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Can I play recent games on this PC if I just buy a new video card for it?

THE_EGG

THE_EGG

THE_EGG

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Joined
27 Aug 2003
Posts
120
Location
West Midlands
Would really appreciate your advice please guys!

Basically I've been trrying to save towards buying a new PC after having own an old Pentium 4 AGP system for the past 10 years when recently I was given a PC that has an Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 2.10GHz CPU at the heart of it and uses on-board integrated graphics.

I've ripped the old PSU out of it and put my old Corsair HX 520W PSU in there and I'd like to be able to play fairly recent games on this PC so the question is - what video card I could get for this system that would not cause a drastic bottle neck with this specific CPU?

The PC was originally designed to be a media centre and uses an Intel mobile CPU and 4GB of laptop style RAM modules but can't see this being an issue.

I have also replaced the original small factor case and it's now all housed in a new Coolermaster Midi-Tower case with some fans.

I was toying with the idea of getting either a 2nd hand Radeon HD 5850 for around £100 or whether to go for a HD 6950 which would have been my video card of choice if I was building a new system.

Would these cars be a complete waste of time as the CPU wouldn't be able to keep up with it?

Help!

This new PC I've been given is faster than my old Pentium 4 AGP system, hence why I'm keeping it. I just want to be able to game on it now :)

Can anyone please offer some advice on whether this CPU matched up with a decent video card will allow me to play recent games?

Cheers :)
 
The CPU is not world changer, but it isn't bad. You'd certainly be able to play modern games on it with reasonable detail settings. But as above, it needs a full length PCI-E slot or it won't be able to take a graphics card.
 
Thanks for the feedback - I've just had a quick look at the motehrboard and there's a single black x16 PCI-E slot and then directly below it a very short black slot. After that there's 2 single PCI slots that currently hold my PCI Soundblaster card and a PCI USB expansion card.

I've got about 30cm of space for a card to fit before it would hit the hard drive cage at the front of the case.

Any ideas on what card I should be going for to be able to play games I couldn't on my old AGP Pentium 4 system like say Modern Warfare 2/Black Ops and Need For Speed Hot Pursuit etc?
 
A 5850 isn't a bad bet, it'll blow your mind compared to whatever AGP 4x card you may have had before.

A 6950 wouldn't be bad either, but the CPU is going to be a bottleneck so I doubt you'll see huge improvements between the 5950 and your 6950 in your current machine.

That said, if you plan on upgrading in the near future, then perhaps a 6950 would be a better long term prospect.
 
Cheers Mike - that's the exact problem you hit upon there.

I was saving towards a Sandy Bridge CPU\Mobo\RAM bundle when the recall notice hit and was given this PC. I don't want to waste say £100 on geting a 5850 when I could get a 6950 for say £200 and then use that in my new PC in April.

But then again it would be good to get a video card for this current PC that matched the CPU so it could be used elsewhere in the house afterwards.
 
If you're just looking for something to tide you over until you buy a whole new PC, a 5850 or GTX 460 768MB would be a perfect card to buy. If you're looking for something you can take from this PC into your next one as well (Something I tend to do. Upgrade PC every couple of years and then alternate between graphics cards in the year of ownership) then the 6950 or maybe even the GTX 480 that's on offer atm, but your PSU might not cope with the 480.
 
good advice that MissChief - if a 5850 will tide me over and let me play games for the next few months on this dual core CPU system then I think thats the best option for me. I just want to know that I can 'drop in' a 5850 and it will work and not have to worry about this dual core CPU slowing it down so badly to the point that it defeats the object and I can't game with it, or that I need a new PSU because it all becomes pointless then if you can see what I mean.
 
Nearly every game these days is GPU dependant rather than CPU dependant but there are a few (badly coded IMO) games that are hugely CPU dependant. The Source engine is quite CPU dependant and GTA IV seems to be hugely CPU dependant as well but most other things only benefit from a faster GPU, although you may have a bottleneck with the CPU but it will be hardly noticable. if you lower your resolution or turn off AA and your FPS doesn't change then your CPU is holding you back. The 5850 is a good card still and would certainly tide you over in your new PC as well if you wished.
 
Yeah with a new card that setup should be fine, dont expect the highest settings though and CPU intensive games like BFBC2 or supreme commander may choke a bit unless their settings are down.

What type of PC is this btw? I looked up the T8100 and it looks like its a mobile cpu of some sort, comes in BGA479, PGA478 forms and as far as i know there were no core cpus for socket 478 unless it was mobile, is it one of these very small pc's with the cpu soldered onto the mainboard?
 
MaxP779 - The motherboard is an ASUS IMISR-VM which uses the Intel GM965 Chipset.

It's a custom motherboard designed for the OEM market.

Here's a pic of the board:

http://www.dusanivanko.com/images/ebay/2011_jan_29_imisr-vm_1.jpg

It uses an Intel Mobile CPU and laptop RAM and is almost silent which is why I like it.

I know adding a HD 5850 to it means it will no longer be silent however..
 
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