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Minecraft Graphics Card

Squink

Squink

Squink

Soldato
Joined
25 Apr 2007
Posts
5,255
I've got an old Q6600 system in the loft that I intend to resurrect as a Minecraft PC for my 5 year old daughter. I intend buying a 32" 2560x1440 monitor to go with it (her brother has a similar monitor and children don't like to think they're losing out).

What's the best graphics card for about £200 these days? I know the system is old but I don't want it to run like an absolute dog by sticking in a £60 card. My worry is that I am out of the loop and can't even recall what kind of interface slot is on the mobo and also it has a 15-year-old Enermax 600W PSU, which I don't want to overstress by shoving in a GPU with a massive draw.

I'm aware the end result will be compromised and accept that, but if it's a total no-go with the existing hardware, I'll bin the idea for now.
 
I don't want the potentially increased hassle of used, thanks. I'd prefer to press the buy button on a retailer site and have it delivered a day or two later :)
 
My son's got my old 980ti and is actually playing minecraft at 4k on it without problems. I checked out that 1660 super and it seems a little faster than the 980ti according to the benchmarks I've just dug up, so it should be pretty much perfect even if I end up replacing the rest of the components. Cheers.
 
I'm pretty sure Minecraft is more CPU bound? So even if you did spend £200 on a GPU is still not going to run to well unless you put the setting on low
 
Which version of Minecraft ?

If it's the Win10 (Bedrock) version a graphics card becomes a bit more important for performance, though not much tbh.

If it's the Java version it is CPU/RAM limited, though there are things like Optifine and other mods for improving performance and adding shaders etc.

Also if it is the Java version, go nVidia rather than AMD as nVidia cards tend to out perform AMD massively in Minecraft.
AMD's OGL drivers are just poor and really seem to suffer in MC.
From what I've read it also seems to be easier to get nVidia's drivers to recognise MC java as a game and switch to 3D mode and ramp the clocks up.
 
Squink said:
I've got an old Q6600 system in the loft that I intend to resurrect as a Minecraft PC for my 5 year old daughter. I intend buying a 32" 2560x1440 monitor to go with it (her brother has a similar monitor and children don't like to think they're losing out).

I'm aware the end result will be compromised and accept that, but if it's a total no-go with the existing hardware, I'll bin the idea for now.
Click to expand...
There is a potential risk that the motherboard even with their final bios version might not be able to support the newer cards.

What brand and model is the board? Hope it is not an Abit board as the company has gone under and their boards don't support newer cards.
 
Squink said:
I've got an old Q6600 system in the loft that I intend to resurrect as a Minecraft PC for my 5 year old daughter. I intend buying a 32" 2560x1440 monitor to go with it (her brother has a similar monitor and children don't like to think they're losing out).

What's the best graphics card for about £200 these days? I know the system is old but I don't want it to run like an absolute dog by sticking in a £60 card. My worry is that I am out of the loop and can't even recall what kind of interface slot is on the mobo and also it has a 15-year-old Enermax 600W PSU, which I don't want to overstress by shoving in a GPU with a massive draw.

I'm aware the end result will be compromised and accept that, but if it's a total no-go with the existing hardware, I'll bin the idea for now.
Click to expand...

Marine-RX179 said:
There is a potential risk that the motherboard even with their final bios version might not be able to support the newer cards.

What brand and model is the board? Hope it is not an Abit board as the company has gone under and their boards don't support newer cards.
Click to expand...

Echoing what Marine says above...

I recently tried upgrading my Q6600 system from a GTX 1050 to a 1650 Super and the (Zotac ITX) board wasn't having it, with the last BIOS update being 2011.

It would POST but crash as soon as the drivers installed and it kicked into a res higher than 1080p.

I've ended up replacing the whole lot with a B450 ITX system!

I guess you might be OK with older GPUs, but it's a bit of a gamble unless you can somehow prove what cards will and won't work with your CPU / board.
 
Thanks for the comments re: the old hardware not being able to support a new card. It's an ASUS board and I can't recall the model. Letters-numbers-something-something.

Having spoken to my wife about the potential £400 cost (monitor plus card) we're now undecided if it's a wise move, since my daughter is still using phonics, which means that typing words on a keyboard might be beyond her and the PC version of minecraft might be a step too far.

And to those who said that Minecraft can run on more or less anything, I tested it on my 9900k 2080ti 1440p UW system and with the view distance turned right up, there's noticeable strain on the frame rates! Anyway, thanks for the input guys. This mention of old hardware not working with a recent GPU has me worried so it might be a whole new system soon or when my daughter is a few months into Year 1 and a bit better with reading and writing.
 
Squink said:
Thanks for the comments re: the old hardware not being able to support a new card. It's an ASUS board and I can't recall the model. Letters-numbers-something-something.

Having spoken to my wife about the potential £400 cost (monitor plus card) we're now undecided if it's a wise move, since my daughter is still using phonics, which means that typing words on a keyboard might be beyond her and the PC version of minecraft might be a step too far.

And to those who said that Minecraft can run on more or less anything, I tested it on my 9900k 2080ti 1440p UW system and with the view distance turned right up, there's noticeable strain on the frame rates! Anyway, thanks for the input guys. This mention of old hardware not working with a recent GPU has me worried so it might be a whole new system soon or when my daughter is a few months into Year 1 and a bit better with reading and writing.
Click to expand...

Is that with ray tracing enabled?
 
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