this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2025
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GPU Upgrade Advice from RX 580 for 1440p Gaming (lemm.ee)
submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/buildapc
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Hello,

I’m looking to upgrade the GPU in my current build to better handle 1440p gaming at 60fps for titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Helldivers 2. Here’s my current setup:

  • Motherboard: Asus PRIME B350M-A Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard
  • CPU: Ryzen 3600
  • GPU: Gigabyte Radeon RX 580
  • Storage: NVMe Drive
  • RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) DDR4-2666 CL15 Memory
  • OS: Windows 10
  • Power Supply: Corsair CX450M (2015) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/wKR9C8

The RX 580 has served me well, but it’s struggling with newer games, especially at 1440p. I’m aiming for stable 60fps at medium-high settings.

I’m not looking for ultra settings but want something that will be a significant upgrade while keeping my CPU as the limiting factor to a minimum. My budget is pretty limited and I’d like to keep it around £200 or less, new or preowned.

Would love to hear your thoughts and experiences in terms of the best budget GPUs! Cheers in advance!

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 days ago (1 children)

This is a cat I don't recommend upgrading.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Indeed. Attempting to insert a new GPU in this particular model could be quite dangerous to your health.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Indeed 😂

[–] hawgietonight 11 points 5 days ago (3 children)

For about 180€ I'm seeing used cards like the RX6700XT with 12Gigs, That would hold up for a while. Stay away from ARC, there are some performance issues with older cpus.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

Keeping in mind a card like this would require a PSU upgrade too. Minimum of 600W, but check the manufacturer's recommendations for the brand of the card since some vary.

[–] Blaster_M 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

This is the way. The 6700 XT is really powerful for the price, and no one wants it becauae it's not an nvidia.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

Ah yeah, I saw some mention of that on Hardware Unboxed, thank you!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Those cats are notorious for over heating. You'll wanna invest in a nice case with good air flow, maybe spring for a new cooler.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

My main issue with this model is that is sometimes goes in to an unexpected boost mode 🐱

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

The Intel B850 is getting rave reviews at a decent price point

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I love your cat! What a cutie!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

😸

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

You can buy a brand new RX 6600 for that price, it won't get you 2x FPS and you'd have to play on medium/low for comfortable FPS in 1440p, but it seems like it's a good match for 3600, o have this GPU and it was bottlenecked a bit by my old 2600 but it's not after I upgraded to 5600x, also the PSU might be too weak

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

Good point, thank you. I'll keep an eye on what the PSU can handle here

[–] giantofthenorth 6 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I think the best you can get used for 1440p at 200$ would be the Intel Arc a770 (or maybe the new b580) or the 5700xt.

The Intel card might give you weird issues here and there but my friend who dailies it hasn't mentioned any issues in quite some time.

The 5700xt (if you get lucky on price the 6700xt) is solid and can even do VR if that's your thing at all. It's somewhat worse performance wise (unless it's the 6700xt) but is also a good choice.

I wouldn't recommend Nvidia cards if you're on a budget as all of their benefits only really come on the high end.

You could also wait 1-3 months for next Gen to drop from Nvidia and AMD, as well as the next Gen high end card from Intel that would probably bring prices down a bit again.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I've been using a 5700xt (if you fancy the small performance boost, installing a 5700xt vbios on a 5700 is dead easy) and it's been going great. It's now struggling to hit 144fps on recent titles, I'm seeing more and more 70-90FPS at ultra, but it's a great card.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Thanks for sharing your experience, I'll keep the 5700 XT in mind then!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

FWIW on release the XT was viewed as not worth the extra 50€ given the single digit percentage increase it gave over the non-xt. The wisdom at the time was just "buy the non XT and either overclock it or install the XT vbios if you really need the 7%". Nowadays I'd expect them to be pretty much the same price though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

I got a 770 for a budget system and it's fine, I think both it and the b580 may be a bit out of budget in the UK. My 770 is paired with a beefier CPU, though, and there are people out there making a bit of a stink about the Intel cards being sensitive to CPU bottlenecks, so in this price range and to pair with a 3600 AMD may be the way to go. With an extra hundred bucks or two I'd definitely look into Intel, maybe with a CPU upgrade to go along with it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

If you're looking to get a 6700, I'd be wary of which one to pick with that power supply. Considering any case fans/coolers you have, you'd be around 400W if you upgrade (est). Pairing that with a 10 year old psu would make me uncomfortable

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

Yeah, the PSU is a little old at this point, I'll keep the power limit in mind here, cheers

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Something like the 6600 / 6600XT / 6650 XT would fit in your budget.

But my recommendation is to wait maybe a month or so - the next GPU generation is just around the corner. It takes a while for the cheaper GPUs to arrive, but this might be able to find some nice deal or a good offer for a used GPU.

[–] Chee_Koala 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The 6600 is in a price range where you probably also get the most FPS/$. Should be fine for casual 1440p gaming.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I have the 6600XT and Cyberpunk runs at 80 fps (medium with FSR, 1440p, RT off).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Interesting, Cyberpunk is a likely game I'd play, as I want to try the DLC

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

FSR is really the "game changer", without it, the game was somewhat choppy (30-40 fps).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Yeah, I was pleased to see they'd implemented it since I played, around the time it launched! Hopefully the police AI is a little better than at launch time 😅

[–] Vinny_93 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I used the 1070 Ti for 1440p60 medium settings for some time and now upgraded to a 4070.

Considering that range I think something like a 5700XT or 7600XT should be fine.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

Nice, thank you!

[–] B0NK3RS 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I used to have an XFX RX6600 paired with a 3600X and it did well at 1440p on most games.

Something like this from CEX isn't a bad option.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Looks very tempting, thank you! I'm going to take a look at eBay too and see what's on offer secondhand

[–] B0NK3RS 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

You do get a warranty from CEX so bare that in mind.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

I didn't know that, good point