• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Graphic card help!

A

Assassin92

Junior Member
Hello, I have come to the pro's for some help 🙂
I'm going to upgrade to Windows 7 later this year (from Vista) and I want to make some hardware upgrades now that I have plenty of free time. These are my specs:
Vista Home Premium
Q6700 Quad core 2.66Ghz
2GB Ram
Nvidia 8800GT
That's all I remember right now, if you need any other information just let me know. What do you think I need to upgrade for Windows 7? I'm especially interested in opinions regarding a new graphic card (hence why i post here) since I'm a semi-hardcore gamer and I want to play games at high/very high settings.
Regarding cash, I don't want to pay a fortune, just something good enough for a normal person 😛

Thanks in advance!
 
Upgrade your ram first; at least 4GB. Then either wait and see how the GTX460 is, or get a HD5850/GTX470. If those are too much, you can go for a HD5770.
 
2Gb RAM is ok for most apps, especially since Win7 is easier on RAM than Vista, but is insufficient for todays games.

Like Illyan said, the GTX460 is looking good, but I would wait for the reviews to confirm it. Otherwise the 5850.
 
Welcome to Anandtech!

I am using an ATI 5770 1gb on the system in my sig and I use 3 1680x1050 monitors in eyefinity and am playing all the latest games at max or near max settings.
 
Thanks for all the responses!

Tincart: a) Not looking for a specific price range, but something that is worth the money I'm paying for. b)1680x1050 c) MMO and FPS games mostly

Illyan and lifeblood: Is 2GB of RAM insufficient on Vista aswell? The technician did mention that I will need to upgrade my RAM for Windows 7, so I might as well upgrade it to 4GB now.

Oyeve: Thanks for the welcome 🙂 I'm not really knowledgeable on PC hardware, but doesn't a much bigger hard drive and a faster processor, AND a better RAM the reason why you can run everything on high settings? No idea, I may be completely wrong.
 
Assassin92 said:
but doesn't a much bigger hard drive and a faster processor, AND a better RAM the reason why you can run everything on high settings?
Click to expand...

The ability to turn up quality settings in a game is pretty much entirely limited by your graphics card.

Upgrading to 4 GB of RAM is a great idea imo. For a graphics card, the gtx 460 is supposed to be released in the next couple of days. It would probably be smart to wait and see what it does to the market.

An hd5850 or gtx 470 would be a great purchase. Some will argue those are overkill for 1680x1050, but you would be able to max out any game on the market and have very high min fps. If you're not looking to spend $300, a 5770 or gtx 460 would be the next step down.
 
Unfortunately in my country there's a limited amount of graphic cards, and I have noticed most stores have Nvidia cards. What would be a good Nvidia card to compare to the 5770 (except the unreleased one, since that would take weeks to get here)?

Also, I have done some reasearch and indeed it seems a 4GB RAM is qute a big upgrade, so I'm gonna get that! Any suggestions for a good RAM, or it doesnt matter much?

Thanks!
 
You might want to make sure your PSU is up to it. All the cards suggested take more power then the 8800GT. The most efficient is the 5770 but then it's also the least powerful, the least efficient is the GTX 470 which takes a lot more power then an 8800GT.

As for nvidia cards under a GTX 470, there's not a lot if the GTX 460 isn't available. You're really looking at a GTX 260 or 275. These are both much faster then a 8800GT and at least as quick as a 5770 but don't have DX11 and use more power. They will drive a 16*10 display at high settings in most games without much trouble. If you can find one cheap then they aren't a bad deal.
 
Assassin92 said:
What would be a good Nvidia card to compare to the 5770 (except the unreleased one, since that would take weeks to get here)?
Click to expand...

In terms of current DX11 capable cards, there is no nVidia competitor available. Rumours are that such a card might show up in August.

In terms of last-gen nV parts, the GTX 260 is pretty much on par with the 5770 when it comes to performance at your resolution.

Also, I have done some reasearch and indeed it seems a 4GB RAM is qute a big upgrade, so I'm gonna get that! Any suggestions for a good RAM, or it doesnt matter much?
Click to expand...

I've found that current MMO's use a ridiculous amount of RAM so you will probably see some very nice improvements in those games. More generally, Win7 is much better at physical memory management than previous versions, so the benefits of that extra 2GB should be seen even in OS use.
 
