kr00t0n's GPU buyers guide September 2019 (rough)

krooton · 27 Sep 2019 at 10:52

Having been a laptop gamer for the past 4 years, I have been a bit out of the loop in terms of GPUs.

I started paying attention again due to Cyberpunk 2077 coming out next year, and looking at where I can get good bang-for-buck.

This is a very rough guide, based on quick eyeballing of current average pricing (both new and second hand). Thought it might be helpful.

Based on this GPU hierachy (which I am sure most of you spit at

).

I will sort by best £ per performance looking at new Nvidia, new AMD, and a second hand card options.

£150 range
Second hand 1060 6GB (£130ish) : £2.5 per performance point (53 points)
New 580 (£160ish) : £2.8 per performance point (58 points)
New 1650 (£160ish) : £3.8 per performance point (42 points)

£200 range
Second hand 1070 (£200ish) : £2.9 per point (70 points)
New 590 (£200ish) : £3.3 per point (61 points)
New 1660 (£220ish) : £3.4 per point (64 points)

£275 range
Second hand 1080 (£270ish) : £3.2 per point (84 points)
New 5700 (£300ish) : £3.4 per point (88 points)
New Vega 56 (£280ish) : £3.6 per point (77 points)
New 1660Ti (£270ish) : £3.8 per point (71 points)

£350 range
New 5700XT (£375ish) : £3.9 per point (96 points)
New 2060 (£340ish) : £4.4 per point (78 points)
New Vega 64 (£380ish) : £4.5 per point (84 points)

£425 range
Second hand 1080Ti (£400ish) : £4.2 per point (96 points)
New 2060 Super (£400ish) : £4.7 per point (85 points)
New 2070 Super (£475ish) : £5 per point (94 points)

£500+ club
2080 upwards all scale as expected (ie getting way more expensive per point)

AGAIN THIS IS ROUGH

So Nvidia's 10x range do great in the second hand market on the cheaper side of the scale, but if buying new, AMD offers more bang for buck in the sub-£400 realm.

Hope this is useful to someone trying to figure out their budget options and appetite for second hand.

willhub · 27 Sep 2019 at 11:14

2070S in 425 range.

krooton · 27 Sep 2019 at 11:22

willhub said:
2070S in 425 range.

EDIT, oh I see what you mean

eeii · 27 Sep 2019 at 11:24

Looks fair to me.

Davedree · 27 Sep 2019 at 11:57

Below £100 second hand Rx570 4gb/8gb,
new don't bother instead get an Rx580 8gb.

£200 Gtx 1660.

krooton · 27 Sep 2019 at 12:15

Davedree said:
Below £100 second hand Rx570 4gb/8gb,
new don't bother instead get an Rx580 8gb.

£200 Gtx 1660.

Thanks, added, don't know how I missed that!

LePhuronn · 27 Sep 2019 at 13:24

Moore's Law Is Dead did his own GPU hierarchy because he felt the Tom's Hardware one was utter gash. Would be interesting to see his performance tiers compared to your pricing.

willhub said:
2070S in 425 range.

Unless Gibbo's KFA2 deals are actual fixed price drops then no, it's not.

willhub · 27 Sep 2019 at 13:27

LePhuronn said:
Moore's Law Is Dead did his own GPU hierarchy because he felt the Tom's Hardware one was utter gash. Would be interesting to see his performance tiers compared to your pricing.

Unless Gibbo's KFA2 deals are actual fixed price drops then no, it's not.

Even if they're not fixed, then yes, it is that price range.

melmac · 27 Sep 2019 at 13:52

krooton said:
EDIT, oh I see what you mean

I don't know about a second hand 1080Ti getting so high a rating. Also that rating completely ignores the RTX features of the Turing cards.

And I don't think you should include special deals that only last a few days in your buying Guide. Because that's not their actual price. When the deal is over the price will return to normal.

melmac · 27 Sep 2019 at 13:54

willhub said:
Even if they're not fixed, then yes, it is that price range.

Not if you are doing a buying guide that might not be finished by the time the offer is finished. He should just put a caveat at the bottom saying that from time to time cards might be on special offer.

Illuminist · 27 Sep 2019 at 14:01

krooton said:
Having been a laptop gamer for the past 4 years, I have been a bit out of the loop in terms of GPUs.

I started paying attention again due to Cyberpunk 2077 coming out next year, and looking at where I can get good bang-for-buck.

This is a very rough guide, based on quick eyeballing of current average pricing (both new and second hand). Thought it might be helpful.

Based on this GPU hierachy (which I am sure most of you spit at ).

I will sort by best £ per performance looking at new Nvidia, new AMD, and a second hand card options.

