Looking for a low budget graphics card that fits perfect for my old pc...

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Shubham Prakash

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Jun 5, 2014
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I have a bit oldish desktop and i'm a 'game lover' but don't have lot of bugs to pay off so i'm searching for a graphics card which fits best to my computer and my pocket. I CAN SUM AN AMOUNT OF Rs2000(as a whole) ONLY. :(
Following are some SUMMARIZED things that i know about my computer :-

motherboard : GA-945GCM-S2L (rev. 1.0)
cpu : intel core2duo E4600 @2.4GHz
ram : 2Gb (1x2)

following is my system info. :-

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Version 6.1.7600 Build 7600
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name VARUN-PC
System Manufacturer HCL Infosystems Limited
System Model 945GCM-S2L
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E4600 @ 2.40GHz, 2400 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Award Software International, Inc. F52 HI, 1/14/2008
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7600.16385"
User Name VARUN-PC\VARUN
Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 2.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 1.99 GB
Available Physical Memory 638 MB
Total Virtual Memory 5.01 GB
Available Virtual Memory 2.95 GB
Page File Space 3.02 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys


mmmm...following is the major full termed stuffs about my pc (via cpu z)
Processors Information
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Processor 1 ID = 0
Number of cores 2 (max 2)
Number of threads 2 (max 2)
Name Intel Core 2 Duo E4600
Codename Conroe
Specification Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E4600 @ 2.40GHz
Package (platform ID) Socket 775 LGA (0x0)
CPUID 6.F.D
Extended CPUID 6.F
Core Stepping M0
Technology 65 nm
Core Speed 2400.0 MHz
Multiplier x FSB 12.0 x 200.0 MHz
Rated Bus speed 800.0 MHz
Stock frequency 2400 MHz
Instructions sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, EM64T
L1 Data cache 2 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache 2 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache 2048 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control yes
FID range 6.0x - 12.0x
Max VID 1.313 V


Chipset
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Northbridge Intel i945G rev. A2
Southbridge Intel 82801GB (ICH7/R) rev. A1
Memory Type DDR2
Memory Size 2048 MBytes
Channels Dual
Memory Frequency 333.3 MHz (3:5)
CAS# latency (CL) 5.0
RAS# to CAS# delay (tRCD) 5
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 5
Cycle Time (tRAS) 15
Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 21
MCHBAR I/O Base address 0x0FED14000
MCHBAR I/O Size 4096



 
Solution
A


Shubham, you would be much better off saving more money for a longer time and buying a new PC. If you don't want to do that, I would say the HD 5450 is the most suitable for your situation specifically. That is my opinion.
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anthony8989

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Feb 2, 2013
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Unfortunately your entire PC is one giant bottle neck :( . If you add a GPU your CPU will hinder performance. If you buy a CPU and GPU your mother board and RAM will hinder performance. If you upgrade all of the components you''ll power supply will probably clunk out.

The only card I can think of that will improve performance to a point that it won't be lost from CPU/RAM/MOBO is may be the Radeon HD 5450.
 
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Maxime506

Maxime506

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Apr 22, 2013
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Well don't be that sarcastic. Scarcity determines that there are way a lot of folks out there who have to upgrade their oldish computers.
He could go for a HD 6670 or GT 640 if his budget allows. HD 5450 is a complete waste of money. His lowest limit is HD 5570, lower than this and he would save the money.

Other options includes GT 430/440/630, HD 6570 and 5670 (they're out in the US but im not sure about india), if lucky probably R7 240 or 250
 
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opio

opio

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May 10, 2013
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you could get an r7 265 and be ok I think. If your CPU has the same socket as any core 2 quads out there maybe try and find one, I didn't see but even if it's DDR if you can get 8gb of it running you'd be good. But then going to all this trouble you may as well build a new rig
 
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anthony8989

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Oh, I wasn't being sarcastic I was being sincere. Anything above the 5450 is going to be held back by the rest of the system. I'm not even entirely sure how he managed to run Windows 7 64bit Ultimate on 2 GB of DDR2 RAM. That Mobo is PCI-e 1.0. Honestly the HD 5450 is probably already a waste of money, anything higher will be even more of a waste. :/
 
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Maxime506

Maxime506

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Oh, I wasn't being sarcastic I was being sincere. Anything above the 5450 is going to be held back by the rest of the system. I'm not even entirely sure how he managed to run Windows 7 64bit Ultimate on 2 GB of DDR2 RAM. That Mobo is PCI-e 1.0. Honestly the HD 5450 is probably already a waste of money, anything higher will be even more of a waste. :/
Click to expand...

Probably you are right but at least an entry-level gfx could somehow improve graphic quality, if the games depend more on gfx than CPU. He could just simply run an 32-bit OS to save RAM usage. As his rig is built in an older architecture the RAM usage would stay below 30% when start up. And his rig, with gfx like HD 5670, could still be able to handle some older titles like COD 9 or older, older Battlefield titles and so on.
 
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Shubham Prakash

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Jun 5, 2014
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when i surfed a bit in some local online stores i found very few cards fitting my budget...these are nvidia geforce EN210, Radeon HD5450, Nvidia SYNERGY edition TC1G, Nvidia Geforce GT210.......that's it
is any from these worthy to go or shall i raise my budget a thousand rupees more??????

additionally, my power supply unit says peak output 300W
and it has a slot for pci e (x16)
 
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anthony8989

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I believe he's running the GMA 950 graphics right off the motherboard. If he goes to an HD 5450 he'll jump about 9 tiers in the hierarchy chart. Honestly, anything higher than an HD 5450 is probably going to be starved by the processor or the platform. He's better off wasting $30 than he is wasting $70.
 
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anthony8989

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Shubham, you would be much better off saving more money for a longer time and buying a new PC. If you don't want to do that, I would say the HD 5450 is the most suitable for your situation specifically. That is my opinion.
 
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Solution
Maxime506

Maxime506

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Apr 22, 2013
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According to the op's situation he would save money for quite a long time for a new build. Since I had very bad experience with HD 5450 graphics (based on an old build w/ 2GB RAM and E8300 CPU) I would recommend more than that. So Shubham, if you raise another thousand, what kind of graphic card would you get. Please kindly share us with this information.
 
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Shubham Prakash

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Jun 5, 2014
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so going through ur suggestions and sarcasm, i'm killing my desire to bring any upgrade to my ancient rig.......
huh....a short dream burpped...pop!

i'll rather think for a complete system, a laptop infact...

thank u all to open up my eyelids....... :)
 
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CGurrell

CGurrell

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Forget Laptops, desktops all the way :p
 
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opio

opio

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I do quite agree, laptops are more for business and really only have a small niche market for "gaming laptops" that are overpriced as can be, they look all fancy with their GTX 750m sli, until you realize that a 750m is nowhere NEAR as powerful as the desktop version.

My buddy spent 2 grand on a gaming lenovo with two sli'd 650's and he even had an i7. I bet him fifty bucks I'd get a higher score with my GTX 760 on 3dmark before I got my second one gpu, at that point I'd spent $700 on my desktop. I won.

 
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CGurrell

CGurrell

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Exactly :) OP take note :) Also remember that Laptops are basically boxes of pure heat and, if you take the word laptop literally and put it on your lap, your lap will instantly become bacon...
 
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opio

opio

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Laptops have their places, just not really in gaming, maybe in the future as company's are able to pack more power while using less energy (which mean less heat) into a laptop, but going by moore's law, that's like a decade from now. The lamer thing is is that I honestly think Apple makes the best laptops, too bad those are just as expensive as gaming laptops. That and Apple still uses old technology such as 5400rpm HDD's in their laptops and desktops.
 
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