Graphic Card Suggestion for an ancient PC

Hi,

My GPU is dead and now i need a new one for my old pc. Am on a limited budget...

Just want to play some games at 1280x1024 with good performance and some AA/AAF..

my pc specs are:

Core 2 Duo e6400 2.13 ghz Stock
2 gb ram 667Mhz
Intel d946gzis, (its crap i know),
500 watts power supply

I was using a 7600GT

I'm saving for buying a new pc but i'll be using this one till next year, so i need to replace only the GPU, my choices are:

Radeon HD 4650 - 50 $ range
Radeon HD 4670 - - 65 $ range
GeForce 9600 GT - - 80 $ range
Radeon HD 4850 512MB - - 100 $ range
Radeon HD 4870 512MB - - 125 $ range

The games i usually play are:
Farcry 2
Unreal Tournament 3 & 2004
PES 2010
Fifa 2010
Grand Prix 4 2009
STALKER series
COD
.........

With my OLD 17" monitor, i usually play at:
1280*1024 @ 60mhtz
1024*768 @ 85 mhtz
btw, which is better of the two?? i was under the assumption tht refresh rates matter a big deal, so i usually choose 1024*768.... but then again, i am a noob in these things...

Keep in mind the power supply, maybe i can get a 600W PSU, and i dont want to bottleneck the gpu cause of the other components.

Kindly suggest me value for money options based on my requirements... any other card besides the ones i mentioned?? oohh, btw, also need to connect one of my card output points to my TV so i can watch movie on the TV sometimes .....

Thanks in advance.

dNA

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a 9600GT would do nicely or you can go for a 4650...

Reply to ridic23

9600GSO performs just as good as a 4670 while being a little cheaper.

4650 DDR2 ~ 9500GT < 4650 DDR3 < 4670 ~ 9600GSO < 9600GT < 9800GT ~ 4830 < 4850 < 4870

Overclock your CPU as well. Your CPU can overclock fairly well.

Reply to Bluescreendeath

The 9800GT are selling for the same as the 9600GT (@$80 AR) perform better and would be fine with a 500w power supply.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127442

Reply to dirtmountain

Grab a HD4850 and you can pretty much max everything out.

Reply to alikum

4670 will do everything you need at those resolutions.

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PhIIx3 710 @3.55ghz/1.5v w/ Scythe Samurai Zz HSF-24/49c ~ 4gb OCZ Gold XTC 5-6-6-18 @1092mhz ~ Sapphire 4870 512MB (795/1025)
Reply to JofaMang

9800GT/9600GT will be great for that resolution.

Keep in mind that of you go any furthur then you may face CPU bottleneck...

Cheaper options are 4670/9600GSO.

Go for GDDR3 Only.

Reply to shubham1401

It's not that old!
Anyway, the card...
I'd look to the 4670/9600GT as best match but check the memory type-look for GDDR3 not GDDR2, which is somewhat slower.
Obviously, if you can find the 9800 going cheap then it would be daft to pass it up, as always, when sticking to a tight budget, look for the 'weekend specials' and other offers-just stay away from product with little or no warranty.

It is usually better to have the higher refresh rate, 60Hz is low enough to cause 'flicker' and at work I've helped quite a few people to get rid of their headaches by increasing to monitor refresh rate from 60 to 75Hz.
BTW I take it this 17" is CRT, (like a TV not flat panel)?

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to coozie7

@coozie7:
What refresh rate is good enough to avoid any headache?

I also use CRT sometimes...

Reply to shubham1401

When i was using my old 17" CRT i was always using 85hz refresh rate, 75hz is still a bit too low. 85hz is the best, no headache

Reply to linaaslt

@ Shubham1401: The higher the better but I find 75Hz is a minimum. Also bear in mind, some monitors will not support high refresh rates AND high resolutions, my last CRT would not support more than 75Hz over 1600x1200 resolution for exmple.

Reply to coozie7

4870 is going to kill any game you could throw at it. Don't settle for the 4600 series if you can help it. I don't think the CPU is THAT bad for the card, and as someone else said, this is a prime case for overclocking if it turns out to be a bottleneck.

Also, depending on what kind of RAM you have installed, going to a lower-latency kind could significantly boost your performance, enough to help keep up with the 4870. Something like this can really help you with that.

Keep in mind, the 4870 is powerful enough that it will probably be good enough to use in your next system too if you're upgrading in a year. The only thing that's going to make it obsolete is when games start coming out requiring DirectX 11 as a bare minimum. But that probably won't be for a couple years.

Reply to capt_taco

HD 4870 is wayy overkill for 12X10 resolution.

And he has a Crap Intel mobo...

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to shubham1401

shubham1401 wrote :

HD 4870 is wayy overkill for 12X10 resolution.

And he has a Crap Intel mobo...

Not for me, at the settings I play it would take either a sli config or a single gtx285 since I really do enjoy the eye candy. Right I have two 9800gt 1gb in sli and play at 1280x1024 with the sli aa maxed.

Reply to nforce4max

9600GT.

Message quoted 1 times

BTW, the C2D E6400 is not ancient.

I have an ancient PC sitting in a closet. It's built around the Athlon XP 2600+.

jaguarskx wrote :

9600GT.

One of my friends has a 9600gt and he struggles to play far cry 2 and has to play medium in most games. It is just not enough unless your needs are low like playing wow or source engine games. A single 9800gt can pull its own weight but a lovely 4870 will do better and is better than what I ran till I went sli.

