Good graphics card on 300w psu?

onzlo

Looking to upgrade my graphics card in my desktop, bought it second hand last weeek. It only has a 300w psu and I don't want to bother upgrading it.

Or a link to a new or second hand one will do either

Specs:
Compaq presario sr 2129uk
500gb hdd
1gb RAM
Core 2 Duo e6300 @1.87
nVidia 7500LE

Thats all I can think of at the mo..Tell me if more info is needed
Thanks!

cherryghost

Any of these would run fine:

AMD:
5670
5570
5550
5450

4770
4730
4670
4650
4550
4350


Nvidia:
GT430
GT420

GT240
GT220
G210
G205

9600GT
9600GSO
9500GT
9400GT
The fastest cards on the list are the 5670, 4770, 4670, GT430, GT240, 9600GT and the 9600GSO.

The 5670 is the 2nd fastest card there and can be picked up for as little as 80 euro. The 4770 is the fastest on offer, but very hard to find due to it's sheer popularity, and AMD have stopped producing them. The 4670 is a nice little card and can be picked up for 65 euro. Any other cards are slower than these, prices vary, and if you're not interested in PC gaming, then the slower cards such as the 4330 or 5450 would suffice.

On the Nvidia side, the GT430 is terribly overpriced and is much slower than most of the ATI cards at the same price and even at 40 euro cheaper. The GT240/9600GT is probably your best bet here. They can be picked up for about 80 euro and perform similarly to the 5670, sometimes faster

So basically, minus the 4770, for PC gaming and HD movies I recommend
5670
GT240
4670

For HD movies etc
GT220
5450
G210
4550
4330

onzlo

Wow, thanks didnt expect to get that many :P
Thanks a million!

Solitaire

If you want to game at reasonably high resolutions and you don't intend on OCing your CPU (much) then you could probably replace the 7500LE with a HD5750 safely Its energy use is around or a bit below the HD4770 mark, actual perfomance a bit higher than the HD4770, and its much easier to find (although more expensive).

If you have lower requirements stick with a HD5670 or lower.

onzlo

I might end up getting an nVidia gt240 and an Intel C2D e6700..would the psu be able to handle that?

Solitaire

Yup. The HD4770/5750 are better and the HD5670 consumes a lot less juice.

cherryghost

How could I forget the 5750!

onzlo

Heres one I found: http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/3805380/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-5750-1-gb-gddr5.html
and another: http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/4642692/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-5670-512-mb-gdd.html

Jonny7

onzlo wrote: »

I might end up getting an nVidia gt240 and an Intel C2D e6700..would the psu be able to handle that?

I would say, get the graphics card first... then play a few games, see how it feels (will be a HUGE luxurious difference from your current card)

Enjoy that for awhile..

then grab another gig of ram from ebay (1 is a little low these days, 2 is fine for budget gaming)

Then, if you still aren't satisfied, go with the 6700 (they still ain't that cheap yet)

ps, one of the pc's I have for the brother has your chip and an ati 4670 and its running everything bar GTA4 on a 19 inch monitor.. 2 gigs of ram as well.. no problems.

onzlo

Jonny7 wrote: »

I would say, get the graphics card first... then play a few games, see how it feels (will be a HUGE luxurious difference from your current card)

Enjoy that for awhile..

then grab another gig of ram from ebay (1 is a little low these days, 2 is fine for budget gaming)

Then, if you still aren't satisfied, go with the 6700 (they still ain't that cheap yet)

ps, one of the pc's I have for the brother has your chip and an ati 4670 and its running everything bar GTA4 on a 19 inch monitor.. 2 gigs of ram as well.. no problems.

Nice, thats the main game I'll be playing.
My monitor is 1280*1024 (19")
Sounds like a plan, thanks man

lmimmfn

onzlo wrote: »

Nice, thats the main game I'll be playing.
My monitor is 1280*1024 (19")
Sounds like a plan, thanks man

GTA IV is the main game you will be playing?

Solitaire

Oh dear...

Even with a 3.33GHz C2D and an OCd HD4830 (think HD4770/5750 performance) I can't quite hit 40fps even on a good day at the same resolution :o

cherryghost

Solitaire wrote: »

Oh dear...

Even with a 3.33GHz C2D and an OCd HD4830 (think HD4770/5750 performance) I can't quite hit 40fps even on a good day at the same resolution :o

Nothing wrong with 40fps. The 360 version runs at 25fps and the PS3 version runs at 23fps, so yeah

lmimmfn

yeah GTA IV NEEDS a quad core, its absolutey unplayable without one, my old C2D OC'd to 3.55Ghz would only manage 33FPS max, but thats not the problem its the fluctuation of framerates, regularly dropping to 17FPS when you turn around quickly.

Its also heavy on the gfx card, needs lots of vram, but also needs a powerful one to turn the gfx options up.

I went quad core and all of a sudden my FPS doubled( same gfx card ) and wouldnt fluctuate much.

cherryghost wrote: »

Nothing wrong with 40fps. The 360 version runs at 25fps and the PS3 version runs at 23fps, so yeah

Its the fluctuating FPS thats the problem, the game uses 3 threads like the 360 one, hence runs like crap on a dual core as its constantly swapping threads in an out. PS3 version ran way smoother for me when i had my dual core( thats saying something as the PS3 version is horribly sluggish with a crap draw distance )

onzlo

Well "main" is not the word I should have used, more like a game I'd like to play with half decent graphic. Ill get other games first like WOW or a racing game. Nothing as heavy as crysis or the likes :P

lmimmfn

onzlo wrote: »

Well "main" is not the word I should have used. Ill get other games first like WOW or a racing game. Nothing as heavy as crysis :P

ahh you'll be fine then, its just GTA IV is probably the only game that needs an uber pc to be playable, unlike Crysis where you can crank down the settings.

Solitaire

Crysis is only bad when set to OMGWTF?!? settings. GTA4 always sucks, and the weaker your CPU, the suckier it gets. You really need a tricore to run it well so it can run all three process threads in hardware, otherwise your FPS will be dropping to single digits every time it gets busy or the CPU is doing something behind the scenes

lmimmfn

Solitaire wrote: »

Crysis is only bad when set to OMGWTF?!? settings. GTA4 always sucks, and the weaker your CPU, the suckier it gets. You really need a tricore to run it well so it can run all three process threads in hardware, otherwise your FPS will be dropping to single digits every time it gets busy or the CPU is doing something behind the scenes

yeah Crysis runs like crap for me with 3 screens @ 3840x1024 even on medium settings, GTA IV on the other hand gets a consistent 50FPS on high settings @ 3840x1024( drops to 40FPS sometimes ).
I tried ATI's new MLAA on GTA IV, makes it look loads better getting rid of the jaggies but knocks 40% off my performance which sux.

Crysis used to run so well on 1 screen, arrrrggghh race to bankruptcy getting hardware.

Solitaire

Hah! At least I'm smart enough to know I'm licked before I even start when it comes to Eyefinity!

lmimmfn

Solitaire wrote: »

Hah! At least I'm smart enough to know I'm licked before I even start when it comes to Eyefinity!

ohh but its just soooooooooooo good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Solitaire

A single 22" 1080p would be enough for me right now!

lmimmfn

Solitaire wrote: »

A single 22" 1080p would be enough for me right now!

lol, id love 1080p screens, but theyre too damn expensive and if i was going to do it it would have to be IPS screens, so erm, wont happen lol. I have a 24" IPS at work, makes me hate my screens at home lol