What graphics card to upgrade to?

Adam Daniells · Feb 28, 2014

So I've been wanting to upgrade my graphics card for awhile but I have no idea what to upgrade it to? I have a lowish budget of around 200. Here's my pc specs

NameAMD Athlon II X2 250 Processor
Threading 1 CPU - 2 Cores - 2 Threads
Frequency 2999.84 MHz (15 * 199.99 MHz)
Architecture Regor (45 nm)
CPUID / Stepping F.6.3 / 10.6 (DA-C3)
CPU Extensions MMX, 3DNow!, SSE, x86-64, AMD-V
Caches L1 : 128 KB / L2 : 2048 KB
Max. TDP 60 Watts
Temperature 39.5°C
Voltage 1.504 Volts
Type Stock
Motherboard
ModelAsus M3N-H/HDMI
BIOS Phoenix Technologies LTD - ASUS M3N-H/HDMI ACPI BIOS Revision 270
CPU Socket Socket AM3 (938)
North Bridge NVIDIA nForce 720a rev A2
South Bridge NVIDIA nForce 720a MCP rev A2
Memory (RAM)
Size6144 MB
Type DDR2-800 - Dual Channel
Frequency 400 MHz (1:2)
Timings 5-5-5-18
Slot #1 ModulePQI CORP. - 2048 MB (6400)
Slot #2 ModulePQI CORP. - 2048 MB (6400)
Slot #3 ModuleCorsair - 1024 MB (6400)
Slot #4 ModuleCorsair - 1024 MB (6400)
Graphic Card (GPU)
GPU TypeRadeon HD 4850 (645 MHz)
VRAM Size 512 MB (993 MHz)
Miscellaneous
Windows Version Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 64-bit
Windows Subver SP1 (Build 7601)
CPU-Z Version 1.68

Danbuscus25 · Feb 28, 2014

i have the athlon x2 ii 270, almost the same build actually. i have the radeon hd 6670 and love it, and its only about $65 (make sure you get the ddr5 version though)

Bad_Kitty13 · Feb 28, 2014

seeing as there maybe a cpu bottleneck with a higher card i would go with a 2gb 750 ti

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-02gp43753kr

Adam Daniells · Feb 28, 2014

Danbuscus25 :

Thanks ^^ Will see what other's recommend also

Karadjgne · Feb 28, 2014

+1 Bad_Kitty13

Adam Daniells · Feb 28, 2014

Bad_Kitty13 :

Cheers! Will have a shop around and see what comes up.

Danbuscus25 · Feb 28, 2014

i have noticed a slight cpu bottleneck, but nothing that cant be fixed with a little overclock

Adam Daniells · Feb 28, 2014

Danbuscus25 :

Are you able to explain a little more please?

Unolocogringo · Feb 28, 2014

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html
The 4850 is actually faster than the 6670. That would be a downgrade.If you are trying to match your processor the 650TI Boost or the 750TI are good matches in the $130 to $160 range.
If you might upgrade your process to a faster quad core the I would suggest the GTX660 which can be had for about $200

Danbuscus25 · Feb 28, 2014

well, in games i can run at a certain fps. and i can overclock the graphics card, but it wont do anything. or i can overclock my cpu, and it will improve the fps. however, with the athlon x2 ii 270 at 3.4 ghz, i cant go over 4.0 ghz without a crash, and cant go over 3.7 stabely.

Unolocogringo · Feb 28, 2014

Adam Daniells :

A video card can only work as fast as the processor can feed it data. Such as where items in the scene are located and their size. How close or far away they are etc...
With a superfast video card and a slow processor ,the video card is always waiting for data.And can only process as fast as the cpu can feed it data.
This is a very simplified answer in is a lot more complicated and involved but it gives the main idea.

Danbuscus25 · Feb 28, 2014

yeah, if you have the money, a gtx 750Ti for $140 is nice.

Adam Daniells · Feb 28, 2014

Think i'll go for the 750TI, after the conversion it ends up being around 190 NZD which is sweet

Bad_Kitty13 · Feb 28, 2014

Adam Daniells :

glad i could help

Unolocogringo · Feb 28, 2014

Adam Daniells :

You should try overclocking your processor a little. my old Athlon2 250 at default voltage would hit 3.5g stable on the stock heatsink.
It will definitely help you get more FPS out of the card you have now or upgrade to.

Adam Daniells · Feb 28, 2014

Unolocogringo :

Ah it's just that I have an issue with my Radeon 4850, It keeps overheating so i'm guessing it's coming to the end of its life.

Danbuscus25 · Feb 28, 2014

you may want to overclock your cpu like unolocogringo said. but i would try your new card first and see what preformance you get

Unolocogringo · Feb 28, 2014

Adam Daniells :

It probably needs the heatsink cleaned and new thermal paste applied.'

This is very common on older video cards, the H/S gets a coating of dirt and dust stuck to it. Air alone will not remove. And over time the thermal paste dries out and needs replaced.

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