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Really need some help with a GPU Upgrade

MrElve

MrElve

MrElve

Permabanned
Joined
28 Jul 2010
Posts
662
Location
Grimsby, Lincolnshire.
Okay so I recently have got myself back into gaming on my pc for a bit as xbox is starting to get a bit boring now with all the 10th prestige little 5 year old kids who mod etc.. and I really really want a graphics card upgrade but I dont know if my pc could handle it :(

Here are my specs:
CPU: AMD Athlon II 64 X2 Dual Core 2.7Ghz
RAM: DDR2 4GB Dual Channel @ 800Mhz
PSU: 350w (stock)
GPU: Zotac GeForce 9500 GT
HDD: 300GB SATA
Optical: DVD-RW 22x (i think)
Motherboard: FOXCONN A74MX-S/A74MX-K DDR2

Now I do have a PCI-Express x16 on this motherboard and I was thinking of upgrading to maybe an ATI Radeon HD 5570 but im unsure if wether or not it will be much of an improvement to the graphics card I have at the moment :(

Im willing to spend anything up to £90 for a decent upgrade to help me play games higher than low quality :(, (i.e. Battlefield bad company 2, just cause 2, etc..)

If anybody else could suggest me a GPU please do.

I have also been told that I should upgrade to maybe a 400-500W PSU but some people also said its not necessary unless you upgrade to a big hungry GPU.

all help is greatly appreciated,
Danny.

EDIT: Wether this will help or not, I run on a 19" @ 1440 x 900, just incase it helps..
 
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Guessing that machine is a dell due to the low psu used in it? If so you definately should up your budget (sadly) as you'll need a new PSU to go with a decent enough graphics card to play battlefield bad company 2 on anything above min settings.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-045-OC&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat= would be a good bet but that already takes £53 out of your budget.

Try then get a second hand 4850/4870/4890 or a 5770 to keep as low cost as possible (due to going over budget)
 
Unless your 350W PSU is a decent brand and quality made, I would spend may be £40 on getting a Corsair CX400W instead.

With £50 left, you can probably pick up a 2nd hand 8800GTX or HD4850 kind of cards for around £40ish. If you not getting a PSU, then you can get a 5750 or something.

One thing to bare in mind is that your aged Athlon X2 would also be a limiting factor in Battlefield bad company 2.
 
You're going to be struggling to get a decent video card on a budget of 90 quid, especially when you consider you'll have to upgrade your psu to.

I guess you could get a 9800GT eco which takes all its power from the pci-e slot, this one would fit the bill, and probably work fine on your current psu.
 
What res will you be gaming at? Also, wait and save a little more you will end up with far better stuff that will last quite a lot longer.

James has a good point to try and look for a second hand older card, unless you are really after DX11 I suggest following his suggestion and getting yourself a powerful card from the last generation.
 
Yeah..

It's not a dell, its made by somebody else but i didnt want to say because you're not supposed to really say another manufacturer on a different manufacturer's forum :P

Idk if the PSU is good or not, all i know is it's a 350W =\

Im probably just thinking of building a custom gaming PC at Christmas because my family said if i wanted one really badly they would all chip in for me and give me a budget of £750 ish soo.. yeah :)

oh and by the way, whats so good about 4850/4870/4890's? i look at 5500's etc. and they are cheaper than the 4800's!!! plus people have maxed out crysis on a 4870 and not a 5500?? i thought the 5500 was a better model because its a higher number? =\

I'll post specs of a build im thinking of in a moment, im just finishing it off then maybe i could get some comments?
 
No. The 5500's are low end cards.

I highly suggest holding out till 2011 because a lot of new exciting stuff is coming out.
 
Ok how about this?

92270093.jpg


Watercooling is for if i maybe decide to overclock to 4Ghz, still unsure and trying to find tests :/
 
It highly depends on the brand of that CPU and the amps per rail though. Can't judge it on anything but that. Its like the machine I use. Had a dell desktop partly bought for me (I added some cash) and it came with a 375w psu for an i7 cpu, 6gb ram and a 1tb hardrive. The crappy gt220 it had in it was fine on that, although the psu is a brand even I can't type, let alone pronounce (lol) so for any graphics card upgrade, I had to upgrade my psu also do a proper trusted brand with solid rails on it.

Ended up getting a corsair 550w psu and a 5870 graphics card for it. Works a treat
 
5750 is a little bit out of budget, around £100 ish.. what about the 5570 i suggested earlier or would it be worse or only a tiny change or no change at all?

plus the 5750 would work on my motherboard without spending another 60-70 quid on a new PSU because it requires 2 X 75Watt 6-pin, i dont have that on my PSU... remember its a 350W ATX, it doesnt have PCI pins, to run the 5750 you would want at least 450W minimum..
 
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