Radeon HD 6450/ 6670 vs GeForce GT 530

[msc125]

Hi,

I have been reading posts on this site for a couple of days, all very helpful!! I need a new graphics card for my Dell Inspiron 620. The reason? XCom Enemy Unknown! I downloaded the demo, and the nostalgia was overwhelming, i need to buy this game!! The performance of the demo was not good, so I think a graphics card is a necessity, as well as RAM upgrade.

Here is the thread that is most similar to my query;

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/338831-15-graphics-card-dell-inspiron-300w

The reason for a new thread is that I spoke to Dell, who recommended the Radeon 6450 (1Gb) or the GeForce GT 530 (2Gb)

Now, both the 6670 recommended in the other thread, and the 6450 recommended by Dell, require a 400watt PSU, I only have a 300W, do you really think it will be ok? Would any card requiring 400w be ok?

Also, would the GeForce GT 530 be better purely by virtue of the fact that it is 2Gb?

My PC spec:

Core i3- 2100 @ 3.1GHz
Windows 7 64 bit
8Gb RAM DDR3 1333MHz

My budget would be less then £150, would any other cards do a better job and work with my system?

Thanks!

 

[deadlockedworld]

Hey there,

Dell is being extra cautious about straining the power supply (which they should be) and is recommending underpowered cards. It is likely that the PSU could handle a 6670 or a newer equivalent (7750, GTX 640/650) but its always better not to take risks.

Are you willing to consider a power supply and graphic card replacement? If so, you could get more power for £150. The rest of your system is pretty good, I see no reason not to invest in a more powerful card/better power supply.

Power supply is VERY easy to do, you just unplug the cables, remove it, replace it, and plug the cables in again.

 

[msc125]

Thanks for the quick response

I've built a pc in the past (long time ago), so upgrading the PSU would be no problem, but I wanted to keep costs to a bare minimum.

What would you recommend for PSU and best graphics card for £150ish

Thanks

 

[deadlockedworld]

I'm not in europe ;-/ Do you have a preferred website?

 

[msc125]

I used to buy my components from www.scan.co.uk and microdirect.co.uk

I just checked, they're cheaper than i thought! But I'm guessing the more expensive the better, right? Reviews of the cheap 'Ace' PSUs are pretty disconcerting..... burning smells, going kaput in a week etc.... What are the good PSU manufacturers?

Looks like I'm going to increase my budget... lol

I think the best way to go about it is to find the most powerful low-end, or least powerful mid-range graphics card, and get a PSU to match. What would you recommend? I'll do some searching in the meantime...

 

[nbelote]

I have run many a 6670 on 300w Dell PSUs so I know this scenario works. I haven't had the opportunity to try a 7750, though, but it could probably handle it.

 

[msc125]

hehehe- none other than Tom's Hardware had the best articles!

I checked out the 'Best graphics card for the money: Oct 2012' and 'Best PCIe mid-range'

It seems that the Radeon 7750 is one of the best for the money, and if I want to go a bit further; the GTX 560 Ti?

More qs;

Does the manufacturer make a lot of difference? e.g. MSI, Gigabyte, XFX etc....

Is there anything stopping me running a 2Gb card? (Dell said not to....)

Thanks

 

[msc125]

thanks nbelote

IF IF IF the psu can't handle it, what would happen? If the PC would just crash, I could accept that and upgrade the psu. If the PSU itself dies, then that's kinda the same as buying a new one now

But, would it damage the graphics card, or any other component in the machine if it failed?

 

[deadlockedworld]

thanks nbelote

IF IF IF the psu can't handle it, what would happen? If the PC would just crash, I could accept that and upgrade the psu. If the PSU itself dies, then that's kinda the same as buying a new one now

But, would it damage the graphics card, or any other component in the machine if it failed?

YES. It would potentially fry the rest of the PC. Do not guess and check when it comes to power.

The 7750 uses about the same amount of power as the 6670, and would be the best card that is passable -- however a two part upgrade is still the better solution.

 

[deadlockedworld]

Power supplies: You are looking for a higher efficiency unit (at or higher than 85%) in the 380w-500w range. 450w is enough to run ANY single card, 380w is enough for the newer mid-range cards you are looking at (but a little margin is always nice).

I can vouch for quality on Seasonic, Corsair, Antec, and most Silverstone, Be Quiet!, and PC Power models.

The low-end corsair (CX430) is a nice cheap one thats still reliable: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/430w-corsair-builder-series-cmpsu-430cxv2uk-80plus-bronze-eff-uncertified-quiet-fan-atx-v23-psu

I didn't dig around the whole site, but this looks like a good deal for the money, and these two items together keep you on budget. (XFX 6870) http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Product/53924/XFX-ATI-Radeon-AMD-6870-1GB-GDDR5

This seems like a good deal too (7770): http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Product/54322/Sapphire-ATi-Radeon-HD-7770-OC-1GB-GDDR5-PCI-E

 

[msc125]

thanks for your help guys, much appreciated

I've decided to upgrade the PSU to the Corsair (or similar) as recommended by deadlockedworld, and upgrade the RAM to 8Gb

However, I'm a bit confused with the pricing of some of these graphics cards, and that's stopping me making my decision

Gigabyte 7750 OC 2Gb DDR3..... £76.37
Sapphire 7770 OC 1Gb DDR5..... £109.20
XFX 6870.............. 1Gb DDR5..... £124.37
Sapphire 6670 ......2Gb DDR3..... £58.80

I would expect the newer architecture of the 7750 and 7770 to be more expensive, why is the 6870 the most expensive? I can imagine that 1Gb of DDR5 is better than 2Gb of DDR3, that explains the 6870 vs the 7750 OC price. But why is the 7770 OC cheaper than the older architecture of the 6870?

Is it the max memory bandwidth, which is almost double on the 6870? (plus higher compute power?)

Judging by the pricing alone, the 6870 seems the best choice/ most powerful, but I can't help but think that the 7000 series would be best?

 

[deadlockedworld]

Hey there. Tom's has a GPU hierarchy chart. Pricing on your sites is a mystery and seems less consistent than US retailers like newegg.com

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

When examining AMD cards, the first number is the generation, and the last three digits indicate its power (higher is better).

The 6870 is older, but was a more powerful card when new than the 7770. It's still a little bit more powerful. Its now discounted in price from its original entry point that was well above the 7770 range.

Its worth it to get the most power for the $$, but if you have two cards of the same power and different ages, always get the newer one.

 

[msc125]

Great, I think I'll go for the 6870, with a decent value power supply from the recommended list on AMD's website.

Another thread on here only recommended the 2Gb version on a multi- screen setup, makes sense, so the 6870 1Gb should do me fine

One more question before I take the plunge.....

Would there be any risk of bottle-necking on my system? I'm not au-fait with this, so any advice would be appreciated. I think my CPU is fairly decent, so it won't 'hold back' the graphics card will it?