Help me decide if I should buy the arc B580 (As a backup)

[iameatingjam]

I put myself in a queue for one of these cards at a local shop, after conversation its only $244 USD. Definitely the cheapest price I've seen it, and they gave me a call, its available to buy. And since I put my name down the price has gone up so if I don't buy this while its still on hold, it will be more expensive next time.

I was getting nervous with the empty shelves everywhere and me not really having any backup (my only video backup for my main pc would be my 12100's igpu, which is also my backup cpu) There's been several gpu droughts over recent years and I suppose thats why I feel its necessary to have something and the b580 has an attractive price. I've always in the past sold my old cards to help finance the new ones though now I'm seeing the benefit of... not always doing that.

But anyway, I'm having second thoughts because I found out arc cards have no way to do global downsampling, I even asked intel if it was a feature they were working on and I eventually got the answer 'we're not telling.' -_-

I really rely on that feature for games with insufficient AA. I know I wouldn't be rendering demanding AAA games at high resolutions (1440p with TAA I should be able to adapt to), but for certain games, usually lesser known, not as demanding games, with no AA except maybe SMAA... its REALLY important. Reshade on its own, isn't enough for my eyes.

Yet, if my 4090 were to die idk what I'd do, and it would be nice to have something to game with, while I figure that out. So I mean $244 USD doesn't sound like that much and its not compared to other GPUs right now but its still $350 CAD. Which is quite a lot of money for me at the moment.

At the end of the day, it would serve as nothing more than an emotional support GPU, if the 4090 never dies, I'll never use it, wasted money. Yet if I don't get this under msrp card now, might not get a chance to get one as cheap for a while, who knows... The normal price everywhere else seems to be $400 CAD, and usually out of stock. And scalper prices are $500+.... So I don't know. I can't decide. I have until friday until my hold is up.

Should I buy it? Or take the chance with my Tuf 4090 non-oc ( launch model with original 12VHPWR) and hope it lives ( I go VERY easy on it - yet you never know....) Its two ish years old now and has served me quite well thus far...

EDIT: Open to alternatives, but I would want something cheap. I had also considered something like a 1080 ti but it lacks a lot of modern features. There's the 3060 which has dlss but is even less powerful. And both would have to be used.... but they have dldsr.

Something AMD could be an option even though vsr isn't quite dldsr, I've never actually used it, but from what I understand its more like dsr, but I mean thats kind of what I expected intel would have... Idk, everything seems pretty expensive right now.... hard to beat the b580 on value. Just lacks that one feature I need....

 

[droopyRO]

fter conversation its only $244 USD

Are those the prices in Ukraine ?

That seems like a good price for a B580. I too wanted a B580 for my backup rig, but they are expensive, even as resealed/opened box. So i settled for a RX 6650 XT that i got for about 200$ also open box. And it is good i did, since the 2700X that i have in that rig, it's a bottleneck even for the 6650 XT. From what i read and watched, you need a good CPU to drive the B5xx Intel cards, you might want to keep that in mind.

 

[Scattergrunt]

Are those the prices in Ukraine ? That seems like a good price for a B580. I too wanted a B580 for my backup rig, but they are expensive, even as resealed/opened box. So i settled for a RX 6650 XT that i got for about 200$ also open box. And it is good i did, since the 2700X that i have in that rig, it's a bottleneck even for the 6650 XT. From what i read and watched, you need a good CPU to drive the B5xx Intel cards, you might want to keep that in mind.

anything above a ~Ryzen 5600 should be more than enough if I remember correctly, as you only really need decent overhead on top of the stuff with ReBAR.

 

[iameatingjam]

Are those the prices in Ukraine ?

That seems like a good price for a B580. I too wanted a B580 for my backup rig, but they are expensive, even as resealed/opened box. So i settled for a RX 6650 XT that i got for about 200$ also open box. And it is good i did, since the 2700X that i have in that rig, it's a bottleneck even for the 6650 XT. From what i read and watched, you need a good CPU to drive the B5xx Intel cards, you might want to keep that in mind.

No not in Ukraine lol. Yeah... There's not a whole lotta data on it but I don't think my 14700kf will be much of a problem in that regard ( may be a problem in its own regard.... But yet to be seen, I run it pretty easy).

I'm running out of time. I was thinking of just letting it pass and holding out hope that the 4090 doesn't bite the dust.

 

[Scattergrunt]

I'd probably buy it if you really want a backup GPU, but it really isn't necessary to be honest. Considering what you said about how you use your 4090, you probably don't have to worry about it combusting into flames unless you aren't fully inserting that plug or something.

 

[iameatingjam]

I'd probably buy it if you really want a backup GPU, but it really isn't necessary to be honest. Considering what you said about how you use your 4090, you probably don't have to worry about it combusting into flames unless you aren't fully inserting that plug or something.

Yeah I was thinking the same. Its a good price but I only game 60 fps and the thing rarely sees even 300w. The cable is in a suboptimal angle but also there's no 600w flowing through it so hopefully should be okay.

 

[de.das.dude]

i honestly wouldnt worry about a backup. if it goes up in flames just buy whatever is available at that time.

why spend money on it "if" it happens, which isnt all that common these days. I hope its not one of "those" gigabyte PSUs

 

[iameatingjam]

i honestly wouldnt worry about a backup. if it goes up in flames just buy whatever is available at that time.

why spend money on it "if" it happens, which isnt all that common these days. I hope its not one of "those" gigabyte PSUs

lol, no its not from the explosion line of PSUs.

