GPU upgrade for (ancient) motherboard

[DeathReborn]

I used to run a HD5750 1GB and then a HD5850 2GB in a system using a MSI G33M motherboard (PCI-Express Gen1) without issues. The board didn't like a GeForce 460, 560 Ti or a 670 though.

A HD 5750/5770 (6750/6770 are identical cards) would be a big boost from a 8600GT and not break the bank either.

 

[sniper7137]

@DeathReborn the HD5750 isn't available from the market anymore where I live. I don't want to order it online and risk having an incompatibility issue
I think I'll buy the R7 250 locally and stay on the safe side

 

[ibex333]

I'm planning to buy a new GPU for my aged Gigabyte 945p-ds3 motherboard (its last BIOS update was in 2008).
It supports pci-e 1.1 x16. Its supposed to carry me over until I get a completely new system. Could anyone give me a suggestion for a DX11.1 graphics card that could run fine with this board.
I thought about an amd 7770 but people have reported trouble getting it to run on pcie 1.1 supporting boards.
Ideally I want a card that could run games like AC4, upcoming AC5, Crysis 3 at medium to high settings @720p without being overly power hungry.

Any suggestions?

I have a very similar rig.

I got an identical motherboard
e6300 Conroe@3.20GHz
4GB DDR2 RAM
450W Antec PSU
and.... Radeon HD 6950 ; )

This rig runs a lot of modern games on max settings easy. I have yet to test it with Crysis or Assasin's Creed. I can, and will test some of these games and report my results but you gotta give me until the weekend because I gotta work. : (

you can lower every setting to the lowest and none of those games are going to play smoothly on a Core 2 Duo E6400. you are at least 4 years overdue for an upgrade so if you cant do it now then it looks like never.

I will try to prove you wrong. Just wait till Saturday. ; )

 

[sniper7137]

@ibex333 thank you so so much for replying
You've just given me express confirmation that my board supports PCI-E 2.1
You're awesome. Don't forget that

 

[RussianSensation]

You should really look at cards such as 265/270 or 750Ti. Anything below that has too many compromises.

 

[sniper7137]

You should really look at cards such as 265/270 or 750Ti. Anything below that has too many compromises.

I've got a 13A, 12V single rail PSU at the moment that supports up to 500W. Will the 750Ti require a replacement?

I mean it consumes just 60W peak so on the 12V rail it should draw about 5 Amps right?

My current card, a decrepit 8600gt uses close to 4 Amps (47W TDP).

The C2D processor takes up 65W i.e. ~5.5 Amps.

Do you think I'll be cutting it too close with this PSU with a CPU + GPU draw of 10.5 Amps on the 12V rail as compared to the current 9.5 Amps draw?

 

[Leyawiin]

I'm sure you'll be fine. Just do like Russian said and order from an etailer that has a good return policy should it be incompatible.

 

[toyota]

I have a very similar rig.

I got an identical motherboard
e6300 Conroe@3.20GHz
4GB DDR2 RAM
450W Antec PSU
and.... Radeon HD 6950 ; )

This rig runs a lot of modern games on max settings easy. I have yet to test it with Crysis or Assasin's Creed. I can, and will test some of these games and report my results but you gotta give me until the weekend because I gotta work. : (




I will try to prove you wrong. Just wait till Saturday. ; )

get real. the OP is talking about demanding games like Crysis 3 and AC 4 as well as upcoming demanding titles. those will run like crap on a cpu like that.

 

[SlickR12345]

I'd gor for AMD r7 265 for $150. Its about 15% to 20% faster than GTX 750TI and costs only $10 more in most cases, in many cases the price is the same at $150.

If you can get a GTX 750TI on a deal for $120 then its worth it.

That cpu is pretty slow, but I don't think its going to be terrible for gaming.

Games are basically 80% GPU, 20% CPU. some games are exceptions due to the fact they can use more than 2 cores.

Most games up till now have only used 2 cores, with only recently games starting to utilize 4 and more cores.

 

[toyota]

I'd gor for AMD r7 265 for $150. Its about 15% to 20% faster than GTX 750TI and costs only $10 more in most cases, in many cases the price is the same at $150.

If you can get a GTX 750TI on a deal for $120 then its worth it.

That cpu is pretty slow, but I don't think its going to be terrible for gaming.

Games are basically 80% GPU, 20% CPU. some games are exceptions due to the fact they can use more than 2 cores.

