Which graphics card?

[likeag6]

Hello,

I'm planning to improve my machine, starting from the graphics card. I bought the PC 4 years ago
My current system:
CPU: AMD Athlon x2 4800+ 2,51 ghz
GPU: Radeon x1950 pro 256mb
RAM:2x1gb ddr2-667

My question is what graphics processing unit would work best with my processor, i was thinking to get a Club3d Radeon HD 6850 1gb, but that got me thinking, my monitor only supports up to 1280x1024 and that perhaps my cpu won't be able to tame this or maybe if it is able, would i have a lot of spare horsepower ?

 

[seth89]

well if your motherboard can support a AM3 i would jump onto a AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition and for a video card you have two choices, ATI or Nvidia.
Now if your tight on cash i would look at the ATI 6xxx series and if money is no problem look at the EVGA 500 series.
+ make sure your Power Supply can handle the load of a new card. new cards need around 20+ amps and up to 300w of power just to run. (as well as 6 and 8 pin power connectors)

The 6850 your looking at i would check out the MSI or HIS version of that card.

 

[buzznut]

The HD 6850 would be a good card up to 1080p resolution. I would say the outdated processor will bottleneck the GPU, but at that resolution it shouldn't be much of an issue. You will see quite a performance increase with that video card, but the rest of your system is pretty outdated.

I wonder about the power supply, although 500W would certainly be plenty for the 6850. But I wouldn't sink a ton of money into a graphics card for this aging system. Perhaps an HD5650 would be a wiser choice.

 

[likeag6]

Hmm, i've done some thinking and what about this set-up
CPU:
AMD Phenom II 955 3,2GHz black
AMD Phenom II 955 Quad Core 3,2GHz AM3 8M 125W Black Edition HDZ955FBGMBOX
GPU:
1GB Club3D HD6850 PCI-E
Club 3D AMD RADEON HD 6850 (Barts Pro) 1GB 256BIT GDDR5,DirectX 11, 1xDVI, HDCP, HDMI 725/4000 PCI-Exp (CGAX-68524)
RAM: 2x
DDR3 2GB 1333 ECC Kingston
DDR3, Kingston 2GB 1333MHZ DDR3 ECC CL9 DIMM, KVR1333D3E9S/2G

And i've got a 500w power supply unit, would that be enough ? Or do i need to get a 600w

 

[casualbuilder]

Much better cpu than the 6-core for gaming. you will save yourself a much needed $40, and you can put that toward a gpu or better quality psu. the 955BE and the 1090t are benchmarked almost identically as far as gaming goes. Even AMD ranks their 980BE their best gaming cpu out there. The 955BE though will definately hit 4.0GHz though with a decent HSF and good case air flow.

On account of your psu, i would get the best quality (preferably silver or gold certified) you can afford, at the highest wattage you can afford. This will allow you to upgrade later. if you could afford a gold certified 650W or higher, you should be able to run CFX with your 6850's, no problem. Check your specs, and let us know what you decide!

 

[casualbuilder]

Keep in mind, a GTX560 will run you about an extra $25 more, and will out perform that card. Not to mention 3D capability.

 

[likeag6]

Oh snap, i checked my current motherboard and it only supports AM2 processor, so no 955 BE with this board, anyway now im thinking of getting an entire new PC so i can start with a fresh new page. A lot of work would have to be done on this one, even getting windows 7 for directx11 and so on. Anyway thanks everyone for feedback, or if someone has better suggestions, please feel free to share them