Buying new GPU, ~60-70$ budget

[dedantemon]

Hello guys !

About 2 months ago, my GPU died and after gathering the money, I want to buy a new one.

Currently I got:

CPU: Intel P4 2.4 GHZ (Prescot)
MB: Asrock P4VM900
RAM: 768 DDR1 (256+512, so 2x DIMM's)
HDD: WD AAKS 500 GB
GPU: ON-BOARD
DVDRW: ASUS
PSU: Deluxe 450 W (more info on this

) - the PSU is 2 years+ old

The GPU must work at 100% capacity with what I have, because I will not upgrade anything for ~1 year I think...
Oh and, last and not least, should I wait for the new 6k to come?. I think the prices might fall and things might change, I think

 

[reccy]

The longer you wait the better really as the prices will always drop, very much so when the 6xxx series comes out.

Whats the PC going to be used for and are you just looking for ATI based boards or would consider either?

 

[unknown_13]

One advice - don't waste your money on this old rig!!

Don't take me wrong, your PC is very old, still runs DDR1 memory and a P4 CPU. Plus the old VIA chipsets with PCIe 1.0 had problems with the PCIe 2.0 standard. (any newer card has PCIe 2.0 interface)

 

[dedantemon]

The longer you wait the better really as the prices will always drop, very much so when the 6xxx series comes out.

Whats the PC going to be used for and are you just looking for ATI based boards or would consider either?

The PC is used for watching films, surfing net, playing an MMO or older games, using it for my university in programming and stuff (Java/C++/PHP/HTML/CSS - with this I will work this year), anything that it can be used for.
I don't mind even Nvidia, as long as it will be best bang for the buck for my system and will enter in my budget. My GPU that died was an Gygabite 7300 GS 256/64 and sadly, today when I de-connected it from my PC, it looked brand new, even after 2.5 years...

Must mention a funny thing, that the warranty ended exactly 6 months ago

One advice - don't waste your money on this old rig!!

Don't take me wrong, your PC is very old, still runs DDR1 memory and a P4 CPU. Plus the old VIA chipsets with PCIe 1.0 had problems with the PCIe 2.0 standard. (any newer card has PCIe 2.0 interface)

Sadly, I don't have money to buy new rig, else I would consider that option. This card, will run for aprox 1 year, till then, I will (hopefully) manage to get the money for new one (damn financial crysis).

I desperately need a new GPU, as the on-board one, even when watching films with low rez, I have slow-downs + other nasty stuffs.

If you got some solution to make money for new rig in few months, then pls tell it to me

 

[mosox]

Where do you live, maybe we can find something cheap in there.

 

[dedantemon]

I live in Romania, and if anyone is wondering the prices here:

HIS HD 4650 512/128 - ~60$
PowerCooler HD 5550 512/128 - ~80$
Saphire HD 5770 512/128 - 193$
Saphire HD 5850 51024/256 - 388$

Gainward GTS 220 512/256 - ~75$
Leadtek GTS 250 1024/128 - 182$
EVGA GTX 460 768/192 - ~233$

Corsair CMPSU-400CX - ~65$

These are the minimum prices for each card category. The prices vary with 1-5$, depending from where you buy. These prices were taken from http://www.emag.ro/ and converted into $. The magazine is the biggest from my country when it comes to PC stuff.

If more information is needed, pls tell me !

 

[unknown_13]

I live in Romania, and if anyone is wondering the prices here:

HIS HD 4650 512/128 - ~60$
PowerCooler HD 5550 512/128 - ~80$
Saphire HD 5770 512/128 - 193$
Saphire HD 5850 51024/256 - 388$

Gainward GTS 220 512/256 - ~75$
Leadtek GTS 250 1024/128 - 182$
EVGA GTX 460 768/192 - ~233$

Corsair CMPSU-400CX - ~65$

These are the minimum prices for each card category. The prices vary with 1-5$, depending from where you buy. These prices were taken from http://www.emag.ro/ and converted into $. The magazine is the biggest from my country when it comes to PC stuff.

If more information is needed, pls tell me !

Well i'd tell you to get the 5550, although even this card will be bottlenecked severely by the P4. Anything else would be a complete waste of money.

That Corsair PSU will handle the 5550 easily.

 

[dedantemon]

I don't have money for new PSU, that is why I told my old PSU

The HD 5550, will work good on my PSU?

Also, I heard something about hybrid CF or something, where you can use 2 different cards to gain more power, so can I use this GPU on the new PC, like after 1 year?

waiting for eagerly for the reply

 

[unknown_13]

I don't have money for new PSU, that is why I told my old PSU

The HD 5550, will work good on my PSU?

