GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

There’s really nothing left for you to upgrade to—you’re basically sitting on the most powerful card ever made for the AGP slot, and besides, nobody is actually manufacturing AGP cards anymore.

Wait a second—an AGP card on a Core i5 platform?

Lapsus🙈
My bad!

The PCIe is the slot

Well, that’s a whole different conversation entirely.
Nvidia GTX 1050 or maybe something even more beefy like a Radeon HD 7770. You're looking at performance that's roughly double what you were getting from that old 8800...

Is the processor enough to avoid being a bottleneck?

The performance looks solid—it could easily handle a GTX 1060 or even a Radeon HD 7850, though those tend to be a bit more of an investment 👍

If you ask me, jumping from an 8800 GTS to a GTX 1050 or a Radeon HD 7770 isn't really much of an upgrade at all. It feels like a waste of money.

wanderingviper7 said:In my opinion, jumping from an 8800gts to a GTX 1050 or an HD 7770 isn't really much of an upgrade. It feels like a waste of cash.

I'd have to agree; those cards are maybe 20% faster, which I guess isn't worth the price tag...

Maybe picking up an HD 6790 for about $300 would actually be worth it. 🙂

Given the resolution I'm running, even a Radeon HD 7770 with 512MB might cut it. You can find some listed right here $250 🙂

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=radeon+hd+7770

Casey Long2 said:It's a solid pick—he could probably even handle a GTX 1060 or a Radeon HD 7850, though those might be a bit pricier 👍

See, you basically answered my next question right away, which honestly just opens up a whole bunch of other questions—not just about GPUs, but about upgrading stuff in general.

It's always such a struggle trying to find that sweet spot between upgrading my current rig or just biting the bullet and buying a whole new one. With all these new i3s, i5s, and whatever else out there, I can't help but wonder if investing in a new graphics card is even worth it at this point?

Then there's the whole bottleneck issue with the CPU. I guess the next big step would be swapping out that black processor too. Moving from dual-core to quad-core sounds great, but man, once you start looking at the cost of a new motherboard plus a newer gen CPU... yeah, I think I'll pass for now.

What I really want to know is, what’s the absolute ceiling for a GPU before my processor starts choking it out? Are those GTX 1060 and Radeon HD 7850 cards I mentioned basically hitting the limit?

If I knew that, I could finally make a decision and call it a day. Maybe I'll drop a few hundred bucks on a card and another 300 on some RAM, then I'd know my PC could hang in there for a while longer before it's totally obsolete... I'd know that after that, I won't have to constantly stress over whether an upgrade is actually worth the cash or not.

Whoops, I guess I went on a bit of a rant there!
What do you guys think?

They're capping it at the stock frequency too. Honestly, they probably expect you to overclock the damn thing just to get any decent performance out of it.

If you’re already feeling bad about spending money on those $233, you might as well just walk away from the whole purchase right now.

Look, if your goal is to actually play Call of Duty: Battlefield, nothing like a 6770 or a GTS 450 is going to cut it when you try to launch the game. You'll just be disappointed.

If you actually want to get something done here, my advice is to liquidate what you have. Sell that Core 2 Duo for about $167, the 8800GTS for roughly $133, your RAM for about $67, and let's guess your motherboard is worth around $83.
That brings you to a total of approximately $450. If you add the $750 you were already budgeting for a new GPU,
you're looking at over $1,500. With that kind of cash, you can actually build something decent—provided you have a reliable power supply and your current hardware (case, DVD drive, fans) is still functional.

If you go that route, I’d suggest aiming for an AM3+ motherboard ($233), a Phenom X4 955 BE ($262), and 4GB of DDR3 ($53). From there, see what kind of GPU you can stretch for and weigh your options carefully.

Trust me, I've been caught in this exact same trap before.

wanderingviper7 said:If you're already feeling bad about losing those $233, honestly, just don't buy anything at all.

If you're actually gearing up for Call of Duty: Battlefield, trust me—nothing like a 6770 or a GTS 450 is gonna make you happy when you try to launch it.

Maybe the smartest move, if you really want to get things done right, would be to sell that Core 2 Duo for maybe $167, the 8800GTS for around $133, the RAM for about $67, and the motherboard (not sure which one you've got) let's say roughly $83.
That puts you at about $450 total, and then you just tack on that 750 you were planning to spend on a new GPU.
That gives you over 1,000 bucks to work with, and man, you could build something way more interesting with that—but only if you've got a decent power supply. I'm assuming the hard drive is probably fine along with everything else, like the case, DVD drive, and fans.

