What type of graphics card to upgrade to?

katie1234 · Jul 9, 2013

Hi. I have a Windows 7 Pro 64bit computer. I was wondering what type of graphics card to upgrade to. I like to play games often, and I find my games lagging behind.

-AMD Phenom II X4 820 Processor.
-Nvidia GeForce 9800GT graphics card. -450 watt power block.
-32 GB installed RAM
-M5A97 EVO Motherboard.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

sam_p_lay · Jul 9, 2013

I'd recommend the GTX650 Ti Boost. Excellent performance and very reasonably-priced.

Madn3ss795 · Jul 9, 2013

How's your budget? If it's high enough we should consider upgrading the CPU also, because a strong VGA card might get bottlenecked by your current CPU.

degreaser · Jul 9, 2013

hi Katie, I have Windows 7 64-bit home addition, Intel Core i5-3570 cpu, and did have a 20 inch 1600x900 Benq monitor with a MSI Nvidia Geforce 9400GT video card, then I upgraded the monitor to a 1920x1080 24 inch Benq with a Gigabyte Radeon HD 7750 card. The Geforce 9400GT is benchmark ranked #199 in video cards and the HD 7750 is benchmark ranked #1629. Here below is where I got my rankings and video card comparisons. Browse different cards by selecting the Select A Page button at top-right.
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/midlow_range_gpus.html

I picked the amd HD 7750 because it gets power from the PCI-express x 16 slot and does not require a 6-pin power connector from the Power Supply Unit. My PSU does not have that 6-pin connector. I don't play games so just wanted to share what I have.

grebgonebad · Jul 9, 2013

Madn3ss795 :

Her Phenom II X4 should be plenty powerful enough for a 650Ti such as Sam_P_Lay suggests

Madn3ss795 · Jul 9, 2013

Not in most current game that cannot utilize all 4 cores of a Phenom II x4.

grebgonebad · Jul 9, 2013

Madn3ss795 :

Your argument is exactly why she doesnt need to upgrade immediately. As you stated, most games do not utilise more than 1 or 2 cores of a CPU nowdays, and so her quad core Phenom will be fine. I know plenty of people who use Phenoms for gaming with no problems. Obviously they cant play at the highest settings, but they can still play the most recent games.

sam_p_lay · Jul 9, 2013

grebgonebad :

Madn3ss795 :

Your argument is exactly why she doesnt need to upgrade immediately. As you stated, most games do not utilise more than 1 or 2 cores of a CPU nowdays, and so her quad core Phenom will be fine. I know plenty of people who use Phenoms for gaming with no problems. Obviously they cant play at the highest settings, but they can still play the most recent games.

Haha thankyou. Madness you argued backwards there ;-)

Madn3ss795 · Jul 9, 2013

Nope. With just 1 or 2 cores used, a Phenom won't yield higher FPS than a 3rd gen Celeron from Intel. It also depends on how playable is playable for each person.

sam_p_lay · Jul 9, 2013

Depends also how much performance is constrained and in how many games. If a potential 40% gain becomes a 30% gain in one or two games, you have some bottlenecking but you don't have a bottlenecking problem. If most games turn that potential 40% into 10% then you have a bottlenecking problem. Do you have benchmarks of the Phenom II X4 severely bottlenecking the Boost across a number of games?

grebgonebad · Jul 9, 2013

byogamingpc :

You do like making these little advertisements dont you? Lol! I think thast makes about 10 threads now...

sam_p_lay · Jul 9, 2013

Haha more than 10

But the posts certainly do get straight to the point and straight to a good deal!

grebgonebad · Jul 9, 2013

sam_p_lay :

That is true. Although I think the best deal out at the minute is with the 760. I still can't believe it's so cheap for the performance!

sam_p_lay · Jul 9, 2013

Yeah the GTX760 is crazy fast for the price! I'd say equally the GTX660 and GTX760 by British pricing, and GTX650 Ti Boost and GTX760 equally by American pricing (Boosts are more competitively-priced in the States vs GTX660s). It's pretty close in both countries though - relatively small price difference for a relatively small performance difference.

grebgonebad · Jul 9, 2013

sam_p_lay :

I always try to keep up to date with prices in the states, and as you say, price differences are pretty minimal to be honest.

