Help on choosing graphics card

[Kirkules1284]

I was hoping to acquire some advice on which graphics card to get for my situation. I'm using the Cycles render engine in Blender 3D to render some 3D scenes, but the render time is painfully slow. I'm shopping for a decent graphics card that wont break the bank...like under $200, but one that's going to make a big difference in the rendering speed. I'm not doing any animations, just renderings. I know some are not compatible with all systems, and I admit I'm no expert on this subject, so I was hoping to get some suggestions on a decent, and compatible card. Any help would be appreciated.
My system is an-
Hewlet Packard Pb-2108p
AMD-E2 3200 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics 2.40 Ghz
6 GB RAM
64 bit OS
Windows 7

Thanks in advance !

Kirk

 

[LTC8K6]

Well, you could put an A8-3850 processor in there which would boost your graphics and your CPU power by quite a bit.

Or the A8-3800:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-A8-Seri...X-CPU-Processor-Socket-FM1-4-MB-/271590604467

Either would give you 4 cores instead of 2 and much better graphics. The 3850 is a bit faster than the 3800.

 

[LTC8K6]

Even a low-end graphics card is going to be way faster than the E2-3200's built in graphics.

A GTX-750ti would not require a power supply upgrade. That's the card I'd recommend for that board, and I'd also get the faster CPU.

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03137294

 

[RussianSensation]

Even a low-end graphics card is going to be way faster than the E2-3200's built in graphics.

A GTX-750ti would not require a power supply upgrade. That's the card I'd recommend for that board, and I'd also get the faster CPU.

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03137294

I agree. 750Ti for $100 might be the best value for the $ without going into the used market to try to hunt down a GTX770 or something.

http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?350975-The-new-Cycles-GPU-2-72-Benchmark

More modern NV GPUs are faster but the price skyrockets past GTX750Ti/760/680/770 level of GPU.

If EVGA has B-stock 670 cards for $30 again, that's the best value.