Best gpu for my old machine...

[FishSlayer]

With your $100 budget, you could get a used 560 Ti + Athlon X2 4800+. Not a bad interim upgrade until you can do a full overhaul.

I was just looking at the 560 and for that price it doesn't seem to bad, I would take a chance on a used card for those prices

 

[happy medium]

you could get a used 560 Ti

a gtx560ti uses over 150 watts, it wont work.

 

[cbn]

That was actually the plan in a month or so, not many options for a cpu on this board, but that was the one I was looking at

Unfortunately, I am noticing the socket 939 version of that chip is expensive (~$60+).

It was the AM2 version that only costs a few dollars.

Sorry my mistake.

 

[cbn]

current gpu is radeon hd 3800

What version of this card do you have?

HD3830?

HD3850?

HD3870?

 

[FishSlayer]

What version of this card do you have?

HD3830?

HD3850?

HD3870?

I believe it is the 3850, it was given to me 5 years ago. Everywhere I look on the pc just says 3800 series so not sure

 

[cbn]

FishSlayer,

Are you still running Windows XP?

Also, what games do you want to play?

 

[FishSlayer]

I am running windows 7 sp1. And right now I play dayz on low everything and it's ok until I go to big cities obviously. But i am playing Infestation The new Z, Aftermath, Kind of ok sometimes with arma 3...and but the first 3 games I play on 1600x900, and medium to high except for dayz and arma 3 which are low settings

 

[happy medium]

I changed my vote.....
don't spend 100$ on that system.
Grab a gt740 for 60$.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127804&cm_re=gt_740-_-14-127-804-_-Product

I don't think with your cpu it will make a difference between a gt740 and a 750 . Why spend 40$ more?
A gt740 with ddr5 memory should be at least as fast as a gtx560ti and is new with a warranty.

It also will be at least 2x as fast as a 3850.

AND you wont need a new power supply.

 

[RussianSensation]

I am running windows 7 sp1. And right now I play dayz on low everything and it's ok until I go to big cities obviously. But i am playing Infestation The new Z, Aftermath, Kind of ok sometimes with arma 3...and but the first 3 games I play on 1600x900, and medium to high except for dayz and arma 3 which are low settings

250W PSU, well that limits your upgrade options severely.

Where about are you in the US? I have a brand new MSI GTX750 1GB OC. I can send it to you with shipping included for $65 US. Still has about 2.5 years of warranty left. PM me if interested.

Here is a review of that card:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh9t9M-lLQ4

 

[happy medium]

Where about are you in the US? I have a brand new MSI GTX750 1GB OC. I can send it to you with shipping included for $65. PM me if interested.

I'd jump all over that deal! Way to go RS:thumbsup:

 

[FishSlayer]

I changed my vote.....
don't spend 100$ on that system.
Grab a gt740 for 60$.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127804&cm_re=gt_740-_-14-127-804-_-Product

I don't think with your cpu it will make a difference between a gt740 and a 750 . Why spend 40$ more?
A gt740 with ddr5 memory should be at least as fast as a gtx560ti and is new with a warranty.

It also will be at least 2x as fast as a 3850.

AND you wont need a new power supply.

That is what I was considering, or the 560TI because I am getting a 450-500 watt power supply. But i think your right, I'm not sure but it does make sense that with my cpu there would not be significant change in spending $40 more dollars

 

[happy medium]

That is what I was considering, or the 560TI because I am getting a 450-500 watt power supply. But i think your right, I'm not sure but it does make sense that with my cpu there would not be significant change in spending $40 more dollars

I would also consider RS deal for the gtx750, that's a good price.

 

[FishSlayer]

250W PSU, well that limits your upgrade options severely.

Where about are you in the US? I have a brand new MSI GTX750 1GB OC. I can send it to you with shipping included for $65 US. Still has about 2.5 years of warranty left. PM me if interested.

Here is a review of that card:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh9t9M-lLQ4

I am in California, and unfortunately I am using a Amazon gift card, so the gpu I guess, that I decide to buy has to be thru Amazon. But that is a good offer and I do appreciate that, that is really cool man

 

[cbn]

I am running windows 7 sp1.

