Budget graphics card recommendation needed for an incredibly old system , possible compatibility issues

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Psychohistorian

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Jun 20, 2016
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1st comment refers to a graphics card I was looking to buy now, 2nd to a possible CPU upgrade down the road where I may not have a choice but to go used. Reading comprehension ftw. If your sole insight is try to make me look like I'm contradicting myself by taking things out of context would appreciate if you spent your energy elsewhere.

There's quite a difference going used for a graphics card with active cooling vs a CPU as well in my opinion unless replacing a fan on an old graphics card is an easy task .. I am out of the loop admittedly but have never done that.
 
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VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

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Markfw said:
I just priced out a Ryzen 1600 6 core, 16 gig of FAST ram(3000), a motherboard that should run the new Ryzens (b450 chipset) and an EVGA bronze PSU, and an AMD 570 for $418 AR (only $10 is rebate)

That is a pretty fast system compared to what you have, all new, and upgradable.
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GREAT rig, Mark. I'm in the process of hooking a friend of mine up with a similar rig. (Ryzen 3 1200 CPU, GSKill 16GB DDR4-3000, RX 570 4GB, and the mobo I put in initially seems to have failed (it was kind of iffy), so I'm selling him one of my open-box/refurb AX370-Gaming ATX Gigabyte boards at cost.) We might be putting it together this weekend.
 
VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

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Seriously? If buying NEW, and not used, for GAMING, DON'T go LOWER than a GT1030 GDDR5 <-- (important, they make DDR4 versions too, that are half the performance).

A GT710 is not a gaming card. Neither is a GT730/740, really, although the GDDR5 versions could be useful for some "lite" 720P Gaming, perhaps.
 
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nurturedhate

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Aug 27, 2011
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Psychohistorian said:
Reading comprehension ftw....I am out of the loop admittedly but have never done that.
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Psychohistorian said:
Or maybe I'm just overestimating what a cheap modern card can do for my current system ? It wasn't top of the line in 2008 by any means.
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They are trying to help.

The reality is you are looking at a GT 710. You think it's a "modern" card. It's not. It was released in 2016 but it's Kepler, from 2012. It's also the smallest discrete kepler, GK208. It's also a massively cut down chip. And the one you're linking? It's the worse DDR3 version. They have to try to make worse cards. It's not a gaming card. It's the card you stick in your mother-in-law's computer when it's card dies, from 2005.

If you get a GDDR5 version you could probably run GTA4, on low, with draw distance ALL the way down, at 1366x768 and get 40fps. Basically any other card suggested would be a massive improvement over that.
 
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Psychohistorian

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Jun 20, 2016
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nurturedhate said:
They are trying to help.

The reality is you are looking at a GT 710. You think it's a "modern" card. It's not. It was released in 2016 but it's Kepler, from 2012. It's also the smallest discrete kepler, GK208. It's also a massively cut down chip. And the one you're linking? It's the worse DDR3 version. They have to try to make worse cards. It's not a gaming card. It's the card you stick in your mother-in-law's computer when it's card dies, from 2005.

If you get a GDDR5 version you could probably run GTA4, on low, with draw distance ALL the way down, at 1366x768 and get 40fps. Basically any other card suggested would be a massive improvement over that.
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This helps clarify things incredibly and helps me make sense of all the recommendations for used cards. I mistakenly assumed that even a 50$ graphics card purchased over 10 or 12 years after mine would be a significant upgrade. Evidently not.

DAPunisher has helped and I appreciate all his suggestions but that last post he made was not helpful or attempting to be. Didn't mean to be confrontational but it seemed obvious I wasn't contradicting myself. Sorry if it came across poorly.

I'll entertain the notion of buying a used graphics card but it's far from ideal. I really would prefer to not have to deal with fan issues on an old card when it's fan is months or years past it's MTBF.

Appreciate everyone's advice and I think I've got enough to go on at this point to make a decision but if anyone has more to contribute, don't hesitate.
 
Markfw

Markfw

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Dribble

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Get a second hand 750Ti, that would do the job and cost you very little.
 
