Need a sub $120 upgrade

[mojothehut]

Hey all
My buddy has a 4 year old machine and wants to replace an Nvidia 9600GSO 512mb, he does not want to spend over $120..

His system
AMD Phenom x3 710 (2.6ghz tripple core I believe)
4gb DDR800
Gigabyte AM2 770 motherboard.
550watt with 12v@30amps
Im wondering if something like the 7750 would be a decent all around performance boost over the Nvidia 9600gso
Something like this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121633

Is there an Nvidia option that would be better? He prefers Nvidia anyway.

 

[Termie]

No nvidia options in that price range right now. The 7750 is ok but is really only a good buy if you need its small size and low power consumption. A cheaper hd6770 would be just as fast.

Here's an awesome deal ($75AR) on the ASUS, identical to that 7750 you found but with the 6770 GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121442

 

[Don Karnage]

His processor is going to bottleneck anything he buys.

 

[Leyawiin]

Is he leery of "white box" stuff? You can get a GTX 460 1GB (original 675 mhz version) for $110. Only has a one year warranty though being its bulk packaging.


http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?Inv...0-PCIE-1024-CO

His processor is going to bottleneck anything he buys.

B.S.

 

[Rambusted]

Can't you get a used gtx 460 for 120, I saw a used MSI cyclone on Amazon for only 100$ + 6$ for shipping. That's a much better card than a 7750.

 

[Don Karnage]

Is he leery of "white box" stuff? You can get a GTX 460 1GB (original 675 mhz version) for $110. Only has a one year warranty though being its bulk packaging.


http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?Inv...0-PCIE-1024-CO

For some reason i thought he had a Phenom I


B.S.

For some reason i thought he had a Phenom I

 

[Gordon Freemen]

Is he leery of "white box" stuff? You can get a GTX 460 1GB (original 675 mhz version) for $110. Only has a one year warranty though being its bulk packaging.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?Inv...0-PCIE-1024-CO

B.S.

WoW $110 that's a real great deal on a 1GB 256bit GTX 460 and man that card can still run great in any game out today and is one of the best Nvidia cards ever made OP please do yourself a big favor and hop on this deal.

 

[blastingcap]

Assuming the CPU can handle it, a new or used GTX 460-1GB or HD6850 would be my preference. You can find HD6850s for $120 after rebate w/ free shipping during sales sometimes.

I wouldn't buy from geeks.com as they are shady. If they say it's new it may be refurb. If they say it's refurb it may be broken. There's a reason why it's in bulk packaging, and a 1 year warranty is lame compared to 2+ with real retail boxes, not to mention how you have no idea if they intend to honor that warranty or not. Factor in shipping/tax if applicable, too.

 

[tweakboy]

Grab a 460 768mb for around 120 dollars. gl

 

[blastingcap]

Grab a 460 768mb for around 120 dollars. gl

At that price, you may as well pay a few bucks more and get one of these instead, two of which come with free software:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130649

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130749

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127646

 

[Don Karnage]

Grab a 460 768mb for around 120 dollars. gl

Are you and Gordon the same person?

 

[Magic Carpet]

Hey all
My buddy has a 4 year old machine and wants to replace an Nvidia 9600GSO 512mb, he does not want to spend over $120..

His system
AMD Phenom x3 710 (2.6ghz tripple core I believe)
4gb DDR800
Gigabyte AM2 770 motherboard.
550watt with 12v@30amps
Im wondering if something like the 7750 would be a decent all around performance boost over the Nvidia 9600gso
Something like this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121633

Is there an Nvidia option that would be better? He prefers Nvidia anyway.

If these numbers don't lie... 7750 should be an adequate upgrade for your buddy. It might not be the fastest card around but certainly, one of the most power efficient.

Here is how performance goes:

 

[blastingcap]

Are you and Gordon the same person?

Do you expect to get a truthful answer if that were the case?

And way to cherrypick, Magic. A 7750 is not THAT good. Here is the full slate of performance summaries:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/HD_7750/26.html

 

[Gordon Freemen]

Are you and Gordon the same person?

