GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

Henry Kim3, you can barely find anything worth buying at $83:

Honestly, this stuff is barely an upgrade over integrated graphics—IMHO, it’s just throwing money down the drain if you aren't looking for a massive jump. What kind of card were you rocking before this?

Christian Patel said:Hey everyone.
I'm trying to figure out which graphics card is better for gaming—between these two specific options. And please—just don't start with the "oh, you should actually buy this one instead" or "get that other one" routine. I'm picking one of these two, so which one wins?
Thanks in advance. 🤷

Honestly, it doesn't matter which one you pick—with that setup, your gaming repertoire is pretty much limited to Solitaire and Minesweeper.

Benjamin King2 said:Honestly, it doesn't matter which one you pick; with those specs, you're basically limited to Solitaire and Minesweeper.

I mean, I was just watching some guy on YouTube playing GTA 4.
My current setup is:

Intel Core i5 2.2GHz
500 GB HDD
4 GB RAM
And yeah, I still need a GPU.

Christian Patel said:I've been watching some YouTube videos of people playing GTA 4.
My current setup is:

Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 dual core @ 2.2GHz
500 GB HDD
4 GB RAM
And I still need to pick up a graphics card.

It'll probably run okay at 800x600 resolution, right?

Larry Ortiz5 said:It should probably work at 800x600 resolution

Can you recommend a decent GPU for me?

Christian Patel said:Can you recommend a decent graphics card?

Fosna already gave you the lowdown—🙂 a couple of those cards you mentioned are honestly pretty terrible. You can pretty much forget about gaming on them. Why don't you just list out your full system specs and let us know what kind of budget you're working with for the GPU?

I don't really have anything to say about Osmanko. Christian Patel says:
Fosna gave you the full rundown. 🙂 Those two graphics cards you mentioned are total garbage. Honestly, just forget about gaming on them entirely. Give me your full build specs and tell me exactly how much cash you're willing to drop on a GPU.

Ovako:

Intel Core 2 duo e4500
4 GB DDR2 RAM
500 GB hard drive.
A 400W power supply.
Asrock g41c

I'd say somewhere around $500.$200

Christian Patel said:Here’s the setup:

Intel Core 2 duo e4500
4 gb ddr2 ram
500 gb hdd
400W power supply
Asrock g41c

Maybe somewhere around $50-$200

Honestly, your best bet would be to pop the case open and check the exact model of that power supply—just so we can be sure you aren't dealing with some cheap, bottom-of-the-barrel unit. As for the graphics card, this one should definitely do the trick for you. $233 Maybe try talking the guy down by at least $33? You won't find anything better than this at a local shop for $200. And if you aren't living in Washington, D.C., just have him ship it via FedEx.

My old 9800 gt is finally kicking the bucket. I haven't swapped it out yet, so I’m looking for something new—maybe around the $400 mark$167? Or honestly, if there's something beefier for that same price, I'll take it. Ideally, I want something brand new because this thing probably just died from old age.
My current setup looks like this:
Intel Core 2 duo E7400 2 GB Rama
2 GB RAM (though I'll probably upgrade that too)
Nvidia GeForce 9800 gt

Hey there. I've got this rig sitting here right now.

HP Compaq business desktop dx6120
Model number: PW288ES
That classic HP look (check the pic)

CPU
procesor Intel ® Pentium ® 4 Processor 520 HT Technology
HT Technology
Speed: 2.80 GHz
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
L2 Cache: 1 MB

Motherboard:
Intel ® 915 G express

Memory:
256 MB
PC2-3200 / DDR2

Hard drive:
80 GB S-ATA 7200 rpm
Graphics card
Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900
Memory: 128 MB
Type: SD RAM
GPU Intel
Memory speed: 333 MHz

Sound card:
Integrated Intel audio with Premier Internal Speaker

Network card:
Integrated Broadcom gigabit
software:
OS: Microsoft XP Professional

So far, I've bumped it up to 2 GB of RAM and swapped in a 160 GB hard drive. I'm wondering what kind of graphics card I should look for—something I could actually drop into this thing—that would let me run something like GTA IV without it being a total disaster? Ideally, I don't want to spend a fortune on it either.
Thanks.

electrictinker6 said:So far, I've slapped in 2 GB of RAM and a 160 GB hard drive. What kind of graphics card should I grab to run something like Grand Theft Auto IV without it being a total disaster? Obviously, I don't want to break the bank.
Thanks.

None. Honestly? Nothing. Whatever you throw in there, that pathetic processor is going to be a massive bottleneck because Grand Theft Auto IV absolutely eats CPUs for breakfast. Theoretically, you might get it running on the lowest settings at 800x600 resolution—I've seen people pull it off on YouTube—but why bother? It’s not worth the effort.

From what I can tell, your motherboard supports PCI-E cards, so maybe hunt down an old 7600GT, 8600GT, or an X1650/2600 for cheap $33. Anything better than that, and your CPU just won't keep up.

Jeffrey Chavez6 said:Honestly, none of them. No matter what you throw at it, that poor little processor is going to be your absolute bottleneck because Grand Theft Auto IV is notoriously heavy on the CPU. In theory, you might be able to limp along on minimum settings at a tiny 800x600 resolution—I've seen people pull it off on YouTube—but man, it just isn't worth the headache.

From what I can tell, your motherboard supports PCI-E cards, so maybe hunt down an old 7600GT, 8600GT, or even an X1650/2600 if you want to spend less than $33. Beyond that, your CPU is just too weak to handle anything else.

So now I'm looking at this info I grabbed from the web and realizing it's kind of off; my system properties actually show
Intel (R)
Pentium (R) 4 CPU 3.00 GHz
2.99 GHz, 1.99 GB of RAM. Does that change things, or am I still totally out of luck? :/

Unfortunately, looks like I'm still getting the same answer.

Hey there, quick question for you guys. I’m currently chatting with a guy about picking up an AMD Radeon HD 6790, and he’s claiming that every single XFX card comes with a "4Life" warranty. Does anyone know if that's actually legit or just some sales pitch?

If there’s actually an issue, you'll have to mail the XFX card overseas to their headquarters. Shipping isn't cheap, and honestly, I wouldn't even count that as a legitimate warranty.

Jeffrey Chavez6 said:If they actually honor it, you’d have to ship it back to XFX headquarters overseas. Shipping isn't cheap, and honestly, I wouldn't bet the farm on whether they'd actually make things right once it leaves your hands.

Thanks for the quick reply. Quick follow-up: in your opinion, which brand actually makes the most reliable stuff? Is it MSI, Sapphire, XFX, or Gigabyte? I actually just got an offer on a year-old Sapphire 6850HD that still has a year of warranty left on it...

There’s no such thing as a single "best" brand. If you're buying used, just make sure it actually comes with a warranty and isn't going to melt the moment you turn it on due to crappy cooling.

I am currently in the process of putting together a new PC build, though I find myself somewhat undecided regarding which graphics card would be the most appropriate choice for my needs. My budget is capped at $500 and I have a strong preference for an AMD Radeon HD 6790, so if anyone could offer some guidance on a model capable of running modern titles smoothly, I would truly appreciate the assistance.

Either this one, or the 2GB version.
http://www.amazon.com/graphics-cards...-ddr5__2361821

What else are you running in that rig? Honestly, just give me a budget and some specifics on what you need, then maybe we can actually put together a build that makes sense.

I am planning on picking up these specific components: CPU:
MB:
I will be using a 500W power supply though I haven't settled on a particular model just yet, and I am still weighing my options regarding the hard drive, along with 8 GB of Corsair RAM