to get a tower, for sl, to take better photos, currently using a average laptop

with no graphics card

 

so I have been looking at this tower, could someone tell me if the specs would be good for sl pictures or not? thx! ❤️

 

and dont be rude about we weren't all born knowing this stuff lol

 

 

video card:

AMD Radeon RX 560

 

 

 

[Rolig Loon]

2 minutes ago, KawaiiDuirii said:

could someone tell me if the specs would be good for sl pictures or not? thx! ❤️

You'll have to decide what's "good", but here's one way to think about it ...

As far as performance is concerned, the RX 560 is significantly better than the Intel 4600 chip that may be the default on your computer's motherboard.  It's somewhat better than the GTX 750 Ti that I had in my own desktop until about a year ago.  I took good photos with it, but I'm not a professional photographer or even a very picky SL amateur, so I may not be the best judge.  At the top end, the RX 560 is a significantly lower performer than the current generation of NVidia GTX cards.  Looking at it from the perspective of value, though, the RX 560 beats them all hollow. 

All of that may be quite beside the point, because it doesn't say anything about whether you will get great photos.  My guess is that it will be fine, but I'll leave it to the avid photographers in SL to say whether you should try to do better.

[Lindal Kidd]

Rolig is spot on.  A Radeon 560 will cost you a bit over $100 on Newegg.  A GeForce 970 would give double the performance, but it would cost four times as much, around $400.

I am all about the performance, so I would probably bite the bullet and spend the money for the 970.  Or no...I'd REALLY bite the bullet and spend $450-550 for a GeForce 1070.

But that's just me.  Don't buy me diamonds, buy me the latest tech!

[Nalates Urriah]

The bitcoin demand for video cards seems to have subsided. NVIDIA GTX 1060's with 3-year warranties are showing up on eBay for US$160. 

The GTX and RTX 20xxx cards are pre-ordering now. That will have gamers selling their 10xx cards to upgrade, which should drive the price down. So, with some careful shopping you can score a deal.

[cykarushb]

On 9/3/2018 at 5:16 PM, Lindal Kidd said:

Rolig is spot on.  A Radeon 560 will cost you a bit over $100 on Newegg.  A GeForce 970 would give double the performance, but it would cost four times as much, around $400.

I am all about the performance, so I would probably bite the bullet and spend the money for the 970.  Or no...I'd REALLY bite the bullet and spend $450-550 for a GeForce 1070.

But that's just me.  Don't buy me diamonds, buy me the latest tech!

I would still suggest a 970 but not at 400$, that's not an accurate price for one. You shouldn't buy old gen tech new, used you can find a 970 for 170-220$ easily on eBay.

And used maxwell cards are pretty safe buys, nobody really used them for mining because the AMD R9 300 series cards were way better at it for the cost.

For the same reason I wouldn't buy a 10 series card used, warranty or not people were using everything down to 1050ti cards for mining and there are a lot of dead cards out there and in relation, used post mining cards likely near death.

Ironically since AMD didn't put out a high tier card this last gen, the cooler running 400/500 series RX cards are good post mining used cards to buy. Vega absolutely not though. Especially not the FE which has thermal problems even with normal loads.

A 560 is a good choice from a price to performance perspective but only if you won't buy used. There are much better performing used cards out there for only a little more money. Some options include the above mentioned 970 or really any Maxwell 900 series card above the 950, GTX 770/780's or even older like a 680 if you have the PSU for it.