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Looking to upgrade video card

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  • Graphics Cards
  • Graphics
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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September 22, 2013 5:15:47 AM

Hi, I was looking to purchase a new display card but I'm completely clueless about the matter so I was wondering if you could suggest me a decent one for a reasonable price.

This is my comp:
Power: FSP500-60APN85+
Motherboard: AMD A6-5400K
Chipset: AMD A75
Graphics: Radeon HD6570D Hybrid CrossFire
RAM: 8GB DDR3-1600
Hard Drive: 1TB SATA2 3.5”

As you can see my card is pretty weak and the crossfire thing does not make that big of a difference plus it's quite faulty on some games. I was looking for something for less than $180.

I thought of buying an HD 7850 but will my power supply be able to handle it? Thank you.

More about : upgrade video card

a b U Graphics card
September 22, 2013 5:45:31 AM

Which games are you looking to play?
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September 22, 2013 6:13:39 AM

Well, I'm a big fan of Total War games, I tried Rome 2 on this card and performance was terrible with everything on low and the game updated... I also am planning to have a good play on GTA 5 for whenever it's out on PC and most upcomming games on at least mid settings.
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September 22, 2013 7:37:49 AM

X79 said:
Right.

Well if you're playing at 1080 or even lower, then I think this is a solid choice:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-hd7870dc22...

7870 Ghz Edition.

You'll want to upgrade your CPU next and/or OC it if you can.


Thanks a lot! But will my power supply of 500 Watts be able to handle such a card?

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a b U Graphics card
September 22, 2013 7:40:10 AM

No problem.

Well I'd suggest a different PSU as I'm not familiar with your one and that's usually, but not always, a bad sign.

I can't know if it's so old for instance, that it doesn't supply its alloted power. I'm guessing that since your CPU Isn't

top notch as such, that it would be manageable. Still, a upgrade to something like an XFX 550W one would be swell I think.

This would also facilitate your future CPU upgrade a bit better perhaps. Perhaps:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: OCZ Fatal1ty 550W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($33.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $207.99
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-22 10:41 EDT-0400)

Only 20$ over your budget or so, to get a PSU with it.

Just for comparison:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($56.50 @ Newegg)
Total: $231.49
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-22 10:42 EDT-0400)
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September 22, 2013 7:42:31 AM

X79 said:
No problem.

Well I'd suggest a different PSU as I'm not familiar with your one and that's usually, but not always, a bad sign.

I can't know if it's so old for instance, that it doesn't supply its alloted power. I'm guessing that since your CPU Isn't

top notch as such, that it would be manageable. Still, a upgrade to something like an XFX 550W one would be swell I think.

This would also facilitate your future CPU upgrade a bit better perhaps. Perhaps:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: OCZ Fatal1ty 550W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($33.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $207.99
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-22 10:41 EDT-0400)

Only 20$ over your budget or so, to get a PSU with it.


Alright, thank you!

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September 24, 2013 9:33:53 AM

Hi again, so I got my HD 7870 OC Edition today, installed it, updated the drivers and opened up Rome 2.

The results were very dissapointing, almost nothing changed from the previous card, in fact I'd dare to say that it got even worse. The campaign map is unplayable at lowest settings 1024*786 with around 20 FPS. Battles are terrible too and lag like hell when the armies engage...

I tried to overclock it from the Catalyst to finally get a blue screen after 2 min in-game.

Tried it on FarCry 3 also where a minor change was shown...
I see people playing it on Ultra with this very same card and having a steady 45 - 60 FPS...

What's going on?
Could it be a bottleneck with my CPU?

Thanks...
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a b U Graphics card
September 24, 2013 12:03:11 PM

That's odd. Rome is especially buggy though I hear.

Have you OC'd your CPU?
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September 24, 2013 1:07:42 PM

X79 said:
That's odd. Rome is especially buggy though I hear.

Have you OC'd your CPU?


Nope. I've never OC'ed anything besides this new card earlier today.

Rome 2 is indeed very buggy performance and gameplay wise but with the patches it kinda works well for most people (except for me).

I'm starting to wonder whether it's a bottleneck issue with the CPU which is not really for gaming but I'm not sure... Although it makes me hard to believe that the CPU can limit the card's performance by THAT MUCH.

I really don't know what to do right now :/ / I was thinking to just send the new GPU back for my money and forget about PC gaming or to get a new CPU, but for that I suppose I'd need a new power supply which implies spending even more money... Help!

Thanks a lot!
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a b U Graphics card
September 24, 2013 2:40:01 PM

Well that's almost the definition of a bottleneck. They can severely reduce FPS/performance. I don't know if an OC

might help in your case. Regardless, do not give up on PC gaming. So while I don't have the solution to that problem,

I'm sure someone else could give you a few tips perhaps. Maybe you could make a seperate topic for it.
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