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Best video card for my POS!

Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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my computer is a hp pavilion a6244n completely stock with a 250w powersource and a geforce 8400 gs card, what is the best card and powersource i can get to upgrade this thing that wont break my bank? also i believe it doesnt have a pci e 2.0 slot so you're going to have to deal with pci and pci e x16

Thanks guys!

this is what i was thinking?

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

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


also if its fanless i need some info on what to do about that, or if it will be fine?

andd i do some avid gaming, im not hardcore like needing maxed settings on crysis 2 or anything, just need to upgrade my card because its a failure at games like civ 5

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Graphics card Master

btw, games like civ 5 are more cpu intensive then they are gpu intensive, please at least tell me what cpu and RAM you have and what resolution you game at?

Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.101014-0432)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: HP-Pavilion
System Model: GN702AA-ABA a6244n
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E4500 @ 2.20GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.2GHz
Memory: 3070MB RAM
Page File: 2703MB used, 3654MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 7.00.6002.18107 32bit Unicode

Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 8400 GS
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0422&SUBSYS_C7353842&REV_A1
Display Memory: 1520 MB
Dedicated Memory: 241 MB
Shared Memory: 1279 MB
Current Mode: 1440 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: HP w17e Wide LCD Monitor
Graphics card Master

Well I'm sure his CPU will bottleneck Civ 5 lol. But not all games. Still you do have a point, a 5670 is an alright partner for his system and is still plenty better than the 8400gs.

Actually I see he's running 1440x900, so that makes the 5670 an even better choice. Basically any of these, whichever is the best price: 5670, 5750, 5770
Graphics card Master

Civ being a turned based game would not necessarily need 30+ fps although a 5670 can get 30+ fps on high with no aa. And the cpu is really mainly used at the end of the turn which you would be sitting doing nothing anyways. Even on my 2500k on big/full maps I sit for awhile at the end of the turn.

Nonetheless a better card would help on other games as well; but I'd still recommend a 5670 at that res/cpu. No point in putting too much money in a computer that is outdated.

alright thanks so much for all this help guys! next question... if i were to upgrade a part a month... how would you go about doing it and which part would you upgrade too? prolly about 50 to 100 dollars a month to upgrading. thanks!
Graphics card Master

Upgrading the rest of the components? That will not do, all that stuff is obsolete from a couple generations back. You'd need to buy all new stuff which will not be compatible. Save up for a whole new computer.

You aren't too serious of a gamer so what you have now with a new gpu should do you fine till you save up enough.
Graphics card Authority

Since yours is an OEM pre-built system, upgrading the CPU might get tricky. Also, I don't think that board supports processors above 800 MHz FSB. So just check it.
Graphics card Master

It makes no difference that it's oem for replacing the cpu. If you want better old stuff, buy it off craigslist or something, you'd save a lot of money. The prices don't drop if you're buying new. Why waste money on old stuff that will be outdated faster (if it's not already) when you could just save a little more for new stuff and have an upgrade path after that. If you're saying 50-100 per month, cpu+ram+mobo could be ~$300 for an i5 or phenom x4.

You could even find used stuff of last generations i5 and still be a better buy than upgrading your old pos. It's just too outdated to do anything worth the money. Anything that could be upgraded is such a small improvement.
Graphics card Master

I think that's a pretty good plan for now. Don't expect it to be a whole new computer, but you should notice games are running smoother.

My girlfriend had an HP computer with a 1.8ghz dual core, 2gb RAM, and no GPU.
We first made an upgrade to a Biostar 775 mobo ($70) and an E5400 (2.8ghz, $80) along with 4gb RAM ($40) and Windows 7 64 bit ($100, she had Vista before). That alone made it run quite a bit better. After that, we got her a 5770 ($95) which gave better video quality - but she doesn't really game (except Sims 3 lol). But one of the best upgrades was we got her a new HDD. She went from a 5400rpm 320gb drive that her PC came with to a 7200RPM Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black HDD ($70) and honestly it made the PC quite a bit faster. So I guess my point in telling you this, is that after you get these parts you might consider a new fast HDD as your next upgrade.

Well, there's always places to improve. I think your plan is a good start point and definitely good prices.
Graphics card Master

wolfram23 said:
His mobo specs don't list Wolfdale CPUs as compatible. Unless of course there's been a BIOS revision that added CPU support.

I saw that too, but obviously he's already got a core 2 duo or so his DXdiag says, so.... I don't really know what to recommend to him, the e5700 would be a good choice but the board specs say it won't work. There must have been a bios update but I'm too lazy/don't know where to look to find out.
Graphics card Master

I think the best bet is to talk to an HP rep, but I did find this after some googling:
http://www.overclock.net/intel-motherboards/130735-asus...
Quote:
Yes your motherboard is compatible with core 2 duos

the motherboard supports the following

Core 2 Duo E6000 Series
Core 2 Duo E4000 Series
Pentium E2000 series
Pentium 4 6x1 series
Celeron D 300 series

this is the information i got from HP because my compaq presario has a ASUS P5LP-LE,and i went out and bought a E6850 3.0ghz Core 2 duo,a Nvidia 9600 GT
and a extra 512mb ddr2 to put in my pc,all woring flawlessly.

the only complaint i have about the motherboard is although it states it supports 4gb of ddr2,i cannot get it to work with anymore than 1.5gb.
Graphics card Master

Return it, it will be a waste of your time and paste, it's way worse than what you've already got.

After doing some research the E5700 won't work either and there is no BIOS update available, but the E6600 or E6700 should work at 75 and 85 bucks on newegg respectively.

its too late, the payment or whatever was taken, so i just threw away 25 dollars basically, if by chance can you try and link me to one of those two processors on bestbuy if they have them? im on my phone so i cant really look at it. thanks!
Graphics card Master

*** well I feel bad now. It's too bad HP is retarded and doesn't update with proper compatibility specs. You probably can cancel the order, email Newegg about it. Maybe tell them you want to swap the order to something else like the E6600. Even if the payment went through they can still credit you. I've canceled online orders before, it's not a big problem. Just contact them.
Graphics card Master

bensfriend1 said:
its too late, the payment or whatever was taken, so i just threw away 25 dollars basically, if by chance can you try and link me to one of those two processors on bestbuy if they have them? im on my phone so i cant really look at it. thanks!

It is very unusual for newegg to be like that, email a rep or do the live chat thing tell them you ordered the wrong thing and want to exchange it for the E6600. You may get stuck with shipping but it should be less than 26 bucks or whatever. I guess you can always sell it on ebay and get your money back if they won't work with you but newegg is usually better than that.

power source works like a champ, video card works... not on my system at the moment tho idfk whats wrong, it knows the cord is connected but theres no VGA signal? worked like a champ with my friends computer. havent even fucked with the processor yet.
Graphics card Master

You're saying the E6600 doesn't work?

Have you removed the CMOS battery and unplugged the PSU to reset the mobo? Also, does it have the most up to date BIOS?
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