New video card for $100?

shinigami

shinigami

New Member
So I'm running a P5KPL MB, 2gb 667 RAM (upgrading to 4gb 800 RAM), 430 w thermaltake psu, e5300 2.6GHz dual core cpu, and an old 8600gt 512mb ddr2 video card.

So I wanna play games like fallout:new vegas, skyrim, borderlands 2, risen 2 etc. Is there something I can upgrade for around the $100 mark? Maybe a better video card?

Any advice? Cheers.
 
Hey there, ultimately I would recommend that you upgrade your system all together, but I know that can be quite expensive.

For now, an HD 7770 would be your best bet.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127687

If you upgrade your PSU, maybe you can get a Q6600 quad core for a place holder. You can pick one up cheap on eBay nowadays, usually under $50.
 
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shinigami; So I wanna play games like fallout:new vegas said:
Sorry for bad news, but i would definitely say buy/build a new system. Wanting to play newer games wrecks havoc on your system if you care about fps.

I have a MSI hd 7770 and i can play all those games, on max settings, BUT i have a 8 core processor... but my frame rate is around 20.
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A 7770 would work fine. Your CPU would start holding you back in some games but the 7770 will definitely give you a boost in performance.
 
johnb35 said:
No it won't. Get a corsair cx500

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027
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Are you sure about that? The Radeon HD 7770 really isn't a very power-hungry card:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7770-7750-benchmark,3135-14.html
If I were you, I would try it with your current PSU and see what your voltages are like when stress testing the GPU. If you have a cheap Thermaltake PSU, it might be risky, but I doubt it. What model do you have?

Also, about your CPU: It looks like your setup is actually pretty similar to mine. :) I've been able to overclock my Pentium E5200 up to 4GHz at a pretty reasonable 1.4v on my Asus P5K Pro; I'm still not quite certain if it's 100% Prime95 stable, but I've been testing it recently and it's pretty darn close. Nonetheless, you could easily get your CPU up to 3.8ish GHz, and probably 3.5GHz without a voltage bump, if I remember my own testing correctly. With that kind of overclock, I think that your CPU probably wouldn't bottleneck a 7770 in the vast majority of games.
 
johnb35 said:
The thermaltake 430 watt is a crap unit. I had one. Also got one for a client of mine and theirs went out in less than a year. A 500 watt unit is minimum for that card.

http://forum-en.msi.com/faq/article/power-requirements-for-graphics-cards
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I didn't realize that they only ever really had one 430w model. I assume that it's this one?:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023
Yeah, you're right. I've always been wary of any 400w+ PSU that doesn't have 80-plus. That's probably enough of a crap indicator right there. I feel like those PSU recommendations from GPU manufacturers are still always overestimations, though, for people that have crappy PSUs. The OP could probably get by with a Corsair CX430, but if he has to buy a new PSU anyway I guess it may as well be a CX500 for the sake of future-proofing and overclocking.
 
spynoodle said:
I didn't realize that they only ever really had one 430w model. I assume that it's this one?:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023
Yeah, you're right. I've always been wary of any 400w+ PSU that doesn't have 80-plus. That's probably enough of a crap indicator right there. I feel like those PSU recommendations from GPU manufacturers are still always overestimations, though, for people that have crappy PSUs. The OP could probably get by with a Corsair CX430, but if he has to buy a new PSU anyway I guess it may as well be a CX500 for the sake of future-proofing and overclocking.
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Yeah, that one. Cables are stiff as a board.

Actually, I would pick this one over the Thermaltake any day.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817494002
 
spynoodle said:
Are you sure about that? The Radeon HD 7770 really isn't a very power-hungry card:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7770-7750-benchmark,3135-14.html
If I were you, I would try it with your current PSU and see what your voltages are like when stress testing the GPU. If you have a cheap Thermaltake PSU, it might be risky, but I doubt it. What model do you have?

Also, about your CPU: It looks like your setup is actually pretty similar to mine. :) I've been able to overclock my Pentium E5200 up to 4GHz at a pretty reasonable 1.4v on my Asus P5K Pro; I'm still not quite certain if it's 100% Prime95 stable, but I've been testing it recently and it's pretty darn close. Nonetheless, you could easily get your CPU up to 3.8ish GHz, and probably 3.5GHz without a voltage bump, if I remember my own testing correctly. With that kind of overclock, I think that your CPU probably wouldn't bottleneck a 7770 in the vast majority of games.
Click to expand...

Where's a good place to start for OCing? tutorials etc? I would love to get more out of my CPU... And would the ol' thermaltake 430 handle OCing and anyone OC a 8600GT? It's the ddr2 version. I would love to get into this...
 
Very interesting stuff.. Thanks for the link.

I will most likely go with a 7770 as an upgrade for my 8600GT and OC my cpu.

Thanks everyone for the links and advice.
 
shinigami said:
Very interesting stuff.. Thanks for the link.

I will most likely go with a 7770 as an upgrade for my 8600GT and OC my cpu.

Thanks everyone for the links and advice.
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Johnb35 is right, though; you should also probably get a new PSU. As long as you do that, you should be good to go. ;)
 
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