Hi everyone,

I’m trying to put together a system using some existing hardware, and I’d appreciate any advice for what GPU would be sensible here, and whether there are any pitfalls I’m missing.

I already have a main system, and the idea is to set up a second box for when two of us want to play at the same time. I have some old hardware, which I know is more suited for a server, but I wondered whether I could stick a GPU in and get a reasonable gaming experience without spending too much money:

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231v3 (apparently similar to a i7-4770 in performance)
GPU: nothing yet!
RAM: 16GB DDR3
Motherboard: Supermicro X10SLM-F
Monitor: 1920x1200, so I assume I should look at 1080p benchmarks for a rough idea of the performance

For comparison, my main system has a Ryzen 5 3600 with 16 GB RAM, and a Radeon RX 5700 XT. I don't need the second system to be as powerful, but I'd like it to be good enough to not be frustrating. The games that I’d like to play include Valheim, Elite Dangerous, and Minecraft, but I'd also be happy if I could play some more demanding titles like Baldur's Gate 3.

If I want to get another AMD GPU and spend less than €300, I found two main options:

1) Around €100: a second-hand RX 580 (it's the recommended GPU for Valheim and slightly better than minimum for Baldur's Gate 3). Relatively cheap, with the risk that I'll find it underpowered if I want to do more.

2) Around €200–€300: an RX 6600 or 7600 (not the XT variants, which cost a lot more). From the tables on Tom's Hardware, the 6600 wouldn't be any faster than my existing RX 5700 XT, maybe even slower. The 7600 would be a bit faster, but would also draw more power and run hotter. All other things being equal, I'd like the system to be quiet, which maybe suggests the 6600 over the 7600? Both are more future-proof than the RX 580, but maybe spending this much defeats the object if I'm trying to build a budget second machine with older other components.

Please may I ask for any suggestions or recommendations, or is there anything I'm missing — especially anything Linux-specific that I might not see when looking at general reviews under Windows?

I'll need to check if the PSU is powerful enough and has the right connectors for whichever GPU I get. Also, the motherboard has a slot that is "PCI-E 3.0 x8 in x16” which I think means physically x16 but only x8 bandwidth. I believe this should work, with only a minor loss in performance, right?

Many thanks in advance for any advice!