Help me choose graphics card for my old desktop

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mokdadali

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Hi, I have a 5-6 yr old desktop that I would like to upgrade its graphics card. My son likes to play Minecraft and other similar games on it and he feels it's lagging a bit with the integrated video card - he also needs to play at low detail etc... With a more powerful video card we might even start playing more games on this old machine. The main usage of this machine now is word/Excel/Firefox and to store video and music and stream them wirelessly to ipads or media players in the house, so I would like that functionally to remain good and for the computer which stays on all the time to not become too loud or hot. Preferably, I would like to buy a cheap card, perhaps a used one from eBay. If my desktop is 5-yr old I figure buying a 1 or 2 yr old video card should still be a good upgrade. After all, I don't want to get a video card that is way beyond my other components capabilities.

Here are my specs:
1-Motherboard: Intel DG33TL (integrated graphics is Intel G33/G31 Express Chipset Family)
2-CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E4500 @ 2.20GHz
3-PSU: Antec 500Watts (model EA-500D), but note that I have 4 RAM chips and 5 internal hard drives eating out that power, but still have a couple available power cables
4-RAM: 4.00GB
5-Operating system: 64-bit Windows 7

Graphic slots available: one PCI, one PCI express x16, and two PCI express x1.

What video cards would you recommend? Thanks
 
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Akhil Potukuchi
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mokdadali

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For example, based on the rest of my computer specs, will I benefit from a graphics card with 2GB or 1GB on board memory versus those with 256 or 512MB?

Anything else I should look at? I've read the reviews on this site, too detailed and I don't really know what is relevant for my older computer
 
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Akhil Potukuchi

Akhil Potukuchi

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Your budget????
 
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mokdadali

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Under $100, $50-60 would be best. I am currently looking at Radeon 5770 and the like. I guess what I'm asking for here is names of cards that are a few years old but that have good feedback/popularity...
 
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mokdadali

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Also, I need the card to easily provide VGA output for my screen, either directly from a VGA port on it, or at least through a simple DMI-to-VGA adapter (in other words, it needs to be able to pass analogue through its DMI, and not to have only DMI-digital outlets). My guess is that most cards should allow for this, but just wanted to make sure I mention it.
 
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mokdadali

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Thanks Akhil. Alas, one more complication is that I live in Canada, on our Bestbuy site there are several GeForce GTX 650's, the least of which is double the price of that one you found on the American site:
http://www.bestbuy.ca/Search/SearchResults.aspx?path=ca77b9b4beca91fe414314b86bb581f8en20&query=GeForce+GTX+650

That's why I will have to buy from amazon.ca, newegg.ca, tigerdirect.ca, bestbuy.ca, futureshop.ca, or eBay.ca.


Two general questions that might provide me some more guidance:

1- Is the GeForce GTX650 considered better than Radeon 5770? (Hwcompare.com thinks so but GPUboss.com thinks they are similar in performance)
2- Is it generally a bad idea to buy a used graphics card? (I hear it is ok to buy used RAMs for example, but not hard drives)
 
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mokdadali

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Akhil Potukuchi

Akhil Potukuchi

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Get the Zotac version. Yes, there is a difference between them. The other card has ddr3 memory whereas the zotac card has gddr5 memory. So there will be a big 20 % speed increase if you buy the zotac version.
 
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mokdadali

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Pardon my question again, I just like to understand this: would my older motherboard and hardware see the difference between ddr3 and ddr5 you speak about? Also, isn't the Zotac only with 1GB memory while the Other 2GB? Still Zotac is better?
 
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Akhil Potukuchi

Akhil Potukuchi

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Yes your mobo will see a lot of difference. I myself have an old dg35ec mobo which is a brother of your mobo. And I have a gddr5 hd 6670 graphic card. There is almost a 7 fps difference in demanding games and even 10-12 in undemanding games b/w my build and my friend's who has an hd 6670 with gddr3 memory. So, yes it does make a difference. As long as your mobo even has a Pcie 1.0 slot, it will notice a lot of difference b/w the ddr5 and ddr3. Because the 5 and the 3 are generally memory multipliers. That means that the ddr5 has a 5x multiplier for memory and that signifies that it transfers graphic data at that rate. And ddr3 has a 3x multiplier. So there will approximately be a difference of 25 % between the ddr5 and ddr3 data rates.
Look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvcNsux0KS0 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZXARZBp7Sk

Never ever go by size of memory when you are buying a graphic card. Unless you are having multiple displays or monitors at insane resolutions like 4k, you will not require even 2 gb of memory. At 1920x1080 you really can't do any better than a 1G card.Yes getting a 2G card or more may help a little bit but the performance difference is minimal. And the perf difference between ddr5 and ddr3 is big. So the big difference cancels out the small difference. And so hands up Zotac. For proof look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6esMva0NqeE

And if you are satisfied with the answer, do not hesitate to choose best solution. Gracias.
 
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