Last edited:
Ok, so I'm gonna check prices and whatever else comes up, and when i come up with a buying list I'm gonna come back here for some final suggestions. Thanks guys, you have helped a lot!
 
Hey guys, I didn't enough time to decide on what I'm buying before I went on holidays, so it took some time. But here it is:

RAM:CRUCIAL CT2KIT25664BC1339 4GB (2X2GB) SO-DIMM DDR3 PC310600 1333MHZ DUAL CHANNEL KIT
Hard Drive: WESTERN DIGITAL 1TB WD10EVDS CAVIAR GP SATA2
Graphic Card: MSI R5770 HAWK 1GB PCI-E RETAIL

I'm looking for alternate suggestions, comments, anything you might want to add! Thanks in advance
 
Assassin92 said:
Hey guys, I didn't enough time to decide on what I'm buying before I went on holidays, so it took some time. But here it is:

RAM:CRUCIAL CT2KIT25664BC1339 4GB (2X2GB) SO-DIMM DDR3 PC310600 1333MHZ DUAL CHANNEL KIT
Hard Drive: WESTERN DIGITAL 1TB WD10EVDS CAVIAR GP SATA2
Graphic Card: MSI R5770 HAWK 1GB PCI-E RETAIL

I'm looking for alternate suggestions, comments, anything you might want to add! Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

You need DDR2 with your computer, not DDR3. If you currently have 2x1GB, grab another 2x1GB DDR2 kit. If you have 4x512MB, grab a new 2x2GB kit, DDR2. DDR3 is only on Core i3 and higher with Intel.

And I'd say go with at least a GTX460 1GB. I wouldn't bother with a HD5770 when coming from a 8800GT. The GTX460 is a great card, you could say it's the 8800GT of this generation (excellent bang for buck, compared to other products).

Also, why did you get a new HDD? Your old one is slow? You're out of HDD space?

EDIT: My bad, I forgot P45 and X48 can support DDR3 (depends on the mobo). So technically it is possible you are running DDR3 now. Best to tell us which mobo you have currently. I'm guessing with a Q6700 and a 8800GT you're on a P35 or something (hence no DDR3). But we need to know for sure.
 
Last edited:
Qbah said:
You need DDR2 with your computer, not DDR3. If you currently have 2x1GB, grab another 2x1GB DDR2 kit. If you have 4x512MB, grab a new 2x2GB kit, DDR2. DDR3 is only on Core i3 and higher with Intel.

And I'd say go with at least a GTX460 1GB. I wouldn't bother with a HD5770 when coming from a 8800GT. The GTX460 is a great card, you could say it's the 8800GT of this generation (excellent bang for buck, compared to other products).

Also, why did you get a new HDD? Your old one is slow? You're out of HDD space?

EDIT: My bad, I forgot P45 and X48 can support DDR3 (depends on the mobo). So technically it is possible you are running DDR3 now. Best to tell us which mobo you have currently. I'm guessing with a Q6700 and a 8800GT you're on a P35 or something (hence no DDR3). But we need to know for sure.
Click to expand...

Well i figured it would be better to just get rid of the old RAM and get a new one instead of combining old and new, what do you think?

About the graphic card, due to location the new nvidia card won't be available any time soon, I checked. 🙁 But I will go to the best shop here and see when they estimate they will have it and act accodringly.

Excluding that, wouldn't you agree a 5770 is the best choice? Regarding the new HDD, I just have a 225GB one on which Vista is installed on, and it's almost full, so my plan is: Transfer a lot of things on the new disc to speed up the PC, and when next month I upgrade to Vista, switch to the new disc as the main one.

For the Motherboard (im guessing that's what you meant), I had no idea RAM depended on it so good think i asked here first 😛 Are there any other components the ones I'm buying are depended on?

How do I check what model of mobo i have then? Using Sandra it just says alienware under brand and model, which is what my PC is (I know, shocking waste of money)

So now what? :S
 
Assassin92 said:
Hey guys, I didn't enough time to decide on what I'm buying before I went on holidays, so it took some time. But here it is:

RAM:CRUCIAL CT2KIT25664BC1339 4GB (2X2GB) SO-DIMM DDR3 PC310600 1333MHZ DUAL CHANNEL KIT
Hard Drive: WESTERN DIGITAL 1TB WD10EVDS CAVIAR GP SATA2
Graphic Card: MSI R5770 HAWK 1GB PCI-E RETAIL

I'm looking for alternate suggestions, comments, anything you might want to add! Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Are you sure that will work with your motherboard?
 
