Best video card for an older (e8400) system

jzodda

Gawd
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Mar 19, 2007
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I was wondering what GPU to add into an older system that will be used for some light gaming.

It has an e8400 that was OC'd to 4Ghz when it was my main system. Now I have it running at 3.6Ghz.

It has 8GB of DDR2, a 2TB HD, Win7 64, and a Corsair 620W power supply. All gaming would take place at 1080p, Vsync on.

I was thinking a 750ti 2GB. It is cheap and seems to be a pretty good buy for light gaming on an older system.

Is there a better option? I don't want to spend more than $200-250 on this upgrade since the system is older.
 
Right now, it doesn't make much sense to put any money into that old of a system. If you have to, a 750ti sounds like a good fit to me. Especially seeing them below $100 now after rebates.
 
I the system is doing what you need of it a cheap upgrade is worth it.
 
Your processor is very close to the i3 2100 in this review. Doesn't seem to hold back a 280x (7970) under most circumstances. 750ti wouldn't be held back at all I think. A 270x might be a better value.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120-6.html

are you sure what are you talking about?.. the i3 sandy are way superior to those pentium E8400 i have one machine with that machine and a GTX 560@900mhz which its really bottlenecked in most games by a E8400 at 3.8ghz.. i would not put anything above a gtx 750 with a E8400...
 
Your processor is very close to the i3 2100 in this review. Doesn't seem to hold back a 280x (7970) under most circumstances. 750ti wouldn't be held back at all I think. A 270x might be a better value.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120-6.html

are you sure what are you talking about?.. the i3 sandy are way superior to those pentium E8400 i have one machine with that machine and a GTX 560@900mhz which its really bottlenecked in most games by a E8400 at 3.8ghz.. i would not put anything above a gtx 750 with a E8400...

I think he mistook the e8400 for the g860
 
are you sure what are you talking about?.. the i3 sandy are way superior to those pentium E8400 i have one machine with that machine and a GTX 560@900mhz which its really bottlenecked in most games by a E8400 at 3.8ghz.. i would not put anything above a gtx 750 with a E8400...

If you look at the gaming benchmarks (given they are old games) it actually does better than the i3-2100. If he has it OC'd 20% that should help too... the 750ti isn't that beefy of a card after all.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/289?vs=56
 
OP, what games are you going to play? Depending on the game 1080p may be too demanding on your CPU regardless of what video card you use.
 
If you look at the gaming benchmarks (given they are old games) it actually does better than the i3-2100. If he has it OC'd 20% that should help too... the 750ti isn't that beefy of a card after all.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/289?vs=56

according to that link the only bench and its 1 game where the E8400 "do better" its in fallout 3 at 1680x1050 with medium quality.. and its 87FPS for the E8400 vs the 86.4FPS for the i3 2100... now try to play with a E8400 any recent game.. :rolleyes: as i said i have that same chip overclocked and it will bottleneck a GTX 560.
 
I recently went through a similar issue, as I have four computers I'm upgrading to use in a LAN party, and they had e8400 processors.

I ended up getting some Radeon 5670's for $20 each off ebay.

If you want more power, I would suggest a 560ti off the forsale/trade section, as I think you could get one for around $60.

I would also suggest you look into PCI-E 1.1/2.0/3.0 Compatibility. Most motherboards that would work with a e8400, probably only have PCI-E 1.1, and some newer video cards won't work with it, even when the manufacturer says it will.
 
I recently went through a similar issue, as I have four computers I'm upgrading to use in a LAN party, and they had e8400 processors.

I ended up getting some Radeon 5670's for $20 each off ebay.

If you want more power, I would suggest a 560ti off the forsale/trade section, as I think you could get one for around $60.

I would also suggest you look into PCI-E 1.1/2.0/3.0 Compatibility. Most motherboards that would work with a e8400, probably only have PCI-E 1.1, and some newer video cards won't work with it, even when the manufacturer says it will.

I have a spare rig with an E6500 at 3.63ghz and 4GB of DDR2, it has worked with every card I've chucked in it even with only PCI-E 1.1, 290's, titans, 780's, everything has worked fine. I currently run a 9800GT I found on craigslist for $10 though and it does play some games decently well for what it is.
 
The R7 265 (HD 7850 with boost) is running about the same price as the GTX 750 Ti and is faster in most cases. Plus there are a ton of people selling former mining gear cheap. I've seen in this website's for sale section (and Anandtech, Overclock.net, TechPowerUp, etc...) GTX 750 Ti's for less than $100 that were only a couple months old.
 
Thanks for the advice. I think I will go with a 750 ti. As for what games? Mostly skyrim, bloodlines and xcom enemy unknown these days. If I can run on medium settings I'm fine with it.
 
Thanks for the advice. I think I will go with a 750 ti. As for what games? Mostly skyrim, bloodlines and xcom enemy unknown these days. If I can run on medium settings I'm fine with it.

I have a GTX 750 Ti and a 1920x1200 monitor. It can run Skyrim on Ultra (with the AA dropped to 4x). Smooth as butter.
 
I have a Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz paired with an AMD 7850, and it's fantastically smooth at pretty much all games I play at 1080P.

That said, pretty much anything from the AMD 5k series or the Nvidia 600 series will be more then fine for ya OP. Ebay is fantastic. The 6950's are pretty cheap, and solid cards!
 
Smooth as butter will not apply to him while using an E8400...

Single threaded game with a 3.6 Ghz dual core (even if an old one). I think it would surprise you. He might not get Ultra, but I bet he can do High just fine with a 750 Ti.
 
Single threaded game with a 3.6 Ghz dual core (even if an old one). I think it would surprise you. He might not get Ultra, but I bet he can do High just fine with a 750 Ti.
Single threaded? Um no. It absolutely needs two cores and uses three and even four cores. And needs them to be fast cores too especially if only having two of them. http://www.techspot.com/review/467-skyrim-performance/page7.html

As long as he is not trying to run vsync he will be fine as he will only average about 45 with minimums in the 30s.
 
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I've got an AMD HD5850 that I am not using, that should do pretty well I think.
I'd sell it if you are interested.
 
Smooth as butter will not apply to him while using an E8400...

You're really underrating Core 2's. They're old, but still plenty sufficient for many things. He's got close to the highest end cream of the crop Core 2 Duo, and its overclocked. He'll be fine.
 
You can get used 270x all day used for $110-130 I'd go that route, and then you have something when you do upgrade your CPU/Mobo/Etc.
 
I ran my R9 280x in my Q9400 box for a few days. Ran a few 3DMark benches, and came in comfortably between the gaming laptop and high end gaming desktop. I believe it was just under 7000, if my memory serves. I was really surprised how well it did for such an old platform.
 
I have a Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz paired with an AMD 7850, and it's fantastically smooth at pretty much all games I play at 1080P.

That said, pretty much anything from the AMD 5k series or the Nvidia 600 series will be more then fine for ya OP. Ebay is fantastic. The 6950's are pretty cheap, and solid cards!

2nd this opinion.
 
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