Upgrade 512MB Radeon HD 4300/4500 Series

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wimpy100

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Oct 30, 2016
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I'm looking to upgrade my Radeon hd 4300/4500. Elsewhere on this forum there has been a suggestion of a Nvidia GTX 750. I've also looked at the Radeon R7 250, which is about half the price of the GTX 750 TI. Is the 750 TI really twice as good as the R7 250?
I would be grateful for any help or advice
 
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EpIckFa1LJoN

EpIckFa1LJoN

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Usually, no. (For example the Titan X (Pascal) is about twice the price of a GTX 1080, but only about 30% more powerful) But it all depends what you're upgrading from and to. In the case of those two, the 750 Ti is almost twice the power of the R7 250 2GB, actually about 90% more power. But take into account the 1050 that just came out and the difference is more like 200%, or three times as fast.

So depending where you are you could get a 1050 for the same price as a 750 Ti, and get much more power.

But if you cannot get a 1050, especially since they are a bit price gouged right now, the 750 Ti is just barely less than twice as powerful as the R7 250 (assuming that you meant the 2GB version)

But if you are upgrading from Radeon HD 4500 to even just the R7 250, thats going to be a MASSIVE increase already. The difference will only be greater the higher up you go, either a 750 Ti or a 1050. Both are about the same price in the US.

R7 250 2GB ~ $60 (about 700% more powerful than the HD 4500)
GTX 750 Ti ~ $100 (1400% more than 4500, 90% more than R7)
GTX 1050 ~ $120 (2100% over 4500, 190% over R7, 50% over 750 Ti)

and for good measure, the #1 rated "budget" card in the US and UK;
GTX 1060 3GB~ $200 (4300% over 4500, 475% over R7, 200% over 750 Ti, and 100% over 1050)
But it will bottleneck unless you have a good CPU.
 
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wimpy100

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Thanks for the reply. The CPU is an Intel Core i5 750 @ 2.67GHz. I'm not really into FPS but was hoping to be able to play some of the more recent RPGs. Will all of those graphics card cause a bottleneck with my CPU?
 
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EpIckFa1LJoN

EpIckFa1LJoN

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Yes that is an incredibly old CPU. I don't know if the R7 will bottleneck but you would not be able to run any modern games with that CPU to my knowledge.
Most games recommend at least a 4th gen.

Depending on where you live and what you have available, you can build almost a whole new computer with a 1050 for like $400 and that will run modern games.
 
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EpIckFa1LJoN

EpIckFa1LJoN

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($39.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 250GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($19.90 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 2GB SC GAMING Video Card ($119.99 @ B&H)
Case: Zalman Z3 ATX Mid Tower Case ($24.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($24.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home Full - USB 32/64-bit ($106.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $486.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-01 15:10 EDT-0400

This is a decent build for less than $500, with a fresh hard drive and Win 10. You can probably get Win 8 or 7 depending on what is available near you to save a few bucks.
 
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EpIckFa1LJoN

EpIckFa1LJoN

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it doesn't really matter. Most games will require at least a 2GB card and the 1050 meets that requirement while being incredibly cheap, especially for what old outdated stuff like the 750 Ti is going for.. If he wants to spring and get the 1060 or the 1050 Ti even better. There's literally no point to getting an old card when the new stuff performs similarly or even better than the old stuff for the same price or less. Unless you live somewhere where you can't get new stuff for a decent price.
 
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wimpy100

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Oct 30, 2016
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At the moment it plays Titan Quest immortal Throne quite easily. I checked my specs on the Grim Dawn site (I tend to play Diablo II LOD clones) and they reckoned everything was good to go, except for the Graphics card - which is why I'm here.

 
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wimpy100

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Oct 30, 2016
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Since asking here and accepting the "solution" of just building another PC, I decided to have a go at upgrading this PC myself. I added a low profile GT 730 (2GB) which is close to the R7 250. It was now able to run Grim Dawn easily. I did have some heating problem at first, but following the suggestion on this forum to clean the fan/cooler assembly, I decided instead to buy a new Intel cooler (£5) which was only slightly more than a can of compressed air - and I now had a new cooler! I am still in the process of constructing a new PC, but there is no great urgency. I'm putting this here in the hope that others in the same position will not be put off by the glib answer of "just get a new PC", and have a go themselves.
 
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EpIckFa1LJoN

EpIckFa1LJoN

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Well if you recall, I answered your original question very thoroughly. You did not mention what games you wanted to run or any other intentions. After you asked a secondary question you did not like the response which still stated facts, however irrelevant to you. A lack of providing vital information on your part does not constitute a failure to provide a solution on mine or any others here. Your original question was answered.
 
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wimpy100

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Oct 30, 2016
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If you read your answers you will find that you said that it didn't really matter what games I wanted to play.
Yes that is an incredibly old CPU. I don't know if the R7 will bottleneck but you would not be able to run any modern games with that CPU to my knowledge. Most games recommend at least a 4th gen.
Click to expand...
My question related to a graphics card upgrade and I am grateful to you for the info you gave. This is just to inform any one else in my position that my "incredibly old" CPU can run some modern games like Grim Dawn, when given a suitable graphics card.
 
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EpIckFa1LJoN

EpIckFa1LJoN

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Fair enough, but by "modern" I did mean AAA titles, mostly 2016+, which are usually extremely graphics intensive like the Witcher 3, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Battlefield 1, CoD: Infinite Warfare and Fallout 4 even, you know... any relevant titles that are brought up about 75% of the time in posts like these... Technically speaking League of legends is a "modern" game it is not a AAA title though and it can basically be run on any computer.

But yes by modern I did mean big title games from this year and upcoming titles.

I still suggest upgrading it. Grim Dawn may have come out this year but it's system requirements are that of a gaming computer from about 5+ years ago. It also would have helped to know that information, which I repeat, you neglected to mention, just remember next time to state what your intentions are for upgrading.
 
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