Upgrade Radeon HD 5870

[thill3]

Using the template:

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: ASAP, but I probably have a week or two. Motherboard does not have integrated graphics, and If I can't see what I'm doing then I will have a hard time studying for the computer-based finals.

BUDGET RANGE: I don't have much budget for this. Maybe $100-$150 USD or so. Less money is definitely preferable. Before rebate preferable, but I would consider afterward.

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Ultimately what I need most is to be able to run software for my classes. Operations research software, document creation and editing, web browsing, etc. I'd like to be able to play games occasionally, but I'm ok with lower graphics settings.

Torchlight II and original Deus Ex are installed right now. Steam queue is rather long but includes a lot of things from the past decade or so.

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: Currently have an XFX Radeon HD 5870. It has served me well for 8+ years. No new drivers for a while, and it's starting to have fits.

PSU is a Corsair TX750. Again, it's served me well for 8+ years.
It powers the motherboard, the graphics card, a 3.5" floppy drive, an optical drive, an SSD, and 1 or 2 HDDs.

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: CPU - Intel Core i7 920 - quad core. Never overclocked. Runs at base speed of 2.67GHz.

Motherboard - P6T Deluxe V2. Again, it's served me well for 8+ years.

Memory - 3x2GB G Skill DDR3-1600 (it also says "PC3-12800" if that helps).

Storage - 256 GB Kingston SSD - boot drive
1 TB HDD - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 ST1000DM005/HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM- storage (may be removed in near future in favor of the newer drive)
4 TB HDD - Seagate 4TB BarraCuda (ST4000DM005) - upcoming storage

If it would help for me to provide additional specificity then I can do that. Just ask.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: I'm fairly open on this. Newegg, Tigerdirect, BestBuy, Amazon, somewhere else reputable for computer parts.

PARTS PREFERENCES: I'm fairly open here too. I understand that some manufacturers make better/more reliable/etc. versions of certain components than other manufacturers do, so pick something reputable.

I don't have a preference on AMD or Intel.

OVERCLOCKING: No

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Not really necessary.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Samsung - 2048*1152 (I wish they still made monitors with this pixel density.)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Motherboard has no integrated graphics, so I have to have a graphics card in order to put something on a monitor.

As noted above I don't stress this computer very hard anymore, but I'd still like to be able to play some newer games (Mass Effect 3, Arkham series, Dragon Age, Torchlight II, etc. on occasion.)

Also, I believe I read somewhere once that Intel GPUs play nicer with nVidia cards than with AMD cards, but I had very few problems using an intel GPU and an AMD GPU.

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Include a list of any GPUs you are currently considering or would like opinions on.
I don't really have any thoughts at this point other than that something from two or three generations past would be fine as long as it will work for a while.

I'm open to ideas and arguments, so please discuss.

 

[dontlistentome]

"play some newer games (Mass Effect 3"

That's from 2012.

Given your budget, the age of the games you play, the fact that you aren't a hardcore gamer, the age of your current videocard, and the age of your motherboard, I'd recommend the RX 460 2gb. It's likelier than the new Nvidia cards to be compatible with your motherboard. It's fast enough for the games you play. And it's an improvement over the level of card you've been using.

You could get a GTX 1050 Ti on the high end of your budget but sometimes they require a UEFI bios which your motherboard does not have. I mention this card because your monitor has a higher resolution than the usual 1080p and if you want to game at the native resolution it wouldn't hurt to have a bit more videocard power.

 

[thill3]

"play some newer games (Mass Effect 3"

That's from 2012.

Given your budget, the age of the games you play, the fact that you aren't a hardcore gamer, the age of your current videocard, and the age of your motherboard, I'd recommend the RX 460 2gb. It's likelier than the new Nvidia cards to be compatible with your motherboard. It's fast enough for the games you play. And it's an improvement over the level of card you've been using.

You could get a GTX 1050 Ti on the high end of your budget but sometimes they require a UEFI bios which your motherboard does not have. I mention this card because your monitor has a higher resolution than the usual 1080p and if you want to game at the native resolution it wouldn't hurt to have a bit more videocard power.

It's all old, you're right, dontlistentome. Those parts have lasted me a long time, and most of them are still going.

The forum post template did a good job helping me to communicate the important pieces of information, and I appreciate your taking a look and responding.

Does anyone else have thoughts? Perhaps on which manufacturer to use or some other component that it might be useful to upgrade?

 

[dontlistentome]

I wasn't mocking how old your system is, an i7 920 is still very serviceable. In fact, your system is pretty well put together. I just wanted to make sure you didn't mean Mass Effect Andromeda instead of ME3 since you referred to it as a newer game.