Reply to nforce4max

coozie7 wrote :

It's not that old!
Anyway, the card...
......................
It is usually better to have the higher refresh rate, 60Hz is low enough to cause 'flicker' and at work I've helped quite a few people to get rid of their headaches by increasing to monitor refresh rate from 60 to 75Hz.
BTW I take it this 17" is CRT, (like a TV not flat panel)?

Yes it's a CRT...... So i should play my games at 1024*768 @ 85mhtz... right???

@ JofaMang

Quote :

4670 will do everything you need at those resolutions..

and the 4670 is 128bit.. won't that be slow for playing the mentioned titles with some AA/AAF?? :bounce:

@ alikum

Quote :

Grab a HD4850 and you can pretty much max everything out.

Which one??? That is the idea. Like to play the mentioned games and maybe a few more new ones with some eye-candy at 1024*768

@ nforce4max

Quote :

One of my friends has a 9600gt and he struggles to play far cry 2 and has to play medium in most games. It is just not enough unless your needs are low like playing wow or source engine games. A single 9800gt can pull its own weight but a lovely 4870 will do better and is better than what I ran till I went sli.

thats weird ... even my 7600GT could play FarCRy2 at medium settings !!!

btw, the 4870 is DDR5 right? then it should be faster than DDR3 say 4850... will i get a noticable difference if i go for DDR5 like that 4870? or will my CPU bottleneck it???

also any difference in going for a 1GB rather than a 512mb card? I mean will my CPU even use the 1GB card to its fullest?

Message edited by dNA316 on 11-08-2009 at 02:43:03 PM

Reply to dNA316

[quote
btw, the 4870 is DDR5 right? then it should be faster than DDR3 say 4850... will i get a noticable difference if i go for DDR5 like that 4870? or will my CPU bottleneck it???

also any difference in going for a 1GB rather than a 512mb card? I mean will my CPU even use the 1GB card to its fullest?[/quotemsg]

Go fpr the 4870 1gb since it will last for much longer than the 512mb cards for meeting future requirements.

Reply to nforce4max

Here's a chart that can help you in comparing the relative speed of the different cards.
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 464-8.html

This chart shows performance at different resolutions with different cards in some of the games you play.
http://www.guru3d.com/category/vga_charts/

If you like a quiet computer you should be aware that some cards are noisier then others, it's something that you may want to take into consideration as well that some cards produce more heat then others and if your case doesn't have great cooling it may be a problem. An example would be the 4770 and the 4850. The 4850 performs a bit better, but it's louder and runs hotter then the 4770.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to dirtmountain

Yes look at the charts and decide how much you want to buy. To simplify, you might start with the THG article showing what cards are best at different budget levels - then see how much more performance you get as you move up to you find your sweet spot. When looking at charts, keep in mind that 30 FPS is considered playable and that anything over 50 or 60 FPS you won't even see a difference. So 150FPS will play no better than 60FPS - although it does give room to grow as games require more.

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2464.html

You CPU and PSU are more than adequate to handle any cards you are considering - even a little higher - up to a GTX 260. I would certainly consider the GTS 250 or 4870.

Also - can you spend a little more now and plan to use the same card in your new system later? Alternatively, still get a good card now and plan to double up with SLI or Crossfire to really have performance in your new system - although that is a lot easier if you build your own as most mainstream systems at the store are not set up to Crossfire or SLI -and those that are cost more.

Message edited by rockyjohn on 11-09-2009 at 12:55:43 AM

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Reply to rockyjohn

4670 will do wonders for it. Its not that old!!!!!! I agree.

Reply to anarchy4sale

Regarding connecting the TV - typical graphics cards are not designed to connect to TV. You need a separate tuner card for that. They do make a few combined cards Like the ATI All in One Wonder - or something like that - but you sacrifice a lot on the game side with one of those - generally very low gaming performance.

Regarding your question "which one?" - the good name brands are very similar - the choice is mostly on price and a little on different features - like what game is included, if any. Once you settle on the chipset you want, just google for a few reviews or ask here - and watch the sales. Black Friday is just around the corner.

Message edited by rockyjohn on 11-09-2009 at 01:08:12 AM

------------------------------ There are 10 kinds of people in the World...Those who understand binary, and those who don’t!
Reply to rockyjohn

dirtmountain wrote :

Here's a chart that can help you in comparing the relative speed of the different cards.
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 464-8.html

This chart shows performance at different resolutions with different cards in some of the games you play.
http://www.guru3d.com/category/vga_charts/

If you like a quiet computer you should be aware that some cards are noisier then others, it's something that you may want to take into consideration as well that some cards produce more heat then others and if your case doesn't have great cooling it may be a problem. An example would be the 4770 and the 4850. The 4850 performs a bit better, but it's louder and runs hotter then the 4770.

Understood... thnx for the guru3D link... i check it out ASAP

Reply to dNA316

Hi all,

Sorry for the late reply.. was away for a few days... i have decided to go for the HD4870 (1GB) card

Hope that should last me a couple of years

Everybody........ THANK YOU for your suggestions.... really appreciate it ....

Cheers,

dNA

Reply to dNA316

I trust you saw this article about balancing CPU and graphics card to get the most for your money. It just happens that one of the model CPUs used is the e6300 - close to yours. And while they don't use the 4870 you selected (except two in crossfire was an alternative) the GTX 260 is pretty close on average and the 4850 shown will be slower off course than the 4870.

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2469.html

Message edited by rockyjohn on 11-15-2009 at 05:32:12 PM

Reply to rockyjohn

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