You should really post your exact motherboard model so RAM compatibility can be checked.

If the gtx 460 isn't an option, then yes, the hd 5770 would be a great choice.
 
I'm still at work. I'll tell you exactly how to find the information once I'm back home.
 
Assassin92 said:
Ok thanks!
Click to expand...

Okay, download a program called CPU ID from here:

http://www.cpuid.com/

Run it and select the Mainboard tab. There's a line that says Chipset. Mine says P35/G33/G31. Tell us what does it say for you.

Then select the tab called Memory. On top you will see a line called Type and it will say either DDR2 or DDR3.

Then go to a tab called SPD and check how many slots you are using. The slots used will display additional information, unused ones won't.

If you can't find the exact lines, make screenshots of the 3 tabs (Mainboard, Memory, SPD for each slot). You can post them to imageshack.us for example and then link them here.

As for HD5770, it's not a bad card. And it is an upgrade from your 8800GT for sure. But you'll get like 50% performance more, tops.

Also, what screen resolution are you using?
 
Qbah said:
Okay, download a program called CPU ID from here:

http://www.cpuid.com/

Run it and select the Mainboard tab. There's a line that says Chipset. Mine says P35/G33/G31. Tell us what does it say for you.

Then select the tab called Memory. On top you will see a line called Type and it will say either DDR2 or DDR3.

Then go to a tab called SPD and check how many slots you are using. The slots used will display additional information, unused ones won't.

If you can't find the exact lines, make screenshots of the 3 tabs (Mainboard, Memory, SPD for each slot). You can post them to imageshack.us for example and then link them here.

As for HD5770, it's not a bad card. And it is an upgrade from your 8800GT for sure. But you'll get like 50% performance more, tops.

Also, what screen resolution are you using?
Click to expand...

Chipset: nForce 680i SLI SPP
Memory: DDR2
Slots: 2 Used (1GB each), 2 unused
So excluding the GTW460, which card would u suggest?
1680x1050

Thanks!
 
Assassin92 said:
Chipset: nForce 680i SLI SPP
Memory: DDR2
Slots: 2 Used (1GB each), 2 unused
So excluding the GTW460, which card would u suggest?
1680x1050

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Well then, the memory you mentioned earlier won't fit. I'd say find a 2x1GB kit DDR2 memory, so that you have 4GB in total (4x1GB). Make sure it's the desktop version (240 pins, PC2-6400 or PC2-8500).

A HD5770 will be an upgrade of course. And it's you that needs to decide whether the money you spend is worth the performance increase. It will be roughly 50% faster, maybe a bit more in the newest games.

However, if I were you, I'd stick with the 8800GT until a GTX460 will be available in your area. Your card is still a good one for 1680x1050.
 
Qbah said:
Well then, the memory you mentioned earlier won't fit. I'd say find a 2x1GB kit DDR2 memory, so that you have 4GB in total (4x1GB). Make sure it's the desktop version (240 pins, PC2-6400 or PC2-8500).

A HD5770 will be an upgrade of course. And it's you that needs to decide whether the money you spend is worth the performance increase. It will be roughly 50% faster, maybe a bit more in the newest games.

However, if I were you, I'd stick with the 8800GT until a GTX460 will be available in your area. Your card is still a good one for 1680x1050.
Click to expand...

OK, thanks man you helped a lot. Gonna go to the shop tommorow and see what they have to say and if I have any more questions I'm gonna come back here!
 
Hey all, need your help one more time! I went to the shop and they asked 2 things i had no idea about:
Motherboard Speed (in Mhz) and Power supply (in W). Using the CPU-Z program that Qbah recommended i fiddled with it a bit but i can't find that information. COuld someone assist please?

Help in advance!
 
I wouldn't upgrade to a 5770 from an 8800GT. Consider a GTX460 and overclock it to 800+mhz. You are looking at GTX470/5850 speeds 🙂 If you are on a budget, then the 5770 is a great card for 1680x1050. However, I don't recommend upgrading from an 8800GT to it (it's about 50% faster).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top