A limit to the 'best' card I can use?

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calza

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Mar 18, 2013
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Currently have a dieing HD4850 on a near 4 year old machine.

Can't help but thinking there is no point dumping a £200 card in as I have no plans to upgrade the rest any time soon, and I imagine the rest of my system won't be able to utilise a better card?

Model: Acer Aspire M5300/ M7300
Motherboard: Struggling to identify this.
Processor : AMD Phenom II X3 710
Ram: DDR3 PC3-10600, DDR3 PC3-12800, DDR3 (non-ECC) 8GB
PSU: Currently the standard 450w, but I do have a brand new 650w here I can install if required.

Secretly I'm hoping this is a really clear cut thing and there's no point in spending more than say £80 but over to you :)
 
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2x4b

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Oct 28, 2013
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There really isn't a limit to the best GPU you can handle.

I would only upgrade if you are finding that you want to play some games at higher resolutions or detail settings that your current card can't handle.
Here is Tom's November guide for video cards: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gaming-graphics-card-review,review-32843.html

If you don't decide to upgrade your video card, consider increasing your memory. You may get some performance gains by going to 16GB. But that will be a diminishing return on investment.

Next, consider saving the money towards a complete system overhaul or replacement. But I don't think you will be at this point for a while yet.
 
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calza

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Really? That's interesting thanks. I thought with it being PCI-E 2 there would be point where I wasn't getting anything good from the card, or the CPU couldn't keep up etc.

I should clarify this is for gaming - forgot that :)

The card is on it's last legs, getting close to 100 degrees on more modern games with all the cooling turned up etc. Keeps crashing, pixelating etc.

 
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2x4b

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Oct 28, 2013
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100DegC with artifacts? Yes, time for a new card.
Don't worry about PCI 2 vs 3. They are backwards compatible (operating at the lower speed) but nevertheless a new card would be a great improvement, particularly if the existing card is not up to the job. And a new card could easily be transported to a new system as well if you get one down the road.

Yes, your CPU is a little older. But I think there is some life left in it. I hear a lot of people talk about "bottlenecks." All systems will be constrained by their least capable component. Don't worry about it. You clearly need to concentrate on the Video Card at the moment. Worry about the CPU later when you have some more cash. Just remember that a new CPU may dictate a new motherboard, and potentially other components as well. Just put together a savings plan for the long run.
 
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calza

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Mar 18, 2013
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Actually it's not artifacts, It's more like the cable is lose (but it's not). Always fixes itself.

So basically the sky is the limit and I can just carry it over whenever I do upgrade to into a new system whenever that may be? Good to know, not so good for my bank balance!

Huilun, why do you suggest that card?
 
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