Upgrading my video card

[Jeff7181]

So my computer is getting a little long in the tooth. It's almost 4 years old... Core 2 E8400 with 8 GB of RAM and a GTS250.

I think my video card is dying because it's starting to cause the computer to reboot when I'm gaming. I've checked the power supply and all the voltages are within spec, so I know it's not that.

Anyway, I'm looking for an upgrade now. I've really only considered an nVidia card because I know it will be an easy swap - won't have to do any driver gymnastics to get it to work properly after the swap. I'm considering the GTX560 since they're around $160-170 now with rebates. I also found GTX550 for $110 after rebate that I'm thinking might be a little more bang for my buck. I have a 24 inch 1920x1200 monitor and I like to use native resolution in games, so maybe the 560 would be a smarter buy?

Also, what's available from AMD in that price range? I haven't really kept up to date on the current lineup from AMD. If I could get more for my money by doing a little extra work to remove drivers and install AMD drivers I'd be willing to do it.

 

[aghusker]

Consider 6870 @ $150ish, or wait for 7850 @ $250.

 

[Arachnotronic]

The 460 is way better than a 550 Ti and can be had for as little as $140 new. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125412

 

[Jeff7181]

Consider 6870 @ $150ish, or wait for 7850 @ $250.

$250 is more than I want to spend. I'll look into the 6870, thanks.

 

[Jeff7181]

I'm a little concerned about whether my PSU is up to snuff for a modern video card, too.

It's an Antec Earthwatts 500.

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/2125/dscn0704g.jpg

 

[daveybrat]

Seriously, go with the GTX 460 card linked above at $139. It will run fine on your 500W power supply and will be much faster than your GTS 250 card.

 

[lehtv]

That'll run 6870 without a problem. 6870 = 140 watts, and each +12v rail on the EA500 can deliver up to 264W. Even GTX460 will run fine as stated above.

 

[BoFox]

I'd avoid GTX 550 Ti -- there might be something wrong with this video card, making it perform worse than its castrated sibling, GTX 460 -see:

http://alienbabeltech.com/abt/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=21797&start=230#p59879

Either GTX 460 or HD 6870 are MUCH better video cards.

 

[Jeff7181]

What about one of these 256-bit memory GTX 460's?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130752

Does the higher clock speed of the 192-bit cards outweigh the benefits of more memory bandwidth?

 

[BoFox]

Well, in some really shader-heavy games, the 192-bit version might come out ahead, but the bandwidth is severely bottlenecked for most games.

The only actual benchmark for the GTX 460 V2 (192-bit) 1GB that I could find on the 'net comparing it against the 256-bit version is: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/video_lookup.php?gpu=GeForce+GTX+460+v2

AND since it has the same weird configuration as GTX 550 Ti (1GB with only 24 ROPs), there might be some strange performance issues with the stuttering as one of the memory controllers is unbalanced with the rest.

 

[Fallengod]

$140 for a GTX 460 seems like a lot to me. Ive seen those at $100 many times.

Anyways, theres lots of good options out there. Buying used off forums is a way to get the best bang 4 buck. I just bought a used 5770 for $60 shipped. These are the same speed of a GTX 550 ti. It sounds like youre looking for nvidia though.

In terms of issues with the gtx 550 ti, I havnt heard that before.... If you can find one for $90 or so, seems like those would be a decent buy.

 

[Joseph F]

I'd get a Radeon 6870. It draws 4 watts more, and costs $10-20 more than a GTX 460, while performing like a GTX 470.

Uninstalling drivers is easy, just uninstall the card from the device manager, uninstall the drivers from the "Programs and Features" section of the control panel, and you're set.
I once went from a Geforce 7900GS to a Radeon 4650 to a Radeon 4850 in the same computer.

 

[Termie]

Honestly, you're going way overboard with these cards. In modern games, your e8400 won't come close to keeping up to anything above an HD6770, which can be had for about $90. Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121474

If you are playing older games, you probably don't need more power than you had. And yes, the GTX460 192-bit is a weaker card than it's cheaper predecessor. You do the math on that...

