Upgrade to Geforce GT 640 2GB OC

Khaleal · Mar 12, 2014

Hey there,

I'm thinking of upgrading the graphics card on my little brother's old gaming desktop.
The current system specs are:
CPU: INTEL E4600 2.4GHZ
MB: Intel 945GC chipset
RAM: 2x1GB KINGSTON 667MHZ (MB's maximum)
HDD: 1xHITACHI 160GB SATAII + 1xWD BLUE 500GB SATAIII
GC: Geforce 9400GT 512MB
PSU: 280W ATX Power Supply; Robust; WW

I found an used GeForce GT 640 2GB OC (Clocked at 1050MHZ) for about 80USD including shipping in eBay. I saw some game-play videos in YouTube with this card and they were impressive.. But before I go on and buy that card I have some questions:
1. Will this graphics card work with the installed PSU (280W)?
2. The installed CPU and RAM are the best supported by the motherboard so I'm kind of limited by the CPU and RAM. If I install the mentioned graphics card, will I suffer from RAM, CPU bottlenecking? If yes, What is the best card I can buy which suites the current system so I don't have to pay for something that I can't really use it's full power.
3. Any suggestions for other equal/better/more suitable graphics cards? This is an old desktop, I don't want to put too much money on this upgrade.. My budget for this upgrade is 80USD..

Thanks guys in advance

Ankur Jyoti · Mar 14, 2014

Try to go for at least a GTX 650 1gb GPU for moderate gaming experience. it will be worth less upgrade and waste of money if you try GT 640 2 GB( it is a weak card for 2 gb vram) used.
A new GTX 650 1 gb cost you around 150USD, but if your budget is only 80 USD then go for this used GTX 650 1 gb in amazon.com: EVGA GeForce GTX 650 1024MB GDDR5

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00966IU4M in priduct description it says it is like almost new.

Khaleal · Mar 15, 2014

Ankur Jyoti :

Will my stock PSU of 280W be able to handle this card?

Ankur Jyoti · Mar 15, 2014

oh! it will need a 400w PSU. Sorry.

Try this link: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/347782-33-looking-video-card-280w

Or, you can go for a cheap cabinet which has inbuilt 400w or 450w SMPS.

Ankur Jyoti · Mar 15, 2014

Anyway don't buy 2gb vram version of a low profile GPU, it is worthless, really. Good luck.

Khaleal · Mar 16, 2014

Ankur Jyoti :

Thank you for your reply.
I thought that games like GTA IV will use easily 1024MB+ when set at medium settings.. That's why I was looking for 2GB graphics cards.
Anyway, The upgrade to GTX 650 isn't cost effective.. I'll have to upgrade the PSU (Additional 70$) and maybe my display monitor (Since it has VGA cable and not HDMI).. That being said, we didn't talk about the fact that this system will SURELY bottleneck a card like GTX 650.

Ankur Jyoti · Mar 16, 2014

Do some more research before you decide, also don't let anybody misguide you.

you can try this link:
http://www.playtool.com/pages/vramwidth/width.html

cst1992 · Mar 16, 2014

Ankur Jyoti :

Please don't suggest such bad quality upgrades. The PSU inbuilt on that cabinet is probably worse than his inbuilt one.

@OP What PSU do you have?
The 2008 PC I bought and yours has such remarkable similarity that I was amazed.
For a 280W PSU you would want to go with a GTX 750. It consumes 55W only, and is one of the newest cards. However, it's $119.99 on newegg.
A GPU not using its full power is not really a problem. If you're getting it at an acceptable price and it's compatible with your system. A AMD HD7750 consumes 55W too, but I'm not sure it'll work with your system as it could be a PCI-e 2.1 x16 card, which will not work.

I personally got a Corsair cx430 and a GTX 650 for my own PC.

Ankur Jyoti · Mar 16, 2014

http://www.playtool.com/pages/selectvid/select.html

cst1992 · Mar 16, 2014

Ankur Jyoti :

That link explains memory bandwidth and not memory usage.

