Graphics card for HP 500-123w

Texancowboy22

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Hey guys, I know I touched on this in one of my earlier threads, but I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions for a decent graphics card to put in my machine?
 

breakfastdude

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Without changing the power supply (300 W), to be on the safe side, it would be wise to choose a graphics card that doesn't require an external pcie power connector (meaning it consumes less than 75 W). That said, the best performing card that fits the description in the market today would be Nvidia's GTX 750 Ti. If this doesn't fit your budget, another decent option would be the GTX 750. On the AMD side of things, there's the HD 7750.
 

Texancowboy22

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Ok, i see there is a relativly small one for 160 dollars. however, the card only has like 1 gig of memory. My current on-board card has 1.6 gig according to dxdiag. does this mean the new card will be a downgrade?
 

breakfastdude

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Nope, it will still be a huge upgrade over your Intel integrated graphics. Graphics card performance should not be measured by how much video memory it has. Furthermore, the Intel integrated graphics uses system RAM as video memory, whereas the 750 Ti has its own memory (which is also a lot faster: GDDR5 vs DDR3). There's just no comparison between your current Intel integrated graphics and the 750 Ti.
If you're going the 750 Ti route, you won't need to upgrade your PSU. With a non-cheapo 550W PSU though, you can go as far as a GTX 680, but cards in this class are usually quite huge (10" or more). So if you're looking for a small graphics card, chances are, you won't be needing the PSU upgrade.
 

breakfastdude

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You're right. You would need to upgrade your PSU, too, especially if you're gonna upgrade your CPU as well. Just make sure you get a decent PSU, not the no-name cheapo ones that can cause you problems in the future. What CPU are you going to get?
That would be a good card, by the way.
 

breakfastdude

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If you're purely after gaming, I suggest you throw most of your budget on your GPU + PSU upgrade. The CPU upgrade will help, but not as much as a good GPU. For now, I think the best-performing compact GPU is this:
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-N760-2GD5-OC-ITX/dp/B00HPS4B00/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393131544&sr=8-1&keywords=gtx+760+mini

With a GTX 750 Ti, you won't be able to max out current games (BF4, Crysis 3, Metro: LL, etc) at 1080p. You may be able to get off with High settings though. But I think you would be able to max out the games you mentioned, as they're not that intensive. With the GTX 760 though, you can do a lot, lot more.
 

breakfastdude

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I suggest the MSI GTX 760 mini. The power supply suggested will work, it has the required connectors for the GPU.