New video card
Posted on: May 9, 2012 - 8:48pm
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New video card
I need a new video card but the market is filled with too many.
I'm thinking about the GeForce 550ti but was wondering about other options.
My requirements:
I play lots of online games and while I love intense graphics, my cost needs to be under $300. I also am limited to a system created in 2007 so any thing that requires more than a 450 watt power supply is off the list.
thx
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A GeForce 550ti is a good card. The max wattage draw is just under 250 watts so you should be good with your existing power supply. On newegg you can get one of these for $130 or less so you won't get anywhere near your financial restriction.
I recently built a new computer back in March and purchased a GeForce GTX 560 for it. I have no complaints at all with the performance. Works wonderfully.
"I am an atheist, thank God." -Oriana Fallaci
I actually bought the 650 ($209) but the damn thing is so big I had to remove my heat sink for the CPU which over heats so quickly that the system shuts down.
I bought a new heat sink but it won't fit so I'm going back tomorrow to return them all.
For now I'm going to go down to the 550ti which I believe will fit in the computer. I heard there were problems with the drivers but I think that was many months ago.
I try not to follow the latest and greatest (because I would be tempted and I do not play games) and if you are a gamer already you certainly know better places than this for recommendations.
What I have seen is price is proportional to performance almost without exception. Gamers know too much to overpay and won't buy clunkers regardless of price. I have seen nVidia is better than AMD which is more for getting DVD and even BlueRay video out of low end CPUs which is wonderful for laptops.
That said your computer needs to be replaced but you know that. A quad core AMD machine would get you half way to games without a graphics card. AMD is fine for CPUs and in normal usage you can't see a difference from Intel.
Ignoring all that I don't think I have come across a $300 card that would not work with a 450W PS. So go to Amazon.com and get one that is $300 delivered and no sales tax. Read the buyer reviews for any questions. A grain of salt for some but they are generally reliable.
I will question that a five year old computer can get the best out of a $300 card but that goes beyond the scope of speculation if it is single core. Get the best card and you get the best performance. When you get a new machine the card goes into it.
So what problem are you having deciding?
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My interest is in BOINC projects that use GPUs for processing such as SETI and Einstein. The tradeoffs are different. Two cards in crossfire is of course hugely faster than a $100 card but as the GPU usage is only a fraction of the total processing the improvement per dollar hits diminishing returns at the $70-100 price depending upon how rich you are. At two in crossfire you get better performance per dollar with a second computer even without a GPU.
Jews stole the land. The owners want it back. That is all anyone needs to know about Israel. That is all there is to know about Israel.
www.ussliberty.org
www.giwersworld.org/made-in-alexandria/index.html
www.giwersworld.org/00_files/zion-hit-points.phtml
I bought this case for my new PC. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119213
It's freaking massive. I can literally put my old half tower inside of this thing. Huge fans, amazing airflow. Along with my aftermarket heatsink on the CPU there is no chance anything can overheat in this sucker.
"I am an atheist, thank God." -Oriana Fallaci
The case is one of the most important considerations in building a PC. I bought this one, similar to what you did also a CoolerMaster - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119196&Tpk=N82E16811119196
when I builkt my I7 Quad core last year. I have a PNY NVIDA GeForce GTX 460. I also put an aftermarket Heatsink on my CPU which like you, leaves no chance for overheating.
____________________________________________________________
"I guess it's time to ask if you live under high voltage power transmission lines which have been shown to cause stimulation of the fantasy centers of the brain due to electromagnetic waves?" - Me
"God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks please. Cash and in small bills." - Robert A Heinlein.
Thank you both for case info. I'm considering doing a small RAID5 with the new system now. I don't think buying a new video card is worth it.
I had a server case 20 years ago. It was giant, so big that it is currently housing a server at my mom's work and has been doing so for almost 15 years.
I'm going to Compusa now to look at their shit and get an idea for me to expand my system. I'm also going to look at the monitors too.
I ended up getting a new system but I'm charging it through work. I didn't go all crazy on it, sort of middle of the road. I think the entire thing with case, video, memory, mb, cpu was under 700. I already had the HD's, CD/DVD, etc so swapped them over to the new system.
The new case is nice, but the mb is gay. The ports of the hd's are right up against the frame of where the hd's sit. I had a heck of a time putting my big hands in there to get the cables plugged in.
Over all it's a good setup and will last me another seven years.
I really like the extra fans on the case but I might reverse one to put more cool air in rather than take out hot air.
The memory crowding out other components on a motherboard is a frequent complaint. Most often when adding an aftermarket CPU heatsink/fan.
I don't know why they do that, other than to save a billionth of a second in communication between the CPU and Memory.
"I am an atheist, thank God." -Oriana Fallaci
The design of the mb and the location of the ports for the esata's is like ridiculous. I had to take off both sids of the case to access it and even then I couldn't get to it easily.
The case is designed wrong. The power supply is so close to the one xpress port that the video card (and it's two mongo fans) are pushing air against each other. I'm not sure if the aerodynamics were well thought out.
I've been keeping an eye on the CPU which seems to be steady at 34C and the video card is at 32C.
I'm glad I added the extra fan for the case. I might buy another one and reverse the flow.
Take the side panel off and cool it all with a $7 table fan. All the exhaust fans are there for is to deal with the closed case. I've been doing it for twenty years and no problems ever. Usually I don't even need the cheap desk fan.
And until you find a utility to measure your swap file usage don't think about addiing memory. If you don't know you need more than 4GB you likely don't. At that price you should have 8GB. Added RAM does not improve speed unless it avoids swapping data to disk.
You are not so much concerned with operating temperature as you are with temperature cycling. Cooler is better but a higher constant temperature is better than going from low to high several times a day. Leaving it on 24/7 is better than turning it off and on. A constant 60 is better than 34 to 60 several times a day. BOINC projects are good for keeping a constant operating temperature. You can read all the BOINC projects like seti@home discussion boards and not find a single report of shortened computer life. Since around 2002 I have had at least three on-line at any one time and presently have four. All have been retired for being too slow to keep around. Not a single one for failure.
Jews stole the land. The owners want it back. That is all anyone needs to know about Israel. That is all there is to know about Israel.
www.ussliberty.org
www.giwersworld.org/made-in-alexandria/index.html
www.giwersworld.org/00_files/zion-hit-points.phtml