Most games up till now have only used 2 cores, with only recently games starting to utilize 4 and more cores.

some of you live in a fantasy land I guess. his cpu is not just 2 cores, its 2 slow as hell cores.

and none of you are paying attention to the games he mentioned and just making useless generalizations about pc games. AGAIN he is talking about playing games like Crysis 3 which would tank on 2 modern cores and be a slideshow on his cpu. AC 4 and upcoming AC 5 are other games he mentions so you guys need to start being realistic and realize he does not even meet realistic minimum requirements to play the games he talks about especially above low settings.

even the slowest cpu on here would beat his and its only getting 24 fps on medium settings.


imgupload

 

[sniper7137]

some of you live in a fantasy land I guess. his cpu is not just 2 cores, its 2 slow as hell cores.

and none of you are paying attention to the games he mentioned and just making useless generalizations about pc games. AGAIN he is talking about playing games like Crysis 3 which would tank on 2 modern cores and be a slideshow on his cpu. AC 4 and upcoming AC 5 are other games he mentions so you guys need to start being realistic and realize he does not even meet realistic minimum requirements to play the games he talks about especially above low settings.

even the slowest cpu on here would beat his and its only getting 24 fps on medium settings.


imgupload

Look. As they say, its my funeral. Now if you've got nothing helpful to say, then please stop with being deterimental. As you can CLEARLY read, the results are for a very high resolution. I won't be going higher than 720p or 600p. And please, before you start jumping to conclusions based on benchmarks, I suggest you open YouTube and see what people have achieved with Conroes and mid range, two generations old GPUs on AC4 and C3.

 

[VirtualLarry]

As you can CLEARLY read, the results are for a very high resolution. I won't be going higher than 720p or 600p.

And? Higher resolutions stress the GPU. CPU usage is relatively indifferent to resolution (as I understand it). Although, some graphical effects in some games may take more CPU to enable them.

Edit: Again, "slideshow".

But hey, if you feel you can get enjoyment out of a game, on a C2D and a 5450, be my guest. As they say, "ignorance is bliss".

I just remember trying to play WoW on a GeForce 6100/6150/6150SE IGP, with a single-core AMD64 CPU, and it ... wasn't that much fun. I think I had minimums of like 7-9FPS, and maximums of 18FPS, at a low resolution.

That's the type of gameplay experience that you are looking at, with modern games and your rig.

Edit: This was before the expansions, WoW was known to run on almost anything, and it wasn't very graphically-demanding back then. Supposedly. I suppose that it was amazing I could even "play" it on an IGP.

 

[RussianSensation]

some of you live in a fantasy land I guess. his cpu is not just 2 cores, its 2 slow as hell cores.

We understand that he'll have to lower resolution below 1080p and use a combination of low and medium settings. He will also need to overclock the CPU. if all of these options fail with a 750Ti or 265, he'll have no choice but to get a new CPU platform. With his budget, sounds like he can't afford to buy a new CPU yet. He will just have to risk it. In his case maybe he should instead look for a used HD7770/7790 and get some used core i3 cpu/mobo/ddr3 combo. That could be a compromised instead of buying a new $150 GPU.

 

[sniper7137]

Come on people. I know this is a pretty significant risk. But I've seen a very large number of people who can make games like AC4 and C3 work on OC'd C2Ds and 750TIs and 6770s... This is why I'm once again asking. Let's stick with ideas on the best GPU and let me worry about the CPU situation.
I admit I've been out of it for a while, but I know enough about gaming to understand the chances I'll be taking. I've already ordered a cheap 18 pound used e7500 that I plan to overclock the hell out of. Looking into an after market cooler as well.

 

[toyota]

Look. As they say, its my funeral. Now if you've got nothing helpful to say, then please stop with being deterimental. As you can CLEARLY read, the results are for a very high resolution. I won't be going higher than 720p or 600p. And please, before you start jumping to conclusions based on benchmarks, I suggest you open YouTube and see what people have achieved with Conroes and mid range, two generations old GPUs on AC4 and C3.

you dont understand how things work. your cpu is too slow so lowering the resolution will make NO difference. and I am trying to be helpful but I guess not only will you ignore what I tell you, you will ignore benchmarks showing your cpu stands no chance of playing the game.

 

[toyota]

We understand that he'll have to lower resolution below 1080p and use a combination of low and medium settings. He will also need to overclock the CPU. if all of these options fail with a 750Ti or 265, he'll have no choice but to get a new CPU platform. With his budget, sounds like he can't afford to buy a new CPU yet. He will just have to risk it. In his case maybe he should instead look for a used HD7770/7790 and get some used core i3 cpu/mobo/ddr3 combo. That could be a compromised instead of buying a new $150 GPU.

