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Need help picking a graphics card

K

keioffice

Junior Member
My dad recently bought a new PC its a HP p6127c 2.3GHz Q8200 6gb all that is good except for the Intel GMA 3100 card. I have a friend that says my PC would be all set to play the newest games if only i had a better card, i really want to be able to play new games like Empire: Total war, i can run Medieval 2 Total War but once i get to many units the FPS drops and gets really choppy. I really dont know much about computers besides basic knowledge and there are so many different graphics cards out there so i was wondering were i should start. Also my friend said since i have and integrated card i have to have a PCI slot which i think i have and he also said i might have to get another fan!!! There are so many different graphics cards i really dont know were to start so any help will be appreciated.
 
Your bottleneck is your video card or on board video card. That card is not meant for gaming, rather is meant for the desktop user.

If you have a PCIe slot open I suggest you buy a nVidia Geforce 260 896mb for 150 dollars to 200 dollars.

That will go well with your CPU.

DO you know how many watts your PSU is or how many rails it has ?

Im thinking youll need 500w quality PSU, which may not be in that HP system.

To get the GTX 260 216core 896mb you should lure www.newegg.com and www.amazon.com gl with that...
 
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Open your case and first check you have one of the BLUE slots (you only need one). It would be 99% certain you would have, but check anyway.
Then look on the side of your PSU, and it should have a sticker

sticker800.jpg

It should look broadly similar to this.
Where is says +12v (make sure it's 12 or +12, and not the -12), there should be an amp number near it.
Check what that says for the 12v amps, and check the overall rated wattage of the PSU (e.g. that one says 450w). Your sticker might also say how much wattage the 12v rail can do.

Finally, see if you have one of these coming out from your PSU:
pcie6index.jpg


Once you've found that out then it'll be easier to work out what you might be able to use.
And if you post an approximate budget that would be helpful too!
 
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Your model has a 300W power supply. If your dad doesn't want to invest in another you could always put a GT 240, HD 5570 or HD 4670 in it (there is a PCIe x16 slot). Any of them would be much, much better than the integrated graphics that comes with it.
 
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I wouldn't bother with a 5570. A gt240 would be ok, but not really worth the ridiculous price they want for it. (really nvidia its a $50 card tops)

Instead I would step up to a 5670 or a low power 9800gt. (make sure its a low power 9800 or you'll have trouble) Either card will be orders of magnitude more powerful then integrated graphics and serve you well. They're both fairly close in performance though the 9800gt is a bit faster, but its also more power hungry and lacks dx11.

Heres some links

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...7BBTkwCjCECjCE

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ech-_-14102870
 
If u just want to run Medieval 2 Total War, get a 4670 and call it a day. v low power card but more than enough to play the game you have mentioned.
 
yea im going to be stuck with 300w, price isnt an issue but im sure anything over $200 will be overkill and draw to much power anyway, My friend also told me to get a low power 9800 but im weary because this isnt really my computer so what would be the best card i could get that would go good with this PC?
 
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tweakboy said:
Your bottleneck is your video card or on board video card. That card is not meant for gaming, rather is meant for the desktop user.

If you have a PCIe slot open I suggest you buy a nVidia Geforce 260 896mb for 150 dollars to 200 dollars.

That will go well with your CPU.

DO you know how many watts your PSU is or how many rails it has ?

Im thinking youll need 500w quality PSU, which may not be in that HP system.

To get the GTX 260 216core 896mb you should lure www.newegg.com and www.amazon.com gl with that...
Click to expand...

he can buy a 5770 1gb for cheaper and it'll consume less power, be quieter, perform on par, has 1gb of RAM, and be more future proof w/ DX11 support.

not sure why u'd recommended an old gtx 260 216core w/ 896mb of ram?

and OP if u're gonna get into upgrading, buy a new PSU otherwise EVERYTIME u want to upgrade something u'll think oh wait i can't because im limited by my psu. U own a computer, not a psu w/ a computer. A decent 500wt brandname psu will cost u $40-$70 and last u 4+ years (u'll transfer that psu from computer to computer). $40-$70 for a 4 year investment is nothing.
 
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titan131 said:
If u just want to run Medieval 2 Total War, get a 4670 and call it a day. v low power card but more than enough to play the game you have mentioned.
Click to expand...

He also said he wanted to play Empire Total War. A 5770 will give good performance and has low power draw compared to most other cards in that class. A 5750 would probably have lower draw but isn't really any cheaper than a 5770. A 512mb 5770 is available on newegg for $120 after mir right now. I would not hesitate to put that card in a computer used for some casual gaming. It would of course be more than enough for M2TW and also run ETW.
 
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