Help getting new card!

S

spirosx

New Member
I've been struggling to play games like WoW and TF2 for years with this shitty video card, and now I want to play diablo 3 but I'm not about to struggle through the 8 FPS I get in it!

I need a new video card, any suggestions? All I want is to play Diablo 3 and other not super high demanding games at a comfortable level. My price range is about 100 dollars but honestly the cheaper the better. I just want something to run it comfortably until I get a laptop around next winter.

I really don't want to buy a new power supply, but if I REALLY have to could you guys also help me out with that?

Specs:
Vista 64 bit home premium
HP Pavilion a6702f PC
AMD Phenom X3 8550 Triple-Core
4GB RAM
500GB HDD
NVIDIA GeForce 9100 <--- causing the problem right now lol
300W power supply <----- also could be a problem :(

and this is my motherboard
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&dlc=en&docname=c01421635&lc=en

Thanks for any suggestions
 
Last edited:
You are deffinatly going to need a new power supply, so bump up your budget to $160, $60 for great power supply, $100 for gpu, but please up it to $190, 130 for gpu, 60 for power supply, that $30 extra will give a big jump. newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102967 I wont even give you a $100 gpu, they mostly are not good. newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027 Great psu.
 
You might not need to go that high. Here is what I recommend.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127571


You can also move down to a GT 430 if you wish. Performance will not be monumentally different but I would probably go for a 440 over a 430.

The 2 that byteninja2 recommended will beat out what I have here so it is up to you as to what kind of money/performance you want to get.

Edit: What resolution are you playing at?
 
Last edited:
If you must stay at $100, this would be better than a 440 for the same price.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127605&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Video+Cards-_-MSI-_-14127605 Though my other reccomendations would kick the cheese out of this.Use the same corsair 500w.
 
You are still at $160 but you mentioned staying at $100 in your post. :confused:

If you can in other posts please make the links clickable. Just hit enter and put it on a new line. It makes it much easier to navigate.
 
byteninja2 said:
You are deffinatly going to need a new power supply, so bump up your budget to $160, $60 for great power supply, $100 for gpu, but please up it to $190, 130 for gpu, 60 for power supply, that $30 extra will give a big jump. newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102967 I wont even give you a $100 gpu, they mostly are not good. newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027 Great psu.
Click to expand...

Hmm, this is a little bit out of my budget :\

salvage-this said:
You might not need to go that high. Here is what I recommend.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127571


You can also move down to a GT 430 if you wish. Performance will not be monumentally different but I would probably go for a 440 over a 430.

The 2 that byteninja2 recommended will beat out what I have here so it is up to you as to what kind of money/performance you want to get.

Edit: What resolution are you playing at?
Click to expand...

This is interesting, something I could probably do. And I'm not sure, does the resolution matter?

Perkomate said:
You'll run into a CPU bottleneck if you go much above 90 bucks or so.
Click to expand...

What does that mean? :/ Sorry I'm not really tech savvy

Also, what specific specs make a graphics card good or bad? Like what am I looking for in a graphics card? I know for power supplies its the wattage though

Oh and my friend recommended me these:

http://canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=33_442&item_id=026725
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150540

Thoughts? Thanks for all the help so far guys.
 
spirosx said:
What does that mean? :/ Sorry I'm not really tech savvy
Click to expand...

Sure. When the computer processes graphics, the main processing section is the GPU. The CPU also processes data.

When you have a good graphics card but not a good CPU, the CPU will take longer to process the data than the graphics card. It will be running at 100%, while the GPU might be at 40%. The CPU is said to be bottlenecking the GPU, as it is holding back the processing of the data.
The same thing can work the other way, with a really good CPU and crap GPU.

Your processor isn't brilliant, and if you spend $300 instead of $100 or so, you won't see any benefit.

Although of course I could be completely wrong and someone else will have to call me out on it.
 
Last edited:
Perkomate said:
Sure. When the computer processes graphics, the main processing section is the GPU. The CPU also processes data.

When you have a good graphics card but not a good CPU, the CPU will take longer to process the data than the graphics card. It will be running at 100%, while the GPU might be at 40%. The CPU is said to be bottlenecking the GPU, as it is holding back the processing of the data.
The same thing can work the other way, with a really good CPU and crap GPU.

Your processor isn't brilliant, and if you spend $300 instead of $100 or so, you won't see any benefit.
Click to expand...

Right. I'm not too worried about this though since I don't plan to spend over $100 on a card anyway :p
 
Yeah I'm strapped for cash though like if i can just buy the 520 and run it on my psu it could hold me over till I buy a laptop next winter season.

This would be optimal for me. Question is, is it safe to run on a 300w?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top