Budget Graphics Card for Crysis at 720p?

[freelyfly]

Trying to make a new build with extremely limited budget ($300) that can play some old games (up to around 2007/2008), especially Crysis (which should be the most demanding at the time, thus ensuring the capability of the build). Could APU do the job?

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: November 25th (Black Friday)
BUDGET RANGE: $100 After Rebates

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Crysis (the original one) with max setting and 4xMSAA at 720p (1366x768) (above 30fps would be acceptable), other games that came out around 2007/2008

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: New build

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: Planning to buy a CPU around the same price as the Graphics Card, hopefully this would eliminate bottle for Crysis and other games

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: no preference

PARTS PREFERENCES: no preference

OVERCLOCKING: Yes
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1366x768

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: APU?

 

[abbadon_34]

Look that recent crysis benchmarks for answers, but sadly APU's will not do the job, assuming we are talking max settings standard HD resolution

 

[freelyfly]

I was unable to find benchmark with new cards, any suggestions?

 

[twelve25]

$300 is not enough to build a new system.

 

[abbadon_34]

From what I gather Crysis 2 (less intense) on a A10 (most powerful trinity APU) will do 32 fps average.

 

[abbadon_34]

I am assume you are buying a laptop based on resolution. Please correct my if I'm wrong (it makes a big difference).

If you are going APU go A10, but real gaming you will have to spend more money, look at either AMD Dual Graphics, AMD Discrete graphics, or Intet Discrete graphics. Escepially for something high end, expect to spend $1000+ on an I5 with discete graphics Nvidia x6x or ATI x6xx and above

 

[freelyfly]

Thank you for the info, abbadon. I am actually considering building a desktop and upgrade it (in two years) when I have more budget (that's why I especially mentioned APU which would spare the CPU upgrade). If a good combination of CPU+GPU for Crysis exist for under $150, it would be perfect.

I am assume you are buying a laptop based on resolution. Please correct my if I'm wrong (it makes a big difference).

If you are going APU go A10, but real gaming you will have to spend more money, look at either AMD Dual Graphics, AMD Discrete graphics, or Intet Discrete graphics. Escepially for something high end, expect to spend $1000+ on an I5 with discete graphics Nvidia x6x or ATI x6xx and above

 

[abbadon_34]

Two years is a lifetime for a computer, especially built for the low end. If you a high-end state of the art comp then you could get away with 2+ years just adding/changing video cards. But you will be woefully disappointed in years when you find quite a bit need upgrading.

On you're limited budget, you are probably better off get a basic computer to fit your needs now, and assume on buying a new rig in a couple years.

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

In my opinion spending money for playing 2007-08 games is useless, you rather wait for couple of years and when you'll have a good budget add these 300$ or 150$ you have now and upgrade to a even more high end Rig.

 

[freelyfly]

In my opinion spending money for playing 2007-08 games is useless, you rather wait for couple of years and when you'll have a good budget add these 300$ or 150$ you have now and upgrade to a even more high end Rig.

Thank you for your suggestion Sumukh. But, considering that I have only been able to to play games up to 2003 with my old laptop, I think $150 for couple years of 04-07/08 games fun would worth the money. Hopefully I can keep the motherboard and 8GB RAM (and the CPU, if APU is picked instead of low-end CPU+GPU) after 2 years. I am just wondering is there a solution under my budget that can make this plan feasible?

 

[jaguarskx]

You can buy the following Radeon HD 7750 for $60 after tax. However, it has DDR3 RAM instead of DDR5 RAM. While it will still give you very good performance for the price, it is likely to be about 10% slower than a Radeon HD 7750 w/ DDR5 RAM. But it hard to pass up that price for the performance you will get.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161427

 

[freelyfly]

You can buy the following Radeon HD 7750 for $60 after tax. However, it has DDR3 RAM instead of DDR5 RAM. While it will still give you very good performance for the price, it is likely to be about 10% slower than a Radeon HD 7750 w/ DDR5 RAM. But it hard to pass up that price for the performance you will get.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161427

I went up $10 and got a MSI Radeon HD 7770 with 1GB GDDR5. The entire build is as follow (decided to use my portable hard drive temporarily before I can find a good deal for SSD), any comment or suggestion is very welcomed:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G2120 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor ($88.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI H61M-E33/W8 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB Video Card ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec Three Hundred ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Apevia 500W ATX Power Supply ($23.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $272.93
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-11-23 20:13 EST-0500)

 

[djangoringo]

Switch the psu for a corsair cx430 with rebates it's more cheaper and still better than the psu you chose.
The 7770 at that price is out of stock.
At the same price is the 650 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127703

Amost the same performance.

 

[freelyfly]

Switch the psu for a corsair cx430 with rebates it's more cheaper and still better than the psu you chose.
The 7770 at that price is out of stock.
At the same price is the 650 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127703

Amost the same performance.

Thanks djangoringo for your suggestion. I was afraid that 430W won't be enough if I upgrade to a mid-range GPU (at the level of HD7850 or GTX660) in the future (if the PSU lasts), but otherwise $17 for a 430W PSU is a really great bang for the buck.

I "bought" that 7770 (having some trouble with the credit card, so the order is on hold, hopefully won't be a big problem)

One question: Would the Pentium G2120 bottleneck HD7770 (or vice versa)? I know this will vary from games to games, but are G2120 and HD7770 a good pair in general?

 

[djangoringo]

Cool cause the 7770 ghz is better than the 650.
No bottleneck with that cpu.
One note you might have to flash the bios of the h61 mobo in order to use that cpu.

 

[freelyfly]

Cool cause the 7770 ghz is better than the 650.
No bottleneck with that cpu.
One note you might have to flash the bios of the h61 mobo in order to use that cpu.

Thanks for answering my question. The BIOS issue was pointed out by PCPartPicker as well, but hopefully UEFI would make flashing easier.