Help New Graphics Card

[Lycan67]

hey guys. im stuck with an HP a1700n for time being..cant afford an entire pc upgrade. im running the onboard GeForce 6150 LE.. and it pretty much sucks. its got an Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2.0 GHz cpu, 2gigs of ram. i have no idea bout the power supply, but, its what came with the machine. im disabled..in a wheelchair, and on a fixed income, so..dont have much cash, or the ability, to open case and replace cpu, power supply etc.. gonna prob pay a local pc guy to come here and simply install a new video card that ill buy online.

ive got about 150-200 bucks max to upgrade the video card. i play alot of second life...so..something optimal for that. but, id like to be able to run any of the newer games as well.

questions are.. what would be the best choice for a new GPU.. and will that card run smoothly in my current pc...motherboard and power supply?

thanks for the input

 

[slash196]

You can't spend too much on a GPU without hitting a wall with your CPU anyway. You'll want something without a PCI power plug... GTX240 perhaps? Shouldn't be more than 80 bucks and dead simple to install.

 

[Lycan67]

so..with my current cpu, power supply etc.. a better card like a gtx460 wouldnt be worth it..

will the gtx240 allow me to run most games ok..

 

[darckhart]

i'm sure he means gt240 which does not require additional power connections, so no need to upgrade mobo and psu unless you're determined to do it.

whether it's "good enough" depends on what you play and at what resolution. i have a gt240 and it is surprisingly versatile. in any case, it's practically a quantum leap from your current graphics. let us know some more details on games and res and we can help you out better.

 

[Dark Shroud]

If you're running on an OEM power supply then you want to avoid Nvidia. Do not go with anything larger than an ATI HD 5770.

 

[toyota]

no way would it be safe to run a 5770 on a 4 year old cheap oem 300 watt psu. best to stick with something like a gt240 gddr5 or 5670. with a 3800 X2 and likely a low res either of those will be plenty for an upgrade. of course it would be nice to actually know what res he wants to play at.


also I believe that pc only has 1gb of memory which will not cut it for modern gaming so that needs to be upgraded.

 

[Lycan67]

EDITED.. i bought it from a friend and i believe it was a deluxe model..haaa from best buy or somethng.. it had 2 gigs of ram and a geforce 8600 installed on it. the geforce 8600 shit the bed on me few months back and have using the onboard 6150le ever since.. also..it came loaded with vista home premium

im using an acer al1716 monitor at 1280x1024rez

i play alot of second life and would like to be able to set the graphics as high as possible.

also.. would like to able to run any of the modern games.. call of duty, crysis, assassins creed etc..

im not sure of the power supply..but..prob oem..whatever they include.. cant seem to find the specs on it anywhere.

yes..like i said..i really wont be able to upgrade anything but the graphics card and maybe more ram.. so..dunno how limited this makes my options.

any way to find out the max card i can run on this power supply..

thanks again guys

 

[Lycan67]

if it came from the store with an geforce 8600 installed..would that indicate possibly a better than typical oem power supply as well..

 

[toyota]

there is no reason to buy more than a gt240 gddr5 or 5670 for that res with your relatively slow cpu and older oem power supply. that and another 1gb of ram and you will be set for most games. now really cpu intensive games are still going to be poky if you try and run higher settings and no graphics card can solve that.


EDIT: the a1700n did not come with a video card other than integrated graphics and only had 1gb of system ram. if it had 2gb of ram and an 8600gt then that means your friend upgraded those things. btw the 8600gt did not even come out until 5 months after the HP a1700n model was released.

 

[Lycan67]

i know he didnt upgrade himself and that he bought as was from a store..maybe the store was offering the upgrades.. possible. i just dont know if the upgraded the ps as well..doubtful though.

would a geforce 4850 or gtx260 be possible on a low end ps...

 

[toyota]

i know he didnt upgrade himself and that he bought as was from a store..maybe the store was offering the upgrades.. possible. i just dont know if the upgraded the ps as well..doubtful though.

would a geforce 4850 or gtx260 be possible on a low end ps...

he must have upgraded the card and 1gb of ram from the store then. again though the 8600gt was not even out yet until 5 months after this pc was first on the market. by that time the a1700n was probably about to be replaced anyway.

no those cards will not be okay with your power supply. you have already been given some realistic suggestions. even if the power supply has been upgraded those cards would be a little silly at 1280 with a 3800 X2 cpu. not to mention putting a higher end card in a cheap oem case with poor airflow and likely no fans is not a good idea.

 

[bryanW1995]

gtx 260 is a big risk, and regardless it's unnecessary for your resolution. 4850 could work but still uses more power than you want. your resolution is so low that a gt 240 should play just about any game with high details and some AA. if you want to absolutely max that res out with 8xAA + and/or custom AA modes on games like crysis then you need a complete system upgrade.

keep your eyes on fs/ft, I've seen gt 240's as low as $29.99 AR there.

