Samuel Martinez said:The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2H I'll go with Sapphire, but I'm skipping the GTX 460 because my power supply can't handle it
The power draw difference between those cards isn't even that significant. What are you actually afraid of?
That's your motherboard right there. See that red plastic bit... you slide the card out, but first you have to pull out the old one. Press that little white lever on the slot to release it, then yank the old GPU out. Also, unplug the power cable from the old card if it even has a power connector—then just plug that same cable into the right spot on the new card (it's a 6-pin cable, with 6 small pins 🙂)
Samuel Martinez said:Man, if I walk into Best Buy and buy a GTX 650, who’s actually going to install it in my rig? I’m a total noob when it comes to PCs. I wouldn't dare touch that stuff even if my life depended on it! Who’s gonna do it for me?
Anyone here would do it for a fee. 😁
Just kidding. You'll do it yourself. You have to eventually; you can't stay a novice forever. 🙂
We'll help you via photos... just tell us what motherboard you have so we can draw a diagram in Paint for you.
EDIT: What kind of 650 is it, and what's the price? You're better off grabbing a GTX 460 with 768 MB instead.
Bryan Evans77 said:aside from that extra gig of RAM, everything else is looking increasingly similar...
So now he’s sitting at 2 gigs (4x512), and his big master plan is just moving up to 2GB of DDR3. I assume he thinks he'll actually see a performance boost over DDR2... hmmm, I don't know. That doesn't look like much of a step forward to me.
I have no idea how much power these cards pull or anything else. Anyway, I'm planning on buying everything new, except for the case, the power supply, and my peripherals....
Ugh, not enough info again. Look, just go start a new thread to buy a new PC. Answer the questions in the rules and we'll actually be able to help you. List everything you currently own with full details, especially what kind of power supply you're using.
velvetsailor25 said:Hey everyone, I'm looking to pick up a new graphics card for about $500--$500 maybe something slightly better than 😁
Currently running an Nvidia GT220/1GBD3... if anyone could drop a link, I'd really appreciate it. xD
What about the rest of the build? CPU, RAM, PSU? You need to provide details. Your budget is a joke. In the corporate world, it works like this: someone is given a set amount, they have to make every cent count, otherwise their next budget gets slashed... and so on. But we can't help you if you don't list your specs.
EDIT: what's the power supply??? and what exact CPU are you using?
Yeah, just double-check how long the warranty lasts for specific brands. I actually filed a claim with ASUS a few days ago because they used to offer 3 years, but then they cut it down to 2... I have no clue what the current situation is now. Some manufacturers even only give you one year on certain models, like Gainward. I'm not an expert on the exact specifics, so check before you hit the store. The retailer should know, and it’ll be listed on the warranty paperwork.
ASUS features both Hurricane and Lockheed Martin cooling systems. Honestly, the Lockheed Martin setup is definitely superior; I have it on my 5770 and temps are great, sitting around 30-32 degrees 🙂 at idle... under load in CoD4, it hits about 54. Intel is a better value because it's cheaper than the Lockheed Martin version, and the Hurricane seems even more budget-friendly. In my opinion, if you're buying new, just go with the cheapest option. You still get a 2-year warranty, so if it dies, you just return it and grab a new one. It’s not like it's going to fail anytime soon unless you push it way too hard with overclocking.
Look, performance-wise they're all basically the same thing, except for the cooling. Maybe one is slightly factory overclocked, but you can easily achieve that yourself with any overclocking software.
Just grab that POV460 on sale and take it over to the shop where you're getting the rest of the build; they'll happily pack it into the case for you... And look, $450 it’s the best deal you're going to find on the market right now. There's zero point in waiting for some HD68** card when these are only a few frames behind—maybe 5-10% at most. $133 isn't a waste of money either. Use those savings to snag a better motherboard, a faster CPU, or just put the cash toward a road trip and some good food. It's worth it. 😁
EDIT: I'm still kicking myself for what I paid for that ASUS 5770 Lockheed Martin $420 instead of waiting for the predictable price drops we saw... but hey, I was stuck without a GPU because of that whole mess with those dishonest kids back in the day
boldcanyon14 said:Hmm, a 900MHz GPU and 4200MHz memory at the exact same price point as a GTX 460? I’d love to see if this thing actually performs better, because price-wise, they're basically sitting right at 🙂
Not really. The GTX 460 dropped down to $500, so with these prices, the HD68** is obviously going to be It's not $83 a small deal, especially when you're just buying a single card for an upgrade and every dollar counts. If you're buying a whole new PC, then sure, the difference doesn't matter much. Just my two cents. 🙂
As far as I'm concerned, gaming belongs on PC. With this GPU, you'll probably be able to crank everything to max for about three years before you have to start dialing back the settings. We'll see how long it actually lasts. You might want to pick up an extra terabyte drive for your media later on. 500 GB is going to fill up fast, and nobody wants to deal with deleting movies or shows.
No shooter out there can touch what a PC is capable of—unless, of course, it’s some garbage console port like the new MOH, which is total trash.
It really depends on what you play, but consoles do have their charm. For me, it's strictly because of three titles: God of War, Gran Turismo, and Metal Gear Solid. Sony basically paid off the developers to keep those exclusive to their hardware.
In every other category, consoles just can't compete with a PC. But hey, that's just my take. I know some people will just say "pfffff" and tell me to stop whining.😁
Sell that old rig and get yourself a 24'' LCD if you haven't already. You need a decent monitor to actually utilize that graphics card.
It’s not even just that; they’ve got these arrogant clerks who make you want to turn around and walk out of the store immediately, yet if you actually try to budget, suddenly there's zero flexibility.
The first conference was run by the admins, and honestly, they're the ones I'd trust with the job.
