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need new graphics card

phospho

phospho

phospho

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Joined
8 Apr 2013
Posts
35
not really sure of the best one I could/should get

I have:

OCZ ZT 650W PSU modular
amd athlon 64 processor 3800+ 2.4mhz
generic motherboard that came with the PC - has one PCI-E slot
currently have a GT520 gfx

I'd like to play dota2/csgo on high - right now I get around 30 fps on both of those games on low

do I need to upgrade my processor also?
 
How much are you looking to spend, because to be honest there's no point of spending too much on a graphics card with that system. But a good medium budget card to go for is the Sapphire or Club3d 7870xt if you can find it. I got mine for £160 off amazon but I think the price has gone up.
 
That old CPU is probably still holding back that low end GT520! What motherboard are you using? You can pick up dual core Athlon chips pretty cheap on ebay if you can't afford a complete overhaul ;). I'd probably go for something like a cheap Radeon 5770/6770 with that build, or an equivalent cheap Geforce card (something along the lines of a GTX 550 Ti?).
 
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I have been on this sort of back end system in the past, everyone will always recommend getting a new system, and they are usually correct!

Personally your strongest part is the PSU. Your CPU is a single core, and if I remember right the GT520 was a budget GPU too.

Do you have a budget in mind for the GPU? How much you are willing to spend will help these guys advise.

If you do have a budget, you may be able to aim for something along the lines of an AMD Trinity system with integrated graphics?
Even a cheap dual core Intel based system will cost a bit, even if trying to keep your graphics card a little longer! But would give you an upgrade path.

You may also want to state what monitor you have.
 
I just really want to spend just enough to run dota 2 and CSGO: This system is used for general browsing and for css and dota - but now the new games are out I can't really play them very well so need an upgrade so I can play them smoothly. I have no intention of playing any of the newer games at all (e.g. bf2 etc).

What CPU do you recommend getting?

My motherboard is a ACER E380 T180 MOTHERBOARD MB.S5609.001 MBS5609001

edit: I have a 1360x768 res monitor - I play all my games on 1024x768 or 860x640 resolution.
 
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Also, bare in mind I have a mATX case, and a mATX motherboard so the graphics card has to be fairly small. If measurements are needed then please let me know.
 
What version of Windows are you using?

I would probably grab a 5770/6770/7770 (whatever is cheaper) and then maybe buy a new Pentium + mATX board if you really want to stay cheap. Depending on your OS though you may need to do a clean install of Windows if you do get a new CPU and motherboard.
 
Orcvader said:
What version of Windows are you using?

I would probably grab a 5770/6770/7770 (whatever is cheaper) and then maybe buy a new Pentium + mATX board if you really want to stay cheap. Depending on your OS though you may need to do a clean install of Windows if you do get a new CPU and motherboard.
Click to expand...

Windows 7 32bit

why do I need a new motherboard? Wouldn't a dual core processor be sufficient for my needs?
 
I'm guessing it's a prebuilt Acer PC then? Do you know the PC model? I'm pretty sure it will support all the Athlon X2 processors upto 89W (you may need to update the bios), but i'm not sure about the Athlon II or Phenom I/II chips.

I'd personally go with the Radeon 5770/6770/7770 (all pretty much the same) or a Geforce GTX 550 Ti... All should be small enough to fit in a Micro ATX case and can be picked up pretty cheap.
 
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Googled the motherboard model and it seems the best CPU it can support is the Athlon 64 X2. The architecture is very old, a new CPU even on the same speed will perform better due to the higher IPC.
 
PowerPie5000 said:
I'm guessing it's a prebuilt Acer PC then? Do you know the PC model? I'm pretty sure it will support all the Athlon X2 processors upto 89W (you may need to update the bios), but i'm not sure about the Athlon II or Phenom I/II chips.

I'd personally go with the Radeon 5770/6770/7770 (all pretty much the same) or a Geforce GTX 550 Ti... All should be small enough to fit in a Micro ATX case and can be picked up pretty cheap.
Click to expand...

Hm - how do I update the BIOS?

The model of the computer is a Acer Aspire T180-OA72

If only upto 89W then any recommendations on the best CPU I could get? As for the GFX I read online that the GTX 550Ti is pretty good so I think I'll go for that.
 
phospho said:
Hm - how do I update the BIOS?

The model of the computer is a Acer Aspire T180-OA72

If only upto 89W then any recommendations on the best CPU I could get? As for the GFX I read online that the GTX 550Ti is pretty good so I think I'll go for that.
Click to expand...

It's very hard to find what the best CPU your board can support is due to it being prebuilt from Acer, they sometimes lock down certain CPU models limiting to what you can upgrade. Heck, I can't even see any BIOS updates at all: http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/desktop/aspire_t180.html#bios

The 550 Ti is about on par with the 5770/6770. Because of this, I would get whatever is cheaper.

On the other hand, I gave it a quick go on a spec up for you: YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7750 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £79.99
1 x ASRock H61M-GS Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro Motherboard £38.99
1 x Intel Celeron G550 2.60GHz Socket LGA 1155 Processor - Retail £37.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1333C9D3B1K2/4G) £31.99
Total : £200.36 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Would be a plus side as well if you can sell your current DDR2 RAM, that's worth quite something. This would be a nice boost from what you have currently.
 
phospho said:
Hm - how do I update the BIOS?

The model of the computer is a Acer Aspire T180-OA72

If only upto 89W then any recommendations on the best CPU I could get? As for the GFX I read online that the GTX 550Ti is pretty good so I think I'll go for that.
Click to expand...

There's the 89W Athlon 64 X2 6000+ using the Windsor core clocked at 3.0GHz and there's also another x2 6000+ using the Brisbane core clocked at 3.1GHz. The black edition is 125W but i doubt your motherboard can run it with it's 3 phase power design.

I did find the bios for your PC earlier, but now i can't access the page for some reason (it was dated 09/12/2008 so should support all Athlon 64 X2 chips).


EDIT: I found the latest/last Acer Aspire T180 bios here: http://www.acer.co.uk/ac/en/GB/content/drivers (select Desktop, Workstation --> Aspire --> Aspire T180 and then choose the bios section ;)).
 
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