Plz help: What graphics card suit me??

[smainuddin]

Hi

I am new to this forum and this is my very first post. I need a little bit help here. I was not in the market for new PC so I do not know the present PC markets.

Here is my current PC config:

Intel 3 GHz Dual Core
Intel 945 motherboard.
1.5 GHz RAM (will upgrade it very soon)
On board graphics card
Samsung XL2370 monitor with 1920X1080

Now I need to know from you Pros that what graphics card best suit me? I want to use it for gaming and photo editing. I want to play games like Stalker: Papyrat. What will be the best card for me? I will use this PC for 4 - 5 more months.

Regards,
Sadat

 

[toyota]

what is the exact cpu that you have because "3 GHz Dual Core" doesnt say much? what are the exact specs of your power supply too? yeah you certainly need more ram for modern games.

 

[smainuddin]

sorry... its a Pentium D 3GHz dualcore processor. I can say this much I dont have any more details...

 

[toyota]

sorry... its a Pentium D 3GHz dualcore processor. I can say this much I dont have any more details...

yep I was worried that it would be a Pentium D because those are horrible cpus for modern games. that cpu is not going to provide a very good gaming experience in cpu intensive games no matter what gpu that you get. even in less cpu intensive games that Pentium D will hold back even a low end modern card. a 5570 or 5670 make sense but you are wanting to play at a pretty high res so a 5750 would be okay ONLY if you can find one for around 100 bucks. honestly even a 5750 will have about 50% of performance wasted in many games with that cpu. and again you will not be playing games like GTA 4, Bad Company 2 and several others smoothly no matter what gpu that you choose.

you also need to see what power supply that you have just to make sure it will be okay with a gpu upgrade.

 

[smainuddin]

thanks toyota for very helpful and detailed reply but with 50% performance wested I think this will not be a viable upgrade

 

[Skurge]

I have a question.

Thats a pretty expensive LED monitor you have there. Why did you buy such an expensive monitor with your current system?

 

[Skurge]

DP

 

[cusideabelincoln]

What are you going to do in 4-5 months? Get a new PC?

 

[betasub]

Hi
Samsung XL2370 monitor with 1920X1080

Now I need to know from you Pros that what graphics card best suit me? I want to use it for gaming and photo editing. I want to play games like Stalker: Papyrat. What will be the best card for me? I will use this PC for 4 - 5 more months.

Although graphics cards are never a good investment, to get something that can do justice to Stalker: Pripyat on such a nice screen would also be worth carrying over to the next PC (six months later?). Perhaps something like ATI's HD5750 1GB would be good for gaming (even with an old PentiumD), and could be carryied over to a newer PC later in the year.

 

[kalrith]

Buy a $60 used 4850. Your CPU might hold it back, but it will still be a huge upgrade for you. Then count your pennies for a nice full-system upgrade. I bet a year from now, you'll be able to sell that 4850 for $30-40 and recoup half of your investment. And you wouldn't have to wait another 6-12 months to game with your current PC.

 

[smainuddin]

@ skurge: I'got'that LCD as a value buy. good LCDs do not come cheap in here. so I bought it thinking that I will buy the PC later this year.

 

[smainuddin]

What are you going to do in 4-5 months? Get a new PC?

yes!!!

 

[smainuddin]

Buy a $60 used 4850. Your CPU might hold it back, but it will still be a huge upgrade for you. Then count your pennies for a nice full-system upgrade. I bet a year from now, you'll be able to sell that 4850 for $30-40 and recoup half of your investment. And you wouldn't have to wait another 6-12 months to game with your current PC.

thanks for the advice but I dont want to go that road of buying used...

 

[Skurge]

a 5670 or a 4770 if you can find one would be a good buy. 9800GT would be good too. it would be fine for your system. although bottlenecked.

 

[SlowSpyder]

$105AR for a 5750. It's probably a little much for your processor, but we're talking only $105... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131331

The GTS250 is also overkill, but priced decently starting at ~$97 shipped after rebate. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...20200%20series

$76 shipped for a 5570: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131343

A DDR5 GT240 wouldn't be a bad choice either, it's priced decently at $66 after rebate. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133306

5670's might be the most well rounded choice here, but with them starting at $81 shipped after rebate, in my opinion they are priced too close to the 5750's. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...on%20HD%205670

I'm not trying to overwhelm you with options, but they all could make sense for your older processor, and depending on your budget. If I was in your shoes I'd probably be eying up the 5670 level card. They are a little pricey to me considering they are close to 5750 pricing, but if you see one on sale it would probably be a good choice. Much more GPU than that probably won't make much difference with your system. The Pentium D's are really pretty out dated.

 

[smainuddin]

so a 5670 or 5750 can run games smoothly with that processor? I wont mind running games in slow res. just dont want the PC to hang and or miss frame rate...

 

[toyota]

so a 5670 or 5750 can run games smoothly with that processor? I wont mind running games in slow res. just dont want the PC to hang and or miss frame rate...

no not every game. what we are saying is that your cpu is so slow that any faster gpu would be a total waste. even a wimpy card like a 5670 is not going to be close to fully pushed with a 3.0 Pentium D. cpu intensive games are not going to very playable no matter what gpu that you get. for some perspective your 3.0 Pentium D would still be slower than my E8500 lowered to 1.5.

 

[bryanW1995]

thanks for the advice but I dont want to go that road of buying used...

used something, whether 4850 or similar, is definitely your best bet right now. there's nothing new that will worth keeping for your new rig b/c both camps are looking to come out with improvements towards the end of the year.


I understand your concerns about buying something used. I've owned around 15 video cards over the years and put together around a dozen high end systems. During that entire time I've NEVER bought a used component of any kind. In spite of this, I WOULD buy a used video card if I was buying one right now.

The biggest concern with buying used merchandise is knowing the reliability of the seller. heat is your friend here, stick to people with excellent heat ratings and you won't have any worries.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

So what is your plan for getting a new PC? Are you going to buy everything new? What kind of budget are you going to allocate?

I'm just wondering if you're just looking for a "rental" video card for your current PC, which won't be used for the new one. Or are you looking to buy a card for this PC and transfer it over to the new one?

Just about any new card will be a vast improvement over your Intel integrated graphics, allowing you to at the very least run the games even if they won't look their best.

If you're just looking for a temporary solution, then I recommend going cheap. This HD4650 is probably one of the better values, and certainly one of the overall cheapest solutions I found on newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102829

It should drive your games well even though you will need to turn down some settings. But you said you are willing to do this, which is why I'm recommending you buy a temp card now and just upgrade the entire PC later.