Please suggest a good video card around $325

[MrTeal]

You'd get better gaming performance with a $300 GPU than an SSD and $150 GPU. Everyday usage would be a lot more pleasant with the SSD though.

The Optiplex 990 DT only supports low profile cards, so you'll be really limited there in terms of what you can add in. It also won't support a standard ATX power supply. If you can toss it into a bigger case, that would eliminate all those issues.

Legit Reviews did a MOBA comparison that would be really good to look at.
http://www.legitreviews.com/moba-gaming-performance-is-the-nvidia-geforce-gtx-950-worth-it_170988
They used an i5-2400, so it will be essentially the same processor as the i7-2600 in your system in those lightly threaded games. Their conclusion with a $150 GTX950 and now-free-in-crackerjacks-boxes HD6950 was that you can run all three games pretty much maxed out at 1080p with those cards and CPU.

Depending on what you get for the Optiplex if you sell it, I'm not sure how much of an upgrade you can really get over what you have now. For the kind of usage you're looking at, I'd really just consider buying a half height GTX 750 Ti and an $80 250GB SSD and plugging them into your existing system. It will be a lot less work, and you shouldn't even need a PSU upgrade for the 750 Ti.

 

[bahwz]

You'll appreciate the SSD more for normal computer use.

Overall I do spend the majority of my time cruising facebook and reading the news websites and various articles and whatnot. Id say I spend 70% of my time on my pc doing that, and the other 30% playing mainly dota 2.

Would an SSD make my browser load new websites/pages faster? Or make dota 2 run smoother? I have pretty fast xfinity internet I think its either 10 or 12mb/s, and 16gb of ram. Really the only thing in my pc at the moment that is lacking is the video card and power supply, although I do have a regular 7200rpm sata hd.

 

[Techhog]

Overall I do spend the majority of my time cruising facebook and reading the news websites and various articles and whatnot. Id say I spend 70% of my time on my pc doing that, and the other 30% playing mainly dota 2.

Would an SSD make my browser load new websites/pages faster? Or make dota 2 run smoother? I have pretty fast xfinity internet I think its either 10 or 12mb/s, and 16gb of ram. Really the only thing in my pc at the moment that is lacking is the video card and power supply, although I do have a regular 7200rpm sata hd.

It won't affect web browsing much, but it will decrease load times in games slightly, games and applications will open much faster, Windows will boot and shut down faster, and your system will be a little quieter.

 

[Teizo]

Thank you for the help. This is what my case looks like. The specs on the vid card (blue card in the pictures) is L x H 5.75" x 3.7." However I think ive run into another problem. I measured the back of my case and it looks like I only have about 4.5 inches of the width dimension (the horizontal slots on the back of my comp). As you can see in the picture below, about 2 inches of the slot space (far right of the pic) is occupied by some sort of black plastic piece on some kind of hinge. Here is a close up pic of it, with the black hinge on the right.

Here are 2 more pics of the insides of my comp. I went and measured again and the maximum length does appear to be less than 8" because of these 4 ports on my motherboard 3 of which are occupied. The 3 ports with cords sticking out of them will block the vid card. Here are some pics.

So its looking like even that asus card is out of the picture because my case only allows 4.5" in the width dimension. I might have to settle for something not as expensive/good because im not seeing any that are less than 8 inches length and 4.5 inches width

Dude....That dust...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9T6WGFmam0

 

[MrTeal]

Actually, never mind my post; looking at those pictures you don't need a half height card and you can fit an ATX supply. You have an Optiplex 990MT, not the 990DT. Grab a new $40 PSU, a cheap $180 GTX960, and an $80 SSD. That will fill up your budget nicely and give you a system that will run your games without issue and still be able to play more modern titles if you want to give them a spin.

 

[mysticjbyrd]

If you mainly play Dota though, you don't need a powerful gpu.

A ssd is more of luxury item that does very little in gaming outside of load times. Is a few seconds of extra load time per day worth it? In your case, I would absolutely take the better GPU.

Do you want to have faster load times and a below average gpu, or do you want a super powerful GPU? Only you can answer that question.

