• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Which GPU for low resolution?

Brumboy

Brumboy

Brumboy

Associate
Joined
11 Jan 2011
Posts
2,403
Hi,

I've currently got an old GeForce 8400GS which came with the computer about 3 years ago. I'm looking to upgrade my motherboard/CPU/memory to H67/i5 2500/DDR3.

So now I'm looking at buying a new graphics card. The monitor I have now is quite old and the resolution I use is 1280 x 1024.

Now I was wondering if the resolution would make a difference when looking at graphics?

All I want to do is to be able to play modern games (recent ones and future ones) at 1280 x 1024 resolution with almost maximum graphic settings.

Do I really need to spend over £100 on a graphics card to achieve this or is there a cheaper card I can get (I was originally looking at the GTX 460 768M for £116 but that's really expensive for me).

Thanks!
 
Anything cheaper than £90?

It looks like at that price range it's between 5770 & GTS 450, which one is better?

Also could I run modern games at almost max settings with a 5570 or GT 430?
 
Personally I would save a bit more and get the XFX 5770 or be looking down the second hand route for one which can be had for around £60 or a 4850. If budget is an issue why not look down the route of an AMD Athlon II Quad rather than i5 2500/H67. AMD build will allow overclocking too. That resolution is very low and I don't think your getting nearly as much as you can from new name or even old games for that matter.

I personally would look at a new monitor and an AMD build.
 
Last edited:
[QUOTE

It looks like at that price range it's between 5770 & GTS 450, which one is better?

Also could I run modern games at almost max settings with a 5570 or GT 430?[/QUOTE]

They are about the same , how much do you want to spend ? would you consider second hand ?

5670 maybe ?
 
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £103.19
(£85.99) £103.19
(£85.99)
XFX ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 630 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £76.79
(£63.99) £76.79
(£63.99)
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £71.47
(£59.56) £71.47
(£59.56)
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP34GB1600C9DC) £41.99
(£34.99) £41.99
(£34.99)
Sub Total : £319.52
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.25
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £66.15
Total : £396.92
 
From reading your other thread you mention you have a Q6600. Why would you want to upgrade to Sandy Bridge i5 2500/H67 and gpu whilst using such a low resolution monitor?! Decent monitor and graphics card would fit perfectly into your current system and perhaps sell the 3GB RAM you currently have for a matched 4GB. This would be the way to get the most from gaming!
 
shadow_boxer said:
From reading your other thread you mention you have a Q6600. Why would you want to upgrade to Sandy Bridge i5 2500/H67 and gpu whilst using such a low resolution monitor?! Decent monitor and graphics card would fit perfectly into your current system and perhaps sell the 3GB RAM you currently have for a matched 4GB. This would be the way to get the most from gaming!
Click to expand...

The Q6600 system I have now is quite old now and I think it's time to get a new CPU. From looking at various topics/sites it looks like the new i5 2500 CPU will last me another 2/3 years just like this computer did.

Are these monitors any good? I have a 19 inch LCD TV monitor right now. Is it really worth buying a whole new one? not sure about that.

The monitor I have now can go up to 1440 x 900, I just use a lower one for some reason.

The 5770 seems to be the best card under £100 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-149-XF&tool=3

Thanks for the help guys!

But one last thing, some people have mentioned you can buy 2nd hand GPU's, where can I buy them?

And where could I sell my Q6600/3GB DDR3 memory?
 
This forum has a very good members market but unfortunately you don't have access to it just yet, requires 3 months membership and 250 posts . Flea Bay is the other option and you'll probably get a bit more money from their but have to deal with deceiving morons and fees.

The Q6600 is still a very good cpu particularly when overclocked. I think it'd be worth posting in the general forum about getting ideas from other folks too. Using the monitor you have with an i5 2500/H67 is an utter waste of money in my opinion. Its not you cpu which is holding you back but the 8400GS.

Thischart shows the relative performance and the 8400GS is going to be somewhere below that of the 9400GT so you will see a huge performance boost.

If I was you...

22" inch monitor
5770
4GB match RAM

If your motherboard supports overclocking get a bit more performance from you Q6600.

From looking at various topics/sites it looks like the new i5 2500 CPU will last me another 2/3 years just like this computer did.
Click to expand...

If its games its struggling with the 8400GS is the route of the problem. Not your Q6600.
 
Last edited:
yeah the q6600 is still an excellent chip, sounds like you have a store bought system from your original post, which means you may need a new psu before you get a 5770, as store bought systems generally dont have psus with enough juice to handle better gfx cards. your mobo will probably be locked so you cant overclock so a new mobo might be useful as the q6600 does better at 3.0 + gigahertz.
 
shadow_boxer said:
This forum has a very good members market but unfortunately you don't have access to it just yet, requires 3 months membership and 250 posts . Flea Bay is the other option and you'll probably get a bit more money from their but have to deal with deceiving morons and fees.

The Q6600 is still a very good cpu particularly when overclocked. I think it'd be worth posting in the general forum about getting ideas from other folks too. Using the monitor you have with an i5 2500/H67 is an utter waste of money in my opinion. Its not you cpu which is holding you back but the 8400GS.

Thischart shows the relative performance and the 8400GS is going to be somewhere below that of the 9400GT so you will see a huge performance boost.

If I was you...

22" inch monitor
5770
4GB match RAM

If your motherboard supports overclocking get a bit more performance from you Q6600.



If its games its struggling with the 8400GS is the route of the problem. Not your Q6600.
Click to expand...
3 months membership? ah damn!

I don't think it's worth buying a new monitor unless I can find a HD one for a very low price, I don't play a lot of games but I do want a future proof system.

I was just enquiring about buying a decent graphics card incase I do want to play modern games at decent settings/FPS.

Why would the monitor I have now be a waste if I upgrade to i5 2500 & H67?
 
jamiehavok said:
yeah the q6600 is still an excellent chip, sounds like you have a store bought system from your original post, which means you may need a new psu before you get a 5770, as store bought systems generally dont have psus with enough juice to handle better gfx cards. your mobo will probably be locked so you cant overclock so a new mobo might be useful as the q6600 does better at 3.0 + gigahertz.
Click to expand...
Yeah it's a Packard Bell iextreme computer which I bought for £500 about 2.5 years ago. It's done well! But I want to upgrade now.

The PSU will have to be replaced since the H67 motherboards require a 24 pin PSU and I have a 20 pin PSU right now.

I think I'm going to buy the Radeon HD 5770 with i5 2500/H67/4GB DDR3 and a new PSU. Should cost around £412 which is good I guess.

Anyway thanks a lot for the help everyone.
 
Ok fair enough. Your doing it properly this time and not buying pre-built. Regarding resolution and gaming. Its definitely worth investing in a better monitor, it much nicer and much more rewarding even if it means cutting back to an AMD Phenom II quad core build. Consider the i5 2500k, even if your not overclocking, resale value will be greater and it doesnt take much to learn about overclocking and getting a considerable boost in performance on stock cooling with with risking the longevity of your hardware. Read some posts in the monitor section regarding 22inch monitors as they can be had for a little over £100!
 
Rossuk89 said:
The monitor I have now can go up to 1440 x 900, I just use a lower one for some reason.
Click to expand...

You really should be running the monitor at that resolution, it will look a lot clearer and the fonts will be sharper. LCD monitors dont like running below their native resolution, with CRT it doesnt matter.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom