Quick Question: Best GPU for E6300?

[rainypickles]

Hey all, I built my computer about 3 years ago: E6300, 3gb ram, 7600GT. I know that even then, the 7600GT was not top of the line, but I got it because it was fanless and decent. I want to update the GPU, but I'm not sure if it will be worth it.

I mainly play games (Bad company 2) on the Xbox, but might move to PC for random games. Don't plan to overclock the E6300. FWIW, I'd probably get a fanless version this time around too. Prefer Nvidia, but probably easily swayed the other way too.

What's the highest useful card I could get for the E6300, and would it make a difference? Thanks!

 

[Lonyo]

What resolution?
For most use something middle-ish in performance, the HD5750/HD5770 level would probably be sufficient (especially for BFBC2 if you get it on PC, since ATI seems to perform well at that game). My E5200 (overclocked) plays nicely with my HD4850 most of the time, but at 1920x1200 something slightly more powerful would be better (as the HD57xx cards are).
With a slower CPU there's little point spending much about $150 or so for a card IMO.

I went from a 7800GT to my HD4850 when they were released, and it was definitely worth it, so going from a 7600 to HD57xx or NV equiv would also be worth it.

 

[MisterDonut]

4850 might be your best value if you don't do game too hard. If you're gonna get into it though, I would go for a 5770 (preferrably used, couple cards in FS section ~$130).

I went from a 7600GT to a 9800GTX+ once and the jump was huge. Similar performance (slightly slower) than the 4850. ATi probably gives you better value.

 

[yh125d]

5750/5770. Not fanless, but plenty quiet

 

[rainypickles]

main monitor is 1280x1024 and secondary monitor is 1080p (1920x1080). i usually do most things on the 1280, just because i had that monitor first, but it would be nice to have the flexibility to change to the 1080p for gaming or otherwise.

So I guess I'm looking at the 4850 for value, and potentially 5750/5770 for additional power.

I'll do my research now, and come back with questions. Any additional comments are welcome.

One more for now: what card would start to be overkill?

 

[GaiaHunter]

main monitor is 1280x1024 and secondary monitor is 1080p (1920x1080). i usually do most things on the 1280, just because i had that monitor first, but it would be nice to have the flexibility to change to the 1080p for gaming or otherwise.

So I guess I'm looking at the 4850 for value, and potentially 5750/5770 for additional power.

I'll do my research now, and come back with questions. Any additional comments are welcome.

One more for now: what card would start to be overkill?

I would give a look at these:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-balanced-platform,2469.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/balanced-gaming-pc-overclock,2625.html

Probably for that resolution (main monitor) anything above GTX275/HD4900 is overkill.

For the second one 5850/5850/GTX470(guessing for the GTX470 - in the TH articles the NVIDIA cards seemed to like more CPU power than ATi equivalents) could do.

Of course some games will want more CPU cores and/or more cache and/or prefer newer CPU architectures.

It also depends if you OC your CPU.

 

[cloudzero]

I have a E6300, the old one, 1.8 ghz, but I overclock to 2.7 ghz. I've got an ATI 4850 and have had it for almost 2 years now. I play games at 1680 x 1050. I mostly play FPS games and racing games. Most of the time, I turn up the settings to high except for AA, I normally don't use that.

I'd say most games run pretty well. Probably the most demanding games I have are STALKER SoC and STALKER CoP. I have Crysis but haven't played that in forever, and I used some custom settings on that anyway. DiRT 2 runs nice, Borderlands, Modern Warfare 2, all those run well. STALKER would skip sometimes, but I think lots of people complain about that. I wasn't using FRAPS, so I have no idea fast the frames were, but it didn't feel laggy.

I'm sorry but I haven't tried Bad Company 2 yet. I've been meaning to get it.

Oh, my ATI 4850 is a VisionTek. It's loud. If you're looking for something more quiet, I'd look for some vendors that make better cooling. I'm sure there are a lot of reviews out there.

 

[Termie]

Without overclocking, you'll be very CPU-limited. There's honestly not much reason to spend over $100 on a video card in your situation. Plus you want fanless, so how about this option:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814500138

Nvidia GT240, $99 with shipping. A bit more than other GT240s, and with slower memory, but hey, it's fanless, and you've got to pay to play (silently). If you're willing to deal with a fan, this Ati 5670 is a better deal and a slightly stronger card at $75 after rebate:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131334

While I have nothing against the 4850, they are a little overpriced right now at ~$105 with shipping, and they use way more power than the cards linked above.

 

[happy medium]

For about 3x the performance of your 7600gt a used 8800/9800gt goes for under 80$.
Thats what I's do if I had your cpu.

 

[toyota]

by not willing to overclock that cpu you are limiting the yourself. your cpu at 1.86 will not even meet the recommended requirements in many cases to play some modern games and a much faster gpu wont change that. you certainly will bottleneck the crap out of a really fast card especially at just 1280x1024.

a simple oc will do wonders for you and allow you to use a much faster card than keeping your cpu at just 1.86.

not to get way off topic but I would rather gouge my eyes out then to play at that hideous 5:4 1280x1024 res because it cuts off about 1/3 of the fov. games are designed for widescreen so you are really missing out.

 

[happy medium]

used 8800gts fresh from RMA 65$ OBO.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2075774

 

[Leyawiin]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125258

Well reviewed, runs about as cool as a fan model and a pretty decent match for your CPU.

If you can live with a fan this would be a good one too:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150369

Personally if I were in your shoes that's the one I'd grab. Its cool and quiet enough.

 

[rainypickles]

Candidates:
Value: 4850, GTX240, GTX275, used 9/8800GT
Power: 5750/5770

Personally, I don't mind the aspect ratio/lower res of the 1280 right now, so I'd probably not get a card for the 1080p monitor (esp since it is super expensive).

I am currently not interested in overclocking because I don't know if my board/RAM is capable of it. I'd have to research it, and maybe swap RAM because I have some kingston and crucial, and I don't know the actual speeds. If all I had to do was change the multiplier in the BIOS for the CPU, I'd do it. (I worry about matching timings, etc etc.)

Leyawiin, I was looking at the Gigabyte card (my current 7600gt is a gigabyte too) and will consider it. Seems a tad pricey, but yeah, have to pay for silence.

 

[toyota]

Candidates:
Value: 4850, GTX240, GTX275, used 9/8800GT
Power: 5750/5770

Personally, I don't mind the aspect ratio/lower res of the 1280 right now, so I'd probably not get a card for the 1080p monitor (esp since it is super expensive).

I am currently not interested in overclocking because I don't know if my board/RAM is capable of it. I'd have to research it, and maybe swap RAM because I have some kingston and crucial, and I don't know the actual speeds. If all I had to do was change the multiplier in the BIOS for the CPU, I'd do it. (I worry about matching timings, etc etc.)

Leyawiin, I was looking at the Gigabyte card (my current 7600gt is a gigabyte too) and will consider it. Seems a tad pricey, but yeah, have to pay for silence.

well I would look into the overclocking now before I made my choice. getting something like a gtx275 for 1280 with your stock cpu would be a MASSIVE waste of performance. you would literally throw 50% of what a card like that can do right down the drain.