GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

I already answered you right below, but apparently, you aren't reading 🤷

Bryan Evans77 said:I actually answered you right below, but apparently you aren't reading...🤷

Man, thanks!! 😁 I'm not on here all that often, so I haven't quite gotten used to the whole multi-quote thing yet...

Which of these graphics cards actually holds up better?
Nvidia GTX 460 Hawk or the Nvidia GTX 285 BFG OC?

Carl Ward59 said:Which of these graphics cards is actually better???
Nvidia GTX 460 Hawk or Nvidia GTX 285 BFG OC ?????????

They're both floating around somewhere, but I guess I'd go with the Nvidia GTX 460 Hawk. It runs way cooler, it's newer, and it doesn't pull nearly as much power. 😉

Alright everyone, so I finally pulled the trigger and picked up an AMD Radeon HD 5770 Hawk from HGspot—they even threw in the installation for free, which was a nice touch—and a buddy of mine helped me get all the drivers squared away... Honestly, I feel like I’ve finally cleared some major hurdles here, and I am genuinely satisfied because the performance is just... well, it's there. Huge thanks to everyone for the help and the effort you put in to get me sorted.

Samuel Martinez said:So guys, just picked up an AMD Radeon HD 5770 Hawk from HGspot. They even threw in the installation for free, and a buddy of mine handled the drivers... Honestly, feels like a massive upgrade and I'm loving it. Everything's running smooth... thanks to everyone for the help and the effort!

Nice one 👍

Hey there!
So, what do you guys think about this GPU? Is it actually any good, or would it be a waste of money to pick it up?

Gainward GeForce GT 240, 1024 MB GDDR5-SDRAM, PCI Express 2.0 x16

Olivia Collins5 said:Hey
what do you guys think about this card? Is it any good or worth buying

Gainward GeForce GT 240, 1024 MB GDDR5-SDRAM, PCI Express 2.0 x16

What kind of monitor are you running? What's the resolution🙂

What about the rest of the specs? It’s pretty mid—fine if you're just playing on some 17-inch monitor... Their price range sits between $550 and $267—so, how much would you actually drop on a new GPU?

Picked up an 8800 GTS 512 yesterday... honestly, I couldn't be happier with it. 😁



Running everything on max settings.

Actually, I just realized—that 8800 GTS doesn't come with 512MB, it’s actually got 640MB. It's funny how those little specs can trip you up when you're digging through old hardware forums—kind of like thinking you're grabbing a standard size coffee at Starbucks only to realize it's actually the venti. Just one of those small details that changes the whole math of the build.

The 8800 GT... yeah, that one comes with 512MB—kind of like how a standard cup of coffee is just a single serving, you know? It’s a specific amount, nothing more, nothing less.

Noah Long39 said:The 8800 GTS doesn't have 512, it actually has 640.

The 8800 GT is 512.

Actually, that's incorrect. The 8800 GTS comes with 512.
Let me Google that for you.
Besides the 512, there are also two other versions available, the 640 and 320 MB ones.
I guess the 512MB version offers the best performance out of those four cards.

Casey Parker9 said:I just picked up an 8800 GTS with 512MB yesterday... honestly, I couldn't be happier with it. 😁

http://www.techshout.com/images/gefo...hics-cards.jpg

Running everything at max settings

So, what kind of resolution are we talking about here?

Casey Long2 said:What kind of tiny resolution are you even running?

720p 😬

Bryan Evans77 said:half HD 😬

LOL... what even is "half HD"... 😁

Here’s the deal:
Regarding the monitor, I think it's a 17-inch gaming model. Right now, it's set to 800x600, but it can actually go up to 1280x1024. As for the price, maybe around $700.

The processor is
Intel(R)Core(TM)2 Quad CPU
Q8400 @ 2.66GHz
2.66 GHz. 3GB of RAM
Windows XP Professional service pack 3
1 TB hard drive
Memory is either 3 or 4 GB DDR2—I'm not exactly sure, honestly.
The motherboard... I don't know which one is inside because it was just replaced after the old one died.
And here is my current graphics card:

Primary Adapter
Graphics Card Manufacturer Powered by AMD Graphics chipset AMD Radeon hd 4800 Series Devica ID 9442 Vendor 1002
Graphics Chipset ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series
Device ID 9442
Vendor 1002

Subsystem ID E104
Subsystem Vendor ID 174B

Graphics Bus Capability PCI express 2.0
Maximum Bus Setting PCI Express 2.0 x16

BIOS Version 011.021.000.005
BIOS Part Number 11X-1E1043SA-QI1
BIOS Date 2009/04/21

Memory Size 1024 MB
Memory Type GDDR3

Core Clock in MHz 625 MHz
Memory Clock in MHz 993 MHz
total Memory Bandwidth in GByte/s 63,6 GByte/s

P.S. Just so you know, I'm a girl, not a guy!

Casey Long2 said:What resolution are you running at?

I'm playing GTA IV at 1440x900 with everything set to high. I do the same for most other games too.
Compared to my old 7600gs, this one is just perfect.😁

Honestly, I don't really care if it's HD or not... it doesn't matter to me.

@Olivia Collins5/">@@Olivia Collins5: That 240 is definitely weaker than yours—assuming you're running a 4850... for $233, honestly, you aren't going to find much better than what's already in your rig. Maybe a used 4870, but even then, it's barely a step up. Your best bet? Sell your current card for maybe $400 and pick up a gtx 460 768. Though, if I'm being real, I don't even get why you're bothering; all this hardware is massive overkill for that monitor anyway.

@Olivia Collins5/">@@Olivia Collins5: Just like stormywolf39 mentioned, a 240 is definitely a step down from what you're currently running—even if we're talking about a 4830. Honestly, I’m a bit puzzled as to why someone would even consider swapping it out for something newer. At an 800*600 resolution, this card should be absolutely flying. If you're seeing performance dips while gaming, I’d be willing to bet my bottom dollar it isn't the graphics card itself—and probably not the CPU or RAM either—but rather some kind of software hiccup or driver issue somewhere along the line...

It should be working, but it’s just not flying. Every second game I play, everything freezes up and my speakers just blast this constant > noise. I really want to swap it out because I never had these issues back when I was running Nvidia cards. Who else deals with this crap with AMD? 😠 It feels like a losing battle—on one hand, I'm fighting with Windows, and on the other, the people who actually built these cards won't release any patches or even seem to know how to fix the mess they made. Plus, from what I've been reading, even if you try installing new drivers, the problems just stick around. This card is honestly just junk. 😠 So, if anyone could give me a recommendation for something a bit more powerful from Nvidia...