What GPU do i get with my pc spec?

[dauran]

What video card should i get that will not get bottle necked? I'm looking at buying the Nvidia 550 or the HD6850, no older or slower. I don't know how the bottle necking thing works, if faster/newer cards eliminate bottle necking or what. If so, name off cards ill be ok using with lil to no bottle necking.

PC Specs:
CPU: Core 2 quad Q9300 2.50Ghz
PSU: 650watts
Ram: 8gb DDR3 PC3-10600
Case: Haf 912
HDD: 1x 1T

Note: cant overclock cpu on this mobo

 

[king smp]

I think the HD 6850 is a good choice
price per performance is very good
You might have a little bottleneck but not much
Remember a CPU/GPU bottleneck wont hurt your performance
It just means your not getting full performance from card
but will hurt you
actually a card that is a little too powerful for your current
system would be ok because then when you eventually do
a new build it will still be a viable card

Should also consider the HD 6950 and GTX 560 Ti
if budget allows
If budget is tight than a HD 5850 would be a good choice

What brand is your PSU and how many amps on 12v rail
if you can look at specs on PSU casing

 

[king smp]

Also helps to know what resolution your screen is
since at lower res some cards would be overkill

 

[wolfram23]

For a budget I'd check out 6790, 6850, 6870, and 560 (non Ti) for new cards. 5850, and 460 768mb/1gb are also good and should be at a nice price point being last year's tech

 

[king smp]

^+1 to Wolfram23

 

[-Fran-]

Don't go into the "bottleneck" fad IMO, that's a road full of pain and sorrow to comprehend XD

Anyway, be sure that your C2Q @2.5Ghz will handle (understand it as "won't cripple your gaming experience") any card for 1080p just fine (I'm taking a wild guess here).

So, a 6850 is a fine choice, but if you ask me, try to aim for a 6950 1GB or a GTX460 1GB OC / GTX560ti. Not gonna talk about "future proof" junk, but they will play a lot of games for a long time IMO. My 4890 still plays everything I throw at it with no problems at 1080p.

Cheers!

 

[dauran]

lets see.. my PSU is a coolermaster 650watt GX. 52 amp on the 12v
My screen is a 23" 1080p" and before my old 230 video card died i ran in 1920x1080.
my budget is near $200, hence why i was aiming for the 550 or 6850, but if i can use a 6950 i can buy one form that leasing site for $28 a month for a year and get free upgrades.
by the looks of the answers i got the 550ti and 6850 will be ok?

 

[wolfram23]

yeah, either should be a nice step up from the 230... actually a huge step up.

 

[dauran]

i hope Onlive hurry's up with their Pc pad app so ppl can play high-end pc games on pad pc's like Onlive showed off at E3. say bye bye to gaming pc's

But anyhoo.. so will the HD6950 be faster then the HD6850 in my rig for games like skyrim? or any today games, mostly mmo's.

 

[wolfram23]

yes definitely faster, but you won't be able to unleash it's full potential in some games. Should be over 60fps regardless unless gpu limited though so I guess it won't be too big a deal.

Still, OCing the CPU should be something you look into.

 

[dauran]

yes definitely faster, but you won't be able to unleash it's full potential in some games. Should be over 60fps regardless unless gpu limited though so I guess it won't be too big a deal.

Still, OCing the CPU should be something you look into.

Cant overclock on this mobo sadly...

 

[joshyboy82]

well, without your gaming knowledge, it's impossible to say. Umm...Metro 2033 with that system? SLI GTX 580. WoW, a 6850. That's with a given 1080p resolution. Certain things require more CPU, so whatever you play is dependent on that, but yes that CPU is aging.

Name your game, it will help us help you.

 

[wolfram23]

Cant overclock on this mobo sadly...

Well a new motherboard isn't going to be all that expensive

I see no reason to completely replace your system, getting a new motherboard and GPU will let you unleash it's potential and give you another few years of usage.

 

[dauran]

New mobo means i got to get a new OP and that's near $190. my OP is a OEM..
I hate computers now... Most new games i see Req duo cores and yet my quad is to slow for GPU's that can play thos games at max..
Games i play are fallout-NV, Vindictus and SC2 and games i would like to play are Skyrim(when it comes out), Rift(any high tier mmo), justcause2, CoDM2 and i know my CPU will be way too slow for BF3.. So, 550 or HD6950?

