the RX 550 comes in two flavours, 2G and 4G... I own the 4G and have not come across a game it can't play
the card was a test bed for new tech which turned out to be solid so they where cheap on first launch but have gone up now i.e, if you can grab one under $100 good luck but at that price I would want to know the history so its not an ex-coin digger
my system = https://valid.x86.fr/wccle8

yes like i said, i did purchase an rx550 this year and it works but if you check benchmarks it is very underpowered and because of the chip shortage it is also hard to find new. Honestly, if you cannot afford a modern 2021 system then you will have to deal with what you can afford today during the chip shortage. Your system can handle a more powerful gpu than an rx550 but AMD does not have models at every price and performance point. Each model has caveats and you are going to have to choose less or more performance. The price is irrelevant now because msrp went out the window months ago. you have also limited yourself to amd gpu only, or potentially an unreleased intel gpu, and so if you want other options, i suggest the AMD Pro series of workstation gpus.

Don't know my PSU off hand.
Display is 1080p, though I don't mind switching to a lower resolution for better performance (and I don't mind turning down settings either, as long as such a change doesn't remove important visual cues), and I do have a (smaller) 720p display available as well.
Games I play tend to be (turn-based) RPGs (playing Stranger of Sword City Revisited right now, and that's a game I would like some better performance in), and sometimes metroidvanias or 2d action games. 3d action games rarely (and would be games like Ys, Garumin, or Yooka-Laylee (note that one is not like the others)).

Resolution: My display is 1080p, but I am willing to turn it down for better performance.

Framerate: This is a tricky question. My requirements are that:
* The game run at full speed. In particular, if the game has a concept of "physics framerate" (like Hollow Knight, which has a physics framerate of 50fps), that framerate should hold significantly.
* The graphics need to be smooth enough for the game to be playable. 30fps graphics is likely good enough, though of course a higher consistent framerate would be better.
* Input lag needs to be minimal. For a (turn-based) RPG, it's annoying when you press a button and it takes a moment to register; for an action game such lag can make the game unplayable (as was the case for Hollow Knight when this desktop still had cooling issues).

hollow knight recommends a GeForce GTX 570 for the best experience.

input lag is related to your system and peripherals, not the gpu.

Unless the game is running so slowly that it can't handle the "physics framerate", as I've referred to it.

Not sure how what you are talking about relates to input lag.

I get that. It's one of those things where it's going to be super hard to find anything right now, as well, because not only are scalpers scooping up every card they can, but a lot of people who have never used a pc before for anything other than email now have to use them to work from home.

Good luck and let us know what you settle on :)

-Timmeh

What about price and performance?

From google: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gt-1030-2gb,5110.html
Talks about the GT1030 : "The competition from AMD lands somewhere between GM107 and GK208. Its Radeon RX 550 is a little more expensive (~$85) and slightly more power-hungry (50W)."

AMD had very freaking good cards. Back in the Radeon HD 7*** series and GTX 5** series (probably before, with first DX11 cards), AMD was much more efficient tha Nvidia cards. Indeed, since Pascal nVidia has been quite ahead on the efficiency front but at this time, is not true anymore:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/would_buying_an_rx_550_make_sense_for_my_desktop/post21

That said, reading it now, my previous post seem a bit "harsh", was not my intent and I should be more carefull choosing words.

I'd advice looking for a 4gb RX 580 or 570 or 290 if you get one for less than $200. That's probably the best value you can get right now

You do need to check your PSU has 6/8 pin adapters that will power the card

I got an new 570/8gb for about $150 year and half ago. This current mining thing is seasonal, I recommend hence simply postponing the purchase or hunting down the reasonably priced card in classfields or however the used market is called.. There are sometimes people upgrading and selling stuff at good price without knowing actual value. With some luck, is possible.

An RX 550 would definitely be a significant upgrade for you. It would open up the ability to play many more games than you can right now.

Although not directly comparable, I have an i7-3770 and an RX 460 and I was able to play the Outriders demo on low.

Of course, as pretty much everyone is aware at this point, it's not exactly a good time to buy a GPU. And even if it were, the first thing you need to ask yourself is: "do I really need it?".

rx 550 would definetely be a great upgrade, a rx 560 would be even better. Since you are using Linux, I have some advice:

Never buy Nvidia, I mean it: I had a linux laptop with a rtx 2060, ryzen 4800h. That company who made the laptop also did some stuff that should make Nvidia work better on Linux, but despite that I experienced so many issues, like VSYNC problems, crashes and much more. I have heard Nvidia should work better on a desktop pc, but I would stay away from it.

I have never experienced problems with AMD on Linux. It works perfectly for me.



You should not need to update the motherboards BIOS but: This might be very specific, but I bought a prebuild a long time ago from Acer. Much later I installed a rx 580 into the motherboard, but since it was PCI 3.0 it did not work at all. I am not sure if this is their case for all of Acer's prebuilts, but you should be aware of this.


You should wait if you can. Right now the GPU prices are very expensive. If you can wait a year or so, the prices should hopefully be back to normal and there might be better GPU's for a better price.

Sorry for my bad english, but hopefully this was helpful in some way.