Help with a graphics card!

[perpy]

Hey guys, at the moment I have a Nvidia geforce gt 220 and I feel I need to upgrade it as I would like to play most games in ultra. I am wondering whats the best graphics card for around the £250-£300 range and how can I tell if it is compatible.
Thanks guys, I will much appreciate all responses

 

[welshdragon]

What is the rest of your system? I would suggest maybe an ATI 6950 (can then hopefully be flashed to 6970) depedant on your system. You may see gains in other areas if your system is not too good.

 

[Leeroy123]

ive just ordered 2 x EVGA 460 1 gb cards for 330 delivered. dont know if that would be of interest to you. Meant to be really good in sli.

 

[Skyrocket]

Get a 570gtx, there are some floating about for £250-260 which make them great performance wise.
In £200 region I would say 6950.

 

[perpy]

What is the rest of your system? I would suggest maybe an ATI 6950 (can then hopefully be flashed to 6970) depedant on your system. You may see gains in other areas if your system is not too good.

Its a hp pavilion elite hpe, its got an [email protected], 6gb of ram, 750gb hardrive, not sure on the mother board...I'll see if i can find the manual.

 

[perpy]

And furthermore would I need more cooling for a more powerful card?

 

[sadbuttrue]

If you're running a pre-built system you had better check the 12v amps the PSU can provide. A quick google suggests your PSU is rated for 300wats TOTAL. If this is true, it will almost certainly explode with a gtx570 installed. Heck, it's probably living on the edge with your existing low-powered graphics card.

 

[Fx-Overlord]

And furthermore would I need more cooling for a more powerful card?

All cards come with reasonable cooling solutions. Some are better than others. It is commonly accepted (in your price range) that the 570gtx has the best stock cooler. Most tend to exhaust their heat through the back of the case but still, be prepared for increases in case temperature. Are all of your fan slots taken up?

Another few issues:

a) If PSU is only 300W, it will need upgraded. Post the 12V amp rating (sometimes on the back/sides of the PSU)
b) i5 2.67 will likely bottleneck the a 570gtx and 6970 (perhaps maybe even a 6950)
c) What resolution do you game at? You will need at least 1080p or again video card becomes bottle necked because of low resolution and low cpu power.
d) How long a card will your case accept? (570gtx/ 6950 and 6970 are around 270mm in length. Next batch of cards are around 250mm, then the next 220mm. Googling the gt220 length suggest 160-170mm for comparison)

 

[Barzini]

In the £250-£300 range the obvious choice is either a Radeon 6970 or Geforce GTX 570. However, as you have a poor PSU, you coudl look at buying a 6950 for £220ish and spending the rest on a new PSU. From personal experience Corsair PSUs are awesome, try buying a modular PSU if you have limited case space.

 

[perpy]

All cards come with reasonable cooling solutions. Some are better than others. It is commonly accepted (in your price range) that the 570gtx has the best stock cooler. Most tend to exhaust their heat through the back of the case but still, be prepared for increases in case temperature. Are all of your fan slots taken up?

Another few issues:

a) If PSU is only 300W, it will need upgraded. Post the 12V amp rating (sometimes on the back/sides of the PSU)
b) i5 2.67 will likely bottleneck the a 570gtx and 6970 (perhaps maybe even a 6950)
c) What resolution do you game at? You will need at least 1080p or again video card becomes bottle necked because of low resolution and low cpu power.
d) How long a card will your case accept? (570gtx/ 6950 and 6970 are around 270mm in length. Next batch of cards are around 250mm, then the next 220mm. Googling the gt220 length suggest 160-170mm for comparison)

All fan slots are taken up, I game in 1080p when i checked the psu earlier it said max power was 460w, max combined power was 385w? and next to the 12va it had 16A so I presume thats what you were asking. Also Im not sure if I can fit a longer gfx card in, how do i check?
and thanks for the help everyone!

 

[Orcvader]

Any chance of a picture of inside the case?

Looks like you definetly need a new PSU.

Also that i5 will bottleneck a good card in that price bracket. Too bad it's a prebuilt PC with a locked BIOS, you could have overclocked it to perhaps 4ghz.

 

[Fx-Overlord]

Wow 16A on 12V rail is very low. My 6 year old tagan has 28A on the 12 V rail. Are you sure that there are not two 12V rails? Perhaps labeled (12V1 and 12V2?). If not, then you'll need a new PSU...

 

[perpy]

Ye I will post a picture of the inside of the case then a seperate one of the psu, cheers for all the help anyway even tho it may look like this could cost me a lot of money haha.

 

[perpy]

Hey here are some pictures I quickly took to see if you could make better sense of what I have or haven't got!

 

[Orcvader]

With a bit of cable management, I say you will have no problem fitting even the longest cards in there.

 

[Mr. May]

if i was you i would go for this

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
XFX ATI Radeon 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £226.72
(£188.93) £226.72
(£188.93)
Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 microATX Motherboard £63.00
(£52.50) £63.00
(£52.50)
Cooler Master GX 650W Power Supply £59.22
(£49.35) £59.22
(£49.35)
Sub Total : £290.78
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £60.06
Total : £360.34


new motherboard would let you get a lot more out off that cpu even with the stock cooler at least 3.2 maybe more

psu your gonna need with any you make in your system as stock system psu are normally the bare minimum as it saves on money for the supplier

and the gpu can be unlocked to 6970 performanse and with an i5 and 6 gb of ram you'll be able to power through anything out there

 

[Fx-Overlord]

You should be able to fit up to 250 mm cards (460gtx, 5850, 5870, 6850, 6870). 270mm cards (570gtx, 580gtx, 6950, 6970) might be obstructed due to the sata connector on the hard drive. You should be able flip the hard drive upside down so that you can fit 270mm cards.

The PSU has 32A combined on the 12V rail although i'm used to rails having the same ampere rating rather than different (16, 15 and 8) in this case. I would guess a 5870 and 6950 would run ok. Maybe a 570gtx and 6970...

Now with such a low CPU speed anything above a 5870, 6950 is going to be wasted. Perhaps wait for the 560gtx rumoured to be out later this month.

 

[coupe69]

new motherboard would let you get a lot more out off that cpu even with the stock cooler at least 3.2 maybe more

New motherboard would inevitably mean new OS license, and you're already sixty quid over budget

I'd go for something along these lines:

A quality power supply that will last you years to come with enough power for any single card on the market.

The graphics card will be a massive leap compared to your GT220.

And finally a case that has good airflow for this and any future upgrades. Doesn't have to be that case, there's a few good 'uns for around sixty quid


As mentioned by Mr May high high end video cards will be held back somewhat by your CPU being at stock values.

Unfortunately the only way to sort this would involve buying a new mainboard and operating system license as your current OS will be OEM and linked to your current board. Perhaps you could make that your next upgrade

 

[perpy]

I have decided to up my budget to £500 but if that is the case I might as well ebay my old computer hopefully getting 400-500 for it and make a new one from scratch??

 

[Scuzzy]

I have decided to up my budget to £500 but if that is the case I might as well ebay my old computer hopefully getting 400-500 for it and make a new one from scratch??

I think you may struggle in getting £400 - £500, is that with a monitor also?? I'd say around < £350