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I'm putting together a new Windows 10 system for mostly productivity uses (not gaming); most demanding use is probably photo editing (we have an application called Topaz that needs some GPU capability--the integrated Intel HD 4000 GPU in our current system isn't quite up to the task https://help.topazlabs.com/hc/en-us/articles/115004759908-Topaz-Studio-Minimum-Requirements-and-Recommended-Hardware ). I'm using a Ryzen CPU for the new build, so I need a video card, but can't buy one at the moment. I have a collection of older GPUs, but from what I've been hearing I'm concerned about Windows 10 compatibility, especially after Windows updates. When I can buy a new video card I'd like to put it in our gaming system and move the current AMD HD 7850 into our productivity system (at least that was the initial plan--the 7850 is getting old now too).

As far as cards I have on hand, the Geforce 470 is probably the best performing, though I also have an AMD 6850 and an AMD 7450 (slower, I know). Should I be concerned about using any of these? Open to any thoughts/suggestions--thanks!

The 470 is a power hog, but otherwise no - you should not be concerned about running these older cards. It supports CUDA too, if you plan to do any editing with apps that take advantage of it.

Otherwise, the only real concern is the power consumption. It would seem that the older 400-series cards have poor idle power consumption compared to modern cards. Assume that it's going to use 30W more than a GTX 1050 at idle, and 150W more than a GTX 1050 under load, despite being slower than the newer card.

If you pay a lot for you energy and you like quiet computers, then consider retiring the 470 in favour of a GTX 1050. The extra VRAM may help (2GB or 4GB, compared to 1.25GB on the 470) and most of the 1050 cards idle at <10W and consume <75W at full load. The old 6850 may be okay if you don't need CUDA since it uses 100W less power than the 470 and has better idle consumption (15-20W).

Your biggest problem with an old GPU is really whether there are Windows 10 drivers that do what you need for them. OpenGL 3.3 should be fine under the generic Microsoft driver, but since it'll cost you nothing other than your time to test it, not really a concern.

Unless you need to use a specific proprietary NVidia application, it is very difficult to recommend a $170 GeForce GTX 1050Ti 4GB when you can get an AMD Radeon RX 560 4GB card for $110, a Radeon RX 570 4GB for $145 or a Radeon RX 580 8GB for $190.

As far as driver support goes, it looks like the Geforce 470 wins

The latest stable drivers for the Radeon 6850 were released back in 2015, though beta drivers from 2016 are also available: https://www.amd.com/en/support/graphics ... on-hd-6850

Meanwhile, for the Geforce 470, the latest stable drivers are from 2018: https://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/132845

But once you get a new graphics card and can transplant the Radeon 7850, I think that will have slightly higher performance than the Geforce 470, and the Radeon 7850 has 2018 drivers: https://www.amd.com/en/support/graphics ... on-hd-7850

Some great thoughts--thanks to all of you! The power supply I have on hand is 700W, so the power consumption shouldn't an issue, at least in the long run.

So, between driver support and a small/marginal performance benefit, I think I'll go with the 470.

The biggest advantage of the 470 right now over a 1050 is that I have the 470, where a 1050 would cost me at least $180 here in Canada.