 

[AtenRa]

Get a new PSU in order to be able to install a GTS450 or HD5770/6xxx and be able to play DX-11 games at 1280

 

[toyota]

Get a new PSU in order to be able to install a GTS450 or HD5770/6xxx and be able to play DX-11 games at 1280

at 1280 his 3800 X2 would not even deliver half of what a 5770 is capable of in many games.

 

[Lycan67]

ok..so.. if no ps upgrade..

geforce gt240
radeon 5670

where does the 9800gt fit if at all..

and if they offer basically same at price.. is there any advantage to geforce vs radeon in game performance at all

 

[AtenRa]

at 1280 his 3800 X2 would not even deliver half of what a 5770 is capable of in many games.

I believe in DX-11 games (AvP, Lost Planet 2) with tessellation enable it’s the GPU that makes the diference. Sure in DX-9 and 10 games the 3800 x2 will not be adequate

 

[toyota]

ok..so.. if no ps upgrade..

geforce gt240
radeon 5670

where does the 9800gt fit if at all..

and if they offer basically same at price.. is there any advantage to geforce vs radeon in game performance at all

a gt240 is a bit slower than a 9800gt. the 9800gt uses more power though and would not be a good idea.

in general both ATI and Nvidia cards will have advantages in certain games so really it doesn't matter much.

 

[toyota]

I believe in DX-11 games (AvP, Lost Planet 2) with tessellation enable it’s the GPU that makes the diference. Sure in DX-9 and 10 games the 3800 x2 will not be adequate

the point was that his cpu is not going to provide an adequate framerate in more cpu intensive games on higher settings anyway and in general will not come close to fully pushing a 5770 at 1280. buying a new power supply and $150 video card for that res is silly with his cpu.

 

[Lycan67]

thanks...any idea which second life prefers.. geforce or radeon

 

[RussianSensation]

Second Life - PC Minimum System Recommendations:

* Internet Connection: Cable or DSL
* Computer Processor: 1.6GHz Pentium 4 or Athlon 2000+ or better
* Computer Memory: 512MB or better
* Video/Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce FX 5600, GeForce 6600, or better OR ATI Radeon 9600, X600, or better

Looks like your 6150 is the bottleneck for this game. 5670, GT240 are decent upgrade cards in the $50-70 range for you. Don't spend more than $100 on a graphics card for your system though because any more power is likely going to be wasted with that CPU.

 

[Vesku]

Just get whatever Nvidia GT240 or AMD Radeon 5670 you can find the best deal on. Make sure it has a warranty to match your expectations and get it from an online retailer with a video card return policy you can live with.

 

[RussianSensation]

You know what, I just reviewed latest benchmarks of GT240 / 5670 from GT430 review - and those cards are too slow.

Actually a passively cooled 9800GT for $80 or 4850 for $80 are probably worth spending extra $10-20 for. You'll be CPU limited in games, but honestly GT240/5670 are too damn slow for modern games even with a Core i7.

 

[toyota]

You know what, I just reviewed latest benchmarks of GT240 / 5670 from GT430 review - and those cards are too slow.

Actually a passively cooled 9800GT for $80 or 4850 for $80 are probably worth spending extra $10-20 for. You'll be CPU limited in games, but honestly GT240/5670 are too damn slow for modern games even with a Core i7.

lets be realistic here. a gt240 can run games just fine at 1280 on like medium and even high settings depending on the game. many settings have an impact on the cpu so running all games on the highest settings is not really an option for him anyway. at 1280 he will be limited by his just as much as from the gt240. and regardless of res, the 3800 X2 is not even going to provide a very good framerate in more cpu intensive games on decent settings in the first place.

 

[Lycan67]

is the gt240 the least likely to give trouble with my ps..

considering my cpu.. is it even worth thinking about upgrading ps to make a 4850 worth it..

if i stay with current ps and go for a gt240.. which one..seems to be alot out there.. different brands, 512, 1gb etc.. kinda confusing. i want the best possible performance i can eek out of this

 

[toyota]

is the gt240 the least likely to give trouble with my ps..

considering my cpu.. is it even worth thinking about upgrading ps to make a 4850 worth it..

if i stay with current ps and go for a gt240.. which one..seems to be alot out there.. different brands, 512, 1gb etc.. kinda confusing. i want the best possible performance i can eek out of this

a gt240 will be just fine with your psu and cpu. it is not worth upgrading your psu to get a faster card then that with your relatively slow cpu especially at just 1280. there is no need for a 1gb version at your low res but go with gddr5 if it is not too much more money.