new card

[dominicr]

I just bought a new computer last week and the video card it came with is downright terrible.

http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0371082

is the computer I bought. I want to put a new card in there but not sure what I can go with or what will even fit. I enjoy playing games but am not a computer builder by all means. I play league of legends, the new star wars game, and will play diablo 3 when that comes out. im looking for something that will play these on max settings with good frames per second. I was looking at a gtx550ti but not sure if those are good or not. if anyone has some advise please do.

 

[nanaki333]

gtx 550i or a radeon 6770/5770 would be a good fit for a pre-built machine. the PSU should at least handle that.

knowing blizzard, that 6450 will probably be enough to play diablo 3 smooth

 

[-Slacker-]

Oh god 5400 rpm hard drives, and they're 1 Tb each, so that alone would cost at least $200 if it was custom built...

Anyway, the PSU probably will probably supply less than 400w, so the best you can do on it would be a HD 6850. Otherwise a HD 6770/5770 would do nicely, like nanaki said.

 

[dominicr]

thank you. i looked up the 550ti and the 6770 and it looks like the difference is the bits. is there a big difference between 196 bit and 128bit?

 

[T_Yamamoto]

thank you. i looked up the 550ti and the 6770 and it looks like the difference is the bits. is there a big difference between 196 bit and 128bit?

i doubt it....

someone back me up

 

[GaiaHunter]

The 550ti is slightly faster than the 6770 (7% faster according to anand review).

The bits refer to the memory controller - 128bits vs 192bits. While sometime it is very important (mostly when paired with lower speed memory lke DDR3 and GDDR3), in this particular case it doesn't matter much (the 6770 has enough memory bandwidth for its processing power).

I would go with the 6770 since it consumes less power just in case that PSU isn't very good and the 6770 is cheaper.

I would also look at the 5770. The 6770 is basically a 5770 with some minor tweaks (HDMI 1.4a and UDV3 vs HDMI 1.3 and UDV2) and a new name, but you can generally find the 5770 for a cheaper price (you know the 6 costs more to print than the 5 ).

Alternatively you can also consider the 6850 which should consume as much power as the GTX550 ti and be faster (25% faster according to anand review) for not much more.

 

[dominicr]

what kind of graphics settings do you think i could get out of those cards on the new stars wars game...diablo 3...and league of legends. also with an old 420 card i had in my old computer i was pulling 60fps on league of legends and with this 6450 im struggling to get 40

 

[GaiaHunter]

At what resolution do you play?

Anyway a 5770/6770 is at least 3-5x as fast as the 6450 so you shouldn't have any problems breaking the 60 fps in LoL.

For ToR from toms review.

For Diablo III unless there is someone around in the beta (if the beta started already) it is anyone guess. What I can say is that generally Blizzard games don't require much GPU power and generally run better on NVIDIA cards.

 

[dominicr]

so would the cards mentioned be ranked as follows

550ti
6770
hd6850

 

[GaiaHunter]

so would the cards mentioned be ranked as follows

550ti
6770
hd6850

The 6850 is the fastest of those 3.

The 550ti is generally slightly faster than the 6770, but depending on the games it can be the other way around.

 

[dominicr]

thanks alot for the help...the 6850 isnt to much more expensive...ill probably just go that route.

 

[Stuka87]

Make sure your PSU has a 6 pin power connector for the video card. Otherwise none of those cards will work.

 

[Arkadrel]

Power Supply 500 Watt

Let her rip!

Ahh... just saw your thinking about the 6850, great card that one

Make sure your PSU has a 6 pin power connector for the video card. Otherwise none of those cards will work.

4$ converter will fix that
Though a new pc with a 500w PSU should have one of those 6pin power connects for cards.

 

[Herald85]

The PSU is Allied according to the screenshot. Not the best possible brand I'm afraid... But it should be able to power 5770/6850 if it's '500w' (I'm guessing it can provide 350W ? )

 

[nanaki333]

Let her rip!

Ahh... just saw your thinking about the 6850, great card that one




4$ converter will fix that
Though a new pc with a 500w PSU should have one of those 6pin power connects for cards.

every card i've gotten in the last like 4 years came with said converter. got a drawer full

 

[aphelion02]

That computer wasn't a very good buy. Why did you get it?