I cant believe you of all people were encouraging this in the first place. he can oc the cpu all he wants but the games he mentioned will NOT be playable.

anyway I am out of here. the OP is not very knowledgeable about this stuff and you guys acting like he will play demanding current and future games like he listed should be ashamed of yourselves.

 

[sniper7137]

you dont understand how things work. your cpu is too slow so lowering the resolution will make NO difference. and I am trying to be helpful but I guess not only will you ignore what I tell you, you will ignore benchmarks showing your cpu stands no chance of playing the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juV74Tn0UiA

OK. I understand that my CPU is quite weak. But how do you explain this then?

Believe me I'm only being persistent because these videos just keep on cropping up. And as I said, I have to buy a GPU anyway, even if modern games don't run very well, I'll still be able to play Skyrim and stuff at decent settings while I save up for better components.

 

[sniper7137]

I cant believe you of all people were encouraging this in the first place. he can oc the cpu all he wants but the games he mentioned will NOT be playable.

anyway I am out of here. the OP is not very knowledgeable about this stuff and you guys acting like he will play demanding current and future games like he listed should be ashamed of yourselves.

I might not understand PC gaming, but I think you don't understand the purpose of my post

 

[VirtualLarry]

even if modern games don't run very well, I'll still be able to play Skyrim and stuff at decent settings while I save up for better components.

Skyrim, for me, was a bit choppy on a Q9300 @ 3.0Ghz, 8GB DDR2-800, and an HD4850 512MB card. I mean, it could have been the VRAM, or the age of that card, but it's still quite a bit faster than what OP is proposing, I think.

Anyways, Skyrim on Ultra settings is as smooth as butter on my i3-3240, 8GB DDR3-1600, and 7790 1GB GDDR5 card. (Windows 8.)

So, maybe he could get a 7790 or R7 260X card, for around ~$100-120 USD, and try it, and if it doesn't play well, then consider getting a Haswell i3 CPU / mobo / RAM.

 

[VirtualLarry]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juV74Tn0UiA

OK. I understand that my CPU is quite weak. But how do you explain this then?

And did you notice, how choppy everything got, when there was a firefight? And how badly the player was getting 0wn3d due to his crappy computer?

Edit: C2D is just too slow for modern games.
Edit: By that, I mean, newer than Skyrim.

 

[sniper7137]

And did you notice, how choppy everything got, when there was a firefight? And how badly the player was getting 0wn3d due to his crappy computer?

I noticed that but it was largely due to the recording software he was using.

 

[toyota]

I noticed that but it was largely due to the recording software he was using.

even without recording he was probably in the 20's quite a bit has even listed 25 frames per second as his non recording performance for a low. And if it wasn't obviously apparent from the benchmark that I showed you, Crysis 3 is way way more intense on the CPU. Even Skyrim will be choppy depending on the settings that you use but Crysis 3 will be a slideshow.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I noticed that but it was largely due to the recording software he was using.

Point taken, but consider this. Running screen-recording software on a C2D, while playing a modern game (BF4), will slow it down, but also consider, it slows down MORE when in a firefight. That's not just the screen-recording software, that should slow down the frame rate at a fairly equal level, no matter what is on the screen.

Edit: I think that Skyrim will be playable, if a bit slightly choppy, on a 3Ghz+ C2D, and a 1GB+ GDDR5 video card.

Crysis 3? No way.

 

[sniper7137]

Point taken, but consider this. Running screen-recording software on a C2D, while playing a modern game (BF4), will slow it down, but also consider, it slows down MORE when in a firefight. That's not just the screen-recording software, that should slow down the frame rate at a fairly equal level, no matter what is on the screen.

Acknowledged. But let's just say I'll be fine with the stutter nearing to 20 FPS in demanding scenes for now (this is a mere transition period for me after all).

What would you recommend for a GPU now? Personally I'm in favor of the 750 TI as it is super efficient where FPS/watts are concerned...

But do you think it will have problems with such a dated PCI-E 1.1 motherboard?

 

[sniper7137]

Edit: I think that Skyrim will be playable, if a bit slightly choppy, on a 3Ghz+ C2D, and a 1GB+ GDDR5 video card.

Crysis 3? No way.

OK so Crysis 3 is a no-go, it can wait. Skyrim I'm definitely sure I'll be able to play since I can run it medium to high @ 1024x768 with AA turned off and the FPS is 20-30 most of the time...