GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

Zachary Fowler55 said:Thanks for the reply. Just tell me, in plain English, how much better is this card compared to an HD 4850?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/graphics-card-listing-example

It looks like a solid deal. You get a 3-year warranty, it pulls almost a third of the power, and I guess it’s maybe 30% faster... if you can swing it, grab the 🙂

crimsonstag84 said:Gainward($107) or EVGA($133)... any others I've looked at are either way too pricey or they use those crappy single-slot coolers that just don't cut it.

@Olivia Collins5/">@@Olivia Collins5 Heh, you know, I've mostly just had headaches with NVIDIA, while my time with AMD was actually pretty smooth 😬 ... but honestly, I always look at the price-to-performance ratio first.

The GTX 1060 isn't worth it for $283, you're better off grabbing a GTX 1060 Ti for about ~$350, though that might be total overkill for what you need.

What do you mean by overkill?
I'm definitely open to any good NVIDIA recommendations!
Oh, and I forgot to mention—I'm definitely not one of those people who tries to overclock their cards.

@Olivia Collins5—honestly, picking up an NVIDIA GTX 1060 just isn't worth it; it’s overpriced and frankly too weak for what you're paying. You'll get much better value by looking at the Radeon HD 7750 or the Radeon HD 7770 in that same price bracket. Now, if you really want to stick with NVIDIA, the GTX 1060 is a decent choice if you don't want to spend less on an AMD card like the 7770. Anything stronger than that is a waste of money for your setup, especially since you aren't planning on overclocking your processor—you won't be able to tap into that extra power anyway. So, if you're staying with NVIDIA, the 1060 is your only logical move.

PS. It would also be a smart move to upgrade your RAM to 4 GB. Plus, once you grab a new graphics card, I highly recommend installing Windows 10 (definitely the 64-bit version if you upgrade that RAM) so you can actually take advantage of DirectX 12 features and get the best possible drivers directly from the web.

It’s got 4 GB of RAM, but for some reason, it’s only showing 3
When we bought the computer, I specifically asked them to upgrade it by an extra 1 GB so it would hit 4

The motherboard is basically brand new since the last one completely died on me
Because of a factory defect that actually caused my Windows to crash

The PC itself is about 4 and a half years old
But this newer motherboard has only been in there for 2 years
There's a 1 TB hard drive
I just have no clue what kind of power supply is inside
I don't even dare to open the case myself

I forgot to mention one other thing
Something that happened to me a little while ago

One day I just turned the computer on and—boom—total shock
The resolution was a complete disaster
Stuck at 320
Colors were all grey, pink, and yellow
I tried setting it to 4
But when I went into the settings, the computer wouldn't let me change the resolution or the colors at all
I tried booting into Safe Mode, but it was the exact same thing—nothing worked
And when I went online, even simple things like "yes" or "no" buttons were just black blocks
Keep in mind, everything was perfectly fine the day before; I hadn't touched a single setting
I honestly thought my graphics card had finally kicked the bucket
But when I checked again a couple of days later to see if I could fix the resolution
Everything just went back to normal all by itself
Still, I have a gut feeling my graphics card is dying
Because the graphics in games just aren't what they used to be
I can see pixels, blocky shapes, and weird lines—like on a mountain in a game
Like a white line appearing out of nowhere
And sometimes the colors will just brighten or darken on their own
Without me touching anything
It'll turn way too red or way too green, and then
Everything eventually snaps back to normal, and it just keeps looping like that
I think I even saw a VPU Recaller error once

It’s probably showing 3GB just because you're running a 32-bit OS.

As for the graphics card—it might be dying. Maybe check the temps.

Yeah, I'm not hitting 60°C
It stays at 45 at idle
And during gaming, it barely touches 59

Install the new drivers and pay close attention to see if those lines still show up on the exact same games. It’s most likely the GPU, but not a certainty. Sometimes motherboard contacts act up if the PC hasn't been dusted out, causing Windows to fail to recognize the graphics card properly during boot, which results in default resolutions or messy scaling.

Gerald Flores63 said:Try installing some fresh drivers and pay close attention to see if those lines still pop up during the same games. It’s most likely the GPU, but not a guarantee. Sometimes the motherboard contacts act up if the PC hasn't been dusted out lately—it can mess with Windows recognizing the card properly, which then defaults the resolution or just makes everything look messy.

That whole thing with the 320 resolution and those pinkish-gray-yellow colors...
It only happened to me once and hasn't come back since.
Aside from some pixelation in my games, the last GPU update I had was actually from last year.
It kept trying to force the driver for 2012 on me.
The 2010 and 2011 versions wouldn't work; they’d get to 99% and then just throw an error.
So, I just gave up and installed the 2012 update since it didn't have that error bug.

It’s really not a big deal if you’re having trouble getting Windows to boot properly; it happens to everyone. A single failure is just a standard average for a GPU that's two years old. It isn't some massive hardware failure. Just open up the case and vacuum out the dust—it won't hurt anything, so get it cleaned. Pull the RAM sticks out and clean the contacts with a standard pencil eraser. Have someone run a clean install of the drivers in safe mode (besides the F8 key, people usually use F5 or CTRL
Left-Shift) to wipe the old drivers before installing the fresh ones...

