Upgrading from onboard

[Josh-HL]

Hi there, like to think i know a bit about computers but graphics really arent an area i know a lot about. Always just used computers for my web development/design work, however now i'd like to get into pc gaming as usually a bit cheaper to buy than xbox games, so looking to upgrade my graphics card from the onboard.

PC specs at the moment are:

AMD Phenom II X6 Black Edition 1090T
Asus M4A88TD-V EVO
onboard graphics - ATI Radeon™ HD 4250
4GB DDR3 1600

Could I get a graphics card for around £100 that would be better than the onboard? And if so anyone got an recommendations? Games i play on xbox are modern warfare 2 and black ops, so would want it to run those sort of games.

Any help would be much apriciated.

Cheers
Josh

 

[Josh-HL]

Thankyou for all your replies.

I'm thinking of getting one around christmas time, I could go slightly over £100 if it means getting a better card for the sake of £10/15.

Pretty sure my PSU has a 6 pin connector on it too.

Any idea when the 6xxx series is out?

 

[Josh-HL]

Well i got a bit more money than i was expecting for my birthday the other day, so thinking about getting a graphics card this week and up'd my budget to around 150. Was looking at the gtx 460 768mb as mentioned above then realised they do a 1gb version, the reviews seem good, so tempted to go for this? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-064-GI&tool=3

 

[Josh-HL]

Oh and another thing to mention, I'm using a tv as my monitor, prob not the best thing to do as i doubt its as good quality as a decent monitor. But it only has vga or hdmi so i'd have to use dvi to vga adapter, would that effect the quality of the graphics at all? And ideally the hdmi on the graphics card would go to my normal tv as a secondary output like it does at the moment so i can watch bluray films from the pc on the big tv.

 

[Josh-HL]

So you have two TVs, right?

For the first TV you mention, you say it has "vga or HDMI". If you are using onboard graphics then using the VGA connection would make sense (as dual monitor is only possible with ananlogue + digital output, no digital + digital).

But if you have now got a discrete graphics card then I would suggest connecting both TVs by a digital connection. You can use an adapter like this to allow you to plug in a HDMI cable from the first TV into one of your graphics card DVI slots. As DVI and HDMI carry the same video signal, there will be no reduction in image quality using an adapeter like this.

Yeah sorry I didn't make that very clear. Basically I have a 19" hdmi and vga tv that I use for my main monitor and a 32" across the room for normal tv watching. And at the moment I have my main monitor plugged into the onboard VGA, and my big tv plugged into the onboard hdmi acting as a secondary monitor for when I watch films from the comp. So yeah I was really asking can I use an adapter as most graphics cards just have dual dvi. But that adapter you put a link to would be perfect thanks.

Just need to decide on a card really.

 

[Josh-HL]

Seems like a good price for that card, would it not be getting going for the 1gb version? Or is there not a lot of difference for the extra £20 or so?

 

[Josh-HL]

Well thats annoying, just connected my 19" tv to my comp via hdmi instead of vga for the first time and its really blury! Googled it and it came back as the tv overscanning. But there is no option on the tv to turn it off. There is an option on the on board graphics for over scanning and underscanning, so put it right down but its still just as blury. Looks crystal clear on my 32" sony bravia, but just really blury on this cheap swisstec tv.

So maybe a dvi-hdmi connector wont work on this little tv as its too blury on the hdmi connection :/

I've ordered that card by the way, should be here soon, just might have to use a dvi-vga adapter instead, or get a new monitor...

 

[Josh-HL]

Well i've found a buyer for my 19" tv, so might treat myself to a new a 24" BenQ G2420HDBL led monitor.

Been an expensive few weeks, amd 1090t, just ordered the gtx 460, and going to sleep on it, then hopefully order the monitor in the morning.