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Started by offtheheezay | | 14 answers
What would be the best GPU upgrade for my PC?
Need help deciding which graphics card I should buy to upgrade my current one. Want to spend $50-$80 but want a nice one that can run games on ultra. All my current PC specs (has windows 7 and GeForce 7200 graphics card instead) are:

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAG...
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a b 4 Gaming
a b ) Power supply
a b V Motherboard
a b U Graphics card
July 28, 2014 11:01:55 AM

offtheheezay said:
Okay awesome. Thank you so much for all your help and I appreciate the fast responses! Time to upgrade to a 3.0 and enjoy gaming A LOT more.


No worries! Glad I could help :D 

Enjoy your new card! Let me/us know if you have any issues after it arrives. :) 
July 28, 2014 10:53:34 AM

Okay awesome. Thank you so much for all your help and I appreciate the fast responses! Time to upgrade to a 3.0 and enjoy gaming A LOT more.

Best solution chosen by offtheheezay

a b 4 Gaming
a b ) Power supply
a b V Motherboard
a b U Graphics card
July 28, 2014 10:23:07 AM

offtheheezay said:
Yeah I could probably do that. The EVGA is nice. I've heard that 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, & 3.0 PCI-E cards are and also are not all backwards compatible. Would either of those really be compatible and work with my current mobo? (which is the M2N78-LA (Viola) motherboard)

Picture: http://tinypic.com/r/hwlhsl/8

Also, I won't be able to do any upgrades to the PSU until I get a new motherboard sadly. :/ 


I can't find which version (2.0, 2.1, 3.0 etc) that motherboards x16 PCI slot is. I do believe it will work completely fine though. :) 
July 28, 2014 10:19:28 AM

Yeah I could probably do that. The EVGA is nice. I've heard that 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, & 3.0 PCI-E cards are and also are not all backwards compatible. Would either of those really be compatible and work with my current mobo? (which is the M2N78-LA (Viola) motherboard)

Picture: http://tinypic.com/r/hwlhsl/8

Also, I won't be able to do any upgrades to the PSU until I get a new motherboard sadly. :/ 
a b 4 Gaming
a b ) Power supply
a b V Motherboard
a b U Graphics card
July 28, 2014 10:06:15 AM

hang-the-9 said:
offtheheezay said:
Thanks for all the responses. The CPU honestly is not the worst, it can run most games no problem, and the 6 gigs of RAM is definitely acceptable. The main thing I'm worried about is the PSU. I know 460w isn't all that much, but there has to be GPUs better than the one in this pc (Nvidia Geforce 7300 SE/7200 GS) that can run off that. Any recommendations for those GPUs (that are also PCI-E x16)? I could drop about $100 on one.


460w, even from a pre-built system like an HP is plenty for a lower range video card.

The nVidia 750 and 750Ti are great for their power use.
The Radeon 250x or 7770 should also run in your system and may be cheaper than at least the 750Ti

You can also look for good used cards in your area, just make sure you see them running in a game for a while.
Anything from a 9800GT and up should be a good match for your system. Radeon 7750 is also not a bad pick, good power usage for the performance, and can be found used.


Good response, but I already linked 2 of the best choices, if he lives in the US. :) 
a b 4 Gaming
a c 376 $ Windows 7
a b ) Power supply
a b Î Nvidia
a b V Motherboard
July 28, 2014 10:02:16 AM

offtheheezay said:
Thanks for all the responses. The CPU honestly is not the worst, it can run most games no problem, and the 6 gigs of RAM is definitely acceptable. The main thing I'm worried about is the PSU. I know 460w isn't all that much, but there has to be GPUs better than the one in this pc (Nvidia Geforce 7300 SE/7200 GS) that can run off that. Any recommendations for those GPUs (that are also PCI-E x16)? I could drop about $100 on one.


460w, even from a pre-built system like an HP is plenty for a lower range video card.

The nVidia 750 and 750Ti are great for their power use.
The Radeon 250x or 7770 should also run in your system and may be cheaper than at least the 750Ti

You can also look for good used cards in your area, just make sure you see them running in a game for a while.
Anything from a 9800GT and up should be a good match for your system. Radeon 7750 is also not a bad pick, good power usage for the performance, and can be found used.
a b 4 Gaming
a b ) Power supply
a b V Motherboard
a b U Graphics card
July 28, 2014 9:54:38 AM

offtheheezay said:
Thanks for all the responses. The CPU honestly is not the worst, it can run most games no problem, and the 6 gigs of RAM is definitely acceptable. The main thing I'm worried about is the PSU. I know 460w isn't all that much, but there has to be GPUs better than the one in this pc (Nvidia Geforce 7300 SE/7200 GS) that can run off that. Any recommendations for those GPUs (that are also PCI-E x16)? I could drop about $100 on one.


If you can stretch that budget at all, this would be the best choice. :)  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

If you can't spend over 100, this is the next best option. It's $80 after a $20 rebate :)  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Edit; that PSU is pretty horrible, but it should be okay to power either of the 2 cards I listed above. If you can buy another PSU, I'd highly recommend it. If not, it should still be okay. :) 
July 28, 2014 9:49:33 AM

Thanks for all the responses. The CPU honestly is not the worst, it can run most games no problem, and the 6 gigs of RAM is definitely acceptable. The main thing I'm worried about is the PSU. I know 460w isn't all that much, but there has to be GPUs better than the one in this pc (Nvidia Geforce 7300 SE/7200 GS) that can run off that. Any recommendations for those GPUs (that are also PCI-E x16)? I could drop about $100 on one.
a b 4 Gaming
a b ) Power supply
a b V Motherboard
a b U Graphics card
July 27, 2014 10:02:45 AM

The 9800GT is the best you can do for that age of pc, sorry, the only other viable option being a gtx 750 as far as performance goes, but even that low end gpu will run $150 or so. Basically what you're trying to do is put some 'Air Jordans' on a Grandma. It'll look cool, cost a lot, but at the end of the day... No dunk.

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