Also, I heard something about hybrid CF or something, where you can use 2 different cards to gain more power, so can I use this GPU on the new PC, like after 1 year?

waiting for eagerly for the reply

Well Delux PSU's are Po$, i wouldn't take my chances on it.

For hybrid Xfire you gotta have an AMD mobo with an integrated GPU that supports Hybrid Xfire. The integrated and the discrete GPU don't work together to give more power. To save energy, it uses the integrated GPU on light tasks that don't require much graphics power (surfing, working in Excel, Word etc.), and when playing games or working in Photoshop, 3DS Max, then the discrete GPU fires up.

 

[dedantemon]

Well, is there a tool or something to test my PSU's current W's, the A's on 12v rail and other stuffs? So I can know if the new GPU will work on it. My max money atm is 100$, from witch I need to buy the GPU and I would have wanted that PSU as it is a jewel, but, as you can see, it doesn't fit in my budget.

The HD 5550 eats 39 W http://www.gpureview.com/radeon-hd-5550-card-630.html and 4650 48 W http://www.gpureview.com/radeon-hd-5550-card-630.html. These are the producer's specificaitons.

Also, do I need the HD 5550, or a 4650 would be better? You said the HD 5550 will kinda bottlenek, meaning it won't work at full capacity, so I was thinking the 4650 will work at 100%, or close to it.

Do I need the features of the HD 5550 oppose to 4650? I mention again, this GPU will say bb after 1 year, so doesn't matter how good it is as long as it won't work at 100%.

Thx for the explanation of hybrid CF

 

[unknown_13]

Well, is there a tool or something to test my PSU's current W's, the A's on 12v rail and other stuffs? So I can know if the new GPU will work on it. My max money atm is 100$, from witch I need to buy the GPU and I would have wanted that PSU as it is a jewel, but, as you can see, it doesn't fit in my budget.

The HD 5550 eats 39 W http://www.gpureview.com/radeon-hd-5550-card-630.html and 4650 48 W http://www.gpureview.com/radeon-hd-5550-card-630.html. These are the producer's specificaitons.

Also, do I need the HD 5550, or a 4650 would be better? You said the HD 5550 will kinda bottlenek, meaning it won't work at full capacity, so I was thinking the 4650 will work at 100%, or close to it.

Do I need the features of the HD 5550 oppose to 4650? I mention again, this GPU will say bb after 1 year, so doesn't matter how good it is as long as it won't work at 100%.

Thx for the explanation of hybrid CF

HD 4650 is 55nm, HD 5550 is 40nm, so 5550 uses less power, dispatches less heat, and i think that it's somewhat faster.

About the bottleneck, either card won't show the full power as long as you use the P4.
Oh, i forgot, get the 5550 PCIe 2.0 version, not PCIe 2.1.

EDIT: Well that Delux PSU will be "OK", just make sure that you replace it when you build your new PC.

 

[dedantemon]

Yes, I see, so power-wise and noise-wise, the 5550 will be better.

I can't seem to find 2.0 version, only 2.1. Why is so important to get the 2.0 version?

Yeah, ofc I will replace it. I only need it to run for 1 year more *hopes*.

 

[mosox]

Better ask in here:

http://forum.softpedia.com/index.php?showforum=239

http://www.mygarage.ro/

 

[unknown_13]

Yes, I see, so power-wise and noise-wise, the 5550 will be better.

I can't seem to find 2.0 version, only 2.1. Why is so important to get the 2.0 version?

Yeah, ofc I will replace it. I only need it to run for 1 year more *hopes*.

You need PCIe 2.0 version 'cause your mobo has a PCIe 1.0 slot, and PCIe 2.1 won't work.

 

[dedantemon]

Better ask in here:

http://forum.softpedia.com/index.php?showforum=239

http://www.mygarage.ro/

Thank you for the help. I visited before those threads, but I wanted to come here, as there are much more ppl, so the change to get a better answer is here.

After looking a bit, I have found:http://www.pcgarage.ro/placi-video/sapphire/radeon-hd5550-512mb-ddr3-128-bit-hdmi/, with PCI-E 2.0, but it seems not available atm, but I msg'ed the store and waiting for an answer.

You need PCIe 2.0 version 'cause your mobo has a PCIe 1.0 slot, and PCIe 2.1 won't work.

I see, so 2.1 won't work on my 2.0, sadly :F

But, luckly I found a card (look up). So after long debate, the 5550 would be the one, but I need to wait for the 6k and see if the prices will go down.

Can you aprox the date when the price drop will be? Or anyone that has a guess...