In that scenario, I'd personally look into an AM3+ board ($233), a Phenom X4 955 BE ($262), 4GB of DDR3 ($53), and then just see what kind of GPU you can squeeze out of it—you know, just think it over.

Man, I've definitely been burned before too.

Yeah, forget it all... honestly, better to just sell the whole rig. My power supply isn't exactly top-of-the-line either... so that's something I gotta worry about too... It's probably too big of a bite to take right now.

So, yeah, the bottom line is I probably can't help much with just a graphics card upgrade. Shoot...

Look, it’s not quite like that. Any of the cards being suggested are going to be a massive step up from what you're running right now 🙂. Or, if you want to be smart about it, look at the used market. Grab something like a 4870 for relatively cheap and you'll see a pretty decent boost 🙂

Upgrading your GPU would bump up those frame rates, but it wouldn't be some massive leap that leaves you speechless.

It would just be -$250 on your bank account.

If you ask me, what you’ve got right now is solid. Honestly, it's still pretty decent by today's standards. You’re running a CPU that’s basically at the top end for dual-core chips, paired with a card that handles that specific combo perfectly. I wouldn't touch a thing for a while...
There isn't any game out there right now that would justify throwing money at a new graphics card in your position. Maybe Call of Duty: Battlefield down the road, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Based on what's being said, you won't be stuck playing on ultra-low settings; you should be able to run it on medium without much trouble.

Lawrence Phillips said:See, you just handed me the answer to my next question—which, honestly, just triggers a whole chain reaction of other questions. It’s not even just about the GPU anymore; it’s about the entire upgrade path.

It’s always such a headache trying to find that sweet spot between upgrading an old rig and just buying a whole new machine. With all these new i3s, i5s, and whatever else is out there, I’m starting to wonder if investing in a better graphics card is even worth the cash.

Then there's the bottleneck issue—the processor. My next logical move would be swapping out that black CPU, moving from a dual-core to a quad-core. But once you start looking at that, you're basically staring down the barrel of needing a new motherboard and a modern generation chip too... so yeah, that's pretty much off the table for now.

Look, you’ll always get better performance running a dual core with a beefier GPU than you will with a quad core paired with a weak card. Personally, I wouldn't even touch the upgrade yet—you can always overclock the CPU, and those GTS cards still have plenty of breathing room... or, like stormywolf39 said, just pick up something used.

GPU:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/gpu-listing-example

Overclocking Cooler:

http://www.amazon.com/cooler-listing-example

Power supply if you need one 🙂

http://www.newegg.com/psu-listing-example

Greetings everyone,
I was wondering if anyone here might have some firsthand experience working with low-profile graphics cards?
I am currently looking to pick up a new GPU for my slim-form factor Dell desktop, which is running a Pentium 4 3 GHz processor along with 2.5 GB of DDR2 RAM.
I don't really spend my time playing any of the heavy-hitting modern titles, so I'm mostly just looking for something capable enough to handle video editing tasks and smooth out high-definition movie playback.
Thank you all so much for your help!

I mean, everything you guys said actually makes a ton of sense.
I only brought this up because I feel like I’ve kind of lost track of just how much hardware tech has moved forward lately—it's crazy, right?

Honestly, I’m pretty happy with my current setup. Whatever I throw at it, it handles well enough for me—I guess I use Crysis 2 as my little benchmark...

I'll probably give that black Call of Duty: Battlefield a shot, but I'm not exactly losing sleep over whether it runs perfectly or not.
Besides, I'm mostly just waiting for Diablo 3, and I'm pretty sure that'll run smooth as butter.

I was really just trying to see if there's a way to get a noticeable performance boost without totally breaking the bank.

The plan was basically: grab a new GPU, sell the old one, maybe be out a few hundred bucks, and call it a day. But hey, if the upgrade isn't going to be a huge jump, I might just skip the whole headache.

It takes me back to that one time years ago—back in the early internet era, if anyone remembers that 🙂—when I went all out $233 buying a card that didn't even really help me much. It was technically newer than what I had, but man, it just left a bad taste in my mouth.

none, thanks everyone!👍

Hey there.

Since the NVIDIA GeForce GTX series I was eyeing is officially off the table, I need some input.

Which one should I grab?

HD 6670
HD 6750
HD 5770

MSI 870-C45
AMD Athlon II X3
LC POWER 460W
Monitor

I'm leaning toward the 5770—looks like benchmarks put it about 15% ahead of the 5750 in every test I've seen.