Gift recommendation

[Cancer12]

Hello again Anandtech

Christmas is coming up soon.

My GF and I play alot of wow together, but her system could use an upgrade. She has a somewhat old Compaq with
AMD 4000+
1GB ram
onboard video card

Obviously for gaming, the onboard card is holding her back. I'm looking for a card around $100-150 that will fit well in her system, but obviously will not be so powerful as to be wasted with the processor. I want minimal problems with installation, so please no excessive power requirements, I'm not sure what the wattage is on her system. It is an Nvidia based board, so perhaps Nvidia would be better for compatability purposes without the need to reformat?

Also, anyone know if it is possible to drop an AMD dual core into her system? I'm really not too worried about this part, just curious.

Happy Holidays

 

[Edge1]

PCI-e? AGP?

Probably linking to her Compaq specs would be good.

 

[Cancer12]

PCI E

I'd link to her specs, but I'm on campus atm and going off the top of my head.

 

[secretanchitman]

7600GT/8600GT. that should be plenty for her.

 

[s44]

2600xt

 

[tuteja1986]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102034 X1950GT $109.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814125075 1600xt $99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130085 8600gt $109

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814131056 X1950PRO $119 ( its got good cooler)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102712 $150 2900gt ( don't need PCIE 2 but do need a decent PSU )


http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...oduct&id=1194053242019 3850 ( card to get if you mobo support PCIE 1.1 )

All of the card listed expect for x1600xt and 7600gt would need a decent PSU :! 30AMP + , 12 volt rail + 450W :!

 

[taltamir]

and get another gig of ram... definitely another gig of ram.

 

[AVP]

^ Dude she has onboard graphics. relax.

 

[j0j081]

Originally posted by: tuteja1986


All of the card listed expect for x1600xt and 7600gt would need a decent PSU :! 30AMP + , 12 volt rail + 450W :!

I don't think the 8600gt does. Only the gts version has an add on power connector and I've seen some tests where with a quad core Intel the load power usage is well under 300 watts.

 

[Denithor]

I have played WoW on a 7600GT at up to 1280x1024 with all video options set to max and it runs flawlessly (of course, this was on a C2D rig with 2GB RAM). You really don't need more GPU power than that for WoW. Instead, focus more on the amount of system memory and CPU power, in the cities with lots of toons running around you actually strain these parts much more than your video card.

There are two options here, depending on your available cash and the system she has. Option 1 is a simple upgrade to her existing system, with a couple of assumptions: socket 939 motherboard with 2x512MB RAM and 2 open RAM slots. Option 2 is a rebuild with new motherboard, C2D processor, and DDR2 along with video card.

Option 1:
XFX 7600GT 256MB $74 at Newegg (after $20MIR)
2x512MB DDR400 $52 and up, just pick a set
X2 4200+ (socket 939) $74 at Newegg
Total: $200 (after $20MIR)

Option 2:
Gigabyte G31M-S2L $76 at Newegg
e2160 (1.8GHz, 1MB cache) $83 at Newegg
Kingston N5 2x1GB DDR2-667 $44 at Newegg
XFX 7600GT 256MB $74 at Newegg (after $20MIR)
Total: $277 (after $20MIR)

Option 1 is a bit cheaper but also has no further upgrade potential and no overclocking (OEM system boards don't offer overclocking).

Option 2 should overclock fairly easily to 3GHz (at which point it will be far superior to Option 1) and you can drop in a Penryn dual or quad core processor late next year for a nice performance at a reasonable cost (probably $100-200 at that time). You may want to review this guide and follow the steps/instructions before tearing down the old system, this should allow you to move the hard drive from the old box onto the new motherboard without too much trouble.

With Option 2 you can also sell off the old parts (for probably $100-150) on the FS forums here or else eBay/Craigslist/etc (which will actually make this cheaper and therefore a no-brainer).

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: Cancer12
It is an Nvidia based board, so perhaps Nvidia would be better for compatability purposes without the need to reformat?

Compatibility should not be an issue. The PCIe motherboard should be perfectly capable of handling cards from either Nvidia or ATi (the very latest cards may require PCIe 1.1).

Adding an expansion card should never require a re-format. Just uninstall the drivers for onboard video before installing the new card (use DriverCleaner or similar if you want to be thorough).

 

[s44]

Why would you even consider a 7600gt when an $80AR 2600xt will kill it in more recent games? (Still not fast, but more acceptable.)

 

[imported_Scoop]

GPU for your girlfriend for xmas, duuuuude, that's way too romantic

(how anyone didn't comment on this earlier?)