GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

urbanhawk85 said:Is there actually a difference when you're looking at the same chipset—say an AMD Radeon—but from different brands like Sapphire Technology, VTX3D, or ASUS?😕

Exactly what Casey Long2 said. But honestly, the performance gap isn't even that big. They’re all pretty much cut from the same cloth—maybe a 2 or 3-degree difference in temps if you count the vapor chambers or Hawk models versus the standard HD 5770 coolers. Does it even matter?

Hey there

I guess it’s finally time for me to upgrade my graphics card... my old Gainward 7600 GT is pretty much ready for retirement 😁 I’m looking for something up to $267 tomorrow I'm heading out to Best Buy with my daughter, so I might pick something up then. If anyone could offer a few recommendations, I'd appreciate it; here is my current setup:

FSP BlueStorm AX500-A
Athlon 64 X2
2 GB of RAM
GA-K8N-SLI motherboard http://www.gigabyte.com/products/pro...px?pid=1928#sp
Gainward 7600 GT Bliss

Thanks 😉

edit:
I also wanted to ask—I see some cards have 1024 MB of DDR3 memory, while others have 512 MB of DDR5; I assume the DDR5 ones would be better?
http://www.bestbuy.com/shop/product/example1
http://www.bestbuy.com/shop/product/example2
http://www.bestbuy.com/shop/product/example3

Or maybe something else entirely...

Honestly, I wouldn't bother with Best Buy; their prices are pretty terrible right now. 😁

If you really don't have any other options for where to shop, then maybe go with this last one, the Radeon HD 5670. Having 1 GB of memory might give you a slight edge over the 512MB version, but only if you're running at 1920x1080 resolution or higher...
In most cases, though, I guess it’s just not worth it... 😉

I might be near HG-Spot tomorrow, so I was thinking about swinging by, though I wouldn't mind heading somewhere else if there’s a better deal out there.😉Just let me know where it makes more sense to pick up a graphics card and maybe a couple of other things?

ADMIN:

http://www.newegg.com/p/products/id=8876

Or if you want to go a bit bigger:

http://www.newegg.com/p/products/id=7811

The second one is slightly better than the first. I guess your current power supply won't be able to fully handle it, so maybe consider picking up something used soon... 😉

Oh, I just noticed—you're on an sck. 939 motherboard. There probably won't be much of a selection for CPUs there. When you eventually upgrade to a new rig, you can definitely hang onto this GPU, since it'll likely be the best part of your setup for a while. 🙂

Ugh, nothing really close by—that's all the way on the other side of town from me. I've got to drop my little one off at daycare, head back home, and then go right back out there, and I'm currently stuck over in North Jersey. 😁 Maybe Best Buy or something similar... though I've already swapped my processor for this one; I think it was just a standard 3500+ before, haha.

In that price range, you're looking at this: It's an absolute steal. You're getting a brand new, powerful card that your current CPU won't even be able to keep up with... Your power supply is decent enough, so it should handle this GPU without any issues...

The other headache here is that motherboard. It uses an s939 socket, which makes finding anything newer or faster basically impossible—they stopped making them ages ago, and even used ones are incredibly hard to find and overpriced. Once your processor starts lagging behind (which is going to happen the second you plug in a new card), you'll be stuck having to overhaul your entire rig just to get more speed... So, buying a new GPU right now should either mean grabbing something seriously high-end (like the one I mentioned) that can actually transition to a future build, or just picking up some cheap used card for around 100-$67 just to limp along until you can afford a whole new computer...

I realize this rig is getting a bit ancient, and while I’m constantly tinkering and swapping bits and pieces, I don't see myself dropping cash on a whole new desktop anytime soon. My next move will probably be a laptop, mostly because I need to keep my wife happy 😁. I wouldn't call myself a hardcore PC enthusiast, and given my current budget, I'd rather just try to get this machine running reliably for as long as possible
. So, I've found a few options running Linux, and I was wondering if you guys could tell me which one of these three is actually decent
.

Look, there's no point in anything weaker than this—honestly, even this might be overkill, but whatever... plus, who in their right mind is buying a 1GB card these days?

How do I even put this? It's like dropping a Formula 1 engine into a Chevy Pinto... sure, it'll run, and technically it works... but you aren't going anywhere fast. 155 miles/h

That’s exactly the kind of answer I was looking for, I suppose. It seems there’s really no point in dropping money on something more powerful and expensive if the CPU just can't keep up, assuming I understood that correctly. 😉Thanks again for the response.

Exactly...

If I could ask one more thing, would there be any noticeable improvement in games? For instance, runs, but it’s still stuttering just as much as and do... thanks.

I suspect a decision has already been made.

http://www.amazon.com/index.php?naziv=...kl=051.803.661

boldwolf21 said:If I could ask one more thing—would there be a noticeable jump in games? For instance, Need for Speed: Shift runs okay now, but it stutters, and it's the same with Grid and Battlefield: Bad Company 2.... thanks

I think the decision has been made

http://www.bestbuy.com/item/...kl=051.803.661

There will be an upgrade, but maybe nothing massive. This card is just slightly better than a 9600GT. Since you're on a 7600GT, it's definitely an improvement, but I wouldn't expect things to suddenly fly on medium-high settings😉

Need for Speed: Shift and BBC Two aren't exactly light titles when it comes to requirements😁
For example, I had plenty of trouble with Shift myself, even though my rig is much stronger. It's probably because AMD Radeon cards don't always play nice with that game

I'm running Linux and just installed an AMD Radeon Sapphire Technology Radeon HD 5670 512MB GDDR5, but I've hit a wall. When I plug it in via either VGA or DVI, my monitor stays completely blank; the power light just sits there orange and won't switch over to green... I guess I'm wondering, what could possibly be causing this issue?

boldwolf21 said:I was using Linux and picked up an AMD Radeon Sapphire Technology HD 5670 512MB GDDR5. But once I hooked it up to my PC via VGA or DVI, nothing? No image on the monitor at all. Just that orange light staring back at me—won't switch to green... what's the deal??

Did you boot into Safe Mode and wipe the old card's drivers first?
Then swap in the new card and install its specific drivers?

Even so, shouldn't you at least post a photo?

I wasn't even in Safe Mode; I just went through the usual process of uninstalling my NVIDIA card, and after it prompted me to restart, I hit cancel and turned the machine off. Then I swapped in the new one, but honestly, I'm still getting absolutely nothing on the screen.

So my old HD 3870 PCI-E just bit the dust. Looking for a replacement to keep the rest of this rig running:
Core 2 Duo E6750
4GB RAM
Chiftec 550W
ASUS P5KC
22" Philips monitor

Budget is basically $150

Used 8800GT, 9800GT, 4850, 3870x2... everything's sitting right around the 450-$167 mark...

If you happen to stumble upon an HD 4830 somewhere...

Bryan Evans77 said:Used 8800GT, 9800GT, 4850, 3870x2... everything is sitting right around that $45-$$167... range.

Forgot I’m putting this on a credit card,
wish I actually had the cash on hand,