I would love it though if we had a Newegg equivelant in Britain, but it's all to do with the taxes here isnt it? You earn wages that are taxed, to spend money on a car, which is taxedf, fuel which is taxed, then you buy food which is taxed, go to a home which is taxed, and then, to top it all off, when you retire, your pension is bloody taxed! Lol.

sam_p_lay · Jul 9, 2013

Haha yeah it's nuts! I'll take cash-in-hand wherever possible. They then blow my money on "educational" campaigns telling me to stop smoking, stop drinking, stop eating food that tastes good and if in doubt, stop doing it. And on buying consoles for kiddy fiddlers in prison. And on keeping insane pirate clerics in the country. But that's getting political now so I'll just say I prefer sites like Scan for seeing the best prices really fast

grebgonebad · Jul 9, 2013

sam_p_lay :

I wouldnt mid taxes so much if it wasnt for the bloody leachers of the system. You know the kind im sure...

I've never been impressed with Scan, I've always managed to find a better deal elsewhere to be honest. When I was buying my 670's for example, I think Scan were charging around £330 apiece, whereas I got mine from Ebuyer for £280. There is the added cost of the finance from Ebuyer of course. =P I had to take out finance because of the other £1000 worth of hardware I used to upgrade my PC with. Lol.

katie1234 · Jul 9, 2013

Hi everyone.

Thank you all for all of your answers. The only question that remains is that if I buy one of the cards, will my computer quit lagging. Someone brought up the issue of a new CPU but it was argued. From the specs provided, is there enough data to ensure that the lagging will stop? Is the computer overall good enough to handle a strong graphics card? This is all just for clarity. Also, do you all know if the mentioned graphics card will fit with my CPU and motherboard? It is currently being used to play mostly the Sims 3. Thanks again everyone!

sam_p_lay · Jul 9, 2013

It'll definitely speed up your gaming but it won't help Windows performance. If you're getting general lag in Windows, you'd be best served with a fresh install of Windows (and an SSD if you have the cash).

katie1234 · Jul 9, 2013

There's not a general lag in windows. My PC is actually pretty fast. I believe it is the graphics card because of this.

sam_p_lay · Jul 9, 2013

Simple then. Grab that GPU and have fun with it

katie1234 · Jul 9, 2013

Thank you all!

grebgonebad · Jul 9, 2013

byogamingpc :

I'm the complete opposite unfortunately! XD I prefer to give a detailed description on why, often linking in evidence, as I believe that it is more beneficial. Believe it or not, It was only about a year and a half ago I actually got into PC's, and I learnt all my knowledge from this site and peoples lengthy answers. I have simply followed by example. =)

katie1234 · Jul 9, 2013

grebgonebad :

byogamingpc :

I'm the complete opposite unfortunately! XD I prefer to give a detailed description on why, often linking in evidence, as I believe that it is more beneficial. Believe it or not, It was only about a year and a half ago I actually got into PC's, and I learnt all my knowledge from this site and peoples lengthy answers. I have simply followed by example. =)

You are more than welcome to give a full explanation and give the beneficial detail! I have researched this one that was recommended but I would love to hear your input

sam_p_lay · Jul 9, 2013

I'm also in the high-detail club (I think there's more value to an answer when there's some justification and explanation) but I've noticed many people simply want to be told exactly what to do (kinda depressing that people can be so indecisive!) so I try and tailor my detail level to the audience

What type of graphics card to upgrade to?

Honorable

Splendid

Dignified

Distinguished

Distinguished

Dignified

Distinguished

Splendid

Dignified

Splendid

Distinguished

Splendid

Distinguished

Splendid

Distinguished

Splendid

Distinguished

Honorable

Splendid

Honorable

Splendid

Honorable

Distinguished

Honorable

Splendid

Share this page