 

[Techhog]

If you mainly play Dota though, you don't need a powerful gpu.

A ssd is more of luxury item that does very little in gaming outside of load times. Is a few seconds of extra load time per day worth it? In your case, I would absolutely take the better GPU.

Do you want to have faster load times and a below average gpu, or do you want a super powerful GPU? Only you can answer that question.

I said similar things before getting an SSD. Now I can't live without one.

 

[Mercennarius]

Outside of a GPU for gaming, a SSD is the one component with the single biggest impact in performance it can add to a system when upgrading from a traditional platter drive.

 

[MrTeal]

Outside of a GPU for gaming, a SSD is the one component with the single biggest impact in performance it can add to a system when upgrading from a traditional platter drive.

Without a doubt. After awhile you don't even notice running an SSD any more, until you go to switch applications or something on a PC with a standard HDD and then shake the mouse for a second because something is wrong with the click because the new window isn't just popping up. "Oh yeah, HDD swapping. I remember that."

 

[bahwz]

Thanks for your suggestions everyone. I made the decision and finalized my requests for these gifts.

This MSI gtx750ti
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...127836&cm_re=gtx750_ti-_-14-127-836-_-Product

This Samsung EVO 500gb SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4P02T78963

And I still plan on getting a new ~500w psu soon. I think overall I will get better performance with the combination of cheaper vid card+ssd versus fancy gift card with no ssd.

 

[TemjinGold]

Congrats and enjoy!

 

[RussianSensation]

Thanks for your suggestions everyone. I made the decision and finalized my requests for these gifts.

This MSI gtx750ti
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...127836&cm_re=gtx750_ti-_-14-127-836-_-Product

This Samsung EVO 500gb SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4P02T78963

And I still plan on getting a new ~500w psu soon. I think overall I will get better performance with the combination of cheaper vid card+ssd versus fancy gift card with no ssd.

I do not understand how this thread went from semi-decent videocards to a 750Ti?

I looked at the pictures of your case and there is no reason to buy a low profile card. The black switch in the same PCIe slot as the videocard can easily be removed/moved. Besides, the Asus 950 card sits very flush with the metal bracket. That means any normal sized PCIe card like mini ITX 950 will fit in the case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121981&cm_re=gtx_950-_-14-121-981-_-Product

This MSI 950 will work too.

Your budget can easily incorporate:

$180 R9 380 miniITX
OR
$190 GTX960 2GB miniITX
+
$86 Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
+
$60 Corsair 650W Gold modular PSU
=
$326-336.

GTX750Ti for $122 is just really bad value for the $ against 950/960/380. Even if you do not want to buy a 960/380, I would for sure spend $18-20 more and just get the 950, either the MSI or the Asus versions I linked. 950 has HDMI 2.0, better NV HVEC functionality and is at least semi-prepared for some other games.

By saving $18 over the 950 or $58 over the R9 380, you are losing 35-88% GPU performance.

 

[Techhog]

I do not understand how this thread went from semi-decent videocards to a 750Ti?

I looked at the pictures of your case and there is no reason to buy a low profile card. The black switch in the same PCIe slot as the videocard can easily be removed/moved. Besides, the Asus 950 card sits very flush with the metal bracket. That means any normal sized PCIe card like mini ITX 950 will fit in the case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121981&cm_re=gtx_950-_-14-121-981-_-Product

This MSI 950 will work too.

Your budget can easily incorporate:

$180 R9 380 miniITX
OR
$190 GTX960 2GB miniITX
+
$86 Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
+
$60 Corsair 650W Gold modular PSU
=
$326-336.

GTX750Ti for $122 is just really bad value for the $ against 950/960/380. Even if you do not want to buy a 960/380, I would for sure spend $18-20 more and just get the 950, either the MSI or the Asus versions I linked. 950 has HDMI 2.0, better NV HVEC functionality and is at least semi-prepared for some other games.

By saving $18 over the 950 or $58 over the R9 380, you are losing 35-88% GPU performance.

Is it really worth it for him to go overbudget like that when he's playing games that can on Intel graphics anyway?

 

[MrTeal]

I do not understand how this thread went from semi-decent videocards to a 750Ti?

