GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

If Windows isn't running correctly, I highly doubt your graphics card is the culprit. Even much weaker GPUs should handle basic OS display and standard system performance without breaking a sweat. It’s more likely you have a mountain of junk processes clogging up your system tray, or perhaps you just need a clean reinstall of Windows. There's also the possibility you're trying to run a 64-bit OS on a machine with only 2GB of RAM—that's a recipe for disaster. Or, you might just need to update some outdated legacy software like Flash or Shockwave.

Windows itself runs pretty smoothly, but any video I try to watch online or even just browsing some heavier websites causes everything to stutter, and I can't even get Aero to launch. I’m betting it’s the graphics card—up until recently, I was running an X800 (or maybe it was an 850? 🤔), but that thing fried, so I slapped this ancient 7300GS in there instead. Everything has been sluggish ever since.

I haven't actually installed the Core 2 Duo yet—it's on its way—so right now I'm stuck with a Celeron 420. I managed to overclock it to 2.8GHz, so I assume this whole slowdown is just a perfect storm of a terrible GPU and a weak processor. 😳😁, and honestly, I'm looking to upgrade things just enough so this rig lasts another year or two. I'm pretty cheap when it comes to spending money on tech, let's be real 😁
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The Windows install is fresh, 32-bit, and I’m not installing any unnecessary junk besides the absolute essentials. Even Flash is a mess; the latest version completely freezes up, so I tried an older version, but that’s also performing poorly.

Ronald Vaughn5 said:Windows runs fine, but all my online videos and certain heavy websites just stutter, and Aero won't even launch. My guess is the graphics card; I used to have an x800 (or was it an 850?🤔), but it burned out, so I picked up this ancient 7300gs. Everything’s been sluggish since then.

I haven't even put the Core 2 Duo in yet—it's still on order. Right now, I'm running a Celeron 420. I overclocked it to 2.8GHz, so I assume this slowness is a combination of the crappy processor and the bad GPU.😳😁, and I figured I'd upgrade a bit just to keep this thing alive for another year or two. I'm too cheap to throw money at tech, let's be honest.😁

It's a fresh Windows install, 32-bit, and I haven't installed any bloatware besides the essentials. Even the latest Flash version completely chokes, so I tried an older one, but that isn't working either.

Man, that processor is a joke. It smells like a single-core bottleneck to me, even if it technically has dual cores. Just swap the CPU and you'll see the difference immediately.
As for the graphics card—did you clean out the old drivers? Since you had an ATI card before, there might be leftover junk. Use Driver Sweeper in Safe Mode to wipe the ATI drivers, do the same for Nvidia, and then perform a fresh install for the Nvidia 7300gs.
Also, you might have just crippled the system by overclocking that relic.

Upgrading the GPU is easy enough later if that turns out to be the issue, but honestly, I don't think that's it.

The processor is officially on its way, so we'll see how things shake out once it actually arrives. I haven't messed with any special drivers or anything—Windows just handled the whole setup automatically. One thing to note, though, is that performance felt slightly better when I was running my old graphics card (not that it was perfect by any means)—back then, the CPU clock speed was just idling at a measly 2GHz

You really need to install the specific drivers for your graphics card. I'm not entirely sure if Windows can handle it on its own. Like I mentioned before, if you had an ATI card installed previously, your first step should be using Driver Sweeper to clear out any leftover files from the old setup.

Also, make sure to reset your processor back to the factory settings just for testing purposes.

Look, I just checked Device Manager and it’s showing up as an "Unknown Video Controller." I actually wanted to get the drivers installed, but I realized I have no clue which graphics card is even sitting in this machine...😁

A while back, I ran that Everest program and it gave me the model name. But in the meantime—as usual—I’ve completely forgotten everything about it, from the specific model to which drivers I even need...🤣

I know I used to run ATI Catalyst drivers, and I made sure to scrub those out properly. I mean, I used to know how all this worked... back in the day, at least.😁

And this 1.6GHz processor? It’s an absolute disaster. Just waiting for the damn thing to boot up gives me a massive migraine.

