Video Card Help?

[kyuzo3567]

Hey guys, first time making a new thread but I need some advice. There's a good sale on for a few video cards at a store near me, and I really need a new one but I know next to nothing about video cards so can anyone take a look at tell me which would be the best to get?

here are the links:
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=3199442&sku=M452-7774

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=1416091&sku=Z700-0436

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=1078876&sku=M452-0520

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=149617&sku=A271-5456

Im running a Gateway NV53 laptop with specs:
Processor AMD Athlon(tm) II Dual-Core M300
Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB
Graphics ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 Series

Any help is appreciated, but hurry if you can, the sale ends on the 16th!

 

[Supernova1138]

You can't upgrade that laptop's graphics. Most laptops have the graphics chip soldered in, and there is no port to add another graphics card. The cards you listed are for desktop computer only. If you need better graphics performance on your laptop, your only option is to buy a new laptop. Unless you spend $1500+ on a high end gaming laptop, graphics are never upgradeable on a laptop. Even on the high end gaming laptops it generally isn't worth it. Laptop GPUs are expensive, and often the manufacturers will find ways to ensure you can't upgrade. They want you to buy a whole new laptop when you need better graphics, so it isn't in their interests to make their machines upgradeable.

 

[kyuzo3567]

Great. So basically i'm better off buying a Desktop for gaming use and keep my laptop for general University use? What brand would you recommend that isn't too expensive? Say round $1000?

 

[Supernova1138]

Correct. Though you will get much better value for your money by building your own desktop when it comes to gaming. Most prebuilt desktops don't come with decent video cards until you get up to the $1200 price point. Building a computer is not hard to do, and you can save hundreds of dollars doing that rather than paying a high price premium for a prebuilt system. If you want to try building yourself, say so, and say where you live, and I can suggest websites and components for you.

You also have to factor in peripherals, if you don't have a monitor, mouse and keyboard, you will have to get those, as well as the computer itself.

For prebuilt systems look for something with a quad core CPU, preferably Intel Core i5, the AMD FX chips are poor performers when it comes to gaming. Graphics cards will depend on how much you are willing to spend, and what resolution you intend to game at. For 1080p resolution, I would recommend looking for something with an Nvidia Geforce GTX 560, or AMD Radeon HD 6870 as a minimum. Something with a newer card like a Radeon HD 7870 or the upcoming GTX 660Ti would be even better, but that might be outside your price range if you go prebuilt, or you need to buy peripherals.

 

[kyuzo3567]

Correct. Though you will get much better value for your money by building your own desktop when it comes to gaming. Most prebuilt desktops don't come with decent video cards until you get up to the $1200 price point. Building a computer is not hard to do, and you can save hundreds of dollars doing that rather than paying a high price premium for a prebuilt system. If you want to try building yourself, say so, and say where you live, and I can suggest websites and components for you.

I wouldn't mind building my own at all, I've always wanted to but never really knew how to go about doing so. For the record I live in Ontario, Canada. If I can't build it then thanks for the details, i'll look around and see what fits. And I have my own mouse, keyboard and Monitor as well so I'm covered on those fronts

 

[Supernova1138]

Correct. Though you will get much better value for your money by building your own desktop when it comes to gaming. Most prebuilt desktops don't come with decent video cards until you get up to the $1200 price point. Building a computer is not hard to do, and you can save hundreds of dollars doing that rather than paying a high price premium for a prebuilt system. If you want to try building yourself, say so, and say where you live, and I can suggest websites and components for you.

I wouldn't mind building my own at all, I've always wanted to but never really knew how to go about doing so. For the record I live in Ontario, Canada. If I can't build it then thanks for the details, i'll look around and see what fits. And I have my own mouse, keyboard and Monitor as well so I'm covered on those fronts

Okay, here is a sample build from Tigerdirect.ca, they are a bit pricy, so you may find better deals elsewhere. Other Canadian sites include NCIX.ca, and newegg.ca. There may also be local stores in your area like Canada Computers. If you want to spend more on a graphics card, you can get a cheaper motherboard, the one I selected is a fairly high end one meant more for overclocking, if you don't intend to do that, you can get a cheaper board. You can also save a bit more with getting a non k Intel CPU, if you want.

CPU: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7073161&Sku=I69-2500K

This is one of the best CPUs for gaming out there right now, only slightly edged out by newer, and more expensive chips from Intel.

Motherboard: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2291300&CatId=6976

This board supports multi GPU setups from AMD and nvidia, and has features that facilitate better overclocking, you can opt for a cheaper board if you don't want to use these features.