If you feel you must spend more, buy an HD6850 for $130 - it's faster and cheaper than any GTX460 and uses less power too. Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161384

 

[BoFox]

Honestly, you're going way overboard with these cards. In modern games, your e8400 won't come close to keeping up to anything above an HD6770, which can be had for about $90. Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121474

If you are playing older games, you probably don't need more power than you had. And yes, the GTX460 192-bit is a weaker card than it's cheaper predecessor. You do the math on that...

If you feel you must spend more, buy an HD6850 for $130 - it's faster and cheaper than any GTX460 and uses less power too. Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161384

I'd still encourage him to get a good video card, in case of a cheap CPU upgrade to quad-core anytime soon. It'd still show some benefits anyways. HD 6770 is almost low-end by now. Take a look at my sig, and see how HD 6850 is barely any faster than GTX 460. I'd prefer GTX 460 1GB (256-bit) for PhysX (Batman:AA/AC, Mirror's Edge, Mafia 2, Metro2033 etc..), CUDA (Just Cause 2), and Stereo3D (nicely playable with 60% of games out there).

 

[Termie]

I'd still encourage him to get a good video card, in case of a cheap CPU upgrade to quad-core anytime soon. It'd still show some benefits anyways. HD 6770 is almost low-end by now. Take a look at my sig, and see how HD 6850 is barely any faster than GTX 460. I'd prefer GTX 460 1GB (256-bit) for PhysX (Batman:AA/AC, Mirror's Edge, Mafia 2, Metro2033 etc..), CUDA (Just Cause 2), and Stereo3D (nicely playable with 60% of games out there).

The OP didn't mention anything about upgrading his system - of course, if he's going to go quad-core, more GPU power would be warranted.

BTW, that's a nifty graphics card comparison list. Very helpful for comparing older cards to new ones (like Intel HD3000 to old discrete cards).

Confirms my impression that I have generally doubled in performance with every upgrade I've made:

9800pro - 5.4
x800xt - 10.4
x1900xt - 26
8800gt - 45
HD5850 - 112
HD5850 Crossfire (5970) - 175 (or 202 without your crossfire penalty)

When are we going to see cards in the 350vp range? Because that's when I'm going to buy next.

 

[BoFox]

Thanks, man. I also had 9800 Pro, X800XT (AIW), X1900XTX!! Loved 'em, although the XTX had no mercy on those cheap PSU's.

350VP? Certainly with a dual-GPU 28nm card, maybe by the end of this year!

 

[Fallengod]

It is true that if you are still running a Core2Duo you will need to upgrade your system to take full advantage of even a 6770. I just upgraded my system in December last year from a E6400 @ 3ghz with a lowly GT 430 and my fps in league of legends went from 70-150 to 150 - 300 just by upgrading to a i5-2500k at stock speed. Also, in Skyrim I had massive choppyness and was borderline unplayable with the Core2Duo system. Switching to an i5-2500k, it became smooth and was finally playable.

You will be CPU capped upgrading to a fast video card with that system.

 

[Jeff7181]

I ordered the 6870.

I'm not too concerned about the CPU being the bottleneck. I run everything at 1920x1200 and if I can bump AA and AF up with no performance penalty, yay. I doubt I'll upgrade anything else in this computer, though. The socket 775 quad core CPU's are way too expensive when you can find them, so when the CPU really causes me issues I'll just build a whole new system.

Thanks for the recommendations, all.

 

[Zebo]

I think your PSU is dying not your video card. Right now Newegg has the Seasonic X650 for $99 with promo. I bought one just to put on the shelf for next build at that price.

 

[Jeff7181]

I think your PSU is dying not your video card. Right now Newegg has the Seasonic X650 for $99 with promo. I bought one just to put on the shelf for next build at that price.

I've checked the power supply. The voltages don't budge even when everything's running full tilt so I have no reason to believe it's the power supply. In the past I've been able to identify a faulty power supply by seeing the voltage drop under load.