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Video Card Upgrade

P

Petro49er

n00b
Joined
Jan 25, 2007
Messages
17
Hello,

I am moving my PC to my theater and want to see what would be my best option as far as upgrading and making this a servicable gaming machine. Here is what I have:

Core i7 920
12 GB DDR3 SDRAM
640GB WD Black Hard Disk
GTX260 Video Card

It will be feeding my 1080p projector until 4k becomes a more affordable option in projection systems. This is really my first real forray into PC gaming as I have always been primarily a console based gamer. I still have the new consoles, but may decide to ditch them if enjoy the PC as much.

I know my machine is older, so what would it take to make it a decent gaming machine? Video card seems like a must. Was thinking of a gtx660 or maybe 760. Was also thinking of an SSD for the OS as well.

Anyhow, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Thanks.
 
well 1080p is not that hard to drive with current generation of video cards either at acceptable levels of performance or insane levels.

I personally use and recommend Radeon though their prices are way out of whack with reality lately (I did not say to go and buy a Radeon FYI so don't take this out of context trolls)
Anyways, R7-265 or higher for the R series, Radeon 7850 or better for Radeon 7k series
Nvidia 750Ti or better (760-770-780 or 660Ti-670-680) especially something like Palit 750Ti storm X they give acceptable 1080p performance and very low power use, however if you plan on using this card whatever it maybe for 4k gaming as an example, you will seriously need to think of a very high end single or dual cards if your motherboard can handle it, with that being said, if you have the disposable income, I would think about this being a stop gap for now until you do go 4k then look more into what you need for performance at that time.

Adding a decent SSD say a Samsung 840 EVO is a huge speed increase and well worth it in my books if you have the $ for that upgrade, an i7 950 would be a bump as well though more then likely far to costly for that increase, if you do not have an aftermarket cpu cooler that would be something I suggest as well, to keep it cooler and if you choose to do so overclock the cpu some.

what power supply model do you have?
 
I have a Corsair 750TX PSU. As far as Video card brands, I don't care about nVidia vs AMD. I just want something that will last me for a bit until I'm ready to upgrade the entire machine. I'll check out the Samsung 840.

Thanks for the response.
 
As a proud owner of the GTX 660 coming from being a previously proud owner of the GTX 260 216 Core variant, a 660 is a HUGE upgrade with regards to 1080p. No only that, but it's dead silent while running max and is cool as a cucumber. Just not hearing that 260 fan will blow you away by the silence.

I think that would be the best upgrade for the price. Got mine for a discount of like $180 brand new a year ago. You don't even have to be picky either. Go for the cheapest one you can find and you'll be impressed. Then as mentioned, focus on a SSD. Being the first one in every game is always nice. Loading games and maps will never be the same.
 
I'll start looking this weekend at all the suggested possibilities. I'm looking at this as more of a stop for the time being and then I'll be all in once I get a 4k projection setup, so long as I like gaming on the PC. Like I said, I've been primarily a console gamer so it'll also be a trial period to see if I like gaming with a PC. Thanks everyone for your suggestions!
 
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