Anyway, I'm going to go ahead and try swapping these drivers out now.

When you switch up your GPU models or brands, little remnants of the old drivers tend to linger behind—even if you’ve already run the uninstall through the Control Panel. These leftovers can definitely cause headaches. That’s exactly why you should use a tool like Driver Sweeper.

That being said, your main issue is actually that 99% CPU spike. Single-core performance really struggles when it's trying to handle modern Flash players, which are notoriously poorly optimized software.

Honestly, you’d probably be much better off just formatting the drive and doing a clean install of all your drivers—it usually solves everything in one go. Plus, you should definitely grab that new graphics card Fiona linked you.

I honestly don't have the patience to go through a full format right now. I just can't deal with it.

I went ahead and installed the drivers and did a deep clean of all the old ATI files—things are running slightly better, I guess, but it’s still driving me absolutely insane. My mouse cursor keeps freezing up on dual monitors, and honestly, there are moments where I just want to grab my cat and smash the whole setup into a million pieces. It’s not even being fast; it's just broken. And get this—even after I uninstall everything, the exact same thing happens again.🙂 But whatever, I know this is probably drifting off-topic for this thread.

Thanks for the help, anyway.

I'm looking for a decent replacement for my HD 6870, which pretty much kicked the bucket yesterday..
Which model would actually be an upgrade rather than just a step down?

So, how much are you looking to drop? An HD 7850 would be the sweet spot here.

http://www.bestbuy.com/product_info.php?c...ducts_id=12031

If you grab that one, you get the new Bioshock included—though if you want to shell out $3.25 more, you can snag Far Cry 3 instead.

Christian Mendoza60 said:I'm looking for a decent replacement for my HD 6870, which unfortunately died on me yesterday.
Which model would be a solid upgrade without just being a step backward?

+1 for the 7850. Anything less than that isn't really worth your money. You might find something roughly in the same ballpark or slightly better with an Nvidia gtx 650Ti boost or an ATI 7790.

How much are you looking to spend, and what kind of CPU are you running? Depending on that, you might even be able to aim for something more powerful.

So, I don't really need anything fancy. Up until now, I've been running an Radeon HD 4350 256 and it's served my needs just fine enough... What are your thoughts on passive cooling versus using a fan? For instance, this one comes with a solid 36-month warranty http://www.gigabyte.com/products/pro...px?pid=3331#sp
or this one with the 24-month coverage http://www.sapphiretech.com/presenta...316&psn=&lid=1
. Also, does anyone here have actual experience with Gainward cards? I'm not entirely sure what to make of them

I actually mentioned this in that other thread—you don't really need to start a whole new topic just to ask what kind of budget you're working with.

Personally, I’d probably lean toward passive cooling—since you aren't really into gaming, those cards are basically silent anyway. But seriously, though, how much cash are we talking about for this GPU?

Come on, just give me 300$133. I already listed the cards I managed to track down over
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http://www.ekosarica.biz/17379?filte...kartica&page=7 What's the verdict on this one?

Look, it’ll work fine for what you need—browsing the web, playing some old Flash games, stuff like that—but don't go thinking you can run any modern titles with that graphics card. You can pretty much forget about that.

If that's the kind of usage we're talking about, then honestly? Just grab it and call it a day.

Timothy Kim60 said:+1 for the 7850. Anything weaker isn't worth the money. It’s basically in the same ballpark as an Nvidia gtx 650Ti boost or an ATI 7790

What's your budget? And what kind of CPU are we talking about? You might be able to swing something better if you have the hardware to back it up.

I’d probably head over to $667 if there was actually something decent available...
My setup is a Core 2 Duo E5600 and 4GB of DDR3 RAM.

An HD 7850 would be the sweet spot here—if you try to jump to something more powerful, your processor is really going to end up being the bottleneck. Unless, of course, you manage to unlock that CPU to four cores? If you can pull that off, then moving up to an HD 7870 would be a total beast...

I can't unlock the processor because my motherboard and power supply are total junk... I'll probably just grab an HD 7870 for now, then save up for a new board and PSU later so I can actually unlock it..