Replacing old ati 2400 pro for guildwars gameplay

[Eve_44]

Hi there,

I'm looking to replace the graphics card in a dell desktop to improve my gameplay for gw2 which is currently running with 21 fps on best performance and 15 fps on auto both if which obviously isn't ideal. My psu isn't great but the desktop is on loan from my sister so I'm not keen to upgrade the psu. Budget also isn't massive so I'm happy getting an older card at the top of my power supply for the time being. Wondering if anyone could tell me if the suggestions below are appropriate and if not what might be.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: not urgent but soon
BUDGET RANGE: =<£60

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: current card is fine for everything else, only upgrading for guild wars gameplay.

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: ATI Radeon HD 2400 pro and Bestec TFX0250P5W (max 250W, 17A on 12V)

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: Dell Inspiron 530S, intel core 2 duo cpu @ 3 ghz, 2gb ram.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: amazon but could try ebuyers

PARTS PREFERENCES: prefer ati

OVERCLOCKING: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1440x900

CONSIDERING:
VTX3D VX6670 2GBK3-H AMD Radeon HD 6670 Graphics Card (2GB, PCI-Express, AMD App Acceleration)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005O8HMSG/ref=cm_sw_em_r_am_ip_am_gb?ie=UTF8

Asus AMD Radeon HD 6670 Graphics Card (1GB, PCI-Express, GDDR5, Dust-proof Fan)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004XANO24/ref=cm_sw_em_r_am_ip_am_gb?ie=UTF8

Asus AMD Radeon HD 6670 Graphics Card (1GB, DDR3, PCI-Express, AMD CrossFireX Technology)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004XANOCO/ref=cm_sw_em_r_am_ip_am_gb?ie=UTF8

(Not quite sure the difference between those last two)

All help/advice gratefully received!

Eve

 

[Wolfshadw]

Given your resolution and specifications, I'd recommend going with the ASUS HD 6670 1GB GDDR5 card over the ASUS HD 6670 1GB DDR3 card

The difference between the last two cards is the type of memory, (G)DDR5 vs DDR3. All else being the same, go with (G)DDR5.

The first card comes with 2GB of onboard memory, but at your resolution of 1440x900, I doubt you'd ever need that much memory.

The only real concern I'd have is whether or not that power supply can support any of those cards.

-Wolf sends

 

[Onus]

^What he said. Get GDDR5 over DDR3. For your resolution, and playing on lowered settings, you could go as low as a HD6450, which uses even less power. See http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/guild-wars-2-performance-benchmark,3268-4.html for performance data. On balanced settings (next page), you'll probably want at least that HD6670 though.

 

[photonboy]

Not sure of your budget, but the HD7000 series cards uses significantly less power than the HD6000 series due to the 28nm GPU.

Guild Wars 2 benchmark (compares HD6670 and HD7750):
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/guild-wars-2-performance-benchmark,3268-5.html

POWER USAGE:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/HD_7750/24.html

*So the HD7750 scored FAR better than the HD6670 but also used LESS POWER (PEAK USAGE 43W vs 50W). It cost a little more (about $100 vs $80).

Any flaw in my logic?

This is the card I recommend. $100 after rebate with $5 shipping, and it's from a quality company Sapphire Technology:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102969

 

[photonboy]

FYI, that 43W Peak translates to 3.6Amps on the +12V rail. I wouldn't recommend overclocking the CPU at all, but this should work okay.

Your values will be slightly LOWER than the benchmarks due to your CPU.

I'm not sure if GW2 has a HALF VSYNC option (it's not common) but there's a cool tool called RadeonPro that can allow you to synch to half the refresh (i.e. 30FPS instead of 60FPS). This would be a good idea for you.

i.e.:
1. Start FRAPS and RadeonPro
2. drag the GW2 main EXE file into RadeonPro
3. enable HALF VSYNC (under "Tweaks" I think)
4. Start GW2 with LOW settings and verify it synchs to 30FPS
5. Raise GW2 settings as high as possible while maintaining 30FPS (may need to retweak later)

RadeonPro link: http://www.radeonpro.info/en-US/