Upgrade Advice

[cusideabelincoln]

No reason to stick with a measely GT 240 or 5670 when the HD5770 (or higher) will provide tangible performance benefits. The HD5770 or GTX 460 should work fine with your standard power supply, but please make sure you have extra molex or SATA connectors available, or have a 6-pin PEG connector.

Indeed.(mostly a guess on my part as I have never even heard of a GT120 )

It's very low end with 16 SPs. So think of the 8500GT and 9400GT. Not meant to play any recent games at all.

 

[happy medium]

No reason to stick with a measely GT 240 or 5670 when the HD5770 (or higher) will provide tangible performance benefits. The HD5770 or GTX 460 should work fine with your standard power supply, but please make sure you have extra molex or SATA connectors available, or have a 6-pin PEG connector.


It's very low end with 16 SPs. So think of the 8500GT and 9400GT. Not meant to play any recent games at all.

So your advising the OP to get a card (gtx460) 93 percent as fast as a 5850 ,with a q8200 @ 2.3 @1600x900 resolution? Remember he can't overclock.

I think thats horrible advice and a waste of gpu power.

A 5770 s more then enough and is the best choice with his power supply and cpu.

 

[RussianSensation]

5770 for $130 hits the sweet spot, without having to upgrade the power supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-338-_-Product

Your CPU is still pretty slow though. If you can find a $150 GTX460 768mb, that's also a great card.

Benches at 1680x1050 - http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/...x-460/13/#abschnitt_battlefield_bad_company_2

 

[bryanW1995]

By the way, if you really feel like experimenting, there is a 1-day sale at Newegg on the Sapphire HD5770, which will exhaust heat out the back of the case, and doesn't require much power. It's $112 after rebate and coupon code (24HRSALE91D): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102858. This would be an amazing upgrade and absolutely the highest-end I would go with your system.

this is your best solution by far imho. that card is easy on the budget, easy on the power requirements, and doesn't cause you long term headaches by heating up the rest of your system any more than necessary.

edit: russian is right even if it were $130, the fact that it's $112 today only makes it truly a great deal for you. remember, he who hesitates is lost.

 

[Bill Brasky]

The HD5770 or GTX 460 should work fine with your standard power supply, but please make sure you have extra molex or SATA connectors available, or have a 6-pin PEG connector.

This is good advice. Personally I would go with a gtx 460. It may be a little overpowered, but it would ensure that you could max the image settings and keep high minimum fps. Also, I prefer to have my systems be cpu bottlenecked rather than gpu limited.

Anand's system drew 300W under full load w/ a 460, so your psu should be fine.

EDIT: I take that back. I didn't see Termie's post. If you buy the 5770 at $130, that is by far the best deal. If you miss the sale, then I would go with a gtx 460.

Here is the whole article if your interested.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3809/nvidias-geforce-gtx-460-the-200-king/1

 

[toyota]

No reason to stick with a measely GT 240 or 5670 when the HD5770 (or higher) will provide tangible performance benefits. The HD5770 or GTX 460 should work fine with your standard power supply, but please make sure you have extra molex or SATA connectors available, or have a 6-pin PEG connector.


It's very low end with 16 SPs. So think of the 8500GT and 9400GT. Not meant to play any recent games at all.

a gt240 or 5670 was ONLY recommended IF he had a 300 watt psu. everyone pretty much agrees that a 5770 is fine with his current res, power supply and cpu.

btw the gt120 has 32sp according to the Nvidia site so its just a bit slower than an 8600gt.

 

[happy medium]

Anand's system drew 300W under full load w/ a 460, so your psu should be fine.

300 watts for a 400 watt psu from Gateway? ANd he should be fine?
More horrible advice.

I would not take that chance since he will see at best a few frames more with his CPU.

Again the 5770 is the best choice.


WHere's Toyota when I need him.

 

[toyota]

This is good advice. Personally I would go with a gtx 460. It may be a little overpowered, but it would ensure that you could max the image settings and keep high minimum fps. Also, I prefer to have my systems be cpu bottlenecked rather than gpu limited.

Anand's system drew 300W under full load w/ a 460, so your psu should be fine.

EDIT: I take that back. I didn't see Termie's post. If you buy the 5770 at $112, that is by far the best deal. If you miss the one day sale, then I would go with a gtx 460.

http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/gtx460_071110174503/23737.png

http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/gtx460_071110174503/23720.png

Here is the whole article if your interested.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3809/nvidias-geforce-gtx-460-the-200-king/1

we are all capable of looking at video card comparisons and know which cards are faster the others. the 5770 seems to be a better overall choice for him for an oem case, his res, his cpu and generic power supply. yeah the 5770 deal Termie linked to is his best bet.

 

[Bill Brasky]

we are all capable of looking at video card comparisons and know which cards are faster the others. the 5770 seems to be a better overall choice for him for an oem case, his res, his cpu and generic power supply. yeah the 5770 deal Termie linked to is his best bet.

I know you know how the video cards stack up, but since the OP is here asking for opinions I thought I would provide some numbers for him to look at.

300 watts for a 400 watt psu from Gateway? ANd he should be fine?
More horrible advice.

At load the 5770 system would run his PSU at 61%. The gtx 460 768MB would be 70%, and the 1GB would be 72%. Sorry Happy, I didn't realize 11% was enough to make his computer asplode.

 

[toyota]

I know you know how the video cards stack up, but since the OP is here asking for opinions I thought I would provide some numbers for him to look at.



