Need some advice on a budget GPU - Purchase complete. Opinions?

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puddnheadwilson

Junior Member
Mar 2, 2012
16
0
0
Hi folks! I would really like some input into a gpu that would work well for what I have just bought.

System Specifications:

I. Processor/CPU: i3-2120


II. Current Graphics Card: Normal i3 specs


III. Display Resolution: 1900*1200


IV. Power Supply Unit Specification (Brand, Wattage, Ampage, Age). If possible, please provide a link to a website containing the power supply specifications: 280w, but will be upgraded to about 500w


V. Case Specifications(N/A, Model, Length, Low Profile, Cooling, HTPC, Water, Silent): Height 15.35" Width 7.09" Depth 17.32"


Purchase Details:

I. Budget? Please be sure to include currency (If not USD), retailer preferences & specify whether rebates are a viable option. My budget is under $75. I would like to avoid AMD as I detest AMD's updates. Rebates are ok.


II. Any particular preferences (Manufacturer[nV or AMD], Brand[XFX, Sapphire, EVGA, etc], Cooling Solutions)?
none yet

III. Do you plan to have any Multi-GPU solutions such as Crossfire or SLI?
No.

IV. Have you previously looked at a product(s) which you feel would fit your needs?
I have, but I feel a little lost

V. What are your needs for this GPU? Which games(If any)do you intend to play? If you have this information at hand, what are the desired detail levels?
Heavily modded NBA2k13, MLB2k11, Heavily modded Civ4, maybe some others in those genres. No war games.

VI. Do you plan on overclocking the card you intend to purchase?
Dunno yet.

Additional Notes

Here is the link to my pc that I just bought. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?EdpNo=3170833

edited to add.
Could yal tell me how your suggestions compare to the Mobility Radeon HD 3650? My laptop had that as it's graphic card.


--------------------------------------------------

Here is what I did.

I bought an Antec VP-450 for 34.98 (free shipping). http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004IZN3K2
At the same time I got the GIGABYTE Radeon HD 6670 1GB DDR3 for $69.99 (free shipping). There is a $20 rebate as well. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005MED9X4
 
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Gordon Freemen

Golden Member
May 24, 2012
1,068
0
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You will be wanting Needing a better GPU for youe 1200P monitor $75 will not buy you enough GPU horse power even for older and/or less demanding games like you listed. I recommend a 7770 at the lowest end for you but it will be a bit more than $75.
 
frozentundra123456

frozentundra123456

Lifer
Aug 11, 2008
10,451
642
126
Off the shelf system probably has a low watt power supply with no 6 pin auxilliary connector. Probably the best you could do would be a HD7750, unless you are willing to replace the power supply. You cant get it for under 75.00 though. You could look for a HD6670 and might find one on sale or used.These are AMD though. nVidia is good at the high end, but for low/mid range cards that dont require much power, AMD is usually superior.

Edit: as the previous poster sort of said, you would be better off to replace the power supply and get a mid range card, even though it would cost more. You would be set for quite a while, but if you get a marginal card now, you will be continually chasing the upgrade cycle.
 
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RaistlinZ

RaistlinZ

Diamond Member
Oct 15, 2001
7,629
10
91
Maybe you can score a used 460 1GB for about $75.00. That's the only thing I can think of Nvidia-wise that will give you halfway decent gaming at $75.00.

Anything retail at that price will suck at 1920x1200.
 
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Wall Street

Senior member
Mar 28, 2012
691
44
91
If the GT630 is a DDR3 version, it will be slow, slow, slow. You will have to play games at 1280x720, medium settings and no AF or AA. Double the budget would give you 10 times the gaming satisfaction. It is hard to recommend a card below $100 as current games are clearly not designed to run on them. I say this as someone who gamed on a Radeon HD 5450 for a while, you will find yourself wanting to replace such a slow card.
 
frozentundra123456

frozentundra123456

Lifer
Aug 11, 2008
10,451
642
126
puddnheadwilson said:
I will be upgrading the power supply eventually, by the time that happens I might be able to afford a higher priced card. Neither one will be happening yet.

What do yal think of the computer itself? It is the one I posted about a few months ago. http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2232043&highlight=

I did find an Inno3D Nvidia GeForce GT630 for $70.00. What do yal know about that card?
Click to expand...

The computer itself is decent, depending on what you paid for it. Personally, I have always been apprehensive about refurbished units, but it might be OK. I did notice that it only has a 280 watt power supply though, so you will be limited to a card that gets its power through the PCIe slot. From personal experience, I would say you should upgrade the power supply first and get a decent midrange card if you feel comfortable with replacing the power supply yourself. I have an off the shelf system with a 300 watt power supply, and I bought four different cards as more powerful ones came out that would work on that power supply. I would have saved money in the long run to upgrade the power supply and get a powerful card in the beginning.
 
Yuriman

Yuriman

Diamond Member
Jun 25, 2004
5,530
141
106
I think you'll find that regardless of AMD's driver problems at the top, their older and/or lower-end cards are typically problem-free. I'm still running an HD4870 and while there might have been some issues that nV didn't have in the first few months of 2007, since then the drivers have matured and become very stable. I doubt you'll be running crossfire either.

That said, an HD7750 is your best bet for a new card in that price range, but you'll need to shop around a bit. I think you'll be pretty satisfied with it. nV's offerings are a generation or two behind in this price range - all of the low-end cards are rebrands from the 4xx era.
 
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Wall Street

Senior member
Mar 28, 2012
691
44
91
To answer your question, the GT630 is faster than a 3650M.

The point that I and others are trying to make is that the performance tradeoff just above this price range is staggering. Here is a benchmark showing the GT440 (the GT630 is a relabeled GT440) vs. an AMD 7750. Note that that HD 7750, which costs $110, more than doubles the frame rate of the GT440 (and thus the GT 630) in all of the benchmarks. Also note that at the 1680x1050 resolution tested, which is lower than your 1920x1200, the most games are less than 30 fps. At your monitor's resolution they will be a slide show. The card you are looking at was meant to be a home theatre card for watching Blu-rays and Youtube HD, not really to game.

Older games like Civ IV will run fine, but an extra $40 seems worth it on a computer that probably has cost you at least $350 already, and to be played on a monitor that can't be that cheap (since it is 1920x1200).
 
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puddnheadwilson

Junior Member
Mar 2, 2012
16
0
0
Here is what happened.

I had a dell laptop that had that card in it. I was able to play NBA2k12, mlb2k11, and civ 4 on it while the laptop was hooked up to that monitor.

The laptop's motherboard crashed, i think, and I am left with an awesome monitor with no pc. Thankfully the hard drive was ok!
 
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