GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

Dell just puts things in nicer boxes, so our suppliers jack up the prices just to maintain that sense of prestige.

http://www.gigabyte.com/MicroSite/31.../overview.html

Honestly, looking at this motherboard, even Gigabyte starts to look like a premium choice to me. It’s a similar story with HP—they have their Power line and gaming cards that catch the eye just as much as a Dell Sabertooth with its thermal armor or an Asrock OC Formula or even a fatal error series. Some brands even go as far as offering 3-year warranties. HP even claims in their ads that they individually test every single card before it ever hits the shelves. When you actually break things down by tier, I don't see any one brand holding a clear advantage over the others. My main priority would simply be finding parts that look cohesive together in a build. Even regarding price, Dell isn't necessarily more overpriced than the rest when you're looking at motherboards, though their graphics cards have always seemed unnecessarily expensive, regardless of whether there's any justification for it.

So, I'm currently running a GeForce GTX series, but I really need an upgrade—something a bit more powerful, I guess. I'm looking for a card that can handle newer games on top settings without much trouble. Does anyone have any recommendations for something with great value? I don't quite have the budget to just go out and grab a GeForce GTX 780 right now—if I did, I probably would have already!
THANKS!

So, what else is left in the build?😕

Oh man, I am so sorry—it completely slipped my mind!
Dell Inspiron i7
4 GB RAM
Intel i7 2600

Go grab that GeForce GTX series for $571. You'll be able to run all the latest titles without much trouble with that card.

http://www.newegg.com/p/product_info.php?c...ducts_id=13723

p.s. What kind of power supply are you running?

Larry Ortiz5 said:Man, just grab a GeForce GTX series for $571. With a card like that, you'll be able to crush all the latest games.

http://www.bestbuy.com/product_info.php?c...ducts_id=13723

p.s. What kind of power supply are you running?

Anyway, my take—and I guess the second question really depends on what your budget looks like.
He mentioned the GeForce GTX 780 as the ultimate goal, but since he's rocking an i7, maybe he could actually stretch it to a GeForce GTX series or even a GeForce GTX 770

Larry Ortiz5 said:Maybe just grab a GeForce GTX series for $571. You should be able to run all the new titles with that card.

http://www.bestbuy.com/product_info.php?c...ducts_id=13723

p.s. What kind of power supply are you running?

I'm not totally sure, but I think a GeForce GTX series would be a better jump. The GeForce GTX series is slightly better than an HD 7850, which isn't actually that far off from a GeForce GTX series (basically an overclocked HD 7870).

If you’re looking to move up from a GeForce GTX series, I wouldn't suggest jumping straight to a GeForce GTX 780. Honestly, the only upgrade that's actually going to feel significant is moving to something like an R9 280 x or a GTX 770. Your best bet is probably holding onto your current card until you can get a decent chunk of change for it—maybe around $800-$300. If you manage that, picking up an R9 270x might make sense, though you won't notice a massive leap in performance. It's mostly just about having a newer, more capable card that might still hold some resale value in a year or two. If you do go that route, I highly recommend getting a 36-month warranty; it'll be much easier to offload the card in two years if you can prove it was covered.

crimsonstag84 said:I'm not so sure—if I were picking, I'd go for the GeForce GTX series to get a much bigger jump in performance. The GeForce GTX series is only slightly better than the HD 7850, which isn't actually that far off from an R9 270X (basically a boosted HD 7870).

I definitely see your point, though—I only suggested that specific card because I wasn't sure what his budget looked like. Once he mentioned he didn't want to drop too much cash, I figured that was the sweet spot 🤷 but if he can swing the GeForce GTX series, that would be 👍

Calling all IT experts—I really need some help here; I have a desktop PC and occasionally these colored lines—or sometimes just solid white streaks—start appearing across my monitor, and then the whole system just freezes up so I can't do anything... eventually the image disappears entirely and this whole mess lasts for several days. I tried booting into Safe Mode, but the lines still show up there too, making it nearly impossible to actually read any text etc... and then after those few days pass, the computer goes back to working normally. Does anyone know what might be causing this? P

George Doyle4 said:Hey tech experts, I need some help here. My desktop occasionally starts showing weird lines—colorful streaks or just solid white ones—across the screen. Then everything freezes up and I can't do anything. Eventually, the image just disappears entirely, and this whole mess lasts for a few days. I tried booting in Safe Mode, but those lines are still there, making it nearly impossible to read any text. After a couple of days, the PC goes back to acting normal. What could be causing this? p

Your graphics card might be dying. It would be a huge help if you could swap in someone else's GPU when this happens to see if that fixes it. Also, test out a different monitor just to rule that out.

But first, try updating or changing your graphics drivers.
You could definitely try using a tool like DDU in Safe Mode to completely wipe the old drivers, then perform a fresh installation after you restart.

It’s almost certainly a GPU issue... you should probably monitor your temperatures for a bit and try installing some fresh drivers. You can download HP software to check out both your GPU and PCB temps.

Maybe try opening up the case and dusting everything off?

Hello there! I just stumbled upon these two graphics cards on Craigslist. My current PC is a bit of an old-timer—running a 2.8GHz processor with 2GB of RAM, currently rocking an X1550 with only 256MB... It's a quad-core setup, technically speaking.
I'm looking to play a few older titles from time to time, so I definitely need a decent upgrade. Here are my options:
3870:
3850:

Or is there something else you all would recommend?

So, your first graphics card uses a PCI-E slot, but that second one is actually an AGP—kind of a tricky setup. Which motherboard are you running right now? If you aren't quite sure, maybe just download a little program called Speccy to check the specs.

A 4-core dual VSTA from Asrock... It supports both AGP and PCI-E x4

I'd probably look for some kind of HD4670 or 5670 first, just because they don't pull much power but still have decent performance

Honestly, I'd rather just save up my cash for a brand-new graphics card instead 😁

I hear you. I’d love to do the same, but I just don't have the parts together yet. 😁

Check out this listing I found online:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/graphics-card-listing-example

What’s the verdict on this 4850? It looks like the 3870 also has an upgraded cooler.

I'm thinking about throwing an older PCI-E card into this build since it's running an old dual-core 2.8 GHz processor. I'm not exactly a hardcore gamer, but wouldn't it be nice to play something once in a while?

The 4850 is a beast, but I guess it's a total power hog. What kind of PSU are you running?