considering Radeon RX 7800 XT GPU

[high_revs]

Since I was planning to build a (kinda) starter gaming PC for kid for xmas. He'll get hand me down parts from my build in mid-2021 though i'm not sure what's else past the Sapphire 6700 xt GPU and air cooler beQuiet dark rock to gimme. I saw an add the Sapphire 7800 XT for a measely $520 for a new model. I say measely because I freaking paid $1200 during pandamic times and that was the lowest I can find and willing to pay for with parts sitting for almost 6 mos then with only GPU missing. I had no other tower/build to test out parts.. haven't assembled one for decades. I figure I'll get an AIO and give him the big azz cooler since i had issues reaching to put more RAM one time where an AIO would give me more space.

Then I read the power specs - 700W! Crap.. i wasn't planning on upgrading my RM850 gold which I overdid the PSU anyway thinking i'll be overclocking. I've still yet to really play games on this thing (not wanting to put time.. thought i'd have more interest once i installed starcraft for kicks).

I figure I can re-do all my parts with partspicker to figure how much power I'm using with my current parts but if 700 is needed just for the GPU, 850 won't cut it right? I'll need at least 1k PSU? unsure how much bigger that'll be and if it'll fit in tower.

thoughts?

[Iknownot]

700w is total system power. Your current 850w PSU should be fine. Honestly 850 is enough to run about anything including the RTX 4090, and the rx 7900 xtx unless you are over clocking or are running a lot of peripherals, fans or other cards. Then you probably want a 1000w PSU to be safe.

(Just FYI ATX size PSUs are the same standard size and the wattage doesn’t change that. A 1000w ATX PSU is the same size as a 500w one )

In any case buy your RX 7800 and pop it in. By all accounts it’s supposed to be pretty decent for the money.

[high_revs]

kewl. thanks Iknownot! i've not really been tracking GPUs that closely and thought dang.. that's lot or increase in just 3 yrs!

[Iknownot]

kewl. thanks Iknownot! i've not really been tracking GPUs that closely and thought dang.. that's lot or increase in just 3 yrs!

Prices went crazy up during the mining craze and they have somewhat returned to normal though some of the current cards are over priced a bit still at retail.


Btw it?s a great time for a budget build. The rest of PC parts pricing is so cheap now. Especially Ram and SSDs. You can make a really nice capable budget build PC right now using that rx 6700 you have buy getting last gen MOBO and CPU and it?ll be plenty powerful and even last you through one more GPU upgrade in 2-3 years if you want.

Check out a b550 AMD board with a Ryzen 5 5600 or a b660 Intel board with something like an i3 12100f or better an i5 12400f.

You?d be in it for like $250 and ram and m.2 ssd?s for either are like $30-40
Each. Catch a deal on a decent power supply and you are in it for not much money and get a fun budget $60 case with some RGB fans and you are set for a cool PC for your kid.

Good hunting on the parts.

[SactoDoug]

Another thing to consider is that card is long. I just installed a 7900 xt, which is a little bit longer but not much. It came with an extra brace because of how long and heavy it is.

Check the length of the card you are considering and verify that it will fit in the case that you are using. Most cases list the length of GPUs that will fit.

[Darto]

Because I run flightsimulator, I would not buy an AMD GPU (because Nvidia's Frame Generation doubles fps in Microsoft Flight Simulator, It's magic!). I have a RTX 4070.

Yes the 850 watt PSU is enough. for the 7800 XT. (when that gpu first came out they all sold out in like 2 days, so they say). Everybody it seems wanted that one.

For gaming, the best gpu is AMD Ryzen 7 78003DX. It will run rings around anything from Intel for gaming (i.e. 3D). I use a Ryzen 7 58003DX which is one step down (last year it was king).

[Iknownot]

Ryzen 7 7800 and 5800 are CPUs. Anything current from the last 2 in the Ryzen 7 or above or I7 or above is enough to run the top cards for most gaming unless you are spending top $ to absolutely maximize FPS at max setting running an RTX 4090 or something. . I don’t personally think it’s worth the money but I know there are people that will drop the $3000-4000.to do it. I’m more value for money. I don’t mind building a higher end rig but I’m happy to spend $1800 let’s say and give up on those extra 30 FPS. For most games you aren’t going to notice a difference anyways. You are still running maxed out settings anyways.

With regards to what the OP was asking about a new CPU and MOBO is much more involved and more $ than just getting a new graphics card and dropping it in and getting going. I

[high_revs]

i think i'll just approach kid's cheap'ish build as "his machine w/o hand me downs and looking to upgrade mine"
the more i read the more depressing AMD's marketing is on the branding of their new GPU. though i still am thinking of getting an AIO vs. using the big azz air cooler.

[805thRCTank]

i think i'll just approach kid's cheap'ish build as "his machine w/o hand me downs and looking to upgrade mine"
the more i read the more depressing AMD's marketing is on the branding of their new GPU. though i still am thinking of getting an AIO vs. using the big azz air cooler.

Got an AIO for my Ryzen build but the CPU died. AMD replaced for free since it was still in warranty. Dropped a noctua cooler and the temps are both the same. I put my AIO on my backup intel build instead.

I want remove the AIO on my intel build and get another Noctua cooler.

[Iknownot]

AIO really only makes a difference on small cases or very hot chips. I have a i7 12700 and a bigger air cooler. Temps never budge on intensive games. Maybe if someone was doing long intensive rendering or creation or something an AIO would be better. But honestly good current tower coolers are almost as good for 90-95 % use cases and they are definitely less fuss and bother with no maintenance and only the possibility of a cheap cooling fan replacement as the fail point.

[805thRCTank]

Got suckered to an AIO because it has an LCD screen

Need to figure out how to get it to play the .gifs on the screen on linux mint.