Advice on upgrading graphics card

etcrane

etcrane

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Hi All,

I'm thinking about upgrading my PC's graphics card and I know my system is dated, having been built in 2008, but I'm looking for some advice on what would be a good upgrade that will give me more power than what I currently have. Here are my specs -

HP d5100t
Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q9550 @ 2.83 GHZ (4 CPUS)
6144 MB RAM

Motherboard Name

ASUS: IPIBL-TX
HP: Burbank-GL8E

Chipset - Intel G33 Express

Front-side-bus (processor dependent) - 1333 MHz

Power output wattage - 460 Watt

Current Card - ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series

I realize the age of my system limits what I can plug in, but any and all recommendations for what the top end of what my system can handle would be appreciated.
 
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I believe it's the 4850 but I'm trying to confirm that right now, as it just shows up as 4800 in most of the specs I'm pulling up on my system.
 
Think I might be looking for a bit more power, but thanks for the offer. I'm finding that most of the latest stuff requires more power than my system has, but do you guys think a lower end Nvidia card could work like a 550 or 650 TI?
 
You should be fine with the 650, but u might want to up the power supply to a 650 Watt to be safe. The ps is something that in my experience fails first anyways, and you got a decent run out of your current one. Good luck!
 
Hmm, the more I'm reading, the 660 ti seems tempting but I don't know if it would be too much for my system to handle. Just seems like a significant difference between the 650 and 660 models
 
[quote name='etcrane']Hmm, the more I'm reading, the 660 ti seems tempting but I don't know if it would be too much for my system to handle. Just seems like a significant difference between the 650 and 660 models[/QUOTE]

The great thing about a 660 ti is that you can move it to your next rig and in 2-3 years it will still be very relevant. So think of it as an investment :) I love mine. It runs anything on high to ultra settings.
 
660ti is about same price as GTX670 with the sales they have on them spend extra $20-30 get the 670.

Right now Tigerdirect has GTX670 for $310 after rebate. 660ti is $280 after rebate so $30 more.

That CPU And Power Supply is going to limit you.

Also depends on what games you play and what settings you want to play at.
 
Did you buy this computer or build it yourself?

If you bought it from a company it may have a smaller or odd size power supply.

And before you pick an Nvidia or AMD card. See what games your going to play. Then see what card is better suited for those games. Plus go with the newer generation nvidia 6xx cards or AMD 7xxx cards since they are a lot more power efficient. Also Newegg.com has a power supply calculator. So you can see the estimated power supply use.
 
Your computer wont benefit from a card in the 6XX series. 550/560/570 you'll need to upgrade your power supply.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys! Looks like I'm going to think it over a bit more, not sure if its worth upgrading if my current system can't handle a 6XX series or the ATI equivalent. Might just wait and upgrade the whole system next year or something.
 
You can always upgrade the video card. Then upgrade the system or system parts later.

Then at least you can play games at better frame rates and more eye candy.
 
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