Advice on new video card

[LaputanMachine]

Hello,

My video card recently burned up and I need some advice on replacing it. I have a ASRock M3A77ODE Amd770 + SB710 chipsets motherboard. I need a medium strength video card, in the range between 200-300$. Thanks for the help.

System Specs:

PSU Seasonic S12II 520 Bronze RT

Mem 2Gx2 GSkill f3-10666cl8d-4gbrm (so that's eight gigs right? )

HD 500G samsung HD502HJ

CPU AMD ATH II X3 450 3.2 G AM3 RT (Although we unlocked the 4th core)

1440x900 gaming resolution

Edit: Added in the parts that are in my rig. I'm clueless as far as hardware goes and I hope these are clear enough to as which specs I have. Thanks again.

 

[dane332]

If you really need a new video card now then here are two faily good options from AMD and nvidia in your prices range


AMD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161368


and nividia: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130662

although if you can wait i would see how strong the amd 7000 series are as they are suppose to be amazing and would drive the prices of older video cards down

 

[ilysaml]

Hello,

My video card recently burned up and I need some advice on replacing it. I have a ASRock M3A77ODE Amd770 + SB710 chipsets motherboard. I need a medium strength video card, in the range between 200-300$. Thanks for the help.

Welcome to the forum,
you need to list all your system specs so that i can help you, and tell me what resolution are you gaming at ?

 

[wiinippongamer]

As far as I know the gtx560 is closer to 6870 performance, so it's not a good choice even if it's 2gb.

The 6950 would be my choice

 

[dane332]

Yea i knew that as well, but i wanted to list an nvidia card in case he'd rather go nvidia

 

[LaputanMachine]

Welcome to the forum,
you need to list all your system specs so that i can help you, and tell me what resolution are you gaming at ?

System Specs:

PSU Seasonic S12II 520 Bronze RT

Mem 2Gx2 GSkill f3-10666cl8d-4gbrm (so that's eight gigs right? )

HD 500G samsung HD502HJ

CPU AMD ATH II X3 450 3.2 G AM3 RT (Although we unlocked the 4th core)

1440x900 gaming resolution

These are the specs as far as I know.

 

[ilysaml]

it's 4 gigs not 8
and i wouldn't suggest getting HD 6950 with being at this resolution and with this CPU.
so you'd be really fine with a single HD 6850 or a even a GTX 460.. no need to upgrade to a high-end level GPU as long as you have the "Rana"CPU

 

[wiinippongamer]

No, that is 4 gigs.

I think a 6950 would be pushing your PSU a bit too much, I'd reccomend a 6870 at most

 

[wiinippongamer]

When unlocked it essentialy becomes a phenom II 955 so it should be fine, the PSU is the limiting factor.

 

[LaputanMachine]

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[ilysaml]

When unlocked it essentialy becomes a phenom II 955 so it should be fine, the PSU is the limiting factor.

have you ever heard about the Phenomm II story ? Phenom II X2 were X3 and x4 and the same for X3 they were x4 but 1 or 2 cores were disabled because it didn't succeed in the factory test, so even unlocking cores isn't guarenteed, or necessarily and it's a bad idea as a faulty core might affect the performance of the whole cores.
EDIT: the unlocking process might look successful and the fault core seems to be working but in fact it's not working properly, and keeping it unlocked will cause a bad damage over time due to overvoltage and being unstable.

the CPU will become a phenom II theoretically not physically, so basically the performance of Phenom II x4 955 exceeds the Performance of PII x3 450

 

[LaputanMachine]

No, that is 4 gigs.

I think a 6950 would be pushing your PSU a bit too much, I'd reccomend a 6870 at most

Just wondering, it says for the 6950 that the minimum power required is 500 watts. Are you sure my PSU can't handle that?

 

[ilysaml]

Just wondering, it says for the 6950 that the minimum power required is 500 watts. Are you sure my PSU can't handle that?

you'r PSU will handle it, the maximum power consumption for HD 6950 is 200W which means you need a 16/17 Amperes in the 12V Rail, and you'r PSU have 40A for the 12V Rail providing 17 for the GPu and the rest for the system and other components.
you should be fine with the PSU as it has a good reviews but you don't need to push the system to limits and put it all y on a full load and risk your PSU

 

[LaputanMachine]

Best answer selected by LaputanMachine.

 

[LaputanMachine]

you'r PSU will handle it, the maximum power consumption for HD 6950 is 200W which means you need a 16/17 Amperes in the 12V Rail, and you'r PSU have 40A for the 12V Rail providing 17 for the GPu and the rest for the system and other components.
you should be fine with the PSU as it has a good reviews but you don't need to push the system to limits and put it all y on a full load and risk your PSU

Alright, thank you for your time. Going to order the card tommorow.

 

[wiinippongamer]

have you ever heard about the Phenomm II story ? Phenom II X2 were X3 and x4 and the same for X3 they were x4 but 1 or 2 cores were disabled because it didn't succeed in the factory test, so even unlocking cores isn't guarenteed, or necessarily and it's a bad idea as a faulty core might affect the performance of the whole cores.
EDIT: the unlocking process might look successful and the fault core seems to be working but in fact it's not working properly, and keeping it unlocked will cause a bad damage over time due to overvoltage and being unstable.

the CPU will become a phenom II theoretically not physically, so basically the performance of Phenom II x4 955 exceeds the Performance of PII x3 450

Taht's what prime95 and lynx testing are for.