At load the 5770 system would run his PSU at 61%. The gtx 460 768MB would be 70%, and the 1GB would be 72%. Sorry Happy, I didn't realize 11% was enough to make his computer asplode.

showing the OP what a faster video card could while using an i7 doesn't do anything but confuse the situation. at 1600x900, the OPs cpu could easily give up 10-15% in games thus defeating most of the advantage the 460 would have in some cases

an oem psu is NOT going to make anywhere near its advertised rating in real world conditions. also its the 12v amps that are very important here and I doubt that oem psu has enough capable of handling a quad and gtx4670 for long term use. again the 5770 is the most appropriate choice for him considering all the factors here.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

So your advising the OP to get a card (gtx460) 93 percent as fast as a 5850 ,with a q8200 @ 2.3 @1600x900 resolution? Remember he can't overclock.

I think thats horrible advice and a waste of gpu power.

A 5770 s more then enough and is the best choice with his power supply and cpu.

Maybe the 5770 is more than enough to provide 30 FPS in most games, but it's not if he's looking for more. And maybe if you actually READ my post, I suggested the 5770 too. Either card is good and just as worthy of a purchase.

I don't know where you get this "horrible" advice notion when I am, in spirit, suggesting the same thing as everybody else. Only I am saying he can indeed go with a faster card, and I certainly don't believe it would be wasted at all*.

Afterall he did say it would be a year or two before he would be able to upgrade his system. Spending the little extra now would be worth it. "Wasted GPU Power" Wow don't make me laugh. There's wasted GPU power going on all the time.

And you also ignore the fact he isn't particularly looking for the absolute-OH-MY-GOD-this-is-the-best-performance-per-dollar-video-card in existence. He just wants performance.

*Again, you (and toyota) overrate CPU dependency. You seem to apply the worst case scenario to all scenarios, and that is just not how it is. Just as many games will run fast with his processor as will be held back.

300 watts for a 400 watt psu from Gateway? ANd he should be fine?
More horrible advice.

I would not take that chance since he will see at best a few frames more with his CPU.


WHere's Toyota when I need him.

Good job ignoring the rest of the test system, in which Anandtech's uses more power. Also ignore the fact Anandtech measures power consumption AT THE WALL, which will be 10-20% higher than what the system actually draws. Also there's only a 30-40W difference between the 5770 and 460. He would be taking little chance; the GTX 460 will work just as well as the 5770.

a gt240 or 5670 was ONLY recommended IF he had a 300 watt psu. everyone pretty much agrees that a 5770 is fine with his current res, power supply and cpu.

btw the gt120 has 32sp according to the Nvidia site so its just a bit slower than an 8600gt.

Um, no it wasn't. And does that really matter? Nobody explicitly stated that a 5770 would be worth it over the 5670 so I took it upon myself to clarify the situation: That in fact the 5770 would bring about a worthy performance boost. Are you trying to pick some kind of argument over nothing?

And I stand corrected, but in the end its effective performance is in the same league as a 9400GT as it does use DDR2 memory. So it will be much slower than an 8600GT.


Performance per dollar also seems to be given too much weight in this thread.

 

[Dark Shroud]

I currently have a pre built Gateway that I had to buy a couple of years ago in an emergency situation and I still regret it to this day. I have a few HPs sitting on my shelf as well that I'm soon going to recycle.

As someone who has worked on a lot of prebuilt OEM PCs from HP & Gateway I can say don't let a GTX 460 anywhere near the system if the stock PSU is still in it.

I've turned on an HP once and had the PSU explode and shoot sparks & smoke out the back. I had another HP where the PSU committed suicide because the guy installed a midrange Nvidia card. The PSU took out the mobo, memory, & video card. The CPU survived only because it shut it's self off. Lastly my own system, I was lucky that I was using it when the PSU started to fry so I quickly unplugged it. After opening the PSU I discovered burnt wires inside and yes I was dusting it every few months.

The 5770 is the best deal for this case & the older CPU & PSU. My Gateway has a 4670 1GB for HD video and much stronger is overkill because my CPU is garbage for anything more than Internet, video, & Office.

This is a great deal price & performance wise you'll notice a big jump. More importantly it will vent all the heat out of the case.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102858

Edited for Grammar and copy & paste mishap.

 

[happy medium]

I currently have a pre built Gateway that I had to buy a couple of years aga in an emergency situation and I still regret it to this day. I have a few HPs sitting on myself as well that I'm soon going to recycle.

As someone who has worked on a lot of prebuilt OEM PCs from HP & Gateway I can say don't let a GTX 460 anywhere near the system if the stock PSU is still in it.

I've turned on an HP once and had the PSU explode and shoot sparks & smoke out the back. I had another HP where the PSU committed suicide because the guy installed a midrange Nvidia card. The PSU took out the mobo, memory, & video card. The CPU survived only because it shut it's self off. Lastly my own system, I was lucky that I was using it when the PSU started to fry so I quickly unplugged it. After opening the PSU I discovered burnt wires inside and yes I was dusting it few months.

This is a great deal price & performance wise and it will fully vent the heat out of your case.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102858

The 5770 is the best deal for this case & the older CPU & PSU. My Gateway has a 4670 1GB for HD video and much stronger is overkill because my CPU is garbage for anything more than Internet, video, & Office.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: Thanks ,good post.
I had the same thing happen to a Dell system, and a 7800gs card.

 

[sandorski]

Ya, you shouldn't push the Wattage too close to the edge when you're unsure of the PS.

 

[s44]

I honestly think even the 5770 (108W) is pushing it. Would you really stick a 8800GT in there? 5750 (86W) is more like it, although I don't know of any deals as good as the Newegg 5770 above.

Btw, the GTX460 is 150W. All numbers TDP but they line up pretty well with Anand's Crysis measurements.