Talking about memory bandwidth, that is another reason not to go with a 640. It has DDR3 memory and only provides a memory bandwidth of 28 GB/s, whereas a 750 has GDDR5 provides a bandwidth of 86 GB/s. It is one of the most significant factors in deciding actual performance.

Ankur Jyoti · Mar 16, 2014

Khaleal :

Tell me the maximum possible total up-gradation budget, and I'll help you to choose the highest possible combination..

cst1992 · Mar 16, 2014

Ankur Jyoti :

+1 to that.

Khaleal · Mar 16, 2014

Ankur Jyoti :

Let's say 120$. I found that ASUS GTX750-PHOC-1GD5 power consumption is 75W max (And according the nvidia website the minimum psu for the gtx750ti is 300w) so I don't have to upgrade the psu. Also this card from asus has a VGA connector so I won't have to upgrade the monitor. This way, all the 120$ investment will be dedicated to the graphics upgrade and not to other components.
My concern about the upgrade to this card is that this card may be bottle-necked by this old system, in fact, that's why i was looking for entry-moderate level cards.. the other concern is that 1gb is not future proof as games nowadays are graphics memory demanding.
I would be glade to hear your thoughts/suggestions.

Ankur Jyoti · Mar 16, 2014

cst1992 :

Ankur Jyoti :

Please don't suggest such bad quality upgrades. The PSU inbuilt on that cabinet is probably worse than his inbuilt one.

@OP What PSU do you have?
The 2008 PC I bought and yours has such remarkable similarity that I was amazed.
For a 280W PSU you would want to go with a GTX 750. It consumes 55W only, and is one of the newest cards. However, it's $119.99 on newegg.
A GPU not using its full power is not really a problem. If you're getting it at an acceptable price and it's compatible with your system. A AMD HD7750 consumes 55W too, but I'm not sure it'll work with your system as it could be a PCI-e 2.1 x16 card, which will not work.

I personally got a Corsair cx430 and a GTX 650 for my own PC.

Bad upgrade suggestion????? I trying to give a economic solution as possible. A high end system needs high end wallet too.

Ankur Jyoti · Mar 16, 2014

Khaleal :

Ankur Jyoti :

Khaleal :

cst1992 :

Let's say 120$. I found that ASUS GTX750-PHOC-1GD5 power consumption is 75W max (And according the nvidia website the minimum psu for the gtx750ti is 300w) so I don't have to upgrade the psu. Also this card from asus has a VGA connector so I won't have to upgrade the monitor. This way, all the 120$ investment will be dedicated to the graphics upgrade and not to other components.
My concern about the upgrade to this card is that this card may be bottle-necked by this old system, in fact, that's why i was looking for entry-moderate level cards.. the other concern is that 1gb is not future proof as games nowadays are graphics memory demanding.
I would be glade to hear your thoughts/suggestions.

Go for the GTX 750 upgrade and you will be fine. Your processor is not a future proof CPU too. GTX 750 1gb is certainly a worth upgrade for moderate gaming.

Khaleal · Mar 16, 2014

Will this PC be able to run GTA IV, Battlefield 3,4, Crysis 2,3 on medium settings (Resolution: 1280x1024) smoothly after the GTX750 1GB upgrade?

cst1992 · Mar 16, 2014

Khaleal :

I'd advise you to go for a non-overclocked card. The ASUS card is a good choice, but it's a OC card, which means a pre-overclocked card, which will increase power consumption. You're going to be on the edge with this upgrade, and so you want to keep the power consumption low.

Khaleal :

Not really true.
The power supply wattage is not a perfect indicator. Current is more important than wattage.
The GPU runs at a voltage of 12 V and so we need to look at the current provided by the 12V rail of the power supply. The 750Ti is a 55W card(say 60W max) so it needs 5A from the 12V rail. Adding the CPU and small other components such as fans, you'll need 15-20A on the 12V rail in general.
That's why tell which model your power supply is.
Best way, take a picture of your power supply sticker and post it here.