£150 range
Second hand 1060 6GB (£130ish) : £2.5 per performance point (53 points)
New 580 (£160ish) : £2.8 per performance point (58 points)
New 1650 (£160ish) : £3.8 per performance point (42 points)

£200 range
Second hand 1070 (£200ish) : £2.9 per point (70 points)
New 590 (£200ish) : £3.3 per point (61 points)
New 1660 (£220ish) : £3.4 per point (64 points)

£275 range
Second hand 1080 (£270ish) : £3.2 per point (84 points)
New 5700 (£300ish) : £3.4 per point (88 points)
New Vega 56 (£280ish) : £3.6 per point (77 points)
New 1660Ti (£270ish) : £3.8 per point (71 points)

£350 range
New 5700XT (£375ish) : £3.9 per point (96 points)
New 2060 (£340ish) : £4.4 per point (78 points)
New Vega 64 (£380ish) : £4.5 per point (84 points)

£425 range
Second hand 1080Ti (£400ish) : £4.2 per point (96 points)
New 2060 Super (£400ish) : £4.7 per point (85 points)
New 2070 Super (£475ish) : £5 per point (94 points)

£500+ club
2080 upwards all scale as expected (ie getting way more expensive per point)

AGAIN THIS IS ROUGH

So Nvidia's 10x range do great in the second hand market on the cheaper side of the scale, but if buying new, AMD offers more bang for buck in the sub-£400 realm.

Hope this is useful to someone trying to figure out their budget options and appetite for second hand.

You could argue that a Vega 56 can be flashed to a Vega 64 in some cases. And that you can make a 5700 perform like a 5700xt using similar methods. Making both cards have a lower price per point

willhub · 27 Sep 2019 at 14:11

Illuminist said:
You could argue that a Vega 56 can be flashed to a Vega 64 in some cases. And that you can make a 5700 perform like a 5700xt using similar methods. Making both cards have a lower price per point

Can't be flashed to a 64, since the hardware won't be unlocked.

melmac said:
Not if you are doing a buying guide that might not be finished by the time the offer is finished. He should just put a caveat at the bottom saying that from time to time cards might be on special offer.

Without any offers the 2070S can always be had sub 500.

krooton · 27 Sep 2019 at 14:16

melmac said:
I don't know about a second hand 1080Ti getting so high a rating. Also that rating completely ignores the RTX features of the Turing cards.

And I don't think you should include special deals that only last a few days in your buying Guide. Because that's not their actual price. When the deal is over the price will return to normal.

I haven't looked at lowest price, I've roughly eyeballed the (lower) average price (so ignoring special editions and what-have-you that fetch higher prices) across OCUK and a few other sites.

As I have said, it is all ROUGH

krooton · 27 Sep 2019 at 14:21

LePhuronn said:
Moore's Law Is Dead did his own GPU hierarchy because he felt the Tom's Hardware one was utter gash. Would be interesting to see his performance tiers compared to your pricing.

Where would I find this? Google gives me nada

Illuminist · 27 Sep 2019 at 14:22

willhub said:
Can't be flashed to a 64, since the hardware won't be unlocked.

Without any offers the 2070S can always be had sub 500.

Umm I've owned 3 and flashed them to 64 and 64 liquid, is a well known and easy thing to do. The missing shaders make 2% difference, max, in a very small amount of games
Even had a 64 and 56 flashed in crossfire beating 2080ti scores

Davedree · 27 Sep 2019 at 14:23

Illuminist said:
Umm I've owned 3 and flashed them to 64 and 64 liquid, is a well known and easy thing to do. The missing shaders make 2% difference, max, in a very small amount of games
Even had a 64 and 56 flashed in crossfire

You did kill one though,

krooton · 27 Sep 2019 at 14:24

Illuminist said:
Umm I've owned 3 and flashed them to 64 and 64 liquid, is a well known and easy thing to do. The missing shaders make 2% difference, max, in a very small amount of games
Even had a 64 and 56 flashed in crossfire

It stops being an easy reference if you take things like flashing, overclocking, etc. in to account.

This can be a stock/baseline list, and if people want to find out how to min/max cards they can do so themselves.

Illuminist · 27 Sep 2019 at 14:26

krooton said:
It stops being an easy reference if you take things like flashing, overclocking, etc. in to account.

This can be a stock/baseline list, and if people want to find out how to min/max cards they can do so themselves.

Flashing to a 64/5700xt is different to overclocking but ok

Illuminist · 27 Sep 2019 at 14:26

Davedree said:
You did kill one though,

Lol yes, brutally,pump died on the aio

LePhuronn · 27 Sep 2019 at 14:30

krooton said:
Where would I find this? Google gives me nada

Sorry, YouTuber has the channel name "Moore's Law Is Dead"

Block at work so I can't link, but search for that and it's a video called something like "GPU hierarchy"