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GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

Started by Olivia Gonzalez3 · · 👁 67 views · 1.7K replies

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Participants Olivia Gonzalez3James Morris4nimbletrucker10Kyle Sanchez4Zachary Wilson30wiredmarlin5quietcyclist89Thomas Martin4coppercanyon6rustyangler7swiftfalcon14shadowjackal6Christian Mendoza60Roger Chavez91Karen Garcia5John James3Edward Morris40Eric Patel31urbandriver452Rachel Fox4swiftridge40Samuel Mitchell3Gerald Young8Sandra Garcia5 …
Sandra Garcia5 Sandra Garcia5 Newcomer
3 messages
joined Sep 2010
#1181 ·
Bryan Evans77 said:aside from that extra gig of RAM, everything else is looking increasingly similar...

So now he’s sitting at 2 gigs (4x512), and his big master plan is just moving up to 2GB of DDR3. I assume he thinks he'll actually see a performance boost over DDR2... hmmm, I don't know. That doesn't look like much of a step forward to me.
Sarah Turner98 Sarah Turner98 Member
15 messages
joined Jul 2010
#1182 ·
Nathan Reyes59 said:So now he's sitting on 2 gigs (4x512), but his big plan is just moving up to 2 GB of DDR3? I guess he thinks he'll actually see a performance bump over DDR2... hmmm, I don't know. Doesn't exactly sound like a massive leap forward to me.

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/21/...5_micron).html

And he won't gain anything from the RAM upgrade either...
James Morris4 James Morris4 Newcomer
2 messages
joined Feb 2011
#1183 ·
Alexander Moore67 said:as for $200
the power supply seems fine http://www.pl-power.eu/data_powerline4302.html

I think you missed the point; that power supply is actually pretty bad. You can't really take what's listed on their website at face value. Even Microsoft would probably tell you it's unreliable.

You don't really need a motherboard like that for a processor like yours. I'd suggest putting that money toward some 4 GB of RAM or just getting a decent power supply instead.

For the GPU, I'd recommend the 5670.

EDIT: I didn't catch this page or the suggestions from Bryan Evans77 and Nathan Reyes59 earlier 🤦 But they're right—switching to this platform isn't going to give you much of a boost.
Samuel Martinez Samuel Martinez Member
26 messages
joined Jan 2011
#1184 ·
Hey everyone—so here’s the situation. Once I finally head over to Best Buy and pick up this HD5770, who on earth is actually going to install it in my rig? Look, I’m a complete novice when it comes to PC hardware—I wouldn't even dream of touching the internals myself without making a massive mistake!
Who am I supposed to call to get this thing mounted?
Sandra Garcia5 Sandra Garcia5 Newcomer
3 messages
joined Sep 2010
#1185 ·
Samuel Martinez said:Man, if I walk into Best Buy and buy a GTX 650, who’s actually going to install it in my rig? I’m a total noob when it comes to PCs. I wouldn't dare touch that stuff even if my life depended on it!
Who’s gonna do it for me?

Anyone here would do it for a fee. 😁

Just kidding. You'll do it yourself. You have to eventually; you can't stay a novice forever. 🙂

We'll help you via photos... just tell us what motherboard you have so we can draw a diagram in Paint for you.

EDIT: What kind of 650 is it, and what's the price? You're better off grabbing a GTX 460 with 768 MB instead.
Samuel Martinez Samuel Martinez Member
26 messages
joined Jan 2011
#1186 ·
Nathan Reyes59 said:Look, anyone here would gladly take a little cash incentive to 😁

Just kidding—you’re gonna have to figure it out yourself. You can't stay a novice forever, you know? Life moves on. 🙂

We can try to walk you through it using diagrams... just let us know which motherboard you're rocking so we can mock something up in MS Paint for you.

EDIT: Which specific 5770 are we talking about, and what's the asking price? Honestly, you'd be better off grabbing a GTX 650 with 768 MB.

