[doc eggfan]

I'm looking to upgrade my Radeon HD5450 to something a bit less shit. Don't want to spend more than $100 and it needs to be low profile and quiet. Also needs to work with both Linux and windows (not that that should be much of an issue these days).

I don't really know the specs of my computer, picked it up second hand. The reason I got the HD5450 in the first place was its low power consumption as I wasn't really sure what I've got. Not sure if that needs to be a consideration though, as it's probably a pretty standard psu.

[Extended Play]

After a $10 rebate, this card is $100. Good luck to you! I'm sure this is more than good enough to make Sonic Generations look purdy with dem hi-defernishin gerfics that'll make yeh seh ermagerd! All joking aside, this Radeon HD 7750 is almost as powerful as my 7770, $30 less, fits in a low-profile form factor, and I'll bet it's a lot quieter too.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814202002

Just curious- do request for help topics like this get deleted or thrown away once a problem is resolved?

[acrazyplayer]

Here is an nvidia card that is more or less equal to the 7750, Nvidia 650, plus it would come out a little cheaper.

Also if your looking for pure "bang for buck", while going just slightly over your budget, then I would highly recommened the Nvidia 650 ti. I am currently running the 650 ti with both windows and linux and so far have had it working great. I've never had good luck with an amd card and linux.

[winterhell]

Stay away from Asus. I hear way too often people complaining about them. I'm going to second the GTX 650 recommendation.
As for the system, you can see the major specs(CPU and Ram size) in the My Computer properties.

[doc eggfan]

Yeah, I wasn't posting from my computer at the time, so I couldn't refer to it

Core 2 Duo CPU E8300 2 x 2.83GHz and 4GB RAM - not exactly top of the line but it does ok.

Is there a point where the GPU will be held back by the CPU, or will a better graphics card always be better?

[winterhell]

There are already games that wont be able to reach 60 fps with your CPU. For Sonic titles you are probably safe for the time being.

[doc eggfan]

Zotac GTX 650

Vs

Sapphire HD 7750

Hmmm?

Leaning towards the first, as I have had some minor compatibility issues with my Sapphire HD 5450 running on my TV via HDMI

[Covarr]

winterhell, on 21 May 2013 - 02:55 AM, said:

Stay away from Asus. I hear way too often people complaining about them.

I've noticed this trend too, but only recently. I remember a time when they made among the best hardware, and I'm sad that their quality standards have dropped so much. At least their tablets are still great.

I recommend EVGA. I've used a few of their products, including my current GTX 660 Ti, and I've been very satisfied with them. They seem to get better reviews than some of the other manufacturers as well, so it's not just good luck on my part.

[Extended Play]

doc eggfan, on 21 May 2013 - 08:59 AM, said:

Zotac GTX 650

Vs

Sapphire HD 7750

Hmmm?

Leaning towards the first, as I have had some minor compatibility issues with my Sapphire HD 5450 running on my TV via HDMI

The two video cards are really on even parity plus or minus 1% in terms of GFLOPS. The biggest difference is how well the drivers work in certain games. I know WoW runs better on AMD/ATi cards, but the split is really about 50/50. If you have certain games in mind that you will play the most, watch benchmarking comparisons on youtube.

Otherwise, I would recommend the 7750 based off of the satisfaction I have with my 7770. Good luck to you!

EDIT: The 7750 also seems to have a slightly smaller profile. I don't know if it matters that much to you given you really only need for the card to fit inside a low-profile slot.

EDIT2: I would also be wary of ZOTAC. Their brand of cards has the least favorable (but not bad) reputation on newegg. I gravitate toward MSi and Sapphire, but that's just me.

This post has been edited by Extended Play: 27 May 2013 - 11:39 AM

[doc eggfan]

Cheers for the advice. I ended up going with the Zotac. I wanted to give Nvidia a go this time, seeing as AMD's driver doesn't seem to like my TV. Also, it uses less power, so should be less chance of having any problems. I am a bit concerned that the dimensions of the card that are quoted appear to be larger than a standard low profile card, but looking at it side by side with the Zotac 640 low profile, they appear to be the same size and the 640 is quoted with the correct dimensions. I took a punt and if it doesn't fit I'll send it back to Amazon (New Egg doesn't ship outside of US ) and get a 7750 instead.

