GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

Samuel Brooks said:Come on, hit me with some more suggestions. I was leaning towards grabbing the MSI Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Hawk, but then I read online that there might be some issues with that specific card...

Also, what resolution are you playing at—what kind of monitor are we talking about here?

graniteharbor85 said:So, what resolution are you running at, or rather, what's your monitor size?

It's a 22" monitor, running at 1650x1050.

crimsonstag84 said:Since we aren't exactly cutting corners here, this one 😬

http://www.newegg.com/p/product/11200-00-20G

The next logical step within $567 would be the GTX 560Ti, though it does pull significantly more power and falls a bit short on performance 🙂

It isn't bad 🙂

That card is a solid pick, honestly—but it really comes down to what resolution you're running. If you aren't planning on upgrading your monitor anytime soon, the Sapphire HD 6870 might be worth a look... Check this out—found a listing for a Sapphire HD 6870 1GB over at an online retailer. Looks like a solid little card if you can snag it. It'll run everything on high or ultra settings too—you'll definitely save yourself some trouble that way. $183 What else can you swap out if you're trying to offload the CPU, RAM, and motherboard just to squeeze out some extra cash for more upgrades? $183 Once you make the jump to the newer SB platform, you're gonna have a much better overall setup—seriously.

I’m not looking to overhaul the whole system—just the RAM, because my current setup of four single sticks of DDR2 at 1333 MHz is frankly pathetic. I need to move up to DDR3. I’ve managed to overclock my quad-core processor to 3GHz, which stays relatively stable, hovering around 65 degrees Celsius even under heavier loads. My main headache, however, is the graphics card. While the options you suggested are solid, I find myself still drawn to that MSI Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Hawk; there's something about the fact that it can hit a stable 1GHz overclock that keeps calling to me. 🙂

You can pull off the same thing with an HD 7850—it’ll be rock solid, too. Plus, you're actually getting more bang for your buck since it runs cooler and won't eat through your power supply like the Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti does.

Honestly, the HD 7850 is the absolute best buy here. You're going to have a way better experience with it than that GTX 560 Ti—mainly because of what I mentioned before, but also because that extra VRAM makes a massive difference in beefier titles like Battlefield 3.

Thanks, I'll give that some thought 😁

Hey there.

-Monitor: 19"

-Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9400 @ 2.66GHz

-Motherboard: Asus P5B (3 PCI, 3 PCI-E x1, 1 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN)

-RAM 4GB:
RAM: DIMM2: TakeMS 2 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 333 MHz) (3-3-3-10 @ 266 MHz)
RAM: DIMM4: TakeMS 2 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 333 MHz) (3-3-3-10 @ 266 MHz)

-Power Supply: SilverStone, model: SST-ST50F, 500WATT

My current GPU is an ATI HD4870. It's basically a paperweight now—suffered some heat damage thanks to my old case, so it’s throwing artifacts during anything remotely demanding. I finally picked up a Thermaltake Element G with decent airflow, so now I just need a card that actually works.

1. How would something like a Gigabyte HD 6870 or an ATI 5850 fit into this junker? And will my PSU handle it?
2. Some guy claims AMD's cards don't play nice with Intel's processors. True?
3. What would you guys grab for $400? The goal is gaming. 😁

Thanks.

Hey guys, give him my best and tell him he needs to go back to school... 😬

Your PSU is solid enough to handle pretty much any GPU you pick, and they'll all fit into your build just fine...

Otherwise, the HD 6870 is slightly better:

http://www.hwcompare.com/6024/radeon...adeon-hd-6870/

Just picked up an AMD Radeon HD 7850, and the headaches have already started.

I wiped all the Nvidia drivers, pulled my old Nvidia 8800 GTS out of the rig, installed the drivers from the disc, and rebooted. Now, the system hangs for a few seconds right after Windows loads. The image just freezes—mouse won't move, keyboard is unresponsive... nothing. I tried restarting a few times, but no luck. Eventually, I had to use Safe Mode to perform a system restore; now I'm stuck running on basic VGA drivers while I hunt for a fix.

The PSU is about 7 or 8 months old, a 550W Chieftec. My old 8800 was overclocked, so I assume it was pulling more power than this new card? Should be enough juice, right?

The rest of the build is an i5, 8GB of RAM, and an Asus motherboard. Everything is relatively recent, maybe 5 or 6 months old.

Could be a driver issue? Try running Windows Update to see if it grabs anything, or just head over here...

Installed the latest drivers. No change. Still the same issue.

It seems to be behaving now after I uninstalled Afterburner—I had been overclocking the card previously. Why that would interfere in the first place? Unclear.

But there's a new problem. When running stress tests with MSI Kombustor, the results are garbage. Even worse, it won't read any specific data—no clock speeds, no memory stats, no temps, nothing. It just identifies as a Radeon 78xx series.

Same story with CPU-Z. It can't pull any detailed specs; it just reports the 78xx series.

Tried a few games, including Battlefield 3. Runs on Ultra without any hiccups.

If I were you, I'd probably just reinstall Windows.

Looks like I'm stuck again :/ It froze up on me once more.

Thanks for the help, guys.

Are you 100% sure you wiped out all the old drivers from your Program Files, the registry, and AppData—and maybe even ran a deep clean with something like Driver Sweeper?

And after all that, did you actually install these drivers?

fadedorca66 said:If I were you, I’d just wipe everything and do a clean reinstall of Windows.

I'm with you there—it looks like all those drivers have gotten completely tangled up. A fresh install should clear everything right up and solve the headache. 🙂

graniteharbor85 said:Did you try installing these drivers too?

I didn't see him mention if he's even running 64-bit Windows...

I’m not exactly an expert when it comes to troubleshooting computers. I’ve been trying to install some games for my kids, but a few of them will launch and then just freeze up immediately. Does anyone know how to fix this? My current setup is running an Intel Pentium processor at 2.8GHz, 1.00GB of RAM, and Windows XP. Should I be looking into upgrading the system or perhaps getting a better graphics card?
Thanks so much

hiddenbison99 said:I'm honestly pretty hopeless when it comes to fixing computer issues. When I try to install games, some of them will open up and then just freeze right away—and they're just kids' games! Does anyone know how to fix this? My PC is running an Intel Pentium processor at 2.8 GHz, has 1.00 GB of RAM, and runs on Windows XP. Should I upgrade something specific or maybe get a better graphics card?
Thanks!

What kind of graphics card are you running? And what's the motherboard like?
Look, I can't give you exact specs off the top of my head, but it's pretty obvious you need more RAM—honestly, grabbing two 2GB sticks would be your best bet. Why don't you list out the rest of your specs so I can put together a plan for you? You could actually build a killer machine for relatively cheap if you hunt around on Craigslist. For $333 you could put together a top-tier rig, though you can definitely do it for less than that too. Just let me know what power supply, motherboard, and graphics card you've got currently.

Cheers!😛

I'll go ahead and list the specs from my receipt for you:
- Motherboard: ECS P4m800Pro-M, s775, VIA
Processor: Intel Celeron 2.8GHz, 533MHz, 256K
Memory: 256MB DDR2 PC 5300 (667MHz) GoodRAM
Hard drive: Western Digital 80GB HDD
Floppy Drive: 1.44MB ALPS/NEC Floppy Disk Drive, black
Optical Drive: AOPEN DW1670 DVD+RW/-RW, black, DWD+R DL
Graphics card: Integrated on-board graphics
Case: CODEGEN midi tower 6102-CA, 400W PSU
Since I'm getting older, I'm looking for something budget-friendly, which I know can be a bit of a challenge these days.
Thank you!😕