Wanted: Need advice on Video Card Upgrade

SammyBusby

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Jun 14, 2010
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Im upgrading my computer and I need advice on what video card I need to purchase. Im looking to spend only about $150.00 or less but I want performance enough to play most of todays games. With my set up right now I can play most games I like to play with some tinkering of the settings by lowering them. Here are my system specs right now.

AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor ADX240OCK23GQ - OEM

ASRock A780LM-S AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD RS780L (760G) Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

ASUS EN9800GT/DI/512MD3 GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

150GB Hard Drive

2GB System RAM

Right now Im just wanting to get a Video Card. Im on a fixed income so I have to upgrade one component at a time unless the deal is good then I can get something else to go along with it. Ive always used Nvidia products and have always had very good luck with them. However, I am willing to swap to ATI if thats whats recommended and is better than what I have. Any card that will out preform my current one will work as long as it will last me at least a year or two before I have to upgrade again. Thanks in advance for any and all advise and info.

Sammy
 
Solution
Right now, the sapphire HD 7850 2GB is on sale for $160 on newegg. I would say that is the best bang for buck at the moment. Also, you may be aware that the CPU will bottleneck that card, so for the upgrade after the video card, I suggest the AMD Phenom II x4 965. Also, 8GB of RAM would be a great upgrade, for relatively cheap.
Right now, the sapphire HD 7850 2GB is on sale for $160 on newegg. I would say that is the best bang for buck at the moment. Also, you may be aware that the CPU will bottleneck that card, so for the upgrade after the video card, I suggest the AMD Phenom II x4 965. Also, 8GB of RAM would be a great upgrade, for relatively cheap.
 
Solution

vinhn

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For $150 the HD7790 is the best you can get. But then again with $150 card you won't be able to play it at max settings with good fps let alone next gen games. You might have to deal with medium-high settings and to low with next gen games .
 

SammyBusby

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Thanks for the responses On my motherboard it says my PCIe slot is 2.0 16x1. Would either of the cards your suggesting run in that slot on my Motherboard??
 


Yep, that should be no problem. PCIe 2.0 x16 will run any modern card just fine.