I was looking at upgrading my Core 2 Duo to an i3 as well, but it appears that I'd have to upgrade my motherboard as well. While not impossible, I'd just rather not bother with the hassle at the moment, and fitting all new stuff in my low profile case would probably be problematic. Also, this is probably one of the last boards that still supports a parallel port, which I use for my Tototek flashcart, which reportedly doesn't work on a PCI or USB parallel port.

I am thinking of maybe getting a SSD Hard drive, or even some more RAM (currently on 4Gb), but not sure.

This post has been edited by doc eggfan: 25 May 2013 - 08:18 AM

[Extended Play]

doc eggfan, on 25 May 2013 - 07:59 AM, said:

Cheers for the advice. I ended up going with the Zotac. I wanted to give Nvidia a go this time, seeing as AMD's driver doesn't seem to like my TV. Also, it uses less power, so should be less chance of having any problems. I am a bit concerned that the dimensions of the card that are quoted appear to be larger than a standard low profile card, but looking at it side by side with the Zotac 640 low profile, they appear to be the same size and the 640 is quoted with the correct dimensions. I took a punt and if it doesn't fit I'll send it back to Amazon (New Egg doesn't ship outside of US ) and get a 7750 instead.

I was looking at upgrading my Core 2 Duo to an i3 as well, but it appears that I'd have to upgrade my motherboard as well. While not impossible, I'd just rather not bother with the hassle at the moment, and fitting all new stuff in my low profile case would probably be problematic. Also, this is probably one of the last boards that still supports a parallel port, which I use for my Tototek flashcart, which reportedly doesn't work on a PCI or USB parallel port.

I am thinking of maybe getting a SSD Hard drive, or even some more RAM (currently on 4Gb), but not sure.

I have an SSD, and so far I love what it does for me. I have the 60GB OCZ Agility 3 connected with a SATA III Cable, and the speed at which everything loads is amazing. Now that SSDs are a little cheaper, I would go with a 120GB SSD (for $95-$110) and get the Hard Drive later.

By the way, if you're going to upgrade your motherboard, why not just switch to AM3+? You can get a quad core Phenom II for only $100, and from what my friend tells me, it's about 75% as fast as my $225 Core i5 3570k. If I would have thought more about it, I would have just bought the Phenom II and then upgraded to something else in the AM3+ socket once AMD releases something significantly better than the Phenom II. Come to think of it, I'll bet you could still find a Phenom II x6 or something on ebay.

There are a lot of things I wish I would've just waited 3 months to buy with a bunch of sudden price drops and new tech introduced in late 2012. Lately, I'm starting to regret my decision to build this $850 PC with the PS4 on its way having comparable power and a Blu-ray drive for what's rumored to be ~$450.

EDIT: If nothing else, at least it's a good place to host Call of Duty games and IRC chat. I'll be putting 32GB of DDR3 in it which should hopefully make it good for handling multiple matches.

This post has been edited by Extended Play: 25 May 2013 - 07:17 PM

[Hinchy]

My friend just upgraded to a Zotac 650 and he's really happy with it. Good choice.

[doc eggfan]

Cross post with pick up thread

Quote

Starting to get some components to upgrade my computer, starting with a gtx 650

[SoullessSentinel]

Rather than create a new thread, I figured I should post here since it's still on the first page, and recent.

My current desktop is running from an on board Geforce 6100, so almost anything would be an upgrade, however, I do have a 9800GTX+ that is still in possession of my ex-girlfriend at the other end of the country.
I'm looking for a cheap(ish) graphics card, (preferably under £60, but I think this is unlikely) that either equals or improves upon the performance of that 9800GTX.

I run on a 27" Wall mounted 3DTV, at 1920x1080 resolution, however I have no issues running games in 1280x720 if it's required, I would like to avoid resolutions lower than that if possible.

Power usage isn't really an issue, I have a 800W PSU, neither is size, as I have a rather large desktop case.

What are my options, or would I be better off trying to get my 9800GTX+ posted back to me?

[winterhell]

It really depends on what you want and are willing to spend.
http://www.guru3d.co...x_review,3.html

At 1920x1200, very high settings Battlefield Bad Company 2 you get:
9800 GT : 17 fps
GTX 650: 28 fps
GTX 650 Ti: 44 fps
GTX 660 : 67 fps
While 9800 GT is slightly slower than 9800 GTX+, the benchmark should still be relevant.
Also as you know 9800 does not support DirectX 11.
Its worth noting that the new card is going to draw less power and be quieter than your old card.