Even in 2024 many graphics cards on Polaris architecture, such as RX 580 2048 SP look great on paper .
It's not too old (released in 2018 - the same year as RTX 2080).
Its numerical computing performance is still sufficient (6.2 TFLOPS - higher than Xbox Series S with its 4 TFLOPS).
Its 8GB VRAM is still enough for at least medium texture settings in Full HD, even when playing the most demanding games (even Cities Skylines 2 requires "only" just over 6GB on medium settings).
It has full support for standard DirectX 12 features (it was released as a DirectX 12 video card, there was no need to cut any corners or squeeze in any workarounds - it was a fully DirectX 12 card from day 1).
It consumes a moderate amount of power (150 Watts - about on par with overclocked RTX 3050 - and can even be powered with a single 6-pin connector).
And most importantly it is very affordable. You can pick a new one up for about 259 PLN / 59€ on AliExpress, from many different (albeit lesser known, but still widely tested) brands.
Unfortunately, 2023 showed, that RX 580 may have been too good for its own right.
It all started in early January 2023 with Forspoken. It turned out that it only runs on Linux with RX 580 (and other Polaris cards).
Initially, everyone thought - 'Oh just another funny bug, we never get games that are ready to play on release date anyway. Let's just wait a few days, maybe a few weeks, it will get fixed'.
But months went by, and it never got 'fixed'. If you own RX 400/500 series GPU - you simply cannot play Forspoken on Windows.
A few weeks later Fortnite dropped a massive visual update with Unreal Engine 5.1 with new lighting techniques called Nanite and Lumen. And it turned out you cannot enable them on RX 580 8GB (even though you can do that on otherwise older and weaker GTX 1060 6GB and even some integrated graphics such as Radeon 680M). You can still play Fortnite without them, RX 580 8GB is still good for over 80 FPS on Epic settings in DirectX 11 and it still looks magnificent compared to lower settings (and especially "Performance Mode"). But it was somewhat disappointing that RX 580 and other Polaris cards were left out.
Weeks went by and in autumn 2023 Alan Wake 2 was released. And it turned out that if you own any AMD card released before 2021, you need to install a mod to disable mesh shaders in order to play. It doesn't change the way the game looks or plays. Fortunately, Alan Wake 2 is a single-player title that is reasonably friendly towards the modding community. But it may have been just another sign of bad things to come.
And finally, in November 2023 AMD announced that RX 580 and other Polaris cards will not be getting any new drivers with game optimizations.
That in itself is also not the end of the world.
There are community drivers (especially from NimeZ) that are keeping alive even much older cards - as old as Radeon HD 6970 from 2010.
So in the latest and the most demanding offline single-player titles, you can always use mods, custom drivers, and other "tricks" to make use of RX 580's performance.
While online multiplayer games are often much less demanding and not quite as strict when it comes to driver requirements (for example - you can comfortably play the latest Counter-Strike 2 from 2023 on drivers from 2016 and it won't complain).
So RX 580 is still a great choice if you are looking for a new graphics card for 259 PLN / 59€.
But it has been priced around this mark for well over a year now. And both AMD and some game developers are trying to force it into obsolescence.
While not offering any alternative for budget gamers.
Not just at 259 PLN / 59€ - even if you double that amount to 500-600 PLN / 115-140€ - you still won't find any usable new graphics cards.
jUsT bUy uSeD - yeah, of course, no problem. I'm sure the lack of availability of any options on the new market won't impact the pricing on the used market.
And it's not concerning at all, that graphics cards that are available on the store shelves brand new (they were still manufactured in 2022 - possibly even later) have lost driver support a few months after the manufacturing date.
Everything is fine, there is nothing to worry about.