Nvidia Geforce 7 series vs Intel HD 2500

[Goi]

Hi,

I'm building a new PC for my wife, and scavenging some parts from her current PC, one of which is her Geforce 7 series graphics card. I'm not sure exactly which it is, though I can find out. It's definitely an entry level or mid-range model.

I'm wondering if in general, the 7 series is more powerful/faster than the Intel HD 2500 from her new i3-3220 or i5-3470 CPU that I'm gonna get? I know it's only DX9 while the HD 2500 is DX11, but I'm guessing that's not too important.

btw, she's probably not gonna do anything graphically intensive other than some flash games and watch some HD video. No encoding of videos either so QuickSync likely won't be an issue.

Thanks!

 

[Ben90]

I would definitely stick with the HD 2500. Speed wise I'd estimate it to be around 7600GT levels, but the power consumption and ease of installation cannot be beaten. The HD 2500 is a fine VGA if you are not gaming.

 

[NTMBK]

If you go for an i3-3225 then you get the HD4000, which should definitely be good enough.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

If you go for an i3-3225 then you get the HD4000, which should definitely be good enough.

This

 

[DominionSeraph]

If you go for an i3-3225 then you get the HD4000, which should definitely be good enough.

And if he goes A10 5800k he gets the 7600D which is better for cheaper.

 

[bononos]

Hi,

I'm building a new PC for my wife, and scavenging some parts from her current PC, one of which is her Geforce 7 series graphics card. I'm not sure exactly which it is, though I can find out. It's definitely an entry level or mid-range model.

I'm wondering if in general, the 7 series is more powerful/faster than the Intel HD 2500 from her new i3-3220 or i5-3470 CPU that I'm gonna get? I know it's only DX9 while the HD 2500 is DX11, but I'm guessing that's not too important.

btw, she's probably not gonna do anything graphically intensive other than some flash games and watch some HD video. No encoding of videos either so QuickSync likely won't be an issue.

Thanks!

The HD3000 on the i5/i7 Sandy Bridge is roughly comparable to the Ati 5450. I don't know how the 5450 fares against a old low end Nvidia 7 series. The HD2500 is about 20% slower than the HD3000.

 

[SPBHM]

geforce 7 can be a 7025 integrated, a 7300 or even a 7950GX2... there is a HUGE difference... but the HD2500 should be a better choice than most cards... it's probably faster for DX9C (most newer games) than a 7600-7800, and it supports current video decoding/flash acceleration... which the GF7 doesn't.

but again, verify which card it is, and in some games the HD2500 can be more problematic.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Stick with integrated graphics if she isn't going to do much graphic intense gaming, especially if the 7 series card is lower end. Or like someone else said, the A10 5800K would be even stronger, graphically. But I imagine any current Intel or AMD APC type part will do fine for what it sounds like she will be using it for.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Stick with integrated graphics if she isn't going to do much graphic intense gaming, especially if the 7 series card is lower end. Or like someone else said, the A10 5800K would be even stronger, graphically. But I imagine any current Intel or AMD APC type part will do fine for what it sounds like she will be using it for.

Or for lower power consumption you could go with the A10-5700. It only has a 65W TDP versus the 100W TDP of the A10-5800K.

You could also drop down to the A6-5400K. It will be slower but is fast enough for the kind of light workload you describe. Just remember an SSD (64GB is plenty for a basic Windows+Office installation). I prefer AMDs platforms over Intels at the low cost "family and friends" segment, simply because AMD offers more features at the same price point then Intel. Intel has a -bad- habit of using some features for market segmentation...

 

[DominionSeraph]

Or for lower power consumption you could go with the A10-5700. It only has a 65W TDP versus the 100W TDP of the A10-5800K.

TDP ain't gonna matter.

 

[Goi]

Thanks. The 3225 isn't available in my country, only the 3220 is. Will verify which card it is exactly tonight.

 

[DaveSimmons]

> btw, she's probably not gonna do anything graphically intensive other than some flash games and watch some HD video. No encoding of videos either so QuickSync likely won't be an issue.

For that even a HD2000 is fine. I have a media jukebox with an i3-2100 CPU (HD2000) and it's even good enough for older 3D games like Half-Life 2.

You might consider a Sandy Bridge Pentium chip, they are half the cost of an i3 in the US and include the same HD2000 just without quicksync. If you look at benchmarks they are still fast compared to old Core 2 chips.

 

[Goi]

OK I made a mistake, it's not a 7 series, it's actually a GeForce 9500GT. How is that compared to the HD 2500?

 

[lehtv]

9500GT is four generations old. Don't even consider it.

The integrated graphics of any current gen CPU is fast enough for full HD video, that's all she needs.

 

[MsLuck]

take a look at this:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

 

[Insert_Nickname]

TDP ain't gonna matter.

Both yes and no...()

The 65W TDP guaranties that the APU will not draw more then 65W under any circumstances. Compared to the 100W worst case of the 5800K...

This type of system spends the most time at idle, so you might as well go for something power efficient. The 5700 also has a slightly lower list price, and its a good bet that this system will never be over clocked anyway...

For extremely low power consumption you could build something based on a mini-ITX H61 mainboard and a Pentium G630T, but you loose a -lot- of features the AMD platform has...

 

[SPBHM]

OK I made a mistake, it's not a 7 series, it's actually a GeForce 9500GT. How is that compared to the HD 2500?

now things get more interesting, for gaming the 9500GT is slightly faster (if it's a DDR3 version), also the 9500GT have decent enough video acceleration support... I would use the 9500GT in this case... better driver support and all of that...

compared to the HD2000 the 9500GT is much faster... I have two CPUs with the HD/HD2000 and it's quite slow compared to my old 8600GT... it's the difference between playing TF2 in low or high.