The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2H.
I'm leaning toward the Sapphire card, but I'm passing on the GTX 460 because my power supply can't handle the draw.
James Morris4 James Morris4 Newcomer
2 messages
joined Feb 2011
#1187 ·
I suspect the real headache is going to be reinstalling the correct drivers rather than actually installing the card itself. 😁
A quick search on Google should clear things up for you.
Basically, you just unplug the power from the GPU, flip the lever on the PCI-e slot, and pull the card out—just make sure you've unscrewed it from the case and disconnected the monitor first. Then, slide the new card into the slot, plug the power back in, screw it into the chassis, and you're pretty much set. Just don't forget to plug the monitor back in.
Sandra Garcia5 Sandra Garcia5 Newcomer
3 messages
joined Sep 2010
#1188 ·
Samuel Martinez said:The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2H
I'll go with Sapphire, but I'm skipping the GTX 460 because my power supply can't handle it

image

The power draw difference between those cards isn't even that significant. What are you actually afraid of?

image

That's your motherboard right there. See that red plastic bit... you slide the card out, but first you have to pull out the old one. Press that little white lever on the slot to release it, then yank the old GPU out. Also, unplug the power cable from the old card if it even has a power connector—then just plug that same cable into the right spot on the new card (it's a 6-pin cable, with 6 small pins 🙂)
Sarah Turner98 Sarah Turner98 Member
15 messages
joined Jul 2010
#1189 ·
Hey, if you're hanging out somewhere near Chicago, I might be able to lend a hand.. 🙂

But honestly, Nathan Reyes59 already covered everything. You can't just force a graphics card into a slot where it doesn't fit 👍 (I mean, some people have tried cutting the hardware, but those are just extreme cases of total stupidity)..
Sarah Turner98 Sarah Turner98 Member
15 messages
joined Jul 2010
#1190 ·
Are you kidding me? Seriously? You're suggesting an AMD Radeon HD 5770 (I actually own one) when the Nvidia GTX 460 is clearly better for the exact same price? (Well, I'm looking at the 768MB version, though I put the 1GB one in this build)... 👍
Who in their right mind builds a new rig for $500 and picks a dual-core CPU? For that kind of cash, you can easily grab a quad-core. 👍
www.newegg.com

1 x Intel Core i5 760, 2.8GHz, 8MB cache, socket 1156, BOX,SLBRP
1 x SEASONIC 520W Power Supply, SS-520GB, S12 II, active PFC
1 x Gigabyte P55-UD3L, s1156, Intel P55 Chipset, 4x DDR3 2200/1333/1066
1 x DDR3 4GB (2x2GB) Kingmax, 1333MHz, FLFE
1 x LG GH22NS DVD Burner, DVD±RW, 22x DVD±R ,8x DL , 40x CD-R
1 x CoolerMaster Elite 335, black, (W)185 x (H)413 x (L)486 mm, 6kg
1 x Gigabyte GTX 460 1Gb GDDR5 256bit, DVI+VGA+HDMI, PCI Express 2.0 x16

$1672

Just buy a cooler later...
The motherboard only has one IDE port, so you're limited to maybe two HDDs there...
And since you'll run out of ports pretty fast, I added a new SATA expansion card to the build...

Can delete this now; the mod moved the question to the right thread. 🙂
Sandra Garcia5 Sandra Garcia5 Newcomer
3 messages
joined Sep 2010
#1191 ·
EDIT: please delete this post 😁 our author has vanished
Alexander Moore67 Alexander Moore67 Active Member
137 messages
joined Jun 2013
#1192 ·
Nathan Reyes59;30430030 said:I don't see much of an upgrade moving from this to an x2 240 with 2GB DDR3 RAM. Sure, it's faster, but 🤷

Why not just plug that HD5670 into what you already have to boost the PC? At least it's cheaper, if nothing else

Sorry if I'm misreading things and you have other plans.[/QUOT
The motherboard uses an Nvidia GeForce 7800 AGP!!!
That's exactly why the jump to a 5670 makes sense.
Please don't tell me anyone actually thinks a 7800 is faster than a 5670.
boldcanyon3 boldcanyon3 Newcomer
9 messages
joined Jun 2009
#1193 ·
So, I picked out this GPU for a buddy of mine since his old Geforce Leadtek 8600GTS 256mb finally kicked the bucket.
The only catch is the specs say it uses PCI Express 2.0 x16,
but his motherboard is basically a Samsung Galaxy Note II

Obviously, it has a PCI-e slot, it just doesn't explicitly list the 2.0 extension...