I looked at the pictures of your case and there is no reason to buy a low profile card. The black switch in the same PCIe slot as the videocard can easily be removed/moved. Besides, the Asus 950 card sits very flush with the metal bracket. That means any normal sized PCIe card like mini ITX 950 will fit in the case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121981&cm_re=gtx_950-_-14-121-981-_-Product

This MSI 950 will work too.

Your budget can easily incorporate:

$180 R9 380 miniITX
OR
$190 GTX960 2GB miniITX
+
$86 Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
+
$60 Corsair 650W Gold modular PSU
=
$326-336.

GTX750Ti for $122 is just really bad value for the $ against 950/960/380. Even if you do not want to buy a 960/380, I would for sure spend $18-20 more and just get the 950, either the MSI or the Asus versions I linked. 950 has HDMI 2.0, better NV HVEC functionality and is at least semi-prepared for some other games.

By saving $18 over the 950 or $58 over the R9 380, you are losing 35-88% GPU performance.

The case you showed in your images on Page 1 and the OP said he has is the 990 DT, which can only accept half height cards and can't accept an ATX PSU. The pictures he later posted show the case is actually a 990 MT, which can use an ATX PSU and full height GPU. That's likely the reason for the differing recommendations.

Going with the 750Ti does still let him use his existing PSU though. The 950 would definitely be a better choice otherwise for about the same money.
He expressed a desire to use nVidia, but if he was going to move to AMD he'd probably be just as well off with the $190 280X with no MIR and a free copy of Dirt Rally than a 380. It's going to give more punch for the same money, though he doesn't really need it for the games he plays.

 

[poofyhairguy]

.

It is kinda sad full Tonga doesn't beat Tahiti. I guess it has a little more OC headroom but still, wow seeing it on a graph. Shows 3GB still enough VRAM at 1080p, 280x best deal sub $200.

 

[bahwz]

The case you showed in your images on Page 1 and the OP said he has is the 990 DT, which can only accept half height cards and can't accept an ATX PSU. The pictures he later posted show the case is actually a 990 MT, which can use an ATX PSU and full height GPU. That's likely the reason for the differing recommendations.

Going with the 750Ti does still let him use his existing PSU though. The 950 would definitely be a better choice otherwise for about the same money.
He expressed a desire to use nVidia, but if he was going to move to AMD he'd probably be just as well off with the $190 280X with no MIR and a free copy of Dirt Rally than a 380. It's going to give more punch for the same money, though he doesn't really need it for the games he plays.

Im pretty sure even if I remove the black hinge there seems to be a piece of metal (in addition to the black hinge) that is blocking a portion of my vid card slot. This metal piece blocks the sides of all the "slots" in the back. I would still be limited to less than 4 inches. You cant really tell from the pics I took, but the case itself seems to actually built around that black hinge. I circled the area in question in green, you can see how the metal on the case seems to be built "around" this black plastic hinge.

But ya I think even if I got the big black hinge off I would still have to deal with that metal (circled in green in the pic) limiting me to less than 4 inches side to side.

 

[MrTeal]

Im pretty sure even if I remove the black hinge there seems to be a piece of metal (in addition to the black hinge) that is blocking a portion of my vid card slot. This metal piece blocks the sides of all the "slots" in the back. I would still be limited to less than 4 inches. You cant really tell from the pics I took, but the case itself seems to actually built around that black hinge. I circled the area in question in green, you can see how the metal on the case seems to be built "around" this black plastic hinge.

But ya I think even if I got the big black hinge off I would still have to deal with that metal (circled in green in the pic) limiting me to less than 4 inches side to side.

It looks like a toolless hinge to keep the cards secure. You can see in this other picture you took that there's the screw holes you'd screw a full length card into on the right side of the slot.

For reference, here's the service manual.
http://downloads.dell.com/Manuals/a...desktop/optiplex-990_service manual_en-us.pdf

BTW - I suggested a 960 above for $180 if you replaced the PSU since you said you preferred nVidia, but if you're not terribly brand loyal a $180 R9 280X is considerably faster than the 960 at the same price.