 

[Macro Device]

Don't do anything. Invest money in something else. Maybe a new chair, maybe a better sound system, maybe a fancy mini-fridge for drinks. Or something nice for your significant other if you have one. Maybe buy some stocks. Fancy clothes. Short trip to a town you've never been to. Scientific museum trip. Ingredients for a chemical experiment.

Whatever that's not a GPU. In this market, buying a GPU is generally a bad idea no matter if you can afford it. The prices are extreme, the stock is minimal and both NVIDIA and AMD are enjoying this state of affairs. They can sell whatever for whatever price and get away with it.

You have a great GPU that's gonna last you ages. Vote with your wallet. Don't buy a "what if" device for a gaming PC.

 

[droopyRO]

Don't buy a "what if" device for a gaming PC.

It dose not happen until it dose

I bought a RTX 2080 back in late 2019, in about February 2020 i had some issues with it's fans running at 100%(even made a topic here). RMA the card, after about a month got my money back, right in time for the stupid lockdowns and what followed with the whole covid virus stuff. Lucky for me i had not sold my GTX 1070 Ti.
Now, FF to late 2020 and the RTX 3060 Ti came out, and i said, heck let's wait a bit more until AMD drops the new RX 6xxx cards, since the 1070 Ti still held up most of my games at about 40-60 fps. And in early 2021, the mining craze and Bitcoin/ETH mania hit. So i was forced to stick with the 1070 Ti until early 2023 !

Moral of the story, if i had sold my 1070 Ti and not kept it as backup, i would have been a very sad gamer back in 2020-2023 time frame. Since then i had a RX 5500 XT and now a 6650 XT sitting in a backup rig, in case something "bad" happens. And yes, ever since then i am a bit of a prepper with other stuff too, not only computers

I survived this period with a GT 1030 just fine. There's a load of things you can do that's not graphically rich video games.

If he/you have the money for it, there is no reason not to do it. And if that's the case why would you limit your gaming experience to old games ?

 

[Macro Device]

It dose not happen until it dose

I bought a RTX 2080 back in late 2019, in about February 2020 i had some issues with it's fans running at 100%(even made a topic here). RMA the card, after about a month got my money back, right in time for the stupid lockdowns and what followed with the whole covid virus stuff. Lucky for me i had not sold my GTX 1070 Ti.
Now, FF to late 2020 and the RTX 3060 Ti came out, and i said, heck let's wait a bit more until AMD drops the new RX 6xxx cards, since the 1070 Ti still held up most of my games at about 40-60 fps. And in early 2021, the mining craze and Bitcoin/ETH mania hit. So i was forced to stick with the 1070 Ti until early 2023 !

Moral of the story, if i had sold my 1070 Ti and not kept it as backup, i would have been a very sad gamer back in 2020-2023 time frame. Since then i had a RX 5500 XT and now a 6650 XT sitting in a backup rig, in case something "bad" happens. And yes, ever since then i am a bit of a prepper with other stuff too, not only computers

I survived this period with a GT 1030 just fine. There's a load of things you can do that's not graphically rich video games.

 

[iameatingjam]

It dose not happen until it dose

I bought a RTX 2080 back in late 2019, in about February 2020 i had some issues with it's fans running at 100%(even made a topic here). RMA the card, after about a month got my money back, right in time for the stupid lockdowns and what followed with the whole covid virus stuff. Lucky for me i had not sold my GTX 1070 Ti.
Now, FF to late 2020 and the RTX 3060 Ti came out, and i said, heck let's wait a bit more until AMD drops the new RX 6xxx cards, since the 1070 Ti still held up most of my games at about 40-60 fps. And in early 2021, the mining craze and Bitcoin/ETH mania hit. So i was forced to stick with the 1070 Ti until early 2023 !

Moral of the story, if i had sold my 1070 Ti and not kept it as backup, i would have been a very sad gamer back in 2020-2023 time frame. Since then i had a RX 5500 XT and now a 6650 XT sitting in a backup rig, in case something "bad" happens. And yes, ever since then i am a bit of a prepper with other stuff too, not only computers


If he/you have the money for it, there is no reason not to do it. And if that's the case why would you limit your gaming experience to old games ?

Yeah that sounds like just the kind of scenario that got me thinking about this in the first place. Sigh... as soon as I thought I had made up my mind

I survived this period with a GT 1030 just fine. There's a load of things you can do that's not graphically rich video games.

I mean I could even survive off my retro pc if I was that desperate for entertainment. Did you have the gt 1030 with gddr or ddr? I wonder how that compares with the UHD Graphics 730. I'm guessing I'd be looking at very old games or 2d games unless I got some other kind of backup. Still I mean I wouldn't be opposed to something even cheaper just.... there's not much and it is quite a good deal compared to other GPUs..... I wonder how its value would hold. I mean its still a question mark if intel continues on with discrete gpus. I mean I'm sure drivers will still come for the SOCs, so I'm not so much worried about that.

 

[Rover4444]

Lucky. Go for it OP, it's a good card and has a lot of hardware capabilities. Doubtful you'll get a 12GB VRAM card for this cheap anytime soon.