Will this little card actually work? Everything else he's running is pretty dated too (an AMD Athlon II X2 4400+), but people don't exactly have money lying around for a total system overhaul. Is this a decent choice?
The price of $193 seems totally fine...
Sarah Turner98 Sarah Turner98 Member
15 messages
joined Jul 2010
#1194 ·
Alexander Moore67 said:Wait, there's an Nvidia GeForce 7800 on this board? Using AGP?!
And that’s exactly why I’m making the jump to the 5670.
Don't tell me the Nvidia GeForce 7800 is actually faster than the 5670. Seriously?

I guess I’d just pass out and call it a day then. $83 So I went ahead and grabbed the AMD Athlon X4 630 right away. Why wait? 👍
Sure, if your bank account can actually handle it. 🙂

boldcanyon3 said:So, I picked up this card for a buddy because his old GeForce Leadtek 8600GTS 256MB finally kicked the bucket. What can you do?
The only issue is that the specs say it's PCI Express 2.0 x16.
And his motherboard is... A little bit of a Samsung Galaxy Note II?

Of course it has PCI Express, but they just didn't specify if it's 2.0...

Will that card actually run okay? Everything else in the build is pretty dated too—running an AMD Athlon II X2 4400+—but let’s face it, people don't just have cash lying around for a total overhaul. Is this setup even decent?
What's the damage? $193 It's totally fine.

So, will a card on PCI Express 2.0 x16 actually work with all the older stuff? 🙂 Or the other way around...
It’ll only run at the lowest speed—like, 1.1 from the motherboard. What else can you expect?
Robert Martin3 Robert Martin3 Newcomer
5 messages
joined Dec 2010
#1195 ·
Do you think this GPU is gonna cut it for a 24'' monitor running at 1920/1080...
Sarah Turner98 Sarah Turner98 Member
15 messages
joined Jul 2010
#1196 ·
Max Resolution is 2048x1536@85 Hz🙂
It'll run at Full HD... but what’s the actual picture quality going to look like? Who knows. Some people are gonna hate how it looks on an LCD, while others might think it's fine, I guess...
Samuel Martinez Samuel Martinez Member
26 messages
joined Jan 2011
#1197 ·
Bryan Evans77 said:If you happen to be hanging around near some local Best Buy, I might be able to lend a hand... 🙂

But honestly, Nathan Reyes59 already laid it all out for you—you can't just shove a graphics card into a slot where it physically doesn't fit. 👍 (I mean, sure, there are those absolute lunatics who try to hack their way in by cutting the chassis, but let’s not even go there; that's pure madness).

Personally, I'd rather just ask the guy working at the local Micro Center if he could actually get it installed for me...
Sarah Turner98 Sarah Turner98 Member
15 messages
joined Jul 2010
#1198 ·
Samuel Martinez said:I’d honestly rather just ask my uncle who works at the shop in the link if he could just hook me up...

just so he doesn't charge you an hour of labor👍
I doubt he will, but still, just ask.🙂
Robert Martin3 Robert Martin3 Newcomer
5 messages
joined Dec 2010
#1199 ·
Bryan Evans77 said:Max Resolution is 2048x1536@85 Hz 🙂
It’ll run at Full HD... but man, who knows what the actual image quality is gonna look like? Honestly, I have no clue—for some people, it might look like total garbage on an LCD, while for others, it might be just fine, you know?

thanks!
boldcanyon3 boldcanyon3 Newcomer
9 messages
joined Jun 2009
#1200 ·
Anyone got an answer for me? Maybe this is a pretty basic question, but I promise I'm not being dense... I just want to know if that GPU will actually fit on that motherboard.

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