Which graphics card? Assuming availability and roughly MSRP and a <£500 budget..

[Angilion]

So...it looks like availability and price might reach reasonable levels at some point fairly soon, maybe.

Assuming that they do, I'll probably be buying a 3060 Ti. I game at 1440, have no plans to move up to 4K any time soon and I won't spend over £500 on a graphics card. Preferably less. 3060 Ti looks like my best bet, but I could be wrong.

But which one? I want a card that's silent outside of gaming, quiet in gaming, cooled effectively on air and which boosts well. I realise that means I'll probably be paying a higher price for a better cooler and better power handling. I did that with my 1070 Ti. I don't mind paying extra for better functionality, but I do want to get my money's worth. I don't want to be paying for styling, lighting, blah blah. I don't care what it looks like. I have a big case and no other cards, so size shouldn't be a problem.

I have MSI 3060 Ti Gaming pencilled in. My current card is an MSI 1070 Ti Gaming and it works well. But I'm open to suggestions from people who know more than I do. Unless that suggestion is replacing the thermal paste with mustard, the OcUK forums material of choice for everything

 

[markthechef]

This is the FE prices 3060ti £369 3070 £469 ...just sayin

 

[Drumroll]

I don't know if the 3060Ti gets as hot as the 3070Ti.
Downgrading from the 3090 to a 3070 vanilla (non-Ti), as I only game at 1440, and only bought the 3090 because back on Xmas it was the only card available at MSRP, I'm really happy with it.
If prices comes closer to MSRP, I would suggest to check one, as they would be closer to your budget.
The 3060 Ti and 3070 are the best pick this gen, if at MSRP (not at £800+).
Most cards now would be at 0 rpm fan until certain temperature.
Nice for noise, but depending on your airflow, the increased temperature without fan activity may build up around the RAM/Chipset and NVME.
Mine I run MSI Afterburn and let running at minimum speed all the time.
That causes wear to the fans, true, but 5 years warranty, I prefer then running, as at 600-700 rpm I can't hear them.

 

[Jono8]

For £500 i would be waiting for a 3070 or 3070Ti at that price point.

Either set up alerts for the FE cards or be patient.

If you have to have something straight away or at least soon, i believe Gibbo said the 3060ti's at £420/£440 might be put back up for sale next week.

 

[Angilion]

For £500 i would be waiting for a 3070 or 3070Ti at that price point.

£500 is my self-imposed limit, not necessarily a requirement. I was thinking that for 1440 a 3060 Ti would be a better price/performance buy than a 3070 or 3070 Ti. Although I was initially looking at a 3070.

Either set up alerts for the FE cards or be patient.

I'm in the patience boat.

If you have to have something straight away or at least soon, i believe Gibbo said the 3060ti's at £420/£440 might be put back up for sale next week.

Doesn't have to be straight away. My 1070 Ti does OK at 1440. For me, at the moment, a new graphics card is more in the "shiny new toy" category than the "need to buy to continue my hobby" category.

Maybe an FE would be my best bet. As far as I can tell from the reviews I've seen, the FE cards are quiet and cool well enough to allow a fairly high boost clock in use without exceeding 70C. And they are a fair bit cheaper. Maybe a FE 3070 rather than a 3rd party 3060 Ti. Probably similar prices.

Most cards now would be at 0 rpm fan until certain temperature.
Nice for noise, but depending on your airflow, the increased temperature without fan activity may build up around the RAM/Chipset and NVME. [..]

Oodles of airflow. Big case, acres of space around everything, 140mm case fans. They're spinning slowly (for cooling fans), but they still move a load of air due to their size and efficiency. I've been running a graphics card like that for years. 1070 Ti with a 200W limit, which should be roughly on a par with a standard 3060 Ti in terms of heat. I'm pretty sure I'd be OK for case cooling with a newer graphics card with fans at 0 rpm under low load.

Maybe I should look more at the 3070 again. No urgency - prices are still inflated. I just like to plan my purchases of new toys rather than impulse buying them.

 

[FoxEye]

My FE 3060 Ti is lovely. At £380 it's still the most expensive GPU I've ever owned and more really than I wanted to spend. But the 3060 and lower cards are a bit rubbish for 1440p. I'm hoping to get 1440p 100+ Hz from the Ti for a year or more. Just as soon as LG get around to actually having some damn monitors available in the UK for me to buy.

The FE Ti is really damn quiet and is one of the nicest cards I've ever owned. It is solid and looks and feels quality.

(Currently stuck on 1080p/60 so the card isn't getting much of a workout).

 

[Murphy]

I'm in exactly the same boat only with a ceiling of around £450 as much beyond that you may as well get a 3070, probably the best 3060 ti (IMO) is the Asus Strix non-OC version as it has the highest power budget at 325W (not that you'll ever get close to that) and one of the best coolers, all be it unnecessarily loud when not using the silent VBIOS. Problem is even at MSRP it's $500 so you're in that boat of may as well get a 3070 for that price. I've managed to narrow it down so far to either the MSI Gaming X Trio @ $470 and the Gigabyte Gaming OC Pro @ $450 although I'm not sure they'll ever come down to that ever in £££.

I had considered the FE but compared to the better partner models it tends to run a bit hot and loud, although I'm not sure an extra $50-70 is worth it for roughly 10°C cooler and 1 or 2 dBA.

Sorry for dollar prices but it's hard to find UK MSRP for cards.

 

[random_matt]

£500? Wouldn't bother, those prices are gone forever.

 

[g67575]

Well, the RTX 3070 seems to have become a more common GPU according to steam hardware surveys. Has anyone managed to buy an RTX 3070 FE recently?

The question is, are they producing any RTX 3000 series FE cards in volume, or are they just a token gesture?