Graphics hardware upgrade

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Renick07

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#70519 25-Oct-2010 20:29

I have a 5 year old pc and unfortunately I can't afford the complete new system that I really want just yet. It's frustrating not being able to play recent games because it's really struggling with graphics power (It has an nVidia 6800). The solution is obviously a new GPU, but I'm in two minds about what spec I should go for. I have a LGA775 board with a Pentium 4 3.4GHz that hopefully won't bottleneck from the single PCI-e, so I could theoretically run anything up to a GTX 480 or HD 5970. This would mean a new PSU as the current 350W has no chance, but this adds an extra $100-150 to the upgrade. I've been looking at a HD 5770 as a good mid-range card that will fulfill my needs, but this too would require a new PSU.
So to the question....
Are there any GPUs that will run on a 350W PSU and still give me the performance to run modern games well?

Thanks in advance

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
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#395592 25-Oct-2010 21:12

I recently had a similar aged system and in same boat - ended up getting hold of a Nvidia 8800GT 512mb card. Was the perfect card for my system.
But I had a slight advantage over you and that was a 500W PSU with dedicated PCI-Ex connectors

When you say modern games, how modern ?

My system was a FX60 dual core @ 2.6ghz with the 8800 and it ran games such as the following perfectly (at 1280x1024 res) :

GRID
COD4 : MW
Left 4 Dead
Arkham Asylum
and many others....

Anything released in the past year, pretty much found Id be struggling with most newer games but upgrading the video wouldnt help much as Id hit a CPU bottleneck, only way to play the newer games was to upgrade the whole box... so I did....to a PS3. A game comes out, install it and play.... ;)

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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Renick07

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#395632 25-Oct-2010 22:25

If I do get a new PSU I'll use it as the base for my build, and get the best mid-range GPU I can afford.
I can run CoD 4, Far Cry, FEAR, and other titles up to about 2007. I want to be able to run CoD World at War & Crysis. Future release of Diablo III, and maybe CoD Black Ops would be nice. But like you said the best option is a new platform- I just want to sqeeze some life out of this one first.

kyhwana2

2566 posts

Uber Geek

#395645 25-Oct-2010 23:12

Don't bother buying a high end GPU, your CPU will be the bottle neck..

raab

262 posts

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#395650 25-Oct-2010 23:40

Chech the new 6800's from AMD. Low consumption and decent mid range results

teihoata

100 posts

Master Geek

#395657 26-Oct-2010 00:26

Yeah I agree with the cpu becoming a bottleneck, maybe you could get away with using a 5750 with your current psu but your definitely pushing it. I'm running two of them on a very efficient 525W psu :)
If you've got the cash upgrade the cpu, gpu and psu. If not, just buy a console.

powerforce

162 posts

Master Geek

#396347 27-Oct-2010 16:08

get a cheapish PSU if you only want to run a 5770 (or even one just to run your new graphics card)
even if your CPU does bottleneck your GPU you will still have a solid gain in FPS, just not as large as it could be with a new processor.

dont let them steer you to the console! (did write a whole bunch of reasons why but decided it best not to start that debate)!

xpd

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#396352 27-Oct-2010 16:17

powerforce:
dont let them steer you to the console! (did write a whole bunch of reasons why but decided it best not to start that debate)!

I did it...sold old PC for new console... only thing Ive been missing is COD4 and thatd be at LANs if my mates ever held one again ;) (Wonder if itd run on my work laptop)

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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nakedmolerat

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#396481 27-Oct-2010 20:20

my 5970 can run everything at max. but this prob a bit too much for the 5-yr old pc with 350watt psu (need at least 650watt). if you are upgrading to a new pc, get 5970 - it is the way forward!

RealityClash

192 posts

Master Geek

#396914 28-Oct-2010 16:32

not long ago i upgraded to a 5750 from an old x1600. at the time i had a 350w psu. my computer ran fine for a few weeks but soon got alot of graphics problems and so i updated the psu to a 470w. works great now

Renick07

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#397307 29-Oct-2010 13:07

Cheers for the advice everyone.

A console isn't an option as I'm not a huge fan of console games, imo they're (mostly) a bit arcade like. Let's just leave that there.

It sounds like by best option is getting a new mid-range psu & gpu that can also be used to start with when I eventually upgrade mb&cpu.