Looking for a new graphics card...

[norph]

So I have the Inspirion 570 and a budget of up to $130 dollars, the current integrated graphics card (Radeon HD 4500) needs to be upgraded. I'm looking into something purely for high performance gaming and a long lifespan. NVIDIA seems to be the best brand from what I've researched, not just for their popularity but for their performance. I'm not an expert but I know quite a bit, I figured I would take a shortcut from searching measurements and compatibility by just asking some of you folks. Thanks in advance for any information.

 

[mouse24]

Hmmm, lets see, that thing has a 300w psu... but its made by dell, not sure what back alley they may have purchased it from... uhm, I would be wary of even putting a 5670 in there.

But I guess you might would be able to grab a 5670 and a 40-50 dollar psu if its on sale.

Just some notes since I don't have time to provide links

Psu from: Seasonic, Antec, Corsair, (400-500w should be sufficient)

and don't buy the DDR3 version of the 5670, make sure its a DDR5, and there is no performance difference between 1g and 512mb for that card

Also might try looking into 6670s

 

[amuffin]

550ti, 460, 6770.

 

[Deemo13]

Well assuming your computer has about a 300W PSU (which I'm sure it does, most factory computers come with lower power supplies) There is not much in store for you. the best performance that you can get from a 300W PSU graphics-wise is about an ATI Radeon HD5670 (or 6670, badge engineering). It will give you decent performance for about $70. For what you have though, I would recommend getting a new PSU (its not as hard as you would think, just remember where everything goes) and getting something around an ATI Radeon HD5770.

I'm not an ATI fanboy, its just that as Nvidia has higher performance, bugdet gaming is really where ATI has the realm. The 5770 (or 6770, badge engineering again) will allow you to play the best games on very high settings save for others that you may have to skimp on, like BF3. The 5770 will run you for about $110 or less (I got mine for $100). That will allow you to maybe pick up a better PSU

The things about PSU's though is that it is really the beating heart of the system, not the CPU. My one recommendation is that you DON'T BUY GENERIC BRANDS OF POWER SUPPLIES. Good brands include Ultra, CoolerMaster (most of them at least), Thermaltake, and Corsair. About 500W should do to power a 5770.

Here is a decent power supply at a good price (for now)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4362117&Sku=O261-2020

Also, here's a 5770 for a good price

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1412978&CatId=3669

And some 6770's

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=726760&CatId=7005

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=685692&CatId=7005

 

[mouse24]

my general take on psu brands is Seasonic > Antec > OCZ > PC&C corsair then about 3 tiers down thermaltake > Ultra > Coolermaster

 

[Helltech]

XFX and Silverstone both make very good PSUs also...

 

[Deemo13]

I was actually wondering about Seasonic and Silverstone, I was wondering if they were pretty credible.

And you're right, I can't really trust CM after they did the whole eXtreme Power Plus thing where their power supplies couldn't put out the power. I learned that after I bought 2 of them to power some rigs. Luckily one is powering a 9600GSO and one is going to power a 5770, so it is enough.

 

[norph]

Best answer selected by norph.