Would a 1050Ti with only 2GB get me anywhere ? Just looked and cards right now even for something 2 years old are wayy overpriced. Sure isn't a good time to but graphics cards thats for sure.
I did find this
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MEGB6LK/?tag=pcpapi-20
That's what I'm looking at too ( GTX 1050)...AC for me can be a slide show, same with F1 2017.....others ( iracing, RRE, Dirt Rally, Automobilista) are OK. I have an old 1GB Quadro drafting card, not ideal.
The specs look OK, way better than what I have now and I can afford it ( < $200).
Not that familiar with how much vram is really used. Can you tell me the games and used resolutions? Then I'll load them up and check for the vram usages
Resolution and anti aliasing increase it. Game settings too of course but with a 1050 ti you will run high settings anyway so you'll at least know if you need 2 or 4gb vram after my test
Before I test: I would always go for 4gb. Friend of mine had a gtx 670 with 2 GB and it worked mostly fine as game settings that needed more than 2gb would drop to sub 40 fps anyway because the gpu wasn't fast enough anyway.
But a few games caused massive problems because they had just big textures but weren't very demanding overall.
For AC I already tested:
- 1080p single screen
- 8x AF
- Word detail: maximum
- Shadow resolution: 2048x2048 (second highest)
- Smoke: minimum
- Show smoke in mirrors: yes
- PP on
- Overall: maximum
- Glare: maximum
- DoF: off
- Motion blur: off
- Heat shimmering: on
- Crepuscular rays: on
- FXAA: off
- Reflection resolution: 2048x2048 (highest)
- Reflection Rendering Frequency: static
- Mirrors on maximum
With 23 AIs, mixed GT2 grid and 2x AA I got a VRAM usage of:
Watkins Glen: ~2690 MB
Barcelona GP: ~2600 MB
So for AC I can't recommend anything below 3GB of VRAM as a 1050ti for example will be able to run the same settings or better (my 1070 downclocks 500 MHz and is only at 30% load)!
If you can't find a used 780/960/970 then maybe have a look on used AMD cards like a 290/390/470 or a new Radeon 560 with 4GB.
It wouldn't be a massive upgrade regarding performance but still be a step forward and especially no VRAM restrictions anymore!
Radeon 560 is a little bit below the 1050 ti but costs the same as the 2GB version of the 1050 ti while having 4GB vram
Here's the Amazon Link:
LINK