Noob asking for help with video card.

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Maddnotez

Limp Gawd
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Nov 28, 2014
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I want to upgrade my video card so I can play a couple games. This is the one I was looking at: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130865

My friend works on computers for a living and said he feels that should work but he did say he doesn't know a lot about video cards.

Main questions are how will I know if it's compatible with my PC and how would I know if my power supply will be good enough.

I'm looking to do this as cheaply as possible for now to play Counterstrike. I may later also upgrade Ram and/or get a SSD because I record music on my PC and it gets laggy sometimes. I found a few refurbished for under $30 for Black Friday that were 256mb and some that are 1gb.

Naturally Id want the 1gb but not if that means I need a new power supply.

Anyway here are my specs below, supplied by canirunthis.com when I was checking the game's requirements. Please help.

CPU is a Lenovo H series. H3000 I think. It's not in front of me to verify but is about 5-6 years old and not for gaming.

Minimum: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 or AMD Phenom X3 8750 processor or better

You Have: Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E5300 @ 2.60GHz

CPU SPEED
You Have: 2.6 GHz

VIDEO CARD
Minimum: Video card must be 256 MB or more and should be a DirectX 9-compatible with support for Pixel Shader 3.0

You Have: Intel(R) G45/G43 Express Chipset

Features: Minimum attributes of your Video Card
Required You Have
Pixel Shader version 3.0 4.0
Vertex Shader version 3.0 4.0

RAM

You Have: 4.1 GB
 
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I would look for a 8800GT or a 9800GT and they made an eco 9800GT or find a 460GTX in 788Mb or 1Ghz .. you should be able to find those used and very cheap and i'm sure you could find a power supply around 400 watt cheap.
 
I dont think that gt 610 is an upgrade to anything. It's on par with onboard video so whatever you might have, it's at best going to be a side grade.
 
Do not get the GT 610 for gaming. It's fine for playing movies or driving monitors, but that's about it.

You said you did not want to upgrade your power supply. In that case, what you want is a video card that draws power only from the PCI-e bus. Currently, this would be the GeForce 750/Ti, and it is the card I would recommend. For a low power card, it is surprisingly potent, and will run pretty much all mainstream titles of today. Just make sure you get the GDDR5 version.

If you feel that the above is too expensive, there are cheaper options - but keep in mind that their performance will either be subpar, or their power draw will be higher so as to require a power supply upgrade, which negates the benefit of any cost savings.

Best of luck.
 
OP, what's your maximum $$$ ceiling? I know you said cheap...but how cheap?

Too cheap means 1) less than 1GB ram 2) 64bit memory interface 3) DDR3 ram.

Also, are you talking about the original CS or CS:GO?
 
atp1916 said:
OP, what's your maximum $$$ ceiling? I know you said cheap...but how cheap?

Too cheap means 1) less than 1GB ram 2) 64bit memory interface 3) DDR3 ram.

Also, are you talking about the original CS or CS:GO?
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Thanks everyone for the feedback.

To answer CS: GO is the game. I'm actually only doing this to play H-Hour World's Elite but it is still being made and specs are not out yet.

A lot of people say it shouldn't be much more required than CS: GO

$75 max for the card. However if I can get away with it I've seen a few on eBay going for $35. Prefer cheaper especially if a power supply is a mandatory.
 
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Delitus said:
Do not get the GT 610 for gaming. It's fine for playing movies or driving monitors, but that's about it.

You said you did not want to upgrade your power supply. In that case, what you want is a video card that draws power only from the PCI-e bus. Currently, this would be the GeForce 750/Ti, and it is the card I would recommend. For a low power card, it is surprisingly potent, and will run pretty much all mainstream titles of today. Just make sure you get the GDDR5 version.

If you feel that the above is too expensive, there are cheaper options - but keep in mind that their performance will either be subpar, or their power draw will be higher so as to require a power supply upgrade, which negates the benefit of any cost savings.

Best of luck.
Click to expand...

This one is doable. I could spend the $120 if I had to. I would just highly prefer something used to save a little more $
 
Maddnotez said:
This one is doable. I could spend the $120 if I had to. I would just highly prefer something used to save a little more $
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That 750/Ti Delitus recommended would definitely fit your PSU-constrained needs if you are looking for best performance at the top of your budget.

On the cheaper end, the only other pcie bus powered card with any sort of gaming chop would be the HD 7750. It is definitely slower than the 750/Ti, but also quite a bit cheaper. It would do quite well with anything CS:Go or similiar. You can get them used on ebay for $60-70 used, $80-90 new. As mentioned above, if you do go with a 7750 (or the 750 Ti) make sure it's the GDDR5 variants.

Edit: If you're quick, here's a $78 GTX 750 Ti on Ebay.
 
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After reading more, that 750 ti definitely seems like the best option for me so thanks for the recommendation.

The only other question for me would be what are the differences between Zotac, Asus, Evga? Are these different manufacturers and if so, is there one that's best or best to avoid?
 
Maddnotez said:
After reading more, that 750 ti definitely seems like the best option for me so thanks for the recommendation.

The only other question for me would be what are the differences between Zotac, Asus, Evga? Are these different manufacturers and if so, is there one that's best or best to avoid?
Click to expand...

I personally would go with Gigabyte due to their warranty / RMA policy. Even as a miner with multiple Gigabyte 7950s / 280xs / 290s, they never asked why or how if something broke.

If it breaks (and it wasn't you), they replace it. Quite nice compared to some i've heard/seen around the web. *coughASUSCough*
 
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