 

[Arkadrel]

@Aphelion02

2TB HD = ~140$
Intel 2500k = ~220$
8gb DDR3 1333 = ~85$
windows 7 = ~240$

^ arnt prices something like that on newegg?

throw in a small case, a card reader, dvd drive.... I wouldnt call it a bad buy pr say.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

@Aphelion02

2TB HD = ~140$
Intel 2500k = ~220$
8gb DDR3 1333 = ~85$
windows 7 = ~240$

^ arnt prices something like that on newegg?

throw in a small case, a card reader, dvd drive.... I wouldnt call it a bad buy pr say.

LOL

1 TB = 140
2500K = 220
ram = 40
win 7 = 100

total = 500 lol

 

[lehtv]

Pretty much. The PSU and case that came with the PC are worth maybe $50 combined. The motherboard $100. Overall you're looking at a $650-700 PC that you paid nearly $800 for.

 

[Arkaign]

LOL

1 TB = 140
2500K = 220
ram = 40
win 7 = 100

total = 500 lol

Yeah that's $500, now add a case, psu, motherboard, optical drive, and 6450.

Average prices = $40 case+psu
mainboard = $65
optical drive $20
6450 $25

so that's another $150.

Besides, the PC in the OP has a 2TB hdd, not a 1TB.

It's not the best deal, but it's very far from the worst.

 

[dominicr]

I bought this computer becasue im not a very techy person and probably couldnt build my own computer. I would never know what to buy or what is good. I dont play crysis or any game like that...i play league of legends...the new star wars...and diablo 3 and guild wars 2 when those come out. i used to play entropia until they changed the graphics on it and couldnt play it anymore. im pretty sure i can put a graphics card in since it should be just taking the old one out and putting a new one in and plugging in the power cable then updating the drivers. the other thing i use the computer for besides those low end games is my cad software....solidworks...catia...and unigraphics. in due time ill upgrade the power supply and other components...just have to come up with reasons to tell the wife so i dont have to listen to her bitch. the video card was an easy upgrade becasue the 6450 that comes in it the website says its not 3d ready and since im an engineer and do all 3d modeling i need a 3d video card.

 

[GaiaHunter]

I bought this computer becasue im not a very techy person and probably couldnt build my own computer. I would never know what to buy or what is good. I dont play crysis or any game like that...i play league of legends...the new star wars...and diablo 3 and guild wars 2 when those come out. i used to play entropia until they changed the graphics on it and couldnt play it anymore. im pretty sure i can put a graphics card in since it should be just taking the old one out and putting a new one in and plugging in the power cable then updating the drivers. the other thing i use the computer for besides those low end games is my cad software....solidworks...catia...and unigraphics. in due time ill upgrade the power supply and other components...just have to come up with reasons to tell the wife so i dont have to listen to her bitch. the video card was an easy upgrade becasue the 6450 that comes in it the website says its not 3d ready and since im an engineer and do all 3d modeling i need a 3d video card.

It isn't that bad of a buy - but BYO can generally give higher performance for money.

The only thing I'm worried is the PSU, although it should be ok to use a 6850.

Thumbs up for Guild Wars 2.

Best of lucks with your upgrade and enjoy.

 

[Arkadrel]

Thumbs up for Guild Wars 2

I ll be like white on rice with that as well, soon as its out.

I was looking at some of the SW:TOR videos, and the interface, and some of the combat looks so-so... it doesnt feel like a next gen MMO. Guildwars2 looks solid, from all the videos of it.

Another game to consider is Aion, its apperntly going Free 2 play.

 

[dominicr]

the new star wars feels alot like wow set in the future. so far and im only up to level 12 the game play has been fun and hasnt felt to grindy yet. level cap is 50 and there were peopel that hit it in 72 hours so it cant be that bad but i work 60 hours a week so its tough for me to do that.

guild wars 2 is goign to be bad ass or so it seems. to bad they got rid of the ritualists so no more ele/rit soloing the underworld.

 

[GaiaHunter]

guild wars 2 is goign to be bad ass or so it seems. to bad they got rid of the ritualists so no more ele/rit soloing the underworld.

Ah, but engineers with their towers seems a bit similar to rits.