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Is 4k gaming on a budget possible?

BEN_UK

BEN_UK

BEN_UK

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,233
Location
Nottingham
Hi,

I've got the itch to build a gaming pc. Last gaming pc I had ran had a Radeon 9800 Pro back in I guess 2003/04.

I already have a gigabyte 32" 4k monitor that I use for work in the day and PS5 in the evening.

My first thought was to sell the 4k screen and get a 1440p monitor. But I would rather keep my 32" screen. Rather than a 27" 1440p screen.

I plan on a AM5 build with a 7600 and 32gb ram.

On a budget what's the minimum graphics card to run games at 4k 60fps ?

Not looking for high settings or ray tracing. More than happy with 60fps not looking for 100+ FPS.

Happy to find a used card Nvidia 3000 or Radeon 6000.

I just need to know what model to look for.

Thanks Ben
 
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*** GPU Hierarchy ***

NVIDIAAMDINTELTier - Suggested Resolution/FPS RTX 5090 Tier A - "Elite Tier" RTX 4090 Tier B RTX 5080 RTX 4080 Super RTX 4080 RTX 5070TiRX 7900XTX RX 7900XT Tier C RTX 4070Ti Super RTX 3090Ti RTX 4070TiRX 6950XT RX 7900 GRE Tier D RTX 3090 RTX 4070 Super RTX 3080Ti RTX 3080 (12GB)...
forums.overclockers.co.uk forums.overclockers.co.uk
 
BEN_UK said:
Happy to find a used card Nvidia 3000 or Radeon 6000.

I just need to know what model to look for.
Click to expand...
These can do 4K/60 fine in most games: 6750 XT/6700 XT (new, < £300), RX 6800 (new, ~£350)

You may need to use FSR or DLSS, but it works best at 4K anyway.
 
I’d look at a 6800 XT personally. I’ve had one. Might get one for £300 give or take? With its 16GB VRAM and GPU power. Keep RT off and expensive settings and it’ll do 4k/60 no issues
 
If it helps I game at 4k with my 6800 (non-XT) and its does a fine job.
Does need a bit of help with FSR on some games but otherwise I cant complain.

That said I think a 6800 would be bare minimum for a good experience, aim for something a little better if you can afford to do so.
 
Thanks for all the info guys.

I had come to the conclusion the RX 6800 XT would be a good buy after reading online and YouTube.

On the look out now for a decent used one.
 
It also really depends on the games and settings you want.

I play in 4k on a 1080ti, some games i have to lower to 1440p on low, but other games I can easily run in 4k.

If you're willing to wait it's only a month or 2 before the next gen of cards get announced, at which point all the previous gen cards will be knocked down in price in the 2nd hand market. You could be looking at a 7900XT for a pretty reasonable price.
 
Yes, absolutely. It's just a matter of looking around at pre-owned parts, B grade stock and last gen components.

Cob said:
I’ve been trying to buy a used 6800xt for the past year, but they’re all priced far too close to 7800xt money to make sense. A brand new 7800xt worked out cheaper than a used 4 year-old 6800xt when it had the £100 of free games.
Click to expand...
I've been seeing 6950XT cards go for around the £320 mark of late - what's your budget?
 
eldergeek said:
Yes, absolutely. It's just a matter of looking around at pre-owned parts, B grade stock and last gen components.


I've been seeing 6950XT cards go for around the £320 mark of late - what's your budget?
Click to expand...
Where? You can’t even get a rusty mined-on 6800xt for that price on the auction site, and they never come up for sale here. It’s like only a couple of hundred were ever sold and nobody wants to part with theirs.

Budget has always been ~£100 under whatever the cheapest new 7800XT is. That’s currently about £300, tho I’ve been waiting to see if there’s a decent Black Friday 7800XT offer. I’ll bite at £350.
 
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Keep an eye on HotUKdeals. For example there was a 6900XT on Amazon Resale just recently for £357. 7900's are going for as low as 419 now, and combine that with ebay codes when they're available, you can get a steal.
 
BEN_UK said:
On a budget what's the minimum graphics card to run games at 4k 60fps ?
Click to expand...

Which games and which settings level? You will get 50-60 fps on medium settings in HZD at 4k, for instance, on an Arc A770. You are not going to get full RT and ultra settings, though. I've been gaming at 4k since I got a 780 Ti.
 
Having had a 4K display, and two 1080ti's, in those games that supported SLI and ran at this resolution easily - which under SLI supported games did, I have to say, I preferred the triple monitor surround (5760x1080) resolution of my previous setup, especially for driving and flight sims, which is why I've sold the 4K screen and now have my triple monitor setup back.
 
I want to go 4k but worried that my system will struggle and unless you can afford 4090-5090 cards then it's not worth it.

I have a 7900xtx and would not touch Ray tracing and aim for 60-100fps.
 
bakes0310 said:
I want to go 4k but worried that my system will struggle and unless you can afford 4090-5090 cards then it's not worth it.

I have a 7900xtx and would not touch Ray tracing and aim for 60-100fps.
Click to expand...
You don't need to run ultra everything@4K.

Running optimised settings with a mixture of ultra/high/med/RT med/low or off-the XTX smashes 4K, you can achieve pretty high IQ at 60fps, or turn it down a touch if you want higher FPS.

That scales down the stack too, high/medium settings at 4K can be done for a great experience.
 
Elaborating further about lower stack GPUs, being realistic, my 4070 and the 3080 I had before it can do 4K on playable settings/textures/RT to fit the Vram budget, upscaling(even with the IQ hit) is an extremely powerful tool at 4K.
 
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