First, go ahead and uninstall your drivers the standard way through Add/Remove Programs. After that, boot up into Safe Mode and run a driver sweeper tool. Make sure you check the box for your specific display driver brand (whether it's NVIDIA or AMD), let it scan, and then wipe out all those leftover driver files. Once everything is clean, just download and install the latest drivers from the official website...
http://www.techspot.com/downloads/42...r-sweeper.html

It’s a best practice to follow this exact process even if you decide to pick up a brand-new graphics card later on.

Gerald Flores63 said:Honestly, it’s not a huge deal. I’ve seen plenty of people run into issues where Windows doesn't install right. For a GPU that's two years old, that performance is actually a pretty solid average. It’s definitely not broken. Just pop the case open and vacuum out the dust—won't hurt a thing! Clean it out. Also, pull the RAM sticks and wipe the contacts with a standard pencil eraser. Maybe have someone help you uninstall the old drivers in safe mode (usually you'd hit F5, CTRL
Left-Shift) instead of just using F5 to get into safe mode) so you can get a totally clean install of the new ones...

My card is 4 years old
The last time everything was fully updated and fresh
was when they replaced my dead motherboard at the repair shop
I don't even dare open the PC myself to mess around with it
I'm a total newbie when it comes to this stuff and I've never done it
And regarding driver installs, I always do everything in safe mode just so I don't screw anything up
When they come to install my new GPU, I'm going to ask them to do a full update on everything, especially the BIOS, because I still don't feel brave enough to do that alone
As for the graphics drivers, I managed to get those installed myself
I finally worked up the courage
But even that last driver for 2012 from AMD was a nightmare to find online

Honestly, my biggest fear right now is that my Windows might crash
And if something actually goes wrong, I don't even have the original Windows installation disc to fix it.
It’s all thanks to that sketchy shop where I bought this computer.
I won't name names, but even though I specifically asked for an original Windows disc,
Instead of what I wanted, they just handed me a Vista disc meant for an upgrade.
They tried to push Vista on me, but I told them absolutely not.
I wanted the original Windows XP with its own dedicated disc.
But instead, they installed some "Genius Advantage" junk—which is totally pirated. They basically
Installed a bootleg version of Windows on my machine.
I actually found out because of a software update.
It was a Windows utility that flagged the OS, and my computer realized it was running a pirated version.
I got a message saying my Windows isn't genuine.

Look, if you're just a home user, you don't really need an official license. It's a different story when you're dealing with corporations. You just need to create the right serial and input it.

Why does it even matter? Just move your files to another partition or burn them to a disc. And hey, if you end up buying a new GPU, make sure someone records a video of you installing Windows 10 64-bit. Use a loader to bypass the activation, update everything, and it'll run just like the genuine deal.

Hey, so I'm running an ASUS Motherboard
http://uk.asus.com/Motherboards/Inte..._LX3_PLUS_R20/

Here’s what my current setup looks like: Intel Core i3 2.4 GHz Dual Core LGA 1155
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 5450 1GB DDR3 64-bit PCI-e
RAM: 4 GB DDR3
PSU: 400W
HDD: 500 GB Western Digital SATA II
Windows 10 64-bit

I was wondering—what would be the best GPU upgrade for me? Ideally, I need something that isn't massive so it doesn't hog all my SATA ports—you know, something compact—but still beefy enough that I can actually play stuff like Battlefield 1 on max settings...

Your processor is a bit of a bottleneck—if I were you, I’d look for a used 5770 or 6770 on Craigslist instead.

Something along these lines: http://www.craigslist.org/forsale/graphics-cards...-listing-7196180

Now, I'm just not entirely sure if the CPU can actually keep up with a card like that, or if I might need to do a little overclocking to bridge the gap.

Maybe the G5 can handle the Radeon HD 7770 too.

Larry Ortiz5 said:I'm not quite sure if the CPU could actually keep up with that GPU, or if I might need to overclock it a bit.

You won't be able to overclock that 😬

Maybe bumping the FBI up by 5 might help.😁

Haha, I guess something is better than nothing. 😁

Larry Ortiz5 said:I used this card, and honestly, I’d give it a 10+. Running an i5 with 8GB of RAM, I managed to crank Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to max settings at 1680x1050. I'll admit there were some occasional frame drops, but nothing deal-breaking.

Once again, it's the best GPU I've ever owned. You're lucky you snagged it for $30.

I tested it myself—got the card for ten bucks. My other components are pretty weak, though, like having just 2GB of DDR2 RAM and a Core 2 Duo E6400 at 2.13GHz...
but even then, Black Ops 2 runs on max settings between 40 and 60 FPS, and Crysis 2 looks great on ultra details... no lag or any other nonsense..

Hey there, it's me again! So, Fosna suggested I check out this specific card https://www.ditech.at/item.do?kurzbe...G18&#m=details but I was wondering if anyone else has some solid recommendations for a graphics card in the $350 range? Honestly, I don't have a strict preference between Nvidia or AMD; I just want to grab whatever offers the absolute best bang for my buck so I can get it sorted this week. Thanks!!
I'm planning on picking it up from Alternate if anyone has a spare moment to look over some options for me. Thanks again!