Advice on Desktop Graphics Card

K

ksher

Veteran
 Bedfordshire
My HP desktop is now over 5 years old (P4 HT 2.8GHZ with 1GB memory), and has serious problems - power cuts off and Windows restarts serveral times a day, cold start problem, etc. So I reserved a new HP desktop from Comet today and going to pick it up tomorrow.

It is G5208uk with Intel Core i3 with 3GB memory, but it only has integrated Intel H57. I need extra 1 to 2 GB memory and a graphics card. Can anyone recommed a graphics card (512MB or 1GB) PCI-E 16x? ATI or Nvidia? The power supply of the new PC is only 300W. I'm not using it for playing driving game, e.g. NFS, but multi-player (24 players) online game. Budget is around £30.

Can I have 5GB memory? The motherboard has 4 DDR3 DIMM (240-pin). Should I add 1GB or 2GB to the factory standard? It can support up to 16GB. Thank you for your advice in advance.
 
even if the motherboard supports more, I think for the operating system to access more than 3GB you need to be running a 64-bit version
I assume we're talking something like Windows 7 Home Premium
if it comes pre-installed as 32-bit, you could re-install it in 64-bit version

sorry, can't help you much with the graphics card
I built myself a new PC for Xmas, using various info from http://pcper.com
even the budget system on the Hardware Leaderboard, http://pcper.com/hwlb.php , spends $80 on the HD5670 graphics card
 
For that sort of budget you may be able to get a 2 year old nvidia model.. something like the 8400 with 1GB memory.. which would run NFS pretty well at anything but the highest resolution.

But as nicko says 5GB of RAM is well OTT for a 32bit install of Windows.
 
OK, if you're 64-bit already that makes you memory options easier.
You'll just have to check the manual for the motherboard to see what combinations of memory modules you need/can to use to get 5GB (and in which slots)
 
Bugger, I've literally just (i.e. Tuesday) dumped my old card (nvidia 8800GT) after replacing it with a 2gb Radeon HD 5870.

Although I am now supposedly (if I add up all the power figures) drawing almost 900w from my 5 HDs, 2 DVDs, 10gb RAM, and the 5870 - plus whatever's stuck into my USB/Firewire ports.
 
if you identify what memory you have currently you could source an extra 1gb stick of the same kind to bring you up to 4gb. although you can mix or match memory sizes some motherboards a a little funny about double sided mixed with single sided dimms.

As for the GPU, for that price you can get a 3870 1gb on ebay for that (the one I'd recommend), which will serve your purposes rather well until you save up a little more for something better or the other card mentioned above will also be ok. there are also some 9800gt's out there you may be able to snipe.

This would be the best snipe if you can get it ATI 4850 £30
 
Before you buy a GPU, make sure you have a PCI slot on the MB with enough space to fit it

Your PSU will just about cope with this card, slightly more than you wanted to spend though

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179746,

or

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176604 at budget

or

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/222068 for AMD all other budget cards require more GPU power than you have

Not sure why you want more than 3 gig of memory, I run Ansys CFD with 4 gig with no problem and I don't know of a programme that needs more RAM to write to.

If you buy a new GPU, remember to disable the on board GPU in the bios
 
Totally forgot about the PSU wattage, it's limited to 250w which isn't alot. Like sars I'd suggest the 240 if your budget will stretch that far, the others are not even considered gaming cards, the 210 you'd barely get away with.

32bit games rarely need more that 2gb, but if you want more to multi task with then add the extra, but take it into consideration that you'd be hard pushed to use it all up unless you're running multiple games at once with loads in the background; however for caching purposes, windows 7 will take advantage of the extra memory and there will be a small increase in performance (very small).
 
Wondermike said:
Wow things have moved on, I remember when a 4meg 3dfx graphics card was all the you needed :o
Click to expand...

lol, hey if you really want something that will make your eyes water

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/250402

and if your mad and power hungry put two in CrossFire mode
 
sars said:
Wondermike said:
Wow things have moved on, I remember when a 4meg 3dfx graphics card was all the you needed :o
Click to expand...

lol, hey if you really want something that will make your eyes water

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/250402

and if your mad and power hungry put two in CrossFire mode
Click to expand...

Got two 5970's in crossfire which will pee all over those cards in crossfire.
 
Just collected it from Comet. What a big improvement from my old P4 HT 2.8GHZ with just 1GB to Intel Core i3 with 3GB. It was £600, and now reduced to £350 (cheaper than building your own PC). I opened the box and it currently has 1GB and 2GB memory, so it has 2 empty slots. Should I get 1x 1GB, 1x1GB and 1x2GB, or 2x2GB extra memory?

Regarding the graphics card, due to the power supply is only 300W. It limits to ATI 4000 series. I think I will get HD4550. I will first try running The Lord of the Rings Online with integrated Intel HD graphic and see how it performs, before I buy extra memory and graphics card.

Downloading Windows Updates atm.
 
th30d0r3 said:
sars said:
Wondermike said:
Wow things have moved on, I remember when a 4meg 3dfx graphics card was all the you needed :o
Click to expand...

lol, hey if you really want something that will make your eyes water

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/250402

and if your mad and power hungry put two in CrossFire mode
Click to expand...

Got two 5970's in crossfire which will pee all over those cards in crossfire.
Click to expand...

Yes something about mad springs to mind :poke:
 
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