What’s everyone’s recommendation for a cheap AMD GPU to use with Linux? I was looking recently at a Radeon RX 580, I know there are much better cards out there but the prices are about double (£350-400 instead of £180). I’d mostly be using it to play games like the remastered Rome Total War.
There are some used options e.g. 5700 XT-s are really cheap because many of them were mining card. For new cards there aren’t many options RX 6600 has relatively good value, but it’s only worth it if efficiency or features like hw video codecs are important for you.
Is there any issue with buying a card that was previously used for mining?
When you say RX 6600 do you mean that one specifically or the range including 6600XT etc? I don’t have a good handle on what the real world differences between the variants are.
Is there any issue with buying a card that was previously used for mining?
If used by a home user who didn’t know what they were doing they might have run it hotter for much longer than a typical gamer so the thermal paste might need a redo.
If used by some miner doing it even quasi-professionally or as a side-gig I’d much prefer it over a 2nd hand card from any typical gamer (most miners) they’ve kept the voltage/temps low and taken care of it far better than a gamer who might be power cycling regularly and definitely thermal cycling even more regularly.
No, there isn’t any more risk buying a mining card than any other used card. In both cases you should use a platform/marketplace with buyer protection options. Maybe one additional step is checking the VBIOS when testing.
The non XT is the best value of the 6600 family but depending on local pricing the 6600XT, 6650XT and even the 7600 could make sense. Just keep in mind that these are the same performance class. Some charts show the mentioned GPUs.
Been waiting for a good deal to replace my rx480 in my sister’s rig. I think they announced rx400/500/vega GPUs will only get security driver updates now and only for a while, I assume that applies to Linux too. RX580 will play many games at 1080p 60fpd but not the modern demanding ones (maybe not even at low settings).
Rumors say nextgen AMD isn’t targeting high end, maybe we have another 480 price to performance king 🤞. Then again, with AI as the new crypto, who can say.
What’s everyone’s recommendation for a cheap AMD GPU to use with Linux? I was looking recently at a Radeon RX 580, I know there are much better cards out there but the prices are about double (£350-400 instead of £180). I’d mostly be using it to play games like the remastered Rome Total War.
6600XTs seem to be going for around £200, often £180 even (used, eBay).
If you’d prefer new, you can get a 6650XT for £240. A 6650XT will be 6% faster than a 6600XT.
It’s double the performance of a 580, uses less power, will be supported longer, etc.
That’s a decent price, might have to go for one of those instead… Thanks for the information!
There are some used options e.g. 5700 XT-s are really cheap because many of them were mining card. For new cards there aren’t many options RX 6600 has relatively good value, but it’s only worth it if efficiency or features like hw video codecs are important for you.
Is there any issue with buying a card that was previously used for mining?
When you say RX 6600 do you mean that one specifically or the range including 6600XT etc? I don’t have a good handle on what the real world differences between the variants are.
If used by a home user who didn’t know what they were doing they might have run it hotter for much longer than a typical gamer so the thermal paste might need a redo.
If used by some miner doing it even quasi-professionally or as a side-gig I’d much prefer it over a 2nd hand card from any typical gamer (most miners) they’ve kept the voltage/temps low and taken care of it far better than a gamer who might be power cycling regularly and definitely thermal cycling even more regularly.
No, there isn’t any more risk buying a mining card than any other used card. In both cases you should use a platform/marketplace with buyer protection options. Maybe one additional step is checking the VBIOS when testing.
The non XT is the best value of the 6600 family but depending on local pricing the 6600XT, 6650XT and even the 7600 could make sense. Just keep in mind that these are the same performance class. Some charts show the mentioned GPUs.
Been waiting for a good deal to replace my rx480 in my sister’s rig. I think they announced rx400/500/vega GPUs will only get security driver updates now and only for a while, I assume that applies to Linux too. RX580 will play many games at 1080p 60fpd but not the modern demanding ones (maybe not even at low settings).
Rumors say nextgen AMD isn’t targeting high end, maybe we have another 480 price to performance king 🤞. Then again, with AI as the new crypto, who can say.