this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2026
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I haven't upgraded my PC in a long time and I've always been very frugal when it comes to getting PC parts. While I don't think I'll need to upgrade for some time still, I'm curious what y'alls opinion would be on a relatively cheap ($300>) upgrade would be, if one exists at all. Preferably AMD but I've heard linux support for Nvidia has improved quite a bit since I last had one.

Thanks to @B0NK3RS@lazysoci.al I realize it would help if I shared the rest of my specs: an MSI AM4 motherboard (I don’t have the model but I believe it’s a B450 or B550 tomahawk), 24 gigs of ram, and a Ryzen 3600 X cpu.

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[–] yesman@lemmy.world 15 points 3 days ago

The rx6700xt is in your budget if you buy second-hand. This card is the cheapest you can get 12GB of VRAM, and I think that will keep it relevant to new games the longest.

[–] shittydwarf@sh.itjust.works 9 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I use a 6700 XT and runs everything well at 1440 (arch btw), might be able to find one in your price range depending on where you are?

[–] iamthetot@piefed.ca 1 points 2 days ago

With respect, what's "everything" and what's "well"?

[–] OccasionallyFeralya@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That does seem pretty good and I like the more compact size (my pc is a little cramped rn lol)

[–] shittydwarf@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It'll feel like quite the upgrade. I wouldn't fuck w nvidia at all, just going to frustrate you

[–] OccasionallyFeralya@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago

Fair enough, especially since I really like wayland.

[–] UntimedDiffusion@piefed.zip 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Surprised the 9060XT 16GB hasn't come up yet. A quick check on eBay for me shows mostly $300-$400, but saw a couple in the $250-$300 range. If you can find one in your budget that's my recommendation, otherwise I agree with everyone else on the 6700XT

[–] OccasionallyFeralya@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago

I'll definitely add that to the list and I'll keep an eye out for any if they get in that range

[–] B0NK3RS@lazysoci.al 7 points 3 days ago (2 children)

6700XT is a good card but what are the rest of your specs?

[–] Midnitte@beehaw.org 4 points 3 days ago

6700xt should be a decent card for a while since it has 12gb.

The 6650xt would be the next step down abd while cheaper, you're going to feel that 8gb much sooner

[–] OccasionallyFeralya@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Lmao that would be important wouldn’t it. I have an MSI AM4 motherboard with a ryzen 3600x and an 24 gigs of ddr4 ram.

[–] B0NK3RS@lazysoci.al 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Thanks. Other people say 6700XT is possible and it's a good card and will pair nicely with your PC. I'm not in the US so can't comment on price but even a RX6600XT/6650XT 8GB is great for 1080p as an alternative.

[–] OccasionallyFeralya@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago

Yeah I’ll consider both, I don’t see myself going above 1080p anytime soon, but more future-proofing with the higher VRAM is a nice idea.

[–] who@feddit.org 4 points 3 days ago

The card recommendations you're getting are reasonable.

I'll just add that, as a long time Linux user, I no longer buy Nvidia. Although their drivers can work for gaming, I've had far fewer problems outside of gaming since I switched to AMD a few years ago.

(I'm also glad to no longer be supporting Nvidia's business practices, but that's not the main reason I switched.)

[–] vikingtons@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

An RX 6700XT, RTX 3060, or Arc B580 should all do nicely.

AMD and Intel are all in on Mesa, though using nvidia on Linux isn't too bad now, even with Wayland, just as long as you're not using mobile dGFX + Optimus.

All of the above are 12 GiB. For an extra 50 dollars more, if you're really lucky, you may find the RX 9060 XT 16 GiB at MSRP but that's a big if, and you may prefer to spare some funds and drop in a 5700X3D or 5600X3D a little later on to balance out the system.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Nvidia works fine on Linux these days. I have a 3060 under Debian and it works great. Nvidia even publishes the drivers in an apt repo.

[–] OccasionallyFeralya@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 days ago

That’s good to hear since they still have a majority on the pc user base atm

[–] kayzeekayzee@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

RTX 3050 is good and cheap

[–] DdCno1@beehaw.org 1 points 2 days ago

The advantage of having every DLSS feature (except for frame generation) in a low-end card like this one can't be understated. You need bit of extra frame rate and image quality you can get with a card like this one. DLSS is both the most widely supported and best upscaling method - and even if you don't like it for some reason, you can still use FSR or XeSS in games that support it instead.

Just make sure to get the 8 GB instead of the identically-named 6 GB version, because of course a much worse card has the exact same name. Not only is there more memory, it's also faster (128 bit instead of a 96 bit bus), there are more CUDA cores (2560 instead of 2304) and the card runs at a much higher clock speed (1.78 GHz vs. 1.47). It needs a separate power connector, unlike the cut-down variant, but it's still more power-efficient than OP's current card.