RAM: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=40739&Sku=C13-5720

This is a dual channel memory kit from Corsair, 8GB in total. For a gaming system you don't need more than 8GB of RAM.

Power Supply: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=125449&CatId=5431

This is a high quality 550 Watt power supply. It will power any single GPU setup. If you want to do multi GPU, get something with a higher wattage, like 650 or 750 depending on which cards you want to run a multi GPU setup with. A lot of PSUs out there are dodgy, some good brands include Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, XFX, Enermax, and PC Power and Cooling.

Hard Drive: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7288051&Sku=TSD-1000EALX

This is a decently fast 1TB hard drive, sufficient to store your games, and to boot your OS from. If you feel you need more than 1TB, it will cost more. Don't use 5400RPM drives for your OS, they tend to be slower drives meant for simple storage while using less power.

Video Card: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=555335&CatId=3669
or
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1006280&CatId=3669

These are two cards that fit into your budget with the rest of your build. They perform very similarly to each other, with each one maybe having a slight edge in certain games. Research benchmarks on your favourite games to determine if AMD or nvidia is better for your use. If you want to climb into a higher price bracket within your budget, you can opt for a cheaper motherboard and/or CPU to free up more budget for the graphics card. The GPU tends to be more important for game performance, so you may want to put more money there.

Case: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5520044&Sku=T925-3018

A place to hold your components. Cases come in all price ranges, but even the cheaper ones will get the job done. This one only comes with one fan though, you may want to purchase additional fans to help with cooling.

OS: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5213932&CatId=306

An OEM copy of Windows 7 64 bit. Make sure to get 64 bit Windows, or you won't be able to use more than 4GB of RAM. Also note that OEM licenses are tied to the motherboard of the system it is installed on, so if you want to upgrade your motherboard, you'll probably have to get another Windows License.

Total Price: $1022.84 (not including taxes and shipping, also not factoring in rebates on many of these components, as mail in rebates aren't always honoured by every company)

Hope this helps you out in building a system.

 

[alj]

I would get a corsair psu if i was you both the HX line and AX line are amazing far better than that XFX I would personally also spend a little less on the CPU and get a better GPU or an SSD you would see a bigger real world performance jump with say a higher end i3 with an SSD than that 2500k with a HDD, the current line of sandy and ivy bridge CPU's are amazing you are never going to reach a bottleneck with 1 card unless you get a real low end one. As the poster above me has done you will usualy get a faster card for less with 1 generation behind more so this generation as this generation is more about improving efficiently and heat/power draw than a huge perofmance jump.

 

[Supernova1138]

XFX PSUs are actually made by Seasonic, so their quality is just as good as Corsair, even better than the lower end Corsairs, with a lower price tag than the HX and AX line, which only come in the 750 Watt range and up. For a single GPU you don't need that much power. If he's planning on doing SLI or Crossfire, then yeah, Corsair's TX, HX and AX lines are quite good.

As for the i3, it's still good for most games, but we are starting to see more games out there now that favour the quad cores. 64 player maps in Battlefield 3 for example run poorly if you don't have a quad core or higher CPU. Unless money is really tight, you're better off getting a quad core in the long run, that way you don't need a new CPU and possibly new motherboard in a year or two. A better graphics card down the line is an easier, and probably cheaper upgrade than upgrading the CPU later.

As for SSDs, they are a luxury item. I own one myself, they are nice to have, but if your budget is under $1000 and you are looking to game, it's not worth sacrificing other stuff just to get one. All the SSD will do is speed up your boot times, and shorten loading times if you install a game on the SSD. However, affordable SSDs are not high capacity, so you won't get too many games onto one.

 

[alj]

Sesonic make XFX too i did not know that how log have they been doing that ?

 

[Supernova1138]

For the last couple of years at least. Lots of rebadged Seasonic out there if you know where to look for it.

 

[ReadyAmyFire]

Another idea might be to get someone else to build it for you, that's essentially what I did since I'm not too confident at that kind of thing. Not the big companies, I went to a little private computer business run by two chaps and told them what I wanted and they put it together for me with a modest charge on top, and they were nice enough to handle the RMA'ing of a failed RAM stick and graphics card for me at no cost when they failed few months later.

Pity they went under because of those floods in Taiwan, those chaps were great.

 

[alj]

You could also buy the parts you want as then you get them from the brand you want and then take them to your local PC shop and say "Build this please"

Or just get someone to do what someone got me to do and instruct you over Skype + webcam