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Looking for new graphics card to run lastest games.

Hitman_UK

Hitman_UK

Hitman_UK

Associate
Joined
10 Dec 2009
Posts
180
Location
Hampshire
hello people i'm looking to buy a new graphics card to run the lastest games black ops ... etc.

my motherboard is ASUS P5N-E SLI

and my graphics cards at the moment are 256mb Geforce 7300 GS and its got 2 of those.

and my power supply is 550 w

so can you suggest me a new graphics card they that should be all i need to run new games. will i need to upgrade my wattage for a new graphics model?

other specs.

DualCore Intel 2 Duo E6400 2.13 GHz
Windows Xp 32 bit (can change)
2gb ram (takes up to 8gb)

budget around 100-150 should run the last games right or less?. i got more money but do i need to pay more?
 
What res do you play at? This is essential otherwise we might spec you a card not good enough or a card much better than you need
 
First I'd learn how to overclock and push your CPU speed up as a GTX 460 1GB or 5850 would be a little choked with your CPU at stock.

So grab a GTX 460 1GB card, 5850 or maybe even a 6850. Check some reviews regarding these cards and look at what they are giving out in frames per second to make your choice but do not expect the same performance as the reviews and benchmarks you will be reading due to your CPU. Even after you overclock it, it will still drag in comparison to what you're seeing on review sites.

I went from a E2180 2Ghz overclocked to 3.2Ghz and switching to this i3 is like night and day between this system and lasts. I tried Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Medal of Honor which struggled a little bit with my HD4870, 4GB of RAM and E2180. Now it's running amazing. (Edit* I did try my HD6950 in my last system and it struggled with Battlefield bad Company 2 but the new system ran it fine, it was my CPU holding back my GPU)

So an overclock will do you well for now to help with your new card but I'd think of upgrading your system in the near future. In fact, even a 775 Quad in your current system would help a lot and wouldn't require a lot of money.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/164?vs=180
 
Last edited:
AndyH_Lufc said:
What res do you play at? This is essential otherwise we might spec you a card not good enough or a card much better than you need
Click to expand...

well its on 1400x900 at the moment i got a 1080p monitor so ill hook it up to that so 1920x1080 i guess? haven't played any high graphic games on my card 7300 is struggling.
 
You'll see a noticeable increase with either a 1gb Gtx 460, 6850 or a 2nd hand 5850.

All which can be bought for around or less than £150.

Only downside is that your cpu will stop you getting the full benefit from these cards, as it will hold them back unless you overclock it.

And just for future info, your motherboard might take 8gb of ram but windows xp will only ever use 2gb of that. If you need to use more than 2gb, you'll want to move to a 64bit os like Windows 7 x64.
 
Most of the latest games require a quad core or a heavily oc'd high end dual for them to run well and alleviate any major bottlenecks with the gpu.

Personally I'd overclock your cpu (depending on cooler), add another cheap 2GB ddr2 and change to win7 (retail, not oem). Then I'd look at a good second hand card like a 4870.

Either that or save up for a rebuild, but this is entirely dependant on your budget.
 
Hitman_UK said:
well its on 1400x900 at the moment i got a 1080p monitor so ill hook it up to that so 1920x1080 i guess? haven't played any high graphic games on my card 7300 is struggling.
Click to expand...

Based on the processor you have etc. If you can't overclock that to at least 3.0ghz maybe look at getting a second hand dx10 card such as a 4890 and use the money saved to upgrade your processor and ram or something.

If you only upgrade your graphics card, chances are it will be held back by your cpu in a number of modern games
 
Unfortunately, even with shiny new GPU (GTX 460 768MB would be my pick) your CPU will hold you back in modern games. For example, the minimum specs of CO:Black Ops is a Core 2 Duo E6600 and BF:BC2 is another CPU-heavy game that makes use of quad cores.

If your budget it up to £150 - I would suggest going for that £114 GTX 460 (linked above) and a decent CPU cooler like this to overclock your CPU as far as you can.

Then you can get the very best out of the CPU you have and stay within your budget. If you find you still need more CPU power - then you will need to do a full system upgrade (your current board does not play well with quad cores), but you will be able to carry your new GPU and CPU cooler over.
 
I have overclocked it with the bios AI Overclock to 30% and it is running at 2.55 but obliviously that is just a standard setting and i can get more out it but it i need to learn how to overclock it properly.

I wanted a motherboard with usb 3.0 but i believe you need newer processor to work with those or P55 or X58 with a usb 3.0 expansion card.

so i don't think this is in my budget yes it is ideal to build a new pc but i don't have the money at the moment.

