What graphics card should I get?

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meitou

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My friend gave me his old computer which has a 400 W power supply, 2 gbs of ram (thinking about upgrading to 4 gbs),320 GB harddisk, and an Asus P5KC Mother, but I'm not sure what type of CPU it has. It has a 400 watt PSU so i'm guess a quad core, but I won't know till tomorrow when my friend lets me borrow his GT9500. Anyways, what is a decently priced graphics card that can play starcraft 2 on high or max and diablo 3 on high or medium
 
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90% of your question is answered by the quality of the PSU. if you can see/find out the manufacturer, by looking at it, that would help.

could be the difference of knowing about playing D3 on high or medium settings.
 
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H

homiezheadsup

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depends on what you mean by play.
D3 is surprising light on the system. most $150+ cards today will be able to max its gpu settings. But the game hasn't come out yet, and everyone knows that Blizz games are patched with better graphics within a year or so of release. With that said, I played the beta on my GTX 280 on max settings without an issue.

SC2 on the other hand is surprisingly demanding to keep a high average fps @ maxed settings. First of all, your CPU will be your first hurdle. You mention your system has a quad core, but if its not one of the later Intel chips you will not be able to play the game on ultra without some lag, especially in large battles. So regardless which GPU you buy, you will never achieve the brilliant game play in maxed settings if you play competitively. Unless you think playing SC2 on max is not demanding, everyone needs to really see the game in full glory, its a sight to be seen.

My friend and I run similar fps in SC2, and he bought a brand new 6950 about six months ago. My card was released six years ago. Note, we both have i7s. It's only when you combine an i5+ card with the GTX 580 or the HD 7950 or above will you see the next level of FPS jump towards the 100+ fps averaged. That is what I want, but I'm not willing to pay for it just yet.
 
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meitou

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Should I upload a picture of my computer? And you're right, it doesn't have a pci-e connector, only pci. I might either buy a molex or just get a new PSU altogether, that is assuming that this rig can perform. I havent been able to boot it up since it's missing a graphics card (Plus I switched out the hard disk for larger one on my old computer (both XP)). And for the graphics card, I'm planning on getting one from a trusted seller on ebay. But i dont know which one I should get with a 100 dollar budget. This is just a temp rig, going to build another one when i get a job in college.
 
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G

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a upgrade in the PSU would be desirable.
btw i checked you motherboard at asus:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_775/P5KC/#specifications
if your going to upgrade the ram some DDR3 would be nice, these will work i checked: http://www.corsair.com/learn_n_explore?id=178910
CORSAIR XMS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 $27.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145299

also you have PCI 1.0 so a concern would be a PCI2.1 card could get flonky on you so look for a PCI 2.0 (or 3.0 will be ok) card.


as far as a PSU a 430-450 watts would be ok:
CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS $44.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026

unless your going to toss in bigger card then that would start looking for a 500-550 watts PSU

but a 7770 will be fine with THAT PSU.
HIS H777F1G2M Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB $129.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161402
[strike]or even a little bigger:
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 $159.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130752[/strike] EDIT not worth it :p

if you have a decent quad core in there it is still a good enough system for a lot of games. and what your are buying now, RAM, PSU and gfx card will swap over to a newer build. :)
 
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meitou

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I'll lookin into the ddr3, but the thing about the graphics card is, is that its out of my price range. That card could probably play d3 on max but it's just a little over my price range. I im looking for one thats around 75 -100 dollars
 
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ok though if you can grunge up the few extra bucks for the 7750 you will be stoked.

and i think you can get 4 gigs of DDR3 cheaper than 2 gigs of DDR2 now.
 
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dreadlokz

dreadlokz

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You will be able to play with the 7750... but not as good as you expect!
If you want a DECENT performance, and already have something like a quad CPU... you will need some upgrades like:

ASUS HD7770-DC-1GD5-V2 Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 - $139.99

CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - $59.99

AMD Entertainment Edition 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory - $24.99

Antec Kuhler H2O 620 Liquid Cooling System - $61.99

Subtotal: $286.96

As cheap as It can be for a MINIMUM DECENT performance!

If you just want to run the games, go with the 7750 and 4GB memory ;p
 
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meitou

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So my Motherboard cant run a 2.1 ? I'm interested in buying this one
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2042280&SRCCODE=GOOGLEBASE&cm_mmc_o=VRqCjC7BBTkwCjCECjCE mid may. I want the 7770 but it's just too expensive for me right now. I had a Gt 450 galaxy i got last year, and it was pretty good- could run sc2 on high on my m7160n. I'm not really into spending a lot on a graphics card because my HP computer just stopped registering the graphics card and I was forced to sell it.
Found a a 450 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127606. Pretty cheap - 70 bucks. Suggestions?
 
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that one is fine. like the 450? how is this?
MSI N450GTS-MD1GD3 GeForce GTS 450 Now: $89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127606

EDIT: i can't see the 450 card you just linked

btw, from what i have seen here using a PCI 2.1 card on a PCI 1.0 board is hit or miss so i do not take a chance when i recommend a gfx card.
 
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N

NZpcFirst

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Sapphire 7850 OC is a good allround card that will perform to your expections and further. But if you want good bf3 ultra performance the Sapphire 7870 OC is best, it is almost on par with the gtx580.

BUT considering your budget you would best be looking at maybe a GTX 560(normal one) or AMD 7750
 
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randomkid

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Where did you see that the Adud P5KC have only PCI 1.0 (PCIe 1.0)? Link please....

Edit: Never mind, I saw it already... too bad about the mobo being PCIe 1?
 
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naw it's a great board just a P35 chipset . . i mean its not like a MSI board, those have problems!

:lol:
 
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express
"PCI Express 2.1 supports a large proportion of the management, support, and troubleshooting systems planned for full implementation in PCI Express 3.0. However, the speed is the same as PCI Express 2.0. Unfortunately, the increase in power from the slot breaks backwards-compatibility between PCI Express 2.1 cards and SOME older motherboards with 1.0 . . ."

"In August 2007, PCI-SIG announced that PCI Express 3.0 would carry a bit rate of 8 gigatransfers per second, and that it would be backwards compatible with existing PCIe implementations."

so in other words the tweaking they did to 2.1 broke the compatibility, at least in some motherboards, that 3.0 doesn't suffer.

that MSI card was the cheapest 450 i saw on new egg. if you can get it cheaper on amazon go for it.
 
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R

Rich tea

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Sapphire 7850 OC is a good allround card that will perform to your expections and further. But if you want good bf3 ultra performance the Sapphire 7870 OC is best, it is almost on par with the gtx580.
hjk
 
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don't worry about the " i saw the topic and posted my opinion without reading the thread" people :)
 
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meitou

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I'm really interested in the msi 450. But Im not sure which CPU i have: like i said i got this for computer for free and it didnt have a graphics card so i cant check. Also, will any of these cards be bottlenecked because when i had my m7160n many people said that some graphics card I chose could be bottlenecked due to the processor:which is why i went with the 450( if youre interested, specs for the m7160n are here:http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00389438&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&product=470506)
 
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i am assuming your running windows?
control panel/system and it will tell you what CPU you have.

aside from that most people who scream "bottleneck" do not understand performance differences with different resolutions.
 
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randomkid

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You mentioned you are borrowing your friend's GT 9500... still not available?
Or can't you ask your friend who gave it to you what is the processor in there?
 
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meitou

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The friend whom gave me the computer doesn't know what processor is in there as it was his elder sister's boyfriend who built it. My friend who has the Gt 9500 couldn't find it yesterday, so he'll give me it later
 
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