I have about $320 to spend on a GPU. What should I get?

Operating System
MS Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
CPU
AMD Phenom II X4 955
Deneb 45nm Technology
RAM
4.0GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 669MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. GA-880GA-UD3H (Socket M2)
Graphics
SAMSUNG (1360x768@60Hz)

Hard Drives
1465GB Seagate ST31500341AS ATA Device (SATA)
Optical Drives
ELBY CLONEDRIVE SCSI CdRom Device
ATAPI iHAS524 B ATA Device

1360x768

and I can pay a little bit more than $320

You're suggesting a recertified card ? Not everyone feels comfortable with that!

well, first of, let me say that im only 14 so I dont have that much money. and also, I'm using my samsung tv that I just bought. It's connected through HDMI. 1 more thing, I have a radeon HD 5850, but I want to upgrade.

What size tv? What are the specs on that? You should be able to run a better resolution that that.

It is a 32 inch. The problem is, it is only 720p. I bought the TV for my xbox so it works fine for that. If I REALLY needed a new monitor, would this be a good one?


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...



and whould I need a new graphics card to run at that resolution?

According to Tom's Best Graphics Cards For The Money: February 2011 you should get a Radeon HD 6950 but they don’t recommend upgrading your graphics card unless the replacement card is at least three tiers higher. Otherwise, the upgrade is somewhat parallel and you may not notice a worthwhile difference in performance. Your 5850 is one tier from the 6950 and not far from the top. You should get a 2nd 5850 and run a Crossfire setup if you think you need more performance.

I would not get a new monitor/TV.

5850 is fine.
Why do you need to upgrade?

well, I don't know why, but the other day, I was playing the last level on crysis and there was crazy lag, even on medium settings. Do you think it was my processor?

It could have been the RAM, why single channel? :S

And also, it's Crysis...

I agree with above, get a 22" 1080 monitor and get a 560Ti or 6870.

Why is it so important that I get a 1080p monitor? I mean, the graphics look PERFECT on here. Everything looks perfect. AND it's easier for my graphics card to handle. and I honestly don't think that you can tell the difference between 1080p and 720p at 22 inches. even 32. now any bigger, thats a different story. And the reason I have single channel is so that I won't spend so much in the long run. So do you think that I should get some more RAM???

But other than that one time at the end of the game, it ran PERFECTLY.

Not necessarily more RAM, just take advantage of the dual channel data throughput by installing a 2 x 2GB set of sticks, it would certainly help overall performance.

And if you really want to stick with 768 then that's fine, i'm not going to stop you, but smaller resolution monitors are prone to aliasing more, to counter this you'll need to push AA higher in games, which is more taxing for your GPU. So it's all swings and balances in the end.

So, at 768, i would suggest something like a 6850 or 6870 if you really want to go overkill.