I've got £300 to upgrade my system. you could build a pc with that but it would be low end so i think upgrading is option at the moment.?

thanks for help .
 
Im running the same board as you (P5N-E SLI, BIOS : 1406).

These boards have major issues posting with 5XXX series cards as well as 6XXX cards. This is due to the nForce controller on the board itself. The bios revision i am running tried to amend the issue, but many people are still having difficultys.

Anyhow the board is a decent overclocker if done correctly!

I have my E6750 @ 3.69Ghz with my memory at 819Mhz
(Crucial Ballistix 4GB)
I am also running a SSD which makes things quite a bit better for me and a
HD4870 512mb at 825Mhz core clock and 1010Mhz Memory Clock.

I had major issues with the AI overclock when i began overclocking this board. Best to do it all manually.

Good luck :D
 
Bunyan said:
Im running the same board as you (P5N-E SLI, BIOS : 1406).

These boards have major issues posting with 5XXX series cards as well as 6XXX cards. This is due to the nForce controller on the board itself. The bios revision i am running tried to amend the issue, but many people are still having difficultys.
Click to expand...

Ah yes! Forgot about that. My mate had a P5N-E board with a q9550 and he had endless issues with the 4xxx series cards as well a year and a half ago. Ended up going with and staying with nvidia in the end, so that'd be my advice to you unless you want to risk it with the latest bios revision.

I'd personally stick with nvidia though and save any potential hassle :)
 
If you need USB3 then you can plug a controller card like this into any free PCIe slot on your current motherboard - no requirement for a new system for that particular feature.

If you are willing to sell your current kit then £300 is pretty decent basis for a nice upgrade. A Phenom II X4 955 quad core CPU costs £114, a decent AM3 board costs £57 and 4GB DDR3 RAM costs £40. Thats a total of £211 for the CPU, mobo and RAM. If you assume that you can get £50 for your current CPU/mobo/RAM then that's a cost of £161 for the upgrade.

This leaves you with £139 to upgrade the graphics card. In this case the ASUS GTX 460 768MB or AMD HD 6850 would be good options.
 
cmndr_andi said:
If you need USB3 then you can plug a controller card like this into any free PCIe slot on your current motherboard - no requirement for a new system for that particular feature.

If you are willing to sell your current kit then £300 is pretty decent basis for a nice upgrade. A Phenom II X4 955 quad core CPU costs £114, a decent AM3 board costs £57 and 4GB DDR3 RAM costs £40. Thats a total of £211 for the CPU, mobo and RAM. If you assume that you can get £50 for your current CPU/mobo/RAM then that's a cost of £161 for the upgrade.

This leaves you with £139 to upgrade the graphics card. In this case the ASUS GTX 460 768MB or AMD HD 6850 would be good options.
Click to expand...

Great advice ;).
 
Nocky24 said:
Ah yes! Forgot about that. My mate had a P5N-E board with a q9550 and he had endless issues with the 4xxx series cards as well a year and a half ago. Ended up going with and staying with nvidia in the end, so that'd be my advice to you unless you want to risk it with the latest bios revision.

I'd personally stick with nvidia though and save any potential hassle :)
Click to expand...

This board has no issues AT ALL with 4XXX series GPU's.
 
cmndr_andi said:
If you need USB3 then you can plug a controller card like this into any free PCIe slot on your current motherboard - no requirement for a new system for that particular feature.

If you are willing to sell your current kit then £300 is pretty decent basis for a nice upgrade. A Phenom II X4 955 quad core CPU costs £114, a decent AM3 board costs £57 and 4GB DDR3 RAM costs £40. Thats a total of £211 for the CPU, mobo and RAM. If you assume that you can get £50 for your current CPU/mobo/RAM then that's a cost of £161 for the upgrade.

This leaves you with £139 to upgrade the graphics card. In this case the ASUS GTX 460 768MB or AMD HD 6850 would be good options.
Click to expand...

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/support/detail.asp?techID=201

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/

You can't just use a controller card on any motherboard to use the intensity shuttle which is what i was wanting it for. I wanted to build a new pc around that but would cost around £1000 to build a pc to run it efficiently. At least 2 hard drives raid0 recording uncompressed hd.

but I don't have enough for that at the moment so kind of out of the question.

so do you think i should use the 300 quid i got set aside to upgrade to a upgrade to a half decent pc or save up for a i7 etc.
 
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