Looking for help on choosing a graphics card

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Keebload

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Oct 19, 2014
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Hi there, I'm currently on the look out to see whether or not I can buy a graphics card to upgrade my computer.

These are the system specs I could find:
Intel i5-2320 @ 3.00 ghz, 4 cores
RAM 4gb
64 bit operating system

I'm not entirely sure myself what I'm looking for so any help on what is the best graphics card(s) that my computer can handle and run would be very helpful and very much appreciated.
 
Solution
prit87


This is the build best suited for you and it will also take care of your future needs the card is stronger than the gtx 750 ti and costs the same a good quality PSU and a spacious case.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£114.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 ATX Mid Tower Case (£26.87 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply:...
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jarhar98

jarhar98

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Sep 22, 2014
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The R9 280 is a very good card however i would advise you to stay way from the MSI ones, not because i dont like them but i purchased two of these and they both had problems with the fans, i also saw alot of people with these problems online aswell.
 
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K

Keebload

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Oct 19, 2014
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Thank you for the quick replies! I must admit that I'm not too sure on where to find that information Prit87, sorry. My budget is probably a maximum of £200
 
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Keebload

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I have a Lenovo H330 with a slimline case, just went searching and found out that I have a 250w power supply.

I'm basically looking to upgrade my computer so I can play steam games and the like to a good standard. Specifically this one.

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/requirements/dark-souls-ii/12005/?p=r

I found that even playing it's predecessor at the moment brings the framerate to a stand still, which is obviously less then optimal. Thanks for the help.
 
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prit87

prit87

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Jun 16, 2014
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With that PSu i wont recommend any card first of all get a better case and a better PSU then if you still have the 200 pound budget then you can always get the r9 280x and the gtx 960 is also going to be released on Q1 2015 which would be a catch.
 
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K

Keebload

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Oct 19, 2014
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Oh, well that's a shame. I'll look into other options, finding a case and psu and rebuilding my current computer seems a daunting task. I was worried more that my 3ghz and processor were going to be more of a problem, so knowing they aren't in too bad of a shape is good. Thanks very much.
 
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prit87

prit87

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Jun 16, 2014
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No problem you are welcome.
 
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nikoli707

nikoli707

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you are pretty limited on what you can do with your current computer. really what is holding you back is the size of your computer case, and the power supply. otherwise a quick lookup says that your motherboard only has a pcie1x slot, there is not x16 slot that a graphics card needs, so your out of luck.

your i5-2320 is not a bad processor at all, its actually pretty good. along with your 4gb of ram and whatever hard drive is in there, those parts are definitely reusable. if you really wanted to do what you want to do, you can, its just you would need a new case, new motherboard, new power supply, and of course the graphics card.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3V Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£38.00 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card (£99.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£27.99 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£35.09 @ Aria PC)
Total: £201.07
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-20 01:18 BST+0100

that would be your best option if you want to reuse what you can. the gtx750ti has plenty of horsepower to play even heavy graphical games like battlefield 4 or crysis 3 on medium settings at 1080p. though in a system like this, you would eventually want to add 4gb more of system ram. im not sure if your current computer has two sticks of 2gb ram for a total of 4gb, or just a single stick of 4gb ram(hopefully it is one stick). then you would need about £35 for another 4gb stick, but you would need to know the ratings of your current stick so you can try to either find an exact duplicate stick, or match its speed/voltage/cas ratings as close as possible.
 
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nikoli707

nikoli707

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i see two listings for it, i think what it is, the x16 slot is running at x1 speeds. anyways, the hd5450/hd6450 is an extremely small and extemely low power gpu, not even worth gaming with. i cant honestly recommend anything less than a gtx650/hd7750/gtx750/r7-260 if he wants any meaningful gaming experience. and good luck finding one of those cards in a half height low profile design.
 
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rockie_

rockie_

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Sep 20, 2014
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i didnt mean he might get such a card . i tried to figure out which PCI-E it had
 
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K

Keebload

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Oct 19, 2014
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Thanks for that Nikoli, that's definitely an option. Like I hinted at, I'm not exactly a hardcore pc gamer, but if I could get my pc to a decent level to last me a couple more years running the games I'd preferably want it to then that's great.

£200 doesn't seem like a bad investment at all and I may well go with the haul you laid out. I'm presuming a night of google searching will give me the knowledge I need to piece the thing together (maybe) but regardless this could be the solution I've been looking for.
 
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nikoli707

nikoli707

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that was just a general outline of what some budget parts will cost.

the xfx power supply i wouldn't change though unless you spend more money. otherwise get an xfx/seasonic/antec power supply, or one that gets good reviews and is tier 2b or better.

any budget b85 motherboard will work fine, but dont get a full sized "atx" board and try to fit it in a "micro atx" computer case. also any budget case is fine, even if they dont get the best reviews. your not doing any overclocking and a stock i5-2320 runs fairly cool to begin with.

the gtx750ti is a very low power low heat but fairly high performing gpu. get one from evga, msi, gigabyte or asus.

otherwise as long as it all fits in your budget, thats going to be your best option. as far as your current windows 7 install, if your windows key is locked, you can get a hold of microsoft and have it unlocked to install on a new motherboard, if that ends up being the case.
 
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prit87

prit87

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Jun 16, 2014
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This is the build best suited for you and it will also take care of your future needs the card is stronger than the gtx 750 ti and costs the same a good quality PSU and a spacious case.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£114.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 ATX Mid Tower Case (£26.87 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£35.09 @ Aria PC)
Total: £176.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
 
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Solution
K

Keebload

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Oct 19, 2014
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Thanks again Prit, however I'm getting mixed signals now a little. As Nikoli added a motherboard to his part list, is your particular quote forgetting this or merely offering me a solution in which I wouldn't need to invest in a new motherboard.

Again, apologies for my lack of computer savvy-ness.
 
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nikoli707

nikoli707

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you could use cpuz to bring up your motherboards part number, or open up your case and look for its part number. it seems from other posts that i had looked it, you do have a pcie16x lane, but its possibly it is only running at x1 speeds. x1 speeds is not acceptable at all. any video card higher than a gt610 or hd5450/6450 is going to severely bottleneck because of the bandwidth limitation.

knowing the actual part number could help us narrow down if this is true or not. if its not true and it can run at 16x or 8x bandwidth, then you wouldn't have to spend money on a motherboard and could have extra money for a more powerful graphics card.
 
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