And right now I play dayz on low everything and it's ok until I go to big cities obviously. But i am playing Infestation The new Z, Aftermath, Kind of ok sometimes with arma 3...and but the first 3 games I play on 1600x900, and medium to high except for dayz and arma 3 which are low settings

For DayZ minimum recommendations are 2.5 Ghz AMD dual core and Fermi (GT 440) or better:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/221100/

ARMA III minimum recs are 2.5 Ghz AMD dual core HD3830 (<--- you have something at least this good):

http://store.steampowered.com/app/107410

^^^^ It might be a new video card won't help you till you have a better CPU/system.

 

[FishSlayer]

For DayZ minimum recommendations are 2.5 Ghz AMD dual core and Fermi (GT 440) or better:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/221100/

ARMA III minimum recs are 2.5 Ghz AMD dual core HD3830 (<--- you have something at least this good):

http://store.steampowered.com/app/107410

^^^^ It might be a new video card won't help you till you get a better CPU.

Yeah I was actually surprised when I seen that card was a minimum requirement, I am going to try and get a better cpu in about a month and figured a better gpu would probably help a little bit more too.

 

[RussianSensation]

I am in California, and unfortunately I am using a Amazon gift card, so the gpu I guess, that I decide to buy has to be thru Amazon. But that is a good offer and I do appreciate that, that is really cool man

Thanks! :thumbsup:

Your PSU really let you down. It could probably be possible to buy a $22 Q6600 and find a $40-50 P35 motherboard but and then get a $20 CPU cooler and overclock but your PSU won't handle that with a dGPU too.

I found this thread pertaining to your mobo:

"HP Tech support says [transcript from online chat re my hp Pavilion m7100e]:

This motherboard can be upgraded with the following processors
Athlon64 X2 4800
Athlon 64 4000
Sempron 3200"

Athlon 64 X2 4800 can be found for less than $10 on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Dual-Co...929679?hash=item280e70418f:g:zUgAAOSwdpxUXoy8

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Athlon-...045028?hash=item2106811aa4:g:l1gAAOSwNphWXx4N

That's a good starting point to get your CPU to meet minimum specs for some of those games as cbn kindly pointed out. :thumbsup:

EDIT*** Woops*** I made a huge mistake.

Looks like your board is a Socket 939, not AM2 so the AM2 X2 4800+ won't work:
http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=294618

S939 X2 4800+ are crazy expensive/overpriced = $60+.

At that point you are better off going to MicroCenter in Orange County and picking yourself an AMD APU 7870K rig and buying $30 8GB DDR3 2400. Or alternatively even starting off with a low end Pentium/i3 on the Intel side would work and then once you have the $ upgrade to an i5. You might need to calculate all your options because your S939 mobo is going to limit your CPU upgrade path severely.

 

[cbn]

Yeah I was actually surprised when I seen that card was a minimum requirement, I am going to try and get a better cpu in about a month and figured a better gpu would probably help a little bit more too.

$60+ for a Socket 939 x 2 4800 is just too much money.

I would suggest buying a refurbished Core 2 machine with Windows 7 for the same price before making that purchase.

 

[cbn]

"HP Tech support says [transcript from online chat re my hp Pavilion m7100e]:

This motherboard can be upgraded with the following processors
Athlon64 X2 4800
Athlon 64 4000
Sempron 3200"

Athlon 64 X2 4800 can be found for less than $10 on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Dual-Co...929679?hash=item280e70418f:g:zUgAAOSwdpxUXoy8

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Athlon-...045028?hash=item2106811aa4:g:l1gAAOSwNphWXx4N

Those are socket AM2 processors though (not socket 939).

I actually made the same mistake myself when quoting prices initially:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=37926888&postcount=28

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Hello,

I am having a very hard time trying to figure out which card would be the best card to put in my old pc, and any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I can't buy a new pc, or motherboard or cpu right now.
I have about $100.00 tops to spend.

My pc:
motherboard is A8AE-LE, Asustek, Amberine M
cpu is Amd Athlon 64X2 3800+
4 gb ram
current gpu is radeon hd 3800

I want to get the best card I can that is a pci express x16 2.0, if there is even a card that would work decent in my system. I will put a small cpu upgrade in sometime down the road, although not many options available for that. So any help would be great as I am stumped

The best card is no card and saving that $100 for when you upgrade to a whole new system. Getting a faster X2 isn't worth it either.

