Buying a new graphics card - (read first post)

Keith Hall43 said:Well, the machine is intended for music, video, and gaming—of course.🙂As for the monitor—well, that's what I'm stuck with for now—but when I eventually upgrade, I’m planning to go with an LCD. It seems like they just refuse to drop in price, though; I can't seem to catch them at a decent point.👎...so, I suppose one really ought to be looking at this from a long-term perspective—especially if, say, I were actually planning on owning an LCD monitor. 😉

What are your thoughts on this card?
MSI Radeon HD3870 512MB GDDR3—it’s an interesting enough card, I suppose—but one has to wonder about its actual longevity in today's landscape. It sits there on the PCI slot, offering a specific set of specs that might have felt more substantial in a different era—though perhaps that era is long gone. One could argue it holds its own, though I suspect most users will find the limitations rather apparent once they actually try to push it. Maybe it's worth considering, if you have certain niche requirements, but I wouldn't go betting the house on it. $266

The old guard—it’s just not worth the investment anymore. You can get much better performance for the exact same price—I mean, look at the 4770, the 4850 from AMD, or even the Nvidia GeForce 250... plus, you can actually pick up a decent 22" monitor for about what you'd spend on that outdated junk. It seems like a losing game, I guess. $333 ...and honestly, that seems like a fair price to me.

Thomas Martin4 said:It’s old tech. Honestly, it just isn't worth the money when you can get much better performance for the exact same price—like an Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX or even a GTS 250 from Nvidia. Plus, you can pick up a decent 22" monitor for $333 , which I suppose is a pretty fair price

Alright, thanks for the input. I think I have a much clearer idea of which card to go with now.👍

I've been lugging around this old junker for about four years now—upgraded it last year with an Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT, 256mb. I'm looking at pulling the trigger on a new rig soon, so I'm wondering if this card is actually worth saving. Is it still even remotely useful if I want to run FIFA 10 or PES 2010? 🙂

It depends. If the card is PCIe, you're in luck; if it's AGP, then you're out of luck. Honestly, though, it’s a pretty weak card for gaming. You should probably double-check the minimum requirements for FIFA 10 and Football Manager just to be safe.

I’m planning on picking up a brand-new rig in about a year, but until then, I’m thinking about slapping a GeForce FX 5500 onto my ASUS P4S8X-X motherboard. Currently, I'm running 1GB of RAM along with an AGP-based Radeon 9200, paired with a SyncMaster 753DF(t)/783DF(T) monitor—specifically the MagicSyncMaster AQ17DF, which isn't an LCD. Does anyone know where I can actually check what kind of power supply I'm working with here? Also, would that GeForce FX 5500 even be a viable option for this setup?

Pop the case open and see what that power supply says...

David Wood2 said:just pop the case open and take a look at what's printed on the power supply unit.

Well, I just checked, and it looks like I'm running an MS 400W ATX P4.

Do you think this would actually be a viable option?

Your PC should handle this without breaking a sweat...

Well... thanks. That’s pretty much the extent of what I could dig up, assuming we're looking at DDR... though it feels like most of this stuff has already been phased out of the market. Once I manage to scrape together enough cash next year, I'll finally start putting a real build together, starting with a solid new motherboard and a reliable power supply. Until then, this setup is basically just a paperweight. Thanks anyway! 🤣🤣🤣

Does anyone have a recommendation for a decent shop? I've checked Best Buy and Hulu, but they don't seem to carry anything this entry-level.😁

rowdynomad182 said:Does anyone have a decent recommendation for a retailer? I've looked through Best Buy and Hulu, but they don't seem to carry anything that meets my requirements—specifically regarding the lower-end hardware—and frankly, I'm finding their selection rather lacking.😁

I suppose one could look at a site like Procurement.gov if they were interested in tracking public tenders—though, frankly, I doubt much would change regardless of how much data you sift through. Well, go ahead—search for it, give them a call, or just start firing off emails... if you think that’s actually going to change anything.

My thanks to the folks over at Best Buy!!! 😁

When I go about swapping this out, am I simply pulling the old card out, sliding the new one into the slot, and then running the driver installation?

rowdynomad182 said:So, when I swap it out—do I just pull the old one, pop in the new card, and install the drivers?

I suppose you should probably wipe the old drivers first—maybe use something like Display Driver Uninstaller in Safe Mode—just to be certain everything is clean before you attempt the new installation.

I have a question regarding picking up a new graphics card. Now that I've finally made up my mind on which model I want, I'm struggling with the fact that multiple manufacturers are churning out the exact same card, yet the prices vary wildly—sometimes by as much as $15 or $20!!
So, please, which of these NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 cards is actually the best? Or, to put it more accurately, which one offers the most bang for my buck??

VGA PCI-E ASUS NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460, 512MB DDR5, DVI, HDTV$300

VGA PCI-E SAPPHIRE NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460, 512MB DDR5, DVI, HDTV$276

Powercolor GeForce GTX 460, PCIE, 512MB DDR5, TVout, DVI$263

At the end of the day, gaming performance is what matters most to me!!

Go with the cheapest one.
The actual GPU you're getting is identical regardless of which of the three manufacturers you pick. The only real differences might be the cooling solution or whatever extra stuff they throw in the box. If you don't care about the bundle, just grab the cheapest option.

Keith Hall43 said:ASUS NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460, 512MB DDR5, DVI, HDTV $300

Sapphire GeForce GTX 460, 512MB DDR5, DVI, HDTV $276

PowerColor GeForce GTX 460, PCIe, 512MB DDR5, TVout, DVI $263

I care about gaming performance above all else!!

In my experience—and experiences can be fickle things—ASUS is the superior manufacturer here. There are better brands out there, obviously, but not in this specific tier. It’s a bit of an illusion—they all share the same chipset, memory, and shader clock—but the actual build quality of the card itself is significantly higher. ASUS uses Japanese capacitors (as I’ve noted in previous threads), which provides a certain peace of mind when overclocking; you won't feel like you're inviting a fire hazard into your rig. 🙂
If you don't care about that level of stability... then just grab the cheapest one available—the raw performance will be identical. 👍

Thanks to both of you for getting back to me... I think I’ll end up pulling the trigger on the ASUS one in the end. In my opinion, it’s the superior card, and we managed to snag it at a pretty decent price.👍

Right now, every single HD4770 is exactly the same.
They’re all built using the same reference design, featuring identical components and heatsinks across the board. Honestly, the only real difference you'll find is the sticker on the shroud.