Video card upgrade recs

[ultbruin]

Have a Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 (2.5GHz, 4MB)
4GB DDR2
350W PSU

Currently have HD 4350 video card. Playing SC2 on medium with 15-20 fps. Want to play on ultra settings if possible. Obviously GTX 460 would be too much given that my cpu would be the bottleneck.

Running 1920x1080 resolution.

What's an appropriate card for my cpu to maximize performance? Willing to upgrade PSU if needed.

Thanks

 

[MangoX]

What resolution is your monitor, and what is your budget? With that PSU I think we can only safely recommend a 5670. It's the fastest card currently available that doesn't require any PCI-Express power.

 

[ultbruin]

What resolution is your monitor, and what is your budget? With that PSU I think we can only safely recommend a 5670. It's the fastest card currently available that doesn't require any PCI-Express power.

Running 1920x1080 resolution

 

[happy medium]

What's an appropriate card for my cpu to maximize performance? Willing to upgrade PSU if needed.

Then grab a better psu and a 6850 or gtx460 1gb (which ever is cheaper for you),that should maximize your settings @ 1900x1080.

The 5670 is weak even for your cpu.

Important:
Do us a favor and play the game with your current card at the absolute minimum settings and give us your fps. Use fraps to record your fps.

Edit: and welcome to the forums

 

[cusideabelincoln]

HD 6850 or GTX 460 should be good options. While they might be held back a bit, there is a decent-sized drop off in performance by going with a slower card like the HD 5770 or GTS 450 such that I think the extra performance of the faster cards should provide tangible benefits in your system in SCII at Ultra details.

And if you play other games the 6850 or 460 should definitely provide a better experience.

I also recommend upgrading the power supply. It's basically a requirement for you. 350W won't be enough as I'm assuming this is probably some generic 350W unit. As a general rule grab a 500W power supply and you'll be good to go, but do yourself a favor and get a PSU that is 80 Plus certified and try to get it from a good manufacturer like Antec, Corsair, OCZ, Seasonic, or Silverstone.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Radeon 5570 maybe? 5670 tops? Maybe a GeForce GT240 or GTX450 maybe. All of them require 400 watt power supplies, with the exception of the GT240. I would think they would all work, but the GT240 would probably be your safest bet.

 

[RussianSensation]

Radeon 5570 maybe? 5670 tops? Maybe a GeForce GT240 or GTX450 maybe. All of them require 400 watt power supplies, with the exception of the GT240. I would think they would all work, but the GT240 would probably be your safest bet.

Stating that a specific card "requires" a minimum power supply rating is only done by manufacturers to prevent people from running crappy 400W generic versions with a high end graphics card like an HD5870. Any good quality 300W power supply is sufficient for the cards you listed. So if he has an Antec, or Enermax 350W PSU, then he is fine. If he has some crappy no-name PSU, then upgrading makes sense. This $40 OCZ after code + rebates will let him run any videocard on the market besides a GTX480/HD5970/HD4870x2.

OP, I'd aim at GTX460 768mb or HD5770. Also, consider overclocking your processor since it tends to be another bottleneck in SC2.

 

[ultbruin]

Thanks for all the input. Would this be a good upgrade option or overkill for the processor I have.
OCZ 600W
Sapphire Radeon HD5770 1Gb GDDR5

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.514493

 

[toyota]

Stating that a specific card "requires" a minimum power supply rating is only done by manufacturers to prevent people from running crappy 400W generic versions with a high end graphics card like an HD5870. Any good quality 300W power supply is sufficient for the cards you listed. So if he has an Antec, or Enermax 350W PSU, then he is fine. If he has some crappy no-name PSU, then upgrading makes sense. This $40 OCZ after code + rebates will let him run any videocard on the market besides a GTX480/HD5970/HD4870x2.

OP, I'd aim at GTX460 768mb or HD5770. Also, consider overclocking your processor since it tends to be another bottleneck in SC2.

his specs look like a Dell to me so he probably has a lower quality generic oem 350 watt psu.

 

[toyota]

Thanks for all the input. Would this be a good upgrade option or overkill for the processor I have.
OCZ 600W
Sapphire Radeon HD5770 1Gb GDDR5

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.514493

your 350 watt psu is plenty for a 5770.

 

[ZimZum]

Yeah, if your going with a 5770 you dont need a new PSU.

 

[ultbruin]

his specs look like a Dell to me so he probably has a lower quality generic oem 350 watt psu.

Toyota you are psychic. It is a dell studio 540 with oem PSU 350W.

 

[happy medium]

Toyota you are psychic. It is a dell studio 540 with oem PSU 350W.

Did you run the game at the lowests settings for us?
What fps did you get? Just trying to find your bottleneck.

 

[toyota]

Did you run the game at the lowests settings for us?
What fps did you get? Just trying to find your bottleneck.

he has a 4350, right? no testing needed to know that is the bottleneck for him. a 5770 would be almost 10 times the card that a 4350 is at 1920x1080 and is fine with his psu.

 

[happy medium]

he has a 4350, right? no testing needed to know that is the bottleneck for him. a 5770 would be almost 10 times the card that 4350 is at 1920x1080 and is fine with his psu.

350 watt psu with a quad core and 5770? Good luck. Remember Totota I believe it has a 18 amp 12v rail, we have been here before. Thats really cutting it close with a Dell psu.

Edit: no need for cpu test Toyota was right about that.

