GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

to $100 🤣

You really need to keep this in mind—Intertech Energon is a hard pass.
The same goes for Linkworld, Naviatec, Spire, EVC, and any other random junk that happens to have "Office" in its name...
It’s like buying a cheap, generic power supply that’s basically just a brick of concrete inside.👍

Look, if you want to do this right, just grab a legitimate 400W 80+ rated unit that's actually available right now—like the Fortron Hexagon from $100 +/-

Timothy Kim60 said:to $100 🤣

You need to keep this in mind—Intertech Energon is a hard pass.
The same goes for Linkworld, Naviatec, Spire, EVC, and all that other junk with Office in the name...
A power supply similar to that one—I can't recall exactly which one right now—has concrete inside of it. 👍

First thing you need is a decent 400W 80+ power supply (whatever you can grab right now), like a Hexagon from Fortron... $100 +/-

That’s pretty much the standard, though you can definitely stumble upon some interesting outliers here and there. Take the L-Cova Office series, for instance—the 600W model. It features a dual 12V rail at 20A, active PFC, and all the necessary protections. A buddy of mine used one to power a Phenoma 955 and a 6850 without any issues, and it stayed surprisingly quiet. Some testers were actually running... CLICK At $250, that power supply is an absolute steal. I don't think you can find them in stores anymore, but if you look around online, you might still stumble upon a decent one that’s worth picking up.

So, I was just digging through the specs, and it looks like this Energon power supply only comes with one 6+2 Pin PCI-E connector.
But according to the requirements for the AMD Radeon R9 270 X, you actually need two 75W 6-pin PCI Express power connectors.
Does that mean I'm basically dead in the water with this power supply, or am I just completely misreading the situation here?

You’re going to need a SATA power to 6-pin adapter click, or maybe a 2x Molex to 6-pin one click. But honestly, if you want to play it safe and avoid any headaches, just swap out the power supply entirely.

Huge thanks to the guys here who gave me some advice.

I’ve ultimately decided to go with the AMD Radeon R9 270 X. Honestly, all that nostalgia surrounding NVIDIA just doesn't hold up when I can get exactly what I need for less money.

Besides, it's been a long time since those old days when I used to deal with constant headaches from ATI. These days, everything works perfectly fine.🙂

Hey everyone!
Here’s the current lineup I'm working with:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600
1 GB
M2N68-AM SE2
FEEL II 400 ATX Modecom
And my old GeForce 7600 GS just kicked the bucket...

First off, full disclosure: I’m definitely not a hardware expert, and I know this setup is pretty much ancient history. I don't need this machine for heavy gaming or anything high-end; I just want to give it a little bit of life so it can hang in there for maybe another year or two for basic everyday stuff. Because of that, I was wondering if you guys could recommend a decent graphics card that stays under $200. After that, I might look into investing more into a processor, though I'm honestly on the fence about that too. Thanks! 😉

Jonathan Hill4 said:Hey there.
Here is my current setup:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600
1 GB
M2N68-AM SE2
FEEL II 400 ATX Modecom
And my old GPU, a GeForce 7600 GS, just burned out...

First off, I have to admit I don't know the first thing about computer components, but I am aware this build is pretty terrible. I don't need this machine for gaming or heavy workloads; I just want to modernize it enough so it lasts maybe another year or two for basic daily tasks. What kind of graphics card would you recommend for under $200? After that, I might invest more into the processor, but I'm not sure. Thanks 😉

If you aren't using this for games, you're essentially throwing money away by upgrading a rig like this. Even if you did care about gaming, any card priced around $200 would be massively bottlenecked by that CPU.

Grab something for up to $33 if you can find it—apparently, an HD5450 goes for about 70-$33. Also, try to add another 1-2 GB of RAM to give the PC some breathing room (for Windows 7, web browsing, etc.). You can usually find used RAM for 50-$20 per GB.

Jonathan Hill4 said:Hey there.
Here's what I'm running:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600
1 GB
M2N68-AM SE2
FEEL II 400 ATX Modecom
and my old GeForce 7600 GS just fried on me..

First off, I'll be honest—I don't know the first thing about computer parts, but I know this setup is pretty terrible. I don't need it for gaming or heavy lifting; I just want to upgrade it enough so it lasts maybe another year or two for basic stuff. What kind of graphics card would you recommend for under $200? After that, I might invest more into a processor, but who knows. Thanks 😉

For basic daily tasks, you can honestly just plug your monitor cable directly into the motherboard and use the integrated graphics. Spending $200 on a dedicated card for that specific processor doesn't make much sense, especially since you said you aren't planning to game on it. Honestly, I'd rather you pocket those $200 and save them toward a whole new build. 😉 The integrated graphics will be plenty for browsing the web, YouTube, watching movies, and whatever else you need for basic use.

