Upgrading graphics card need some advice?

andromeda76

Hi all,
I very new to pc gaming and need some advice on what graphics card I should upgrade to. I don't even know if I can upgrade just the graphics card or wil I have to get other components to run a newer (more powerful) card. I will write the pc spec below. I really am new to this, so please be patient if I ask a silly question. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Pentimento D dual core 3.0ghz processor.
Windows 7 ultimate.
Nvidia GeForce 8800gts 512mb (Dx10).
Kingston ram 4 gigabyte of PC2-5300 DDR2 667.
Soundblaster extreme music card pic card(5.1 surround).
160 Gb seagate barracuda.
Sata 7200 hard disc drive.

Now lads, don't be fooled into thinking I know what all of the above means. The only reason I have the above info is I got a print out of the spec of the pc when I bought it from a chap of boards.ie.

I mostly play skyrim on 1920*1080 with low detail settings. Looking to spend €300 max on a graphics card. Would a card at this price make a difference? Again any help would greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your time.

Procrastastudy

You can game very happily on an old PC with a good gfx card. Yes you wont get the same frame rates as someone with a swanky new machine but you will see a massive improvement.

Firstly does your motherboard have a PCI express slot? If you're unsure open the side and take a photo and post it here.

After that its really down to the card you want. Perosnlly I'd go for something like a AMD 6870 for about €140. You could look at a 7950 for around €350. I'm not great on the nVidia cards but I think a GTX670 (best of the three I've posted) is around €400.

Personally on your spec though I'd be looking for something around 6870 money.

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ati__amd/20080832/sapphire_radeon_hd_6870_1gb_pci_e/details.aspx

I've linked Komplett as they are the easiest to get stuff from. Hardwareversand will be cheaper but factor in delivery.

With a budget of €300 you may want to think about an SSD - but I'll leave you to go look that up. Its basically a very fast Hard drive which will speed up loading times nd make the PC seem smoother.

MrGeneric

Please wait for someone more knowledgeable to weigh in, but my feeling is that after upgrading the graphics card, you're going to be limited by that old processor. You will see a boost in fps, but probably not enough to justify spending €300.

andromeda76

Thanks for the quick replies. Just check out ssd. So basically a more modern type of hard drive, faster with no internal moving parts? I hope that right? Still have to check the motherboard for pci port, and I'll get back to you. Thanks again lads.

Procrastastudy

It needs to be a PCI Express x16 slot. Be careful as PCI isnt the same thing.

Also have a look for the wattage of your PSU - should be written on the side in big letters like 400W or something. Make would also be useful.

Procrastastudy

MrGeneric

I think it needs to be emphasised that while a SSD is a great upgrade in general, if your primary motivation for upgrading is to improve gaming performance, your money will be better spent elsewhere.

The 8800GTS uses a PCI slot, so you do have one. It won't hurt to open the pc up and familiarise yourself with the internals if you intend on replacing it though.

ShadowHearth

my advice would be to get cheap cpu q6600 of adverts. i presume thats dual core cpu you got there, so q6600 should go in easiliy.

then get 6870 for around 150eu, no point getting anything faster in that pc.
you will have around 200eu to play with and from there you can: put 200eu in to biggy bank untill you save up for new system. or you could get 128gb ssd like octane. i doubt your pc got sata3, so no point going for fast modern one.


on the other hand: you got 400eu, if your PC is a custom build, then you might as well keep hdd, psu ( if its good ), case, then buy i3 2120 cpu, z77 mobo( for future upgrades ) and 6870 gpu.

MrGeneric

I'm not convinced a Q6600 would be a worthwhile purchase.

Here is a comparison between one and a similar CPU to the one owned by the OP.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/404?vs=53

andromeda76

Thanks for all the replies lads, most of the last few comments have gone right over my head to be honest. I think the power output is 350 watt, does that sound right? So a new ssd and the above mentioned graphic should be ok? Is there anything else I'm missing out on. As I said before am I band new to all this.

Procrastastudy

Short and simple - buy a 6870 for about 150 and leave it at that

350w should hopefully do it if you only have one HDD and aren't over clocking.

ShadowHearth

MrGeneric wrote: »

I'm not convinced a Q6600 would be a worthwhile purchase.

Here is a comparison between one and a similar CPU to the one owned by the OP.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/404?vs=53

isnt OPs just a core duo? not the one you looking in to?

to be honest i never heard of stuff like "Pentimento D dual core"

Procrastastudy

ShadowHearth wrote: »

isnt OPs just a core duo? not the one you looking in to?

to be honest i never heard of stuff like "Pentimento D dual core"

I thought it was the Spanish one

andromeda76

So with the 6870 I should see some difference? Thanks for your patience lads much appreciated.

MrGeneric

ShadowHearth wrote: »

isnt OPs just a core duo? not the one you looking in to?

to be honest i never heard of stuff like "Pentimento D dual core"

I had to take a guess based on the limited information, but the Core Duos are successors to the Pentium D line. Here's a comparison against a 3GHz Core Duo http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/56?vs=53

If he upgrades the graphics card or gets a SSD, they can be taken to a new system further down the line. The Q6600 doesn't have that going for it.

GarIT

Do you have the licence key for Windows? If you don't you may have trouble changing to a SSD.

I would also recomend upgrading the GPU and the HD. There was a decent SSD for around €100 in Bargin Alerts the other day.

andromeda76

Ok so I think I'll go for 6870, but now I see That there is different brands.
Vtx3d
Asus
Amd
Shapphire
His.
All are radeon 6870 hd. Just wondering what the difference is as they vary in price and which one would be best for my needs, ie gaming. Cheers.

Eboggles

They are all the same card, just some have better fans for cooling, some are quieter etc. A good rule of thumb is to get the cheapest non-reference one.

Monotype

Guys, be careful what you're recommending! I assume 'Pentimento' is a typo or something but the Core 2 line are generally not compatible with Pentium D motherboards, even though they're both socket 775. That's an old CPU. Quite inefficient very early dual core. Not the same as the later pentiums which were the line below the core 2s.
To be honest, the graphics card is actually one of the better parts of the system. Probably a replacement for an earlier card as that's a later generation. I suppose a 6870 wouldn't be a dreadful waste of money if you knew that the titles you are playing are particular intensive on the graphics card. I certainly wouldn't go wasting any more money than that though. A new €30 CPU would be better but unfortunately it would mean an entire replacement of the rest of the computer.

Finally, I wouldn't rush out and get an SSD either. With a system that old, you could have SATA 1.5Gbps. While I'd still say to go for an SSD with SATA 3Gbps, that would be too much of a constriction here, in my opinion. You'd have to check out the motherboard though. CPU-Z from cpuid.com will tell you the model of the motherboard on the motherboard tab.

I'd figure that a new video card would be wasted on a Pentium D tbh (probably a 925 if clocked at 3.00 GHz). It's based off the P4 NetBurst architecture and is very inefficient despite being clocked that high - even an E4300 Core 2 Duo would blow it out of the water despite being nearly half the clock speed.