GFX Newb: Please recommend a card

A

atto

n00b
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Oct 20, 2009
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I'm working with an older setup and I'm trying to make it last as long as I can.

I have a Sony Vaio VGC-RB44G with the stock graphics card that comes with it. I have a Pentium 4 2.8ghz processor (hyper threaded) and 2gb RAM. I'm using a 15 in. monitor at 1024 x 768 but I'd like to upgrade someday (20+ in. baby!). This doesn't mean the new card should support it as I'm looking to continue using the 15 in. monitor for the time being.

Can you recommend a card (keeping in mind my CPU bottleneck)?

Ps. According to GPUZ I have PCIe v. 1.1. Can I use PCIe 2.0 cards?
 
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Odds are you're going to be strongly limited by the power supply in your machine. Do you know how many watts it claims to put out? (Do you have a link to the exact specs of the machine or some info that came with it?)
 
Off-topic Tip: Turn off the Hyper Threading on that P4... its useless.
 
Supposedly it's 305 watts. I'll crack the case and check to make sure (I'll update this post).

Edit: 300 watt max
 
Renamed the thread.

Current contenders are the 9600gt (thanks BababooeyHTJ) and the HD 4770. I like the latter because it performs a bit better while drawing less power.

Supposedly I can only run the lower power version of the 9600gt. I'd like to keep my current PSU because I don't want to dump a lot of money into this machine.
 
with a 2.8 Pentium 4 and 1024x768 all you need is about the cheapest card you can find. just grab a $50 9500gt ddr3 or something similar. your cpu doesn't even meet the requirements to play many games so anything faster will not be of much help. not to mention your old cheaply made oem psu isn't sufficient enough any more to run a decent gpu.
 
cannondale06 said:
with a 2.8 Pentium 4 and 1024x768 all you need is about the cheapest card you can find. just grab a $50 9500gt ddr3 or something similar.
Click to expand...

Yeah, a G92 will be bottlenecked by that P4. 9500GT/8600GT (same thing) would be a pretty good match. You're pretty lucky you've got a PCI-E Pentium 4 system there buddy, the socket 478's with AGP seem to be far more common in prebuilts.
 
iviyth0s said:
GT240 for $35 after MIR!
Don't settle for a 9500GT!
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sure if he wants to wait several months for a 40 rebate then that is a much better deal. with his cpu and at 1024x768 he will likley never see the difference in most cases though. with a 2.8 P4 he will have to run lower settings in most games no matter what card he gets. yes most game settings other than res, AF and AA have an impact on cpus too.

a gt240 uses about 20 more watts than a 9500gt which might be pushing it. his psu was only rated at 15 amps on the 12v rail even when brand new. in reality that cheap oem psu could really only deliver about 11-12 amps in real world conditions when new. now that it is quite old he would be lucky to get much more than 50-60% out of that.
 
Tom's Hardware has a review of several GT240 models, and some of them consume less power than the 9600GT.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gt-240,2475-19.html

And the XFX one that was linked is the lowest TDP version available. I urge you all to give a second opinion on the GT240 for the OP. If you think his system can handle it it's a steal, and the idle wattage is way lower, which I assume spares the PSU during idle, which the computer is doing 90% of the time.

EDIT: Better idea. I found a combo on Newegg that you should consider.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.564094

Depending on what you plan on building in the future, you may want to get the PSU out of the way, kill two birds with one stone. Then when you build a new rig swap back the old PSU. It's expensive at first, but they're both XFX rebates, and the final price is $80. The GPU has a double lifetime warranty too.
 
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cannondale06 said:
sure if he wants to wait several months for a 40 rebate then that is a much better deal. with his cpu and at 1024x768 he will likley never see the difference in most cases though. with a 2.8 P4 he will have to run lower settings in most games no matter what card he gets. yes most game settings other than res, AF and AA have an impact on cpus too.

a gt240 uses about 20 more watts than a 9500gt which might be pushing it. his psu was only rated at 15 amps on the 12v rail even when brand new. in reality that cheap oem psu could really only deliver about 11-12 amps in real world conditions when new. now that it is quite old he would be lucky to get much more than 50-60% out of that.
Click to expand...
Ya but why pay the same money (or more) for something shittier, the GT240 is very efficient and runs completely off the PCI-E slot, it will be plenty fine.
 
I agree that the gt 240 is a good choice. However, i'd recommend just getting an an i3 system =/
 
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