Need a vid card upgrade...

[BodyBagz]

Ok, as you can see by the specs in my sig, my vid card is no pwerhouse by any means. What I want is to be able to play Unreal Tournament, Americas Army and maybe newer FPS games at max resolution of my current system. Preferably ATI branded cards, but I am willing to step over to Nvidia if the cost vs "upgradability" is right. I would like to spend less than $100...and have HDMI, DVI and VGA/2nd DVI outputs available. Noise level is of no real concern...but I am limited by only having PCI-Ex16 slot.

So, I ask the [H] community...whats the best card for my money and needs...all suggestions are welcome...and thanks in advance!

MSI 785GTM-E45 Motherboard
AMD Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition Dual Core 2.8ghz
Corsair XMS2 4GB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory
Seagate Barracuda 750GB,7200 Hard Drive (System)
(1)Western Digital 500GB (Misc Storage) (1)Western Digital 1500GB-USB (Movie Storage)
Seagate Barracuda 500GB (Music Storage)
ASUS Radeon HD 4350 512MB DDR2 PCIe
MSI DH-24AAS-17 Internal DVD Writer
ATX Black Mid-Tower Case-450-Watt
(1) 19" Acer LCD, (1) 17" Dell LCD

 

[blastingcap]

Ok, as you can see by the specs in my sig, my vid card is no pwerhouse by any means. What I want is to be able to play Unreal Tournament, Americas Army and maybe newer FPS games at max resolution of my current system. Preferably ATI branded cards, but I am willing to step over to Nvidia if the cost vs "upgradability" is right. I would like to spend less than $100...and have HDMI, DVI and VGA/2nd DVI outputs available. Noise level is of no real concern...but I am limited by only having PCI-Ex16 slot.

So, I ask the [H] community...whats the best card for my money and needs...all suggestions are welcome...and thanks in advance!

MSI 785GTM-E45 Motherboard
AMD Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition Dual Core 2.8ghz
Corsair XMS2 4GB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory
Seagate Barracuda 750GB,7200 Hard Drive (System)
(1)Western Digital 500GB (Misc Storage) (1)Western Digital 1500GB-USB (Movie Storage)
Seagate Barracuda 500GB (Music Storage)
ASUS Radeon HD 4350 512MB DDR2 PCIe
MSI DH-24AAS-17 Internal DVD Writer
ATX Black Mid-Tower Case-450-Watt
(1) 19" Acer LCD, (1) 17" Dell LCD

Honestly I would upgrade your CPU first, but to answer your question... 19" Acer.. what is that, 1280x1024?

A HD 5750 has DX11 and should be able to drive that very well, and it costs a tiny bit over $100: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131354&cm_re=5750-_-14-131-354-_-Product It takes very little power and emits little heat.

If $100 is a hard limit, your PSU really is 450W and not some cheapo one, and you don't mind not having DX11 and thus having to upgrade again in the next couple of years, then a HD4870 for $100 is hard to beat in terms of bang for the buck. It's actually faster than the HD5750 but draws more power and emits more heat and only goes up to DX10.1 (which arguably isn't a big deal for now, since most games don't really use DX11-only effects). You can get them used, or for $100 new after rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121376&cm_re=hd_4870-_-14-121-376-_-Product (This particular model has 2xDVI but you can get a DVI to HDMI converter separately, if you want.)

Any higher and it would be a waste at 1280x1024 and with an aging CPU.

 

[BodyBagz]

Thanks blastingcap! Yes, the Acer is 1280x1024...not the best for gaming, but then again I dont really game a lot...mostly I rip and encode DVD for torrenting. But, I do like to fire up UT or AA every once in awhile and waste an hour or so blowing random shit up...lol

A likely upgrade in the future will be a 22"-24" LCD panel..then i will kick the 19" over as my 2nd and reclaim the 17" for my kids desktop in the living room.

The processor, while being older, is all I really need at the moment considering my limited gaming. I was looking to upgrade to a quad core, but since MSI released a BIOS revision for this particular board, I can now go ahead an pop in a 6 core Thuban if and when it becomes necessary, albeit, that will be a few months away.

 

[blastingcap]

Thanks blastingcap! Yes, the Acer is 1280x1024...not the best for gaming, but then again I dont really game a lot...mostly I rip and encode DVD for torrenting. But, I do like to fire up UT or AA every once in awhile and waste an hour or so blowing random shit up...lol

A likely upgrade in the future will be a 22"-24" LCD panel..then i will kick the 19" over as my 2nd and reclaim the 17" for my kids desktop in the living room.

The processor, while being older, is all I really need at the moment considering my limited gaming. I was looking to upgrade to a quad core, but since MSI released a BIOS revision for this particular board, I can now go ahead an pop in a 6 core Thuban if and when it becomes necessary, albeit, that will be a few months away.

For $100 my recommendation of the HD5750 (or HD4870 if you don't mind not having DX11 and have a good enough power supply) stands, especially since you don't do heavy duty gaming or game that often.

A HD5750 can play most games at high details at 1680x1050, and you could overclock the card if the going gets rough.

At 1920x1200 it's more problematic... if you plan on playing less-demanding games, like AA and UT, on a 1920x1200, then a HD5750 is still fine. Or if you don't mind turning down graphics settings to medium instead of high and maybe overclocking if needed, then the HD5750 is definitely enough for most games at 1920x1200.

But if you are running 1920x1200 and want to play more demanding games than AA or UT at high detail settings, you would probably want to pay $130 after rebate and get a HD5770, instead. (Or the HD4870 as mentioned above for $100, which is roughly as fast as a HD5770.)

Edited to add link to 5770: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102873&cm_re=hd_5770-_-14-102-873-_-Product

 

[Skitzer]

5770 would be the way to go but they are a little over $100.
4850 1GB is right at $100 now. Could probably pick up a used 4870 for about $100 also.
On the Nvidia side a 9800GT 1GB is about $100 right now.
I would get a DX11 card if I were you ..... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131354

 

[MattLaFleur]

An open box 5770 could be had for $120 if you watch newegg like a hawk.

 

[BodyBagz]

Thanks for all the replies...seems a HD5770 is in my future. Kinda glad it turned out an ATI based card...would have hated to have to change my desktop backgrounds...

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