Video card upgrade for Athlon II X4 3.0Ghz quad, 16GB DDR2, SSD?

[VirtualLarry]

After reading the threads about the "limitations" of the 3GB VRAM on the 1060 3GB model, I'm re-thinking my plan to attempt to sell my friend my GTX950 2GB card.

He currently has a GT610 1GB or 2GB card (DDR3?). Used primarily for watching online videos, Twitch.tv, etc. Not gaming.

He has expressed interest in PC gaming, specifically KI, since he doesn't own an XBox. (He's a PS3 console gamer, currently.)

I have a GT740 GDDR5 1GB PCI-E card, brand new, and a MSI GTX950 2GB GDDR5 PCI-E brand new. (Also, a pair of R9 270X 2GB GDDR5 cards.)

I don't know if he has any spare money right now.

Would he be better off with a 4GB RX 460, for gaming, due to the larger VRAM than the GTX950? They're around the same price.

The other issue, is he still has a VGA (only) monitor.

I can get him another monitor, but I don't think that he would have the money for both a video card and a monitor.

I think that the GTX950 will work with his VGA monitor, via the DVI-I port and a cheap passive adapter.

I haven't found an RX 460 card that will work with VGA.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Would he be better off with a 4GB RX 460, for gaming, due to the larger VRAM than the GTX950? They're around the same price.

Performance wise, no. But the 460 does have better output capabilities. Which leads to;

The other issue, is he still has a VGA (only) monitor.

I can get him another monitor, but I don't think that he would have the money for both a video card and a monitor.

I think that the GTX950 will work with his VGA monitor, via the DVI-I port and a cheap passive adapter.

I haven't found an RX 460 card that will work with VGA.

It is going to be though finding new cards with VGA connectors, and to a lesser extent DVI-I, going forward. So if you already have a 950 available with VGA, that's seems the best workaround. The 950 is plenty capable for both light gaming and video acceleration. The GM206, unlike its bigger brothers, actually has support for both (8bit) HEVC, VP9 and has HDMI 2.0 capability.

At least you know what to upgrade next...

 

[Enigmoid]

His CPU is pretty bad - I doubt VRAM will be holding him back. Grab the 950 for lower CPU overhead.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Second the recommendation for the 950. That CPU is really, really slow by today's standards, so lower CPU overhead of the 950 makes the choice clear.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Agreed. GTX 950 is more than enough for that cpu. I am still hanging in with a HD7770, 1gb, and have been able to play every game I wanted at reduced settings. Obviously, I dont play the latest and greatest at max settings, but I did manage to get through Witcher 3 and DA:I. What game are you talking about, btw?

 

[VirtualLarry]

What game are you talking about, btw?

Killer Instinct. He's a "competitive" fighting-game player.

Edit: Is KI DX12? I've been bugging my friend to let me upgrade his PC to Windows 10. If he needs it for KI, he might be a lot more willing to let me do that for him.

http://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=8077&game=Killer Instinct

Says minimum requirement Win10 64-bit, but DirectX 11. GD suggests Win7 64-bit as minimum, Win10 64-bit as recommended.

 

[Bacon1]

GPU wise the 950 should work fine:

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

Now he might be CPU limited in the game, no idea how intensive it is on his CPU. Doesn't seem to be much in the way of reviews for it since the only complaints I saw on its launch was it was running too fast for systems and didn't have a frame limiter in place. Thats been added but never saw people complaining about performance other than running too well

Like others mentioned, the 460 and many newer cards aren't including VGA connectors as they want people to use newer ports like displayport as VGA and DVI are both "legacy" at this point.

 

[cfenton]

Killer Instinct. He's a "competitive" fighting-game player.

Edit: Is KI DX12? I've been bugging my friend to let me upgrade his PC to Windows 10. If he needs it for KI, he might be a lot more willing to let me do that for him.

http://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=8077&game=Killer Instinct

Says minimum requirement Win10 64-bit, but DirectX 11. GD suggests Win7 64-bit as minimum, Win10 64-bit as recommended.

It's only available on the Windows 10 store, as far as I know. I'm not sure about DX 12 though. Either way, he'll need Windows 10.

 

[Gikaseixas]

Another vote for the GTX 950. 2GB won't be the limiting factor for sure in this case.

Sent from my LGL23 using Tapatalk

 

[VirtualLarry]

It's only available on the Windows 10 store, as far as I know. I'm not sure about DX 12 though. Either way, he'll need Windows 10.

You can't buy a boxed copy?

Edit: I mean, of KI.

 

[Bacon1]

You can't buy a boxed copy?

Its windows store only, and its Free for 1 character and you buy the others you want to use.

Its DX11 not DX12.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

You can't buy a boxed copy?

Of course you can. Both in OEM and Retail flavour. Only potential issue is that packaged retail versions come with USB install media, so you may have to download an image from MS, if the PC in question can't boot from USB.

 

[daxzy]

I would assume when the GTX 1050 comes out, it will create pricing pressure on the GTX 950 and RX 460. If waiting is an option, you should probably just wait a month or so.

Otherwise, best perf per dollar is buying used or refurb. About 3 weeks ago, Newegg was selling GTX 960 2GB for $129 refurb. Used R9 380 4GB's are going for just slightly more on eBay. Those seem like a better choice than buying new. Of course you'd miss out on better power efficiency and HVEC. But for gaming, it doesn't seem like that big a deal, IMO.

 

[Bacon1]

Of course you can. Both in OEM and Retail flavour. Only potential issue is that packaged retail versions come with USB install media, so you may have to download an image from MS, if the PC in question can't boot from USB.

He meant the game not OS

 

[whm1974]

@VirtualLarry:
Newegg does sell 21.5" 1080p displays with HDMI for ~$100 . Maybe you can check into that.

 

[MrTeal]

What kind of VGA only monitor? If it's an FW-900 that's one thing, but if he's on an old 17-19" 1280x1024 LCD that's entirely another. Depends on his usage, but if it were me I'd spend $100 on something like this 23" 1080p monitor before I spent much money on a video card upgrade.

 

[AtenRa]

If hes going to get a new Monitor then I would recommend the RX 460 4GB with a FreeSync monitor. That combination will be way better than the GTX 950 2GB and non FreeSync monitor, especially in DX-12/Vulkan games.

 

[Piroko]

Killer Instinct. He's a "competitive" fighting-game player.

Edit: Is KI DX12? I've been bugging my friend to let me upgrade his PC to Windows 10. If he needs it for KI, he might be a lot more willing to let me do that for him.

http://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=8077&game=Killer Instinct

Says minimum requirement Win10 64-bit, but DirectX 11. GD suggests Win7 64-bit as minimum, Win10 64-bit as recommended.

Minimum requirement for Killer Instinct is a Core i5-750 or a Phenom 2 x4 with 3.4 GHz. His CPU is well below the minimum specs of that game (~30% slower), forget the drop-in upgrade.

 

[Headfoot]

That used 950 2gb is probably about perfect for a system of that age. Shouldnt be too much cash but will still obviously be a substantial upgrade from what he has now