 

[mosox]

Get something like this:

http://www.price.ro/index.php?action=q&text=HD+4670&x=0&y=0&price_from=&price_to=

http://www.price.ro/preturi_sapphire_ati_radeon_hd4670_pci-e_2.0_1024mb_gddr3_128bit_sphehd4670hd1024_245363.htm

 

[dedantemon]

4670....hmmm, it has aprox same price as the 5550, but I don't think it is better + that it sucks more W's.

Maybe other guys can tell their opinion on this?

 

[mosox]

The 4670 is much better. It consumes 69 watts - that's 5.75A on the 12V rail.

 

[dedantemon]

The 4670 is much better. It consumes 69 watts - that's 5.75A on the 12V rail.

Hmm, here it says 59 (still 20 more than 5550) http://www.gpureview.com/radeon-hd-4670-pci-e-card-579.html
It is 20 more W's than 5550. You think the 4670 will work at 100% capacity if it is better than the 5550, where the 5550 won't work at 100%?:F

I am kinda confused...

Well, waiting for more opinions. Thank you for the help

 

[unknown_13]

Hmm, here it says 59 (still 20 more than 5550) http://www.gpureview.com/radeon-hd-4670-pci-e-card-579.html
It is 20 more W's than 5550. You think the 4670 will work at 100% capacity if it is better than the 5550, where the 5550 won't work at 100%?:F

I am kinda confused...

Well, waiting for more opinions. Thank you for the help

Dude, any card from 2008 to present day will be bottlenecked severely be the P4.

 

[mosox]

Yep, I was wrong, it's 59 not 69. There's no point in getting a bad card just because the CPU isn't that great, you can reuse the card in a new system.

LE This one is better and has a low consumption.
http://www.price.ro/preturi_sapphire_radeon_hd5570_512mb_ddr5_128-bit_%2811167-12-20r%29_354892.htm

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2366765,00.asp

The card HD5570 DDR3 should be equal to the HD4670, the next card is the HD5570 DDR5
http://www.price.ro/preturi_sapphire_radeon_hd5570_1gb__gddr5_%28sphehd5570hd1gd5%29_350483.htm

 

[jyjjy]

Just get the HD4650, preferably a DDR3 version if you can find it(unlikely but take a look.) It should be fine on that psu and anything more is overkill.

 

[mosox]

Every single video card is bottlenecked by every single CPU except for the Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition. The proof is that when you test any video card on that CPU you get higher FPS compared to any other CPU.

 

[dedantemon]

Yep, I was wrong, it's 59 not 69. There's no point in getting a bad card just because the CPU isn't that great, you can reuse the card in a new system.

LE This one is better and has a low consumption.
http://www.price.ro/preturi_sapphire_radeon_hd5570_512mb_ddr5_128-bit_%2811167-12-20r%29_354892.htm

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2366765,00.asp

The card HD5570 DDR3 should be equal to the HD4670, the next card is the HD5570 DDR5
http://www.price.ro/preturi_sapphire_radeon_hd5570_1gb__gddr5_%28sphehd5570hd1gd5%29_350483.htm

Currently, there is 4650 (DDR3 edition) - 5550 - 5570(2.0 PCI-E slot) - 4670

From these cards, I would want the 4670, because I can use the card in a new system, like you said. Didn't though about it

Now, the question is, witch producer? I want it to be cool & silent as my former 7300 GS, didn't had fan, it had passive cooling

Just get the HD4650, preferably a DDR3 version if you can find it(unlikely but take a look.) It should be fine on that psu and anything more is overkill.

I found that but the store doesn't have it now. Maybe they are preparing to offer them when 6k is out? Anyway, I am seeing GTX 460 promotions with very low prices xD

Every single video card is bottlenecked by every single CPU except for the Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition. The proof is that when you test any video card on that CPU you get higher FPS compared to any other CPU.

Interesting. Then why over-clocking a GPU gives you more FPS if the card, even on stock speeds, is bottlenecked by the CPU?

 

[mosox]

No, your main problem is the single core but that's the way it is.

5570 DDR5 - best one but too expensive for your budget.

5570 DDR3 = HD4670 - get the 5570 for the lower power consumption

4650, 5550 - weakest.


Sapphire's good
http://www.price.ro/preturi_sapphire_radeon_hd5570_512mb_ddr5_128-bit_%2811167-12-20r%29_354892.htm

On price.ro and on many sites it says in the title that it is DDR5 but it's DDR3 (look in the specifications), the DDR5 is more expensive.

That one is the DDR5, cheapest one is 349
http://www.price.ro/preturi_sapphire_radeon_hd5570_1gb__gddr5_%28sphehd5570hd1gd5%29_350483.htm