Khaleal :

It's not really a problem if you don't have a VGA card. If you have a DVI-I port on your card like this one:
http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/dual-dvi.jpg
you'll be able to use a DVI-to-VGA adapter to be able to connect to a VGA monitor cable. Doesn't work for HDMI or DVI-D though.

cst1992 · Mar 16, 2014

Khaleal :

GTAIV: depends on what you consider playable. I personally get 8-13FPS with my processor and card, and you should get same results. The GTX650 is not a bottleneck.
That game has very poor CPU optimization. Would have helped greatly if you even had the core 2 quads, but the 945GC does not support them. In fact, it doesn't support anything above Core 2 duo e4700.

Crysis 2: You'll get around 40 FPS with that one. I have Crysis 1, and 650 is a bottleneck at highest settings. However, Crysis 2 promises better performance on the same hardware.

Crysis 3: No.

Battlefield 3: Maybe.
Battlefield 4: Definitely not.

Ankur Jyoti :

The last component a person should cheap out on is the power supply. Cheap power supplies fail often, and take other components with them.
I personally spent $50 on a new PSU before getting a new GPU, and I had to wait 3 months to get the $120 to buy the GPU. I don't regret my decision one bit.

cst1992 · Mar 16, 2014

I'd urge people to edit out unnecessary quotes from their posts, they make the thread difficult to read.

Khaleal · Mar 16, 2014

cst1992 :

Khaleal :

GTAIV: depends on what you consider playable. I personally get 8-13FPS with my processor and card, and you should get same results. The GTX650 is not a bottleneck.
That game has very poor CPU optimization. Would have helped greatly if you even had the core 2 quads, but the 945GC does not support them. In fact, it doesn't support anything above Core 2 duo e4700.

Crysis 2: You'll get around 40 FPS with that one. I have Crysis 1, and 650 is a bottleneck at highest settings. However, Crysis 2 promises better performance on the same hardware.

Crysis 3: No.

Battlefield 3: Maybe.
Battlefield 4: Definitely not.

Ankur Jyoti :

The last component a person should cheap out on is the power supply. Cheap power supplies fail often, and take other components with them.
I personally spent $50 on a new PSU before getting a new GPU, and I had to wait 3 months to get the $120 to buy the GPU. I don't regret my decision one bit.

What are your system specs?

cst1992 · Mar 16, 2014

e4600, Acer e945GCZ, 2 GB RAM,Gainward GTX650, corsair CX430 PSU, Hitachi 160GB HDD, Kingston 60GB SSD and 24x dvd writer.
If you get yourself to upgrade your power supply, get the cx430. It's the cheapest good quality power supply you'll be able to find, and it's around $45.

Khaleal · Mar 17, 2014

cst1992 :

Mine is a 2007 Lenovo 3000 J200 9691 34G that was later upgraded to E4600 and 2GB of RAM. Intel 945GC is pain in the ass! It won't allow me to upgrade the CPU to Core2Quad or at least to a better Core2Duo processor.. And it limits the memory to 2GB.. It won't either allow me to OC the E4600.. It's almost a dead system..
BTW, It's strange that it won't run Battlefield 4.. I've got it running smoothly (Low settings and 1366x768) on my HP Pavilion laptop (Core i5-560M 2.67GHZ (3.2GHZ with TB), 8GB 1333MHZ DDR3, 512GB SANDISK X210 SSD, ATI HD 5470 512MB).. It was more than playable..

cst1992 · Mar 17, 2014

BF4 is one of the if not 'the' - CPU intensive games. No way it'll run on a dual core processor like ours.

Khaleal · Mar 17, 2014

cst1992 :

I've got a picture of the PSU

I'd be glade if you take a look..
BTW, I was surprised to find that it has a 6 pin PCI-E cable..

cst1992 · Mar 17, 2014

18A at 12V.
You could go for a 50W card max.
I don't know why they'd include a PCI-E cable; that cable is meant to allow TDP of 75-150W. No way your power supply allows that much to be drawn.
The processor draws 65 W for itself. That leaves 151W. Other components such as fans, hard drives, lights would easily draw 70-80W. You could put a stock 750 in there, but not the OC version. That too, however, is at the edge.

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