GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

thanks for the advice

Alright, so here's the deal -

Manufacturer - ASUSTeK Comp. INC
Model - P5QL/EPU
CPU - Intel Core 2 duo E8200/ Socket 775 LGA/ 2675.7 MHz
RAM - 4GB

Up until now, I was running an ATI Radeon HD 4850, and honestly, it was a solid card until I started getting those annoying flickering pixels on my screen after about a year -_- I did some digging and confirmed it’s definitely the card itself causing the headache, not my monitor.
Since the glitching is getting worse by the day, I figured it’s finally time to hunt down a new GPU, with a budget of roughly $200 Max. My screen resolution is 1600x900, and most of my time is spent messing around in photoshop, Corel Painter, and stuff like that—basically just digital painting and illustration work.

Any suggestions on what I should grab? And if you can, could you point me toward a shop where I can just walk in like a normal person, pick up the part, pay for it, and head home without dealing with weird quotes, wire transfers, or endless email chains... you know how it is...😁

The HD 5670 is the only one in that bracket (but just so you know, it’s actually a step down from the HD 4850).

Thanks for the tip!
I did a little digging through my old receipts and paperwork, and turns out I’ve still got a full 24-month warranty on this thing, so I’m gonna pack it up and send it back tomorrow. If nothing else, at least I can give it another shot. I just really hope the folks over at Walmart are cool with someone as clueless as me 😁

Just tell them it’s throwing artifacts, maybe the memory is shot or something...
Either way, those guys at Walmart won't even bother checking it themselves—they'll just ship it off to a repair center. 🙂

If you actually have any say in which replacement card you end up with—since hunting down an HD4850 is getting pretty damn hard these days—try to aim for a decent NVIDIA card instead. Programs like Adobe Photoshop and Corel can really take advantage of CUDA technology. It's basically tech that lets your processor tap into those NVIDIA GPU cores to help with heavy lifting, which leads to some serious speed boosts. AMD's Radeon cards just don't support that specific tech...

My card started throwing artifacts after just three months (HD4670), though I haven't been gaming much, so it hasn't been a huge deal yet. I think I'll check my warranty and head over there to see what's going on.

dustywolf13 said:Thanks for the tip!
I did a little digging through my old PC paperwork and realized I've still got a 24-month warranty, so I'll probably just pack it up and take it back tomorrow. At the very least, it's worth a shot. I just hope the folks over at Walmart are feeling sympathetic toward someone as clueless as me 😁

If I were you, I'd try to get it fixed first. If that fails, maybe grab a GeForce GTS 450 for a bit extra; it should pair pretty well with that processor, and it'll definitely help out with those CUDA-based programs you're running 😉

What should I look at changing in this current setup—which, I should note, still handles games reasonably well!?
I’m only looking at minor investments here!

Processor: DualCore Intel Core 2 duo E6400, 2133 MHz (8 x 267)
Motherboard Model: Asus P5LD2 SE (3 PCI, 2 PCI-E x1, 1 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN)
Motherboard Chipset: Intel Lakeport i945P
System Memory: 3072 MB (DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM)
DIMM1: Kingmax KLDD48F-A8KI5 1 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-18 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 MHz)
DIMM2: Kingmax KLDD48F-B8KU5 1 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-18 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 MHz)
DIMM3: Kingmax KLDD48F-A8KI5 1 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-18 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 MHz)
Graphics Card: Radeon X1950 Pro (256 MB)
3D Accelerator Chip: ATI Radeon X1950 Pro (RV570)

Maybe grab a slightly faster CPU, you've got enough RAM, and just swap in a better GPU—maybe a Radeon HD 5770, or a GeForce GTX 460, maybe an HD 5750 or a GTS 450? Those are some of the newer cards I think would work fine. 🙂

But honestly, it all comes down to what kind of power supply you're running (brand and wattage) and how much cash you're actually looking to drop. 🙂

A CM Hyper TX3 for the $50 or maybe a Freezer Pro 7, then overclocking the CPU to hit 3GHz along with some used GPU depending on what the PSU can handle and the resolution—maybe a GTS 250, GTX 260, 4850, or 4870—that’s probably the best bang for your buck in my opinion.

Here’s what I’m thinking:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/graphics-card-listing-example
http://www.newegg.com/product-details-example

👍

Hey everyone, I’ve had a few people asking me to hunt down a decent graphics card because their current setup is pretty much useless—they're running an Nvidia 6150 integrated onto a Gigabyte M61PM-S2 motherboard, which just can't handle basically any modern gaming. My budget is a bit tight, hovering around $50, so I know it's not much to work with, but I figured I'd reach out and see if anyone could point me toward a good deal at Best Buy or somewhere similar for that kind of cash. Thanks!

So far, within that price range, I've managed to track down a GT220, a 5450, and a 4650, and someone even suggested looking into a 4550, though honestly, I don't really have a clue what the actual performance difference is between them...

If you're looking at a new GeForce GT 220 (the one with DDR3 memory), you really won't find anything better at that price point. Most other options in this range use a 64-bit bus, which pretty much tanks the performance...

http://www.bestbuy.com/product_info.php?c...oducts_id=7728

Personally, I’d suggest checking out the used market. For about $100-$117, you could probably snag an HD 4670 (DDR3) or maybe an HD 5570 (DDR3), both of which would be a noticeable step up from the cards you listed 😉.

Just let us know what else you're running in your build—like your CPU, motherboard, RAM, and power supply?

I’m not actually buying this for myself, so I tend to be a bit skeptical when it comes to second-hand gear. That said, if a solid deal pops up—something reasonably priced, backed by a warranty, and located somewhere close enough like Seattle where I can actually test it out first—then I'm definitely open to it.
For context, the current setup is running an Athlon 64 x2 5200+ processor with 2GB of Kingmax Mars RAM at 800MHz. The motherboard is an ASUS M61PM-S2, as mentioned earlier. As for the power supply, I don't have the exact specs, but I'm guessing it's something basic like a generic 400W unit you'd find at a local Best Buy, though from what I can gather, the GeForce GT 220 isn't particularly hungry when it comes to power consumption.

Anyone got hands-on experience with the VTX3D HD5770 1GB?
What kind of FPS am I looking at in games?

http://www.techspot.com/review/209-ati-radeon-hd-5770/
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...r5-review.html
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon...0-review-test/

Takes all of two seconds to find on Google...
If you're actually seriously considering picking up something new, I’d personally lean toward the GeForce GTX 460 768 if I were you. From what I can gather, the prices are sitting right around...

If anyone here happens to have compared these two or actually owned them both, I’d love to hear which one comes out on top and just how big the performance gap really is.

So, we're looking at an ATI 5750 1GB versus an 8800 GTS 320MB.

click here ---> 😁

thanks, darkowl72