discussion Bang for the buck--teenager's gpu upgrade from an RX 580. Budget $350 or less.

[Blind Dog]

My grandson-type person has asked for advice on a new gpu. He's just wanting to game at 1080p, at 120 htz. His budget is sub $350. I would prefer he buys in Canada, but private individuals would be cool elsewhere.

Ryzen 7 2700 4.1 GHZ
Asus B450-A (PCIe 3.0 slot)
Corsair Veng' LPX 16gb DDR4 3200
Antec Gold 550 watt (I have a Seasonic 850 Platinum spare he can have if need be.)
RX 580

He wants to 'boost his gaming speeds'. He's looking at an RTX 3050 Ventus 2x xs 8G OC for $309. The Passmark scores are 8839 for the RX 580, and 12646 for an RTX 3050.

If anyone runs across something with a little more bang for the buck, we would really appreciate a headsup. I prefer Nvidia, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't care. There's only one 3050 left in stock, at that price afaik. I don't have a link available.

I've found an ASRock RX 6600 at the Canadian egg, for $329--Passmark score 15116. (PCIe 4.0) I'm going to lhk, after school, and will keep looking.

ASRock Radeon RX 6600 Challenger D Graphics Card RX6600 CLD 8G - Newegg.com

Buy ASRock Radeon RX 6600 Challenger D 8GB GDDR6 PCI Express 4.0 Graphics Card RX6600 CLD 8G with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.ca

He's in a rural location, and only has Starlink available.

Thanks for the read.

All opinions/advice appreciated.

 

[Izerous]

7600 for $359 (and free shipping) which is a decent bump above the 6600 but after taxes pushing closer to $400 depending on where you live.

https://www.canadacomputers.com/en/powered-by-amd/240881/xfx-speedster-swft210-radeon-rx-7600-core-8gb-gddr6-rx-76pswftfy.html

Otherwise the only other standouts are the 3050s and 6600 you already found. There are cheaper 6GB 3050 cards but I would suggest keeping to the 8GB models.

Best value at that price would be if he could find something like a used 3060 etc

 

[Marzipan]

I suggest you put up a WTB ad...I know someone with an RX 5700 they're selling for under $200.00 because they let me know about it earlier for a project to help my buddy get a better PC...he's running an ancient C2D E6300 system!

 

[CMetaphor]

Honestly? I might consider risking the used market... obviously thoroughly check out the sellers and test parts / have proof of tests before buying.

I'd say: Ryzen 56xx, 57xx or 39xx for around 100-150 used, and an RTX 3070 can be had used for around $250-300 if you hunt around a bit. Together they'd be a heck of a lot better than any new GPU, as Ryzen 2700 (non-X version) can't be overclocked much at all to overcome and CPU bottleneck, and it Will bottleneck you a bit for 1080p gaming.

Oh, and you'll definitely need to donate your 850w PSU, 550w even in his current system is a bit too low-wattage for comfort.

Hope it helps

EDIT:
Yep. Immediately found a 3800x (in quebec) for 80 bucks. Decent upgrade over a 2700 and can OC easily for more performance.

FB market prices:
-Ryzen 5 5500 $100 (more than one at this price)
-Ryzen 5 5600x $120 (but already sold, sadly)
-Ryzen 5 5800x $110!!! (Link) (I probably wouldn't risk this one as he claims no bent pins but also has no protection for the cpu at all....)
-Ryzen 7 3700x $120 (but too expensive, you can find cheaper)

Eehhhhhh I was a bit hopeful about the RTX 3070s though, they seem to go for $350+ still, sorry about that.

However, RTX 2070s are going for $250ish, and RTX 3060s are sometimes around $200, both are really close performance-wise.

 

[Caldezar]

I have an untested 3700x I bought from ebay for a project that never got off the ground. I never tested it, but I assume it's working? If you want to risk it as a CPU upgrade, I can send it to you for the price of shipping. ($25 or so?)

 

[Bond007]

3050 is a horrendous bang for buck gpu. It’s cheap for nvidia, but offers very little for the price. And the 6gb version of the 3050 is even worse.

RX 6600 have been down to around $250 new and are quite a bit faster. Sadly it has gone up a bit in price and is now around $300.

As mention by Izerous, the rx7600 from Canada Computers is currently the best new option in that price range.

The “budget” GPU market is a mess (actually the whole GPU market is). The best option would be to hope for a good used deal, but if you can’t find anything or want new, the RX7600 would currently get my vote.

 

[Blind Dog]

Thanks for the great response, I'm going to encourage the RX 7600 @ Canadian Cumputers, and I think as far as a cpu he's going after a 5800x3d (mine ) . I think the gpu will come down to whether he wants to go to the trouble of switching out PSU's.

I really appreciate the effort, the input, and expertise Izerous, Marzipan, CMetaphor, Caldezar & Bond007. I'll post again, when he pulls the trigger.

 

[Marzipan]

Thanks for the great response, I'm going to encourage the RX 7600 @ Canadian Cumputers, and I think as far as a cpu he's going after a 5800x3d (mine ) . I think the gpu will come down to whether he wants to go to the trouble of switching out PSU's.

I really appreciate the effort, the input, and expertise Izerous, Marzipan, CMetaphor, Caldezar & Bond007. I'll post again, when he pulls the trigger.

it would be good to make sure they know / understand that the CPU needs to be upgraded at the same time as the GPU becasue their current Ryzen 2700 will be a bottleneck. they may see some uptick in performance, but 1080p gaming is very very CPU centric.

 

[Blind Dog]

Kids, a blessing from heaven, or OG grifters?

I found this gpu, a short drive away, and suggested 'we' also upgrade psu, cpu, and memory as well. He got colicky that I bought him 'old junk' in the first place. (In my defense; he was turning 12, covid was rocking it, and I only had $1200 in the birthday budget. He's now 17. )



Last heard from him March 11, 2025. Not sure exactly why. Not looking like there will be any trigger pulling.

 

[crazyea]

nvm.