New Gpu of old system

Problems is the 8400GS came in AGP and PCI-e Flavors so can´t be shure.

IF is AGP:

NEW card only
HD 4650 or HD 3650

NEW card and NEW Power
HD 4670 or HD 3850

Used and dirt cheap
X1650Xt series(no Win 7) or HD 2600
Used and new supply
X19xx (no win 7),Gforces 7800GS


If yuor Rig is PCI-E the options ar so vast that all i can tell you is skip

AMD 5450, 3450
Nvidia 210, 520

Overall the higer the hundredts in the AMD nomenclature the better or the Ten´s in the nvidia nomenclature the better.

The rest is just about your budget.

You could even go with a GTX560

Thank you all,
Some additional questions:

1. The cheapest gpu in my nearby store is a 6570 1GB DDR3 - will it fit my requirements?

2. At the next price level I may have:
a. HD 6670 1GB GDDR3.
b. HD 6670 512MB GDDR5.
c. HD 6750 512MB GDDR5

which one is the best?, is it worthwhile to upgrade from the 6570 (extra 20-30 bucks)?

3. At the final price level I may have:
a. 6750 1024MB GDDR5.
b. HD 6770 512MB GDDR5.

which one is better?, is it worthwhile to upgrade from the 6570 (extra 35-40 bucks)?

Thanks.

Any of those will do the job.

A 1 GIG of ram have better future than a half meg card this days IMO.
Besides at that resolution you wil lbe hard pressed to notice the diffences between 800 and 720 Stream Processors.

Go 6750 1 Gig. Chosse DDR 5 if you can afford the PSU too else well....

If you do mind then Oveclock the 100 hz to make it like 6770. I bet it will be piece of cake.

JUST MAKE SHURE YOUR RIG IS PCI-E

Thanks a lot.
If I understand correctly it's better to avoid the 512 and ddr3 cards.
one final question is regarding my RAM - is it necessary to upgrade my 2GB to 4GB for better gaming experience?

Depends on your OS. In XP most games runs in 1 Gig and up.

Vista needs 4 Gigs all the way. You CPU have life in it so if in doub buy one 4 Gig Stick.
Today is expensive but wil let you add more in the future.

And yes you got me correctly. Scratch the 512 options. From there I guess you have a little power suply so 66xx and 67xx can struggle from lack of power.
For those add (PSU + Card ) costs to make your choice

The 6570 may not needed but just to be shure use a Molex Rail for the card. do not add HDD, DVDs or other accesories to tahat rail.

Thanks a lot
Have a great week !!!

for your power supply, you can buy almost any single gpu card available today, but your cpu probably wont be able to take advantage of anything better than a GTX 560 or HD 5770

I had that same CPU. get yourself a GTX460. with 2gb more ram.. it will be just fine

Well, considering that i wont OC my CPU,
Can you estimate what are the most demanding games I will be able to play with this old cpu + 4 GB + HD 6770 on a 1280*1024 res with medium-high setting
E.g will i be able to play BFBC 2 or Crysis 2 or Starcraft 2?

"...1280*1024 res with medium-high setting..."

I would say ANYTHING.

Resolution is just low. From the Square Pixel aspect ratio I guess is a old computer monitor. If so it barely will manage a 75hz refresh rate therefore a 30 FPS is enuff.

The GTX460 and GTX560 is a huge overkill in GPU power and cash . Besides they will need a quality PSU or a unbranded but beefier than 450W.

Fallout,Dragon Age, Starcraft 2 are not graphics intensive games. Even Crysys and COD will play fine. Maybe need to tweak a setting or two but will not look ugly or be unplayable.

For the Ram the real question is how many slots you have.

Is not as simple as saying "...with 2gb more ram...". If you have only 2 slots and buy a 2 gig stick then you have to remove one and that total a 1 meg upgrade.

Not whorty. I can´t point a game in XP that make a great improvement over your current 2 gigs. And in Vista or W7 may not be enuff anyway.

If you want 4 gigs will need 2 sticks of 2 gigs and replace your current ones. a 4 gigs stick are hard to find and may no be compatible with your MoBo.

Post your MoBo model to clarify things

You CPU will not limit you at that 720P@30FPS. Most games can´t use full 2 cores much less need more.

You can´t go wrong with any of the cards described, is just a matter of budget.

Even the 6570 will give 25 -30 FPS but wil not have any more GPU power to spare but also will not require more cash.

From there you can turn on the eye candy.

Hi,
My MOBo is G313M3-F V2 1GLAN MSI.
Currently i have a one stick of 2GB (one is free).
I'm using a Win XP.

If i;m staying in win XP - what do you think is a better choice:
going for a 6770 or going for a 6570 and additional 2 GB Ram ?
thanks.

Your MoBo is Dual Channel , meaning if you sticks are of the same capacity and speed (prefereable even the same brand) it will be a bit faster. I would search for that stick firts and buyit when i find it. Becasue video cards come and go all the time but twin memory sticks are not.

I would not try Vista on 2 gigs and W7 works but not very well.So you will not have acces to DX10 and DX11 Games until you do upgrade. In DX 11 and DX10 the 6770 leapfrog above the 6570 with ease.

But in XP (DX9) you will be monitor limited and the 6770 will give you more eye candy but thats all.Inet benchmarks never say witch monitor was used to display but i can ashure you is better than yours. Probably is a Duallink DVI full HD or 120Hz capable displayport.

You want a card that can draw frames faster than your monitor can display?, Will you change monitor soon?. Those are questions only you can anwser.

In short in W7(Dx11) and Vista(Dx10): The 6770 is vastly superior to 6570 regardless of your monitor.

In XP(Dx9) is just superior but came with a tag price to match.In real world cash is a scarse resource and computers are used more than just gamming. The 6570 + 4 gigs sounds more appealing at least until you change monitor.

Yhea your frame rate will drop to 20-25 in some parts of COD but far as i know nobody has gone blind for that or by turning OFF Softshadows.

For a puntual awser to your question : I would hunt the twin ram stick if not found buy the 6770. If found BUY IT and chosse the card you can afford. Any will be a order of magnitude better than the 8400 gs.If you can not afford the card buy the PSU and start saving the difference. Time is on your side, card pices drops all the time and sometimes they do sharply.PSU prices barely moves at all.

Watch your PSU man. You can make the effort to buy the card just to be unable to useit.Pointless and hartbreaking.
During gamming the cards will draw 100-125 watts and the CPU arround 80. If your rig gives BSODs,reset or unstabilizes do not press your luck.

Thank you
You have helped me a lot.