If you can swing it, this really is your best bet since you won't have to mess with your power supply:

Memory Device KINGSTON ValueRAM DDR3 SDRAM Non-ECC (4GB,1600MHz(PC3-12800),Single Rank,Unbuffered)
MSI H81M-P33 motherboard
Intel Celeron G1820 processor

Total: $277 center

The graphics are just built right into the processor.

crimsonstag84 said:If you can swing it, this is your best bet since you won't need to swap out the power supply:

Memory Device KINGSTON ValueRAM DDR3 SDRAM Non-ECC (4GB,1600MHz(PC3-12800),single Rank,Unbuffered)
Motherboard ASUS H81M-K
Processor Intel Celeron G1820

Total: $277 center

The graphics are built right into the processor.

Why would you bother? That board has integrated graphics—just plug the monitor straight into the motherboard. Maybe toss in another gig of RAM and let it run for another year like you mentioned for basic stuff. We're talking web browsing, music, movies, Office, etc. If you aren't planning on doing anything heavy, there’s really no point in upgrading the whole platform.

Honestly, 🤣

Look, the issue might just be the SATA drive. But even if they grab this now, they won't need to upgrade anything else for years—unless they decide to get into gaming, in which case they'll just pick up a dedicated graphics card. They'd end up dropping maybe 300-$133 and then facing $500 all over again when they eventually build a new rig.

I'm just not sure what makes more sense here 😬

Adam Moore3 said:There’s really no point in swapping out the whole platform if you aren't planning on doing anything particularly demanding on your PC anyway.

I couldn't agree more, even if I haven't quite forgiven you for that old 280x recommendation.😁

Every dollar saved is a dollar wisely spent.

Thanks for all the advice! What do you guys think if I just throw an NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 in there at the top? Would that actually work for $67...

Well, for $67 it’s an option, though since it’s brand new at around $167 I guess it’s pretty much a bad deal and still won't handle anything serious. You’d definitely need to upgrade your RAM to at least 2GB too.

crimsonstag84 said:Look, seriously 🤣

Sure, the issue could be the SATA drive. But even if they go that route now, they won't need to upgrade anything for years unless they decide to start gaming, in which case they'll just grab a dedicated graphics card. If they do it this way, they’ll blow $133300 bucks and then end up needing to spend $500 more when they eventually get a new PC.

I'm really not sure what makes more sense here 😬

They aren't going to drop 300-$133, why would they? They should just grab a stick of RAM for $17 at Best Buy and call it a day. 😉 Better to save that $200 for a new build later on, if they ever decide to go that route. This dual-core Intel Core i3 6100 will handle Mozilla Quote 😬
just fine.

Jonathan Hill4 said:Thanks for the advice. What do you think about me putting an NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 in there instead? Would that work for $67...

Like I suggested before, if I were you, I'd just stick with the integrated graphics on the motherboard for what you need. Don't waste $67 money on a 730 when you won't get absolutely NOTHING new out of it. I don't get why you're even thinking about buying a GPU when they're primarily for gaming—which isn't even your plan.

I totally get where you're coming from—the PC is technically getting the job done right now, but man, it’s lagging like crazy. It takes forever just to render an image (if that's even the right way to put it), so some folks suggested I should at least pick up something decent to stop the stuttering.

So, how's the video processing looking? Is the card even kicking in, or is it just dead? I mean, did you actually install the drivers? If the card really bit the dust, you might want to switch over to the integrated graphics, but you’ll still need to grab those drivers too, otherwise the whole thing is going to stutter like crazy. Also, your RAM situation is pretty rough. Maybe try to find some used 2GB DDR2 sticks to plug in; that should give you a noticeable bump.

You aren't going to get anything out of a dedicated GPU since the integrated one is plenty for basic stuff anyway.

MBO: ASUS M5A97 EVO R2.0
CPU: Intel Core i7 CPU Fan
Intel Core i7 CPU Fan: Arctic Freezer 13 Pro
RAM.😁Kingston HyperX Fury DDR3 (2x4GB), 1866MHz.
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 600 series 1GB DDR5
Zalman Z9 U3.
Power Supply Unit: FSP 550W Raider
Is there any point in even discussing this? SSD. That's it.🙂Kingston SV300S37A120GB

A total waste of three bucks.
I was thinking about picking this up:
Check out this link for more details on the product: http://www.amazon.com/product-details/b00xxxxxx
Should I wait until after New Year's when prices are supposedly supposed to drop?

That card probably won't even fit in your case 😉

Your power supply would likely struggle quite a bit with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, and you wouldn't even be able to ocati, which feels like a waste since you have everything else ready to go, so... I'd suggest going with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 instead:

http://www.newegg.com/product_info.php?c...ducts_id=15439

Prices actually dropped about two or three weeks ago—covering the GTX 660, GTX 760, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 700 series, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980X... so I wouldn't expect any more major sales anytime soon.

Well, damn... Thanks for the response.