Graphics card advice / suggestion - older hardware

[matt_fsr]

Right, I'm trying to put together an OK PC for a friend who's 14, and hasn't enough cash for a full PC. He doesn't know anything about PC hardware, but what I've got so far is this:

Intel Core2 Duo 3.0Ghz CPU
Intel DQ45CB Motherboard
4Gb DDR2 RAM
250Gb SATA HDD
350W PSU

Problem is, I'm aware that there's a "generation jump" between earlier PCI-Express cards, and PCI-E 2.0

It looks like this board supports PCI-E 2.0, but I'm not quite sure where to aim in terms of what graphics card to put with this. (2nd hand of course)

Maximum budget is probably going to be around £50, but for that I seem to be able to find a GTX460 as about the best bang-per-buck, but would that be overkill for the rest of the system spec, and also possibly drawing too much power?

I'd be fairly confident in sticking an old 8800GT in, or a 9800GT (same thing I know) but they seem to have acquired some kind of legendary status 2nd hand, and sell for WAY too much money.

Anyone got anything else that they can suggest or recommend? I'm familiar with the nvidia 'generations' better than ATi, but I'm just hoping to find something that isn't overkill for the rest of the spec.

Cheers

 

[Quartz]

With that small a PSU, you're going to have to be very careful.

 

[eddiew]

An nVidia 650 Ti might suit, giving you similar or slightly better performance than a 460:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/859?vs=781

Or an AMD 7770:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/859?vs=777

Both look like they'll fit in your power budget too, being entry-level, but newish

 

[matt_fsr]

With that small a PSU, you're going to have to be very careful.

Oh I know!

Hence why I'm looking at older cards, and hoping to 'generation match' something similar.

I think the 650Ti and HD7770 are both a bit too new, and probably a bit over his budget as well, sadly. I suspect they'd be quite bottlenecked by a C2D as well.

 

[eddiew]

If you could find a 2nd hand 640, I think that's just a smidge above the old 8800GT performance at half the power burn. Been around long enough that there might be someone who's kicked it out of an HTPC and looking to sell - or they can be had for not much more than £50-60 brand new

Don't believe there's a physical reason why you can't put it into an older motherboard...

 

[varkanoid]

I hope the PSU is a decent make and not one that might tend to go BANG.
A GTX 460 is a good match for a C2D its just that PSU I would be worried about.

I wouldnt worry bout the PCIE 1 / PCIE 2 its not that much of a contention.

 

[matt_fsr]

I hope the PSU is a decent make and not one that might tend to go BANG.
A GTX 460 is a good match for a C2D its just that PSU I would be worried about.

I wouldnt worry bout the PCIE 1 / PCIE 2 its not that much of a contention.

It's a no-particular-brand PSU, but if memory serves me correct it's done ~4 years service without going bang so far, so I'm not expecting it to have any problems. I've a plug-in power meter that I'll check it with once the card is in, to make sure it's not drawing too much power.

So far it's looking like I'm going for a 9800GT, seem to be able to pick them up for around £18-20 2nd hand, which will be far better for the kid as he's skint, hence me 'donating' the rest of the PC chassis.