AlphaBlue_31

Distinguished
May 11, 2010
5
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18,510
Hi, I'm buying a new graphics card. I'm currently running a:
Nvidia 9300 GE 256 MB
8GB Ram
AMD Phenom X4 9550 Quad Core
Windows 7

I'm spending $300 total. About $100 for a 500+W PSU (+shipping). BTW suggestions are appreciated for this too.

The rest will be spent on the graphics card (+shipping).

I wanted to get an ATI because I do a lot of gaming/video editing/Flash/Photoshop and I don't particularly like the Nvidia drivers. The colors seem off. Secondly, it needs to run sort of cool since I don't have much in the way of cooling. Whether it can run in crossfire or not doesn't matter since my motherboard won't support it. I also would like it to 1 GB of video RAM if possible. Whatever you may decide I would like it to perform at least on par with an ATI Radeon 4770 512MB. Finally it does not need to have DX 11 support since I won't be playing those games until I do a total upgrade of my pc.
 
Check out the articel "Best Graphics Card for the Money - May 2010: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-card-radeon-hd-5870-geforce-gtx-480,2621.html

For $200, get a Radeon HD 5770 @ $169, but get the one with the enclosed cooling schroud! It will exhaust the air out the back of the case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150447. This one is 1GB DDR5 memory, and a natural upgrade from your 4770.

As for PSU: Corsair 650W Modular, but it a little more $$ @ 119.00: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012