Radeon HD 4200

[supermaughan]

I have a M4A785TD-EVO modo with the Radeon HD 4200 integrated graphics. I'm not a heavy gamer so it works alright for now. I would like to get a discrete card for as little as possible. What is the best value that would be an improvement over the IGP but still keep money in my pocket?

I have an old GeForce 6600 card that I put in and I'm a little confused by the results. It will play Call of Duty 2 (I know, old game) on maxed out settings but my IGP will not. But I downloaded the Batman demo and it plays much better with the IGP than with the 6600 (low settings of course.) I'm not sure why that would be.

Other info:

CPU=Athlon II X4 630 slightly overclocked to 3.2Ghz
Memory=2x2Gb DDR3 1600 running at 400Mhz + Overclock
OS=Vista Home Premium 64-bit

 

[jay2tall]

Games can very alot in performance. what resolution is your display, and what are the specs of your power supply. Also, what is your budget?

 

[supermaughan]

I'm using an old 21" crt and I run it @ 1600-1200. My power supply is a little older 580W EchoStar. It is a little out of date because it only has one sata power. There is no PCIe power connector.

I'm not sure what my budget is. Right now it's $0 - $40. In a few months I may have a little more. If I will need a new Power Supply than I guess that makes it even harder.

Also if I do get a discrete video card is it worth finding one that will do hybrid crossfire with my IGP? How does that work anyway?

 

[blueiron]

If you can save up just a little bit more money, you can purchase a 1g version of the 4670 for around 70 dollars(check out tigerdirect. would post a link, but im not sure if it violates forum's TOS) this card will most likely run on your computer without problems. It does not require a pci-e power connector from the PSU, and it only consumes around 75 watts i believe. There is also a nvidia card that does this with somewhat similiar performance, but i cant seem to recall which one it is. maybe someone else will come along who knows.

 

[supermaughan]

Thank you, ya I was looking @ a Saphire 1 gig 4670 for $75 shipped, but I may may be able to get a used Saphire Vapor-x 1 gig 4890 for $100. Is this a good deal? Is this a good card. I know I will most likely have to up my power supply, or could I run it with adapters? Also I can get a new HIS Radeon HD 5670 512Mb for $90 shipped. I may also have a chance to buy a 8800gt from my brother in-law. Is that a good purchase now-a-days?

 

[blueiron]

If you would get me your exact power supply, i would be happy to look up your options with it, including options for upgrading. as far as those cards go, the 4890 for 100 (assuming by "used" that it is in good, working condition) will definitely be your best buy. If we're talking about Crysis on high resolution, enthusiast settings, 4890 would run much better than the other cards. from what i've heard(never tested myself) the 4890 overclocks fairy well too.

An option for the short term would be to overclock your current IGP while you try to decide. If you have decent cooling, the evo motherboard can easily hit 750mhz+ core clock speed.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-785g-chipset,2381-6.html

tom's pushed it up to 800mhz, and this ran left 4 dead on medium settings at close to 50 fps, which is pretty darn good for an IGP.

 

[supermaughan]

Thanks, I appreciate the advice. My brother-in-law's, brother-in-law is going to sell his 4890's that he has been using in a crossfire so he can upgrade to something else. He offered one to my brother-in-law (who currently has a 8800gt) for $100. I told him that I would be very interested in that card or his 8800gt if he decides to upgrade. I'm fairly sure that they are in good working condition.

I know my power supply has no options. I just looked and I don't even have any 4-pin molex free. I did have the idea of hooking up a second power supply (I have several lying around) and dedicate it to just running the video card. I think I could hot wire it right into my case's power switch so both start at the same time. I'd have to mod my case but it kind of sounds like fun. Could a 300w power supply power a 4890 if that's all it had to do?

Also I could overclock my IGP and I did that before. (I never tested it to see if it made any difference.) Would this make a lot of difference? Also how much memory should I give to it? I have the 128 sideport plus 500 I think (CPU-Z shows 624). The core clock right now is 501Mhz.

 

[blueiron]

You could see a 40% increase in fps in some cases, i would think so. If you have the money, jumping on the 4890 would not be a bad idea, but both cards a fairly good. im going to say a 300w power supply would more than likely be able to handle a 4890 if that's all it was doing with no problems. It's about the 12v rail though.

You're already pushing max shared memory for the IGP. Now, every single card will overclock differently, but i would say you should be able to hit 700-750 mhz core clock comfortably. Increase the voltage little by little until your system is stable. I would use GPU NOS for it. The tom's hardware link above shows their experience with it and benchmarks.