 

[king smp]

personally I would go with the HD6950

 

[king smp]

BTW I would trade my OCd E4500 2.2 @ 2.93 Core2Duo
for your Quad in a heartbeat

I do alot of video work (encoding,ripping,transcoding,editing and rendering) which
is multithreaded and uses as many cores as you can give it
so your CPU would kick my CPUs butt LOL

 

[king smp]

New mobo means i got to get a new OP and that's near $190. my OP is a OEM..
I hate computers now... Most new games i see Req duo cores and yet my quad is to slow for GPU's that can play thos games at max..
Games i play are fallout-NV, Vindictus and SC2 and games i would like to play are Skyrim(when it comes out), Rift(any high tier mmo), justcause2, CoDM2 and i know my CPU will be way too slow for BF3.. So, 550 or HD6950?

What do you mean by OP?

do you mean Windows?

 

[dauran]

What do you mean by OP?

do you mean Windows?

Oh, windows vista OEM

 

[dauran]

yah the HD6950 is $28 a month on (http://www.cuttingedgegamer.com/GraphicsCards/index.html) for 1 year. that beats 141$ 1 lump some for a 550.
But i dont know how well this site is and if i can use a prepaid debit card. its like rentacenter but for video cards.

 

[king smp]

Wow never heard of it
I really dont like RAC
their terms are rough
but if cuttingedge is legit that
is cool
seriously you have to upgrade your card every year or two
so why not rent it?
makes sense to me
wonder what the rules about BIOS flashing and overvolting OCs
are like LOL

 

[king smp]

Oh, windows vista OEM

do you have the Certificate of Authenticity (COA) on case or disk cover?
trust me just install on another tower
and then do phone call activation
answer the questions on automated system right or talk with MS rep
They will allow a mobo swap if you sweet talk them

though a system builders Win7 has gotten pretty cheap on Newegg
and going to Win7 from Vista is a performance boost by itself

 

[dauran]

yah lol their terms are scary... i don't rly understand them but... if they will replace the card if it dies on its own over time or cancel my contract free of charge if the card will not work or fit on my mobo cuz of the sata plugs.

 

[dauran]

do you have the Certificate of Authenticity (COA) on case or disk cover?
trust me just install on another tower
and then do phone call activation
answer the questions on automated system right or talk with MS rep
They will allow a mobo swap if you sweet talk them

though a system builders Win7 has gotten pretty cheap on Newegg
and going to Win7 from Vista is a performance boost by itself

I dont get what your saying. my pc is a HP and came with vista OEM and has no vista CD key just a reformatting HP tool to reinstall vista from the HDD without needing a recovery CD. i replaced my HP case with the Haf 912 and 650wat PSU from newegg for $109

Thats why i just need a video card that will play todays games at its max and maybe new games coming out till Onlive.com and Gaikai.com comes out with their cloud gaming app so you can play games like fear3 or better on Ipads, Xooms or even cellphones.
Gaikai has WoW runing on the Ipad and ppl can do it now if you are ok'ed for their beta testing. till then i need a Vcard that will be what i need for games without upgrading my pc anymore then i did so far

 

[wolfram23]

I dont get what your saying. my pc is a HP and came with vista OEM and has no vista CD key just a reformatting HP tool to reinstall vista from the HDD without needing a recovery CD. i replaced my HP case with the Haf 912 and 650wat PSU from newegg for $109

Thats why i just need a video card that will play todays games at its max and maybe new games coming out till Onlive.com and Gaikai.com comes out with their cloud gaming app so you can play games like fear3 or better on Ipads, Xooms or even cellphones.
Gaikai has WoW runing on the Ipad and ppl can do it now if you are ok'ed for their beta testing. till then i need a Vcard that will be what i need for games without upgrading my pc anymore then i did so far

On the old case it should have had the vista sticker with a CD key...

I'm using an OEM Win 7 version because it's much cheaper than the boxed version, and I've changed quite a bit of hardware including motherboard with it. Like he said, instead of the online activation you just do the phone activation - however, I think you still need that CD Key.

 

[king smp]

Well if it is a temp fix for now then the HD6950 would be the answer


BTW there is product key finding software
it will examine your registry and tell you the product keys
for software including windows installed on your system
so this way you would have your key for windows

but since you just need the tower until the cloud app
comes out then just go with the HD 6950