Why would you say that. I would not recommend a 768mb card and I was going to make a comment of the fact that 768mb Vram is really a no go in today's day and age of PC gaming but I didn't want to make any waves. Even at the resolution I use which is 1680x1050 I frequently hit 700mb+ Vram usage in almost every game I own.

 

[mojothehut]

Ah thanks everyone for the feedback. Another quick question he brought up..
He's planning on building a Trinity APU system as his upgrade this summer. He's interested in the Fusion crossfire option.

Will the 7750 be one of the low end cards able to Crossfire with the new APU coming out? I know the current APUs can use some low end 6000 range cards...

 

[DominionSeraph]

He's planning on building a Trinity APU system as his upgrade this summer.

Why is he going to sidegrade?

 

[borisvodofsky]

best bang for buk with the $120 limit is that 460 deal, although stick with amazon or newegg for the buy, because if it croaks you can send it back, no hassle.

DO NOT get complicated. Fusion Crossfire is bullshit, and doesn't scale well most of the time, and at best you'll get 10-15% performance boost, while introducing micro-stutter, and a myriad of other compatibility problems.


If your friend upgrades anything else in his PC, he'd just be burning money, because it's dead end, no overclocking headroom, unreliable motherboard, DDR2, omg, just kill me.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Ah thanks everyone for the feedback. Another quick question he brought up..
He's planning on building a Trinity APU system as his upgrade this summer. He's interested in the Fusion crossfire option.

Will the 7750 be one of the low end cards able to Crossfire with the new APU coming out? I know the current APUs can use some low end 6000 range cards...

He shouldn't build a Trinity if he's buying a gpu. The CPU in that thing is no good.

 

[AtenRa]

Ah thanks everyone for the feedback. Another quick question he brought up..
He's planning on building a Trinity APU system as his upgrade this summer. He's interested in the Fusion crossfire option.

Will the 7750 be one of the low end cards able to Crossfire with the new APU coming out? I know the current APUs can use some low end 6000 range cards...

Edit: this is for mobiles but you get an inside for desktops.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

7750 is a good upgrade, but if power consumption isn't a problem (and a 550w PSU is plenty for anything in your price range) the 6850 or 460 is a better performer for the money.

 

[Rambusted]

7750 is a good upgrade, but if power consumption isn't a problem (and a 550w PSU is plenty for anything in your price range) the 6850 or 460 is a better performer for the money.

His PSU is claiming only 30amp on the 12v rail. That seems a little low my 600 watt corsair rates it at 48 amps. What if he is using a diablotek or some other fake unit a 6850/460 might be too much.

 

[Phynaz]

Is he leery of "white box" stuff? You can get a GTX 460 1GB (original 675 mhz version) for $110. Only has a one year warranty though being its bulk packaging.


http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?Inv...0-PCIE-1024-CO

B.S.

That card is actually made by Asus.

 

[SickBeast]

6850

/thread

 

[dave_the_nerd]

His PSU is claiming only 30amp on the 12v rail. That seems a little low my 600 watt corsair rates it at 48 amps. What if he is using a diablotek or some other fake unit a 6850/460 might be too much.

The 6850 only pulls <40 more watts than the 9600GSO he already has in there. There are probably ways he could shave 40w off of other aspects of the running system. Undervolt the CPU maybe.

http://www.hwcompare.com/5969/geforce-9600-gso-512mb-vs-radeon-hd-6850/

I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's not like trying to add a GTX 680 to a Dell with zero extra wattage headroom.

I would swap out the PSU for something beefier if there was an SLI/Crossfire rig in my future, though.

 

[blckgrffn]

I found a 6850 for $90 shipped in the fs/ft forum, fan was bum on arrival so we split the cost of this guy:

http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Cooling...8916560&amp;sr=8-2

Slapped it on there without even bothering with RAM sinks, ran the fan @ 7V, quiet, fast, stable.