 

[FishSlayer]

$60+ for a Socket 939 x 2 4800 is just too much money.

I would suggest buying a refurbished Core 2 machine with Windows 7 for the same price before making that purchase.

lol yeah that is why I have not done it yet...but I probably will in about a month, I am trying to make this as decent a machine as I am capable of without replacing motherboards or cases if you know what I mean

 

[cbn]

Here are some refurbished Windows 7 Core 2 systems (from a good supplier):

http://arrowdirect.com/search?q=#/?_=1&page=1&filter.category_hierarchy=Desktops&sort.price=asc

Shipping is free and Coupon Code "Arrow" takes another 15% off.

This one will take the LGA 771 mod (for a cheap Xeon quad core conversion).

I bought two desktops and a laptop from them and have been happy with the purchases. (They pay return shipping if you find a problem within 60 days)

Another option, of course, would be to build a new system.

 

[RussianSensation]

Those are socket AM2 processors though (not socket 939).

I actually made the same mistake myself when quoting prices initially:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=37926888&postcount=28

Ya, I read through this entire thread and noticed my big mistake. Ya, the OP is in a real tough spot now.

The best card is no card and saving that $100 for when you upgrade to a whole new system. Getting a faster X2 isn't worth it either.

Now I agree. $60 for X2 4800+ leaves $40 for a videocard. This is one of those cases where it seems the entire system may need to be scrapped as it's better to save up another $50-100 to upgrade to something semi-decent that could actually be used for budget gaming for 2-3 years.

I mean an A10 7870K + Mobo + $30 8GB DDR3 2400 is starting to become a reality and that will smoke an X2 4800+ & practically any $40 GPU.

Here are some refurbished Windows 7 Core 2 systems (from a good supplier):

http://arrowdirect.com/search?q=#/?_=1&page=1&filter.category_hierarchy=Desktops&sort.price=asc

Shipping is free and Coupon Code "Arrow" takes another 15% off.

This one will take the LGA 771 mod (for a cheap Xeon quad core conversion).

The issue with Core 2 Quads is this:

At that point it would be $70 spent on that tower + $30+ on a modded Q9550 Xeon version = $100 wasted to get a system WAY worse than an A10 7870K + mobo combo that costs $130 at MicroCenter OC and has a 512 GCN GPU inside!

 

[FishSlayer]

Here are some refurbished Windows 7 Core 2 systems (from a good supplier):

http://arrowdirect.com/search?q=#/?_=1&page=1&filter.category_hierarchy=Desktops&sort.price=asc

Shipping is free and Coupon Code "Arrow" takes another 15% off.

I bought a few systems from them. (They pay return shipping if you find a problem within 60 days)

Another option, of course, would be too build a new system.

Actually that is not a bad idea, I will look into those machines, it does make more sense to do that and have a little more room to play with gpu and cpu upgrades...I am actually buying a new system next September, which one, no idea yet.

 

[FishSlayer]

Ya, I read through this entire thread and noticed my big mistake. Ya, the OP is in a real tough spot now.



Now I agree. $60 for X2 4800+ leaves $40 for a videocard. This is one of those cases where it seems the entire system may need to be scrapped as it's better to save up another $50-100 to upgrade to something semi-decent that could actually be used for budget gaming for 2-3 years.

I mean an A10 7870K + Mobo + $30 8GB DDR3 2400 is starting to become a reality and that will smoke an X2 4800+ & practically any $40 GPU.

Yeah that is how I am feeling in a way, I am going to get a new one, but did want to make this one a good backup, but it seems to be too outdated to do anything really beneficial

 

[cbn]

The issue with Core 2 Quads is this:

At that point it would be $70 spent on that tower + $30+ on a modded Q9550 Xeon version = $100 wasted to get a system WAY worse than an A10 7870K + mobo combo that costs $130 at MicroCenter OC and has a 512 GCN GPU inside!

I am aware of that issue.

It is just that a complete Windows Core 2 machine costs the same (or less) than a Socket 939 x 2 4800 processor by itself. And will be faster with needing the quad core.

Also, that A10-7870K/ motherboard combo is just two parts. It needs PSU, case, Operating system, RAM, Storage. So it's a lot more expensive.