Recommended video card for X58 motherboard?

[tripecac]

Hi, like many people I feel like I might need to upgrade my video card for Unity.

My current video card is a Radeon HD 5850 (1GB), which has served me well since I bought it back in 2010. Black Flag and Shadows of Mordor ran fine on it (though I didn't max out those games' settings). I've been perfectly happy with the 5850, and felt no need to upgrade... until the Unity requirements were announced. Sigh.

Anyway, here's my problem: my motherboard is an X58, purchased back in 2010. More specifically, it's this:

ASUS P6X58D-E Intel X58 Core i7 PCI-E DDR3 LGA1366 SATA3+USB3 ATX

I've read in some forums that some of the more modern video cards won't work well with X58 motherboards, either having their speed throttled dramatically or, even worse, causing BSODs. Specifically, the R9 290s are supposed to not work well with X58 motherboards.

So my question is this:

What video card(s) would you recommend for an X58 motherboard (or even my motherboard in particular if you want to get that granular), for playing Unity?


Note: I don't want to do anything "fancy" like overclocking, third party cooling, crossfire, etc. I'm more interested in reliability, coolness, and quietness than maximizing frame rates... as long as Unity runs "pretty well", I will be happy.

Thanks a bunch!

[Sparlight]

From a quick overview of your motherboard and reviews, I think any card would be fine. It really depends on your budget. Granted, your motherboard uses an outdated PCIe 2.0 spec, which is actually perfectly fine in most applications. Most modern cards cannot run at the full capacity of the new PCIe 3.0 spec, meaning that most cards today will have a comparable performance from one motherboard to the next. Personally I'd say you should choose one or two cards that are within your budget. It looks like you have 3 PCIe x 16 slots.

Is there a particular place that says it has major issues with some cards?

[PallyLIVE | Twitch]

You'll most likely run into CPU bottlenecks in X58 with any new high end card.

[Mayuyu]

Any card, you wont be having any issues with PCI-e 2.0 16x slot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rctaLgK5stA&t=4m55s

PCIe 2.0 16x = PCIe 3.0 8x

[PallyLIVE | Twitch]

Originally posted by Reina !:

Any card, you wont be having any issues with PCI-e 2.0 16x slot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rctaLgK5stA&t=4m55s

PCIe 2.0 16x = PCIe 3.0 8x

It's not the PCI-E speed that will bite him in the ass. It's the CPU.

[CursedPanther]

Has the R9 290 black screen issue been holding you back? I hear it's been fixed with the 14.9 driver, but you should look more into the matter.

If you ask me, the 970 seem to be the better purchase at the moment though.

[白无常]

970

[tripecac]

Hi guys, thanks for the input. I'm wary of the R9 290 because of reading in at least 2 places of compatibility issues with the X58 chipset. However, I have read at least one report of someone upgrading from my motherboard (P6X58D-E) to a R9 280X, with (apparently) no problems. So I'm wondering if that's a decent upgrade, in terms of both reliability and "bang for the buck". I think this is the card that the guy upgraded to: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FLMKNE0

Does that look like a decent card (for Unity)? Is it likely to work well with my motherboard?

And by "well" I mean "reliably", not "optimally". I'm not after triple-digit FPS or maxed out settings. Anything from 40-60 FPS on medium-ish settings (at 1920x1080) should be fine. That's how Shadow of Mordor ran for me, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. If I can get that sort of performance for Unity I will be happy.