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Guru

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Let me just repost again what I said. The RX 560 is the best performing GPU you can get for $110 that is not going to be significantly bottlenecked by your CPU and ram.

RX 560 is about 40% faster than a GT 1030, and a GT 1030 is about 5% faster than an RX 550. Both the GT 1030 GDDR5 and RX 550 cost about $80. If you want even cheaper than that then you might look at some GTX 750ti, though it's hard to find them selling new, you are likely going to have to purchase a 750ti used. A GTX 750ti is about 15% faster than a GT 1030 GDDR5.

You have other options like a GTX 950, but again you are going to have to look at the used market as it would be almost impossible to buy them new.

So yeah, you have better options on the used market, but since you prefer to buy new, I'm mostly recommending new. Otherwise a GTX 950 would be the fastest card out of all the ones I've written about!
 
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ozzy702

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OP, a used EVGA 1050TI would be my bet. Cheap, still under warranty, works great.
 
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Psychohistorian

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Jun 20, 2016
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I'm in Canada so that limits some used card purchases from the U.S. unfortunately. Would pay half the cost of the card practically in customs fees even if it can be shipped to Canada.
 
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Psychohistorian

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Jun 20, 2016
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I'll be looking into a ram upgrade as well .. if I can milk more out of this system for only 160$ and play games I've missed from 2008 + it'll be worth it for me. I have lots of catching up to do.
 
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Guru

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Psychohistorian said:
How's this guys ?

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-composants-de-systeme/ville-de-montreal/carte-graphique-radeon/1431248722

Being sold here locally. Still available from the seller. Will fit in my case without issues. Will need to get an HDMI cable for my monitor to use it , and worst case I can upgrade my power supply if I'm having issues but I'm only using one monitor and my system is pretty bare.
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Seems good, as far as I know all RX 560's are 75W, meaning they all draw power only from the PCI-E slot, so no need for additional cables from the PSU.

Pretty much any 350W PSU should be able to handle it, unless wear and tear has reduced the PSU's capacitors capacity.
 
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Psychohistorian

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Seems ideal then. If I run into any bizarre issues after installation I'll have a good idea what the issue might be.

Didn't even realize AMD bought ATI that's how long I've been out of the hardware game ..just figured this out while searching for a driver download :)

Thanks for all the help people. Looks like going used may not have been as painful as I anticipated though I did seem to get lucky as far as finding a card locally still under warranty with a receipt that's only been used for 2 months. Seller on that site seems reputable as well.
 
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Psychohistorian

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So I'm relatively happy with my purchase but considering a cheap CPU upgrade to boost game performance.

Here's a list of the cpu's my motherboard can support with a bios upgrade https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-H61M-DS2-rev-10#support-cpu

but it can be pretty confusing .. GPU frequency ? What am I missing here ? Video card integrated into the CPU ? If so I'm guessing it's a waste since I just purchased a graphics card.

Can anyone decode these for me and give me a general idea what to look for ? Found these on the same site I purchased my card from.

Would the i5 2320 be a significant upgrade from my 2.6ghz G620 ?

20$ - Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz CPU Socket LGA1155 Processor+HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge)(4x virtual cores) (4x cœurs logiques)
40$ - Intel Core i5-2320 3.0GHz/3.3GHz 6M Quad-Core CPU Socket LGA1155 Processor+HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge)(4x virtual cores) (4x cœurs logiques)
50$ - Intel Core i5-2500S 2.7GHz/3.7GHz 6M Quad-Core CPU Socket LGA1155 Low Power Processor+HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge)(4x virtual cores) (4x cœurs logiques)
50$ - Intel Core i5-3475S 2.9GHz/3.6GHz 6M Quad-Core CPU Socket LGA1155 Low Power Processor+HD Graphics 4000 (Ivy Bridge)(4x virtual cores) (4x cœurs logiques)
 
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Psychohistorian

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Jun 20, 2016
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Found some other interesting options perhaps.