 

[toyota]

350 watt psu with a quad core and 5770? Good luck. Remember Totota I believe it has a 18 amp 12v rail, we have been here before. Thats really cutting it close with a Dell psu.

Edit: no need for cpu test Toyota was right about that.

wait, I am usually the one that says a psu isn't sufficient not you. lol. he has a very basic system with a fairly low power Q8300 quad and a 5770 is hardly a power hog. his system under full load with a 5770 would only use about 250 watts at most.

btw that 350 watt psu should have way more than 18 amps on it. in fact I am almost positive it has TWO 12v rails with 18amp and 12amps. of course it cant actually fully combine those but it still would be at least 24 or better total.

EDIT: even with a much hungrier i7 quad it pulls under 260 watts just at the wall. factor in his less power consuming Q8300 and psu efficiency for that test and he would barely be over 200 watts under load. http://www.anandtech.com/show/2856/13

 

[happy medium]

btw that 350 watt psu should have way more than 18 amps on it. in fact I am almost positive it has TWO 18amp 12v rails.

You have a short memory. The last guy that had a 350 watt psu with a Dell had a 18 amp single rail. That was last week man.

The 12v rail powers your motherboard , hard drive, gpu and cpu.
18 amps= 18x12= 202watts at 100% efficiency. Now say the Dell has 80% efficiency thats about 160watts on the 12v rail. And thats when his psu is brand new!.

Gpu=100watts
cpu=95 watts?
harddrive = 15 watts
motherboard= 15 watts
Case fans? also run on the rail

Wanna reconsider that statement buddy?

 

[toyota]

You have a short memory. The last guy that had a 350 watt psu with a Dell had a 18 amp single rail. That was last week man.

I have no idea what you are talking about so I must not have even seen that thread. I know darn well the 350 watt Dell psus I have seen have way more amps than that. even the 300 watt psus Dell uses has 18 amps.

the Dell 350 watt psus have these ratings for the ones I have seen. if this is the psu he has then he is just fine.

+5V 18A
+3.3V 17A
+12VA 12A
+12VB 18A
-12V 0.8A
+5Vaux 2A

+3.3V & +5V 160W Max
+12VA & +12VB 300W Max

EDIT: your edited post is really incorrect because that is NOT how efficiency works.

 

[happy medium]

I have no idea what you are talking about so I must not have even seen that thread. I know darn well the 350 watt Dell psus I have seen have way more amps than that. even the 300 watt psus Dell uses has 18 amps.

the Dell 350 watt psus have these ratings for the ones I have seen

+5V 18A
+3.3V 17A
+12VA 12A
+12VB 18A
-12V 0.8A
+5Vaux 2A

+3.3V & +5V 160W Max
+12VA & +12VB 300W Max

Well I guess we should ask him?

Whats your power supply have on the sticker?

Even at 300 watts its still pushing it a little. See my above post.
No power supply is 100% efficient. Mabe 80% So 80% of 300 watts is 240 watts? My math sucks.

 

[toyota]

Well I guess we should ask him?

Whats your power supply have on the sticker?

and the guy last week probably just looked at it wrong too if he said 18 amps on the 12V.

 

[happy medium]

and the guy last week probably just looked at it wrong too if he said 18 amps on the 12V.

Ya know what mabe it was 300 watts? Mabe my memory sucks?

A 24 amp rail is much better (if thats what he has) and I totally agree with ya.

 

[toyota]

Well I guess we should ask him?

Whats your power supply have on the sticker?

Even at 300 watts its still pushing it a little. See my above post.
No power supply is 100% efficient. Mabe 80% So 80% of 300 watts is 240 watts? My math sucks.

300 watts for the 12v is plenty because he will never even use 250 watts on the 12v. I already showed you links where even with an i7, 256 watts total at the wall is being consumed.

you are not understanding what efficiency is at all.

 

[toyota]

Ya know what mabe it was 300 watts? Mabe my memory sucks?

A 24 amp rail is much better (if thats what he has) and I totally agree with ya.

yes if that is what he has then he will be fine with up to a 5770.

 

[happy medium]

you are not understanding what efficiency is at all.

Just looked it up, thanks for the lesson man.

 

[RussianSensation]

Just looked it up, thanks for the lesson man.

The efficiency rating of a power supply determines how much energy is wasted or lost when it converts the wall outlet power to the internal power components. The PSU simply converts the 110 or 220 volt incoming power from the wall down to the 3.3, 5 and 12 volt levels for the various internal circuits of your PC.

Changing the voltages from one level to another requires various circuits that will lose energy as it gets converted. This means that the amount of power in watts used by the power supply will be greater than the amount of watts of energy that is supplied to the internal components. This energy loss is generally transferred as heat to the power supply and is why most power supplies contain various fans to cool the components.

Another way to look at Efficiency of the PSU is to see how much electricity is needed from the wall for the PSU to deliver its rating (i.e., 80% efficiency @ 480W, then you need 600W from the wall to "use 480W"). So with a 90% efficiency, it wastes 10% from the wall, with an 80% efficiency, you waste 20% from the wall. But the power rating of the PSU never changes. A more efficient PSU just converts the electricity from the wall more efficiently and thus saves you a little bit of $$.

=======

What confuses a lot of people are total system power ratings. Sometimes, they are measured as total power rating from the wall (i.e., HardOCP does this). To get the actual power draw of your system components, you must multiply the "from the wall" power draw @ efficiency of your PSU. So if you are reading 400W from the wall, at 75% efficiency, your components are only using 300W. Hope this clears it up.