*** Intel Core i5-3470 @ 3.20GHz: 60$ No of Cores: 4, Socket: LGA1155 (3rd generation) Clockspeed: 3.2 GHz, Turbo Speed: 3.6 GHz Typical TDP: 77 W, CPU Mark: 6698
***Intel Core i5-2500 @ 3.30GHz: 50$ No of Cores: 4, Socket: LGA1155 Clockspeed: 3.3 GHz, Turbo Speed: 3.7 GHz Typical TDP: 95 W, CPU Mark: 6313
***Intel Core i3-2120 @ 3.30GHz : 15$ Description: SR05Y, Socket: LGA1155, Clockspeed: 3.3 GHz No of Cores: 2 (2 logical cores per physical) : 4 cores logical. Average CPU Mark: 3916
***Intel Core i3-2100 @ 3.10GHz : 10$ Description: SR05Y, Socket: LGA1155, Clockspeed: 3.1 GHz No of Cores: 2 (2 logical cores per physical) : 4 cores logical. Average CPU Mark: 3678
***Intel Pentium G2030 @ 3.0GHz: 10$ Description: SR163, Socket: LGA1155, Clockspeed: 3.0 GHz No of Cores: 2, Average CPU Mark: 2883
***Intel Quad Core i5-750 @ 2.66 GHz: 20$ Socket: LGA1156, Clockspeed: 2.67 GHz, Turbo Speed: 3.2 GHz, No of Cores: 4, Average CPU Mark: 3693
***Intel Core i3-550 @ 3.20GHz : 10$ Description: Socket: LGA1156, Clockspeed: 3.2 GHz No of Cores: 2 (2 logical cores per physical) : 4 cores logical. Average CPU Mark: 2826
 
Markfw

Markfw

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You really should consider a platform update. Going with a 8 year old platform is not a good idea. for $150, you can get a quad core CPU latest tech and motherboard. and for $45m 8 gig of memory. And it has integrated video, faster than what you are considering.

So for $195, you get a late model CPU (fast compared to what you are linking) a motherboard, integrated video and 8 gig of ram.
 
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Psychohistorian

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Jun 20, 2016
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I already purchased the Radeon Rx560 4GB, not sure if there's integrated video better than that around ? If I can spend 30$ on a CPU and a bit more on some extra ram to play games I haven't been able to play released from 2009-2014 then I'm happy. I already know it isn't optimal but I'm on a serious budget. Saving money to make a larger purchase is not an option. Just the fact I'm playing GTA4 now at 1280x1024 and it's running smoothly means I'm satisfied with my video card purchase. I know I'm out of the loop but a new motherboard , CPU and ram for 200$ ?

Just looking at CPU prices on newegg.ca the cheapest i7 is 200$

If anyone would like to give me a new cpu/motherboard/ram combo suggestion I'm open to checking out the prices for each. I assume I'd need a new power supply as well considering I have an Antec True Power 400w currently.

But please keep in mind I haven't played any games past 2009 .. I'm not looking to play modern FPS games .. I'm perfectly content catching up to the modern gaming scene or staying behind forever since I'm already so far behind.

Spending 40$ on some ram and another 40$ on a CPU which can give me what I need is not a waste for me even if that 80$ could be put to better use by saving it and getting something better.

I appreciate the suggestions and will definitely be open to changing my mind but I'd also like my original questions to be addressed if possible.
 
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Psychohistorian

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Jun 20, 2016
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I'm already aware that saving the $$ I'd be spending , no matter how small would be better spent by saving and springing for a newer system. But that "extra money" just isn't there so I'd like to squeeze more out of my current system for the least amount of $$ possible.
 
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Psychohistorian

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Jun 20, 2016
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How's this for a reasonable upgrade for only 50$ ? Seems like all the cpu's have integrated video at this point ? Is searching for one without it worth the time ?

***Intel Core i5-2500 @ 3.30GHz: 50$ No of Cores: 4, Socket: LGA1155 Clockspeed: 3.3 GHz, Turbo Speed: 3.7 GHz Typical TDP: 95 W, CPU Mark: 6313

Once again , this is in CDN dollars.
 
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