Best Graphic card on budget

[g9672001]

my budget is around 100-130$
what is the best graphic card i can get with a 300 watt power supply?

 

[rocky41]

your psu is the main problem if you can upgrade it to at least 450 watt then you can go with the hd 5670 within the budget you have specified...

 

[Maziar]

Or a HD 4850(which performs better than a 5670, but like rocky41 said,upgrade your PSU first)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102901&cm_re=4850-_-14-102-901-_-Product

 

[jenkem]

depending on how old it is, you should easily be able to run a 5670 on your psu with no problems. a lot of people do it, it's basically the reason for the 5670's existence, its the most possible graphics power you can get from a generic 300w psu.
you can get 5670's for about 90 ish dollars on newegg.

another route to take is to spend around $30 on a 450w psu, and then a $100 on a 4850. that'll give you a lot more performance than a 5670 can offer

 

[rocky41]

Don't take chances by running hd 5670 or any other card specified above on your 300 watt psu...it can damage your whole system...

 

[jaguarskx]

The 300w should suffice for a HD 5670. However, you should provide us with the make and model # just to make sure.

Also, do not bother paying extra for the 1GB version. Apparently there is very little difference in performance between 512MB and 1GB of VRAM for the HD 5670.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/axle-radeon-hd5670-1gb.html

 

[johnnyq8]

i would get 9800 GT

 

[jaguarskx]

^^^

Not on a 300w PSU.

 

[g9672001]

my model of the computer is the Gateway GT5016E which can be found here:
http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/GTModels/5427/5427sp2.shtml
I really don't want to get a graphic card that has a chance to ruin my whole Computer...and im not sure how to install a PSU either

P.S= I used to run a 8500GT on my computer, are there any cards with similar watts?

 

[jyjjy]

An HD5670 should be fine on a 300w PSU.

 

[jaguarskx]

The HD 5760 will be fine on your PC. It's not that old and the 300w PSU should be in good shape.

 

[pepperman]

Just because lots of people say it will be ok doesn't necessarily mean it will be.
How many of you actually looked up his system? I'm guessing not many, because if you did you'd realize he's running a 130 Watt CPU; that, along with everything else on a 300 Watt psu which probably only has around 200 Watts (maybe 220 tops) on the 12 V rail will not handle a 65 watt gpu added to the mix. This computer is also a few years old (Pentium Ds came out in '05) so the capacity of the psu is lessened.

Assuming you don't want your psu to go pop with magic smoke and take everything else with it, either upgrade your psu before you get a new graphics card or get an HD 4550 or HD 5450 (neither of which do I recommend for gaming).

 

[g9672001]

Just because lots of people say it will be ok doesn't necessarily mean it will be.
How many of you actually looked up his system? I'm guessing not many, because if you did you'd realize he's running a 130 Watt CPU; that, along with everything else on a 300 Watt psu which probably only has around 200 Watts (maybe 220 tops) on the 12 V rail will not handle a 65 watt gpu added to the mix. This computer is also a few years old (Pentium Ds came out in '05) so the capacity of the psu is lessened.

Assuming you don't want your psu to go pop with magic smoke and take everything else with it, either upgrade your psu before you get a new graphics card or get an HD 4550 or HD 5450 (neither of which do I recommend for gaming).

Thanks for your informative response!! Do you think a galaxy gt240 will perform well on my computer without problems?

 

[jaguarskx]

Just because lots of people say it will be ok doesn't necessarily mean it will be.
How many of you actually looked up his system? I'm guessing not many, because if you did you'd realize he's running a 130 Watt CPU; that, along with everything else on a 300 Watt psu which probably only has around 200 Watts (maybe 220 tops) on the 12 V rail will not handle a 65 watt gpu added to the mix. This computer is also a few years old (Pentium Ds came out in '05) so the capacity of the psu is lessened.

I looked. The HD 5670 consumes less than 30w under full load, not 65w.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-hd5670-hd5570-hd5450_6.html#sect0

 

[jaguarskx]

.... Do you think a galaxy gt240 will perform well on my computer without problems?

As you can see from above, the GT 240 uses more power than the HD 5670. If you are worried about a video consuming about 30w of power, then consider the HD 5570 which consumes only about 20w. It performs better than the GT 220; the only game where the GT 220 performs better is Mass Effect 2.

 

[jenkem]

your best option is really going to be just upgrading your psu and getting the 4850. a 5670 will give you decent performance, but anything less and you'll probably end up pretty unsatisfied. changing your psu can seem a daunting task at first because it interacts with pretty much every component in your pc, but it's realllly not hard at all. just do some "research" beforehand. google some guides and familiarize yourself with the cables in your pc so that you know where everything goes and you'll be fine.

 

[pepperman]

I looked. The HD 5670 consumes less than 30w under full load, not 65w.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/radeon-hd5670-hd5570-hd5450/rdw_cdr_power.png


http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-hd5670-hd5570-hd5450_6.html#sect0

I think furmark is a better indicator of the max load, and it also comes closer to the cards tdp.

http://www.geeks3d.com/20100226/the-real-power-consumption-of-73-graphics-cards/

As jaguarskx said, the GT 240 requires more power than the 5670, so your best bet is to upgrade your psu.

 

[schoolboy834]

on a 300 watt power supply, 240gt is fine as well as 5570. both consume very little power, and would be equivalent/around the same ball park to a 9600 gt i beleive. However, i would recommend upgrading your psu if you can, because you can never have too little watts, and its always safer to have more watts

 

[rocky41]

hey no need to take chances ...first upgrade psu....for future purposes....and then any of the card mention above your system can handle easily...

 

[g9672001]

Thanks for the responses guys!! i have another question..
I had a Geforce 8500gt before this, could that graphic card have damage my computer?

 

[jyjjy]

I think furmark is a better indicator of the max load

If you are talking about the max load it is possible to force you GPU to achieve then yes, that is in fact the point of the program. If you mean max load the card will actually use during regular gaming then the 30w is much more accurate.

 

[mjsziklai87]

if i was you i would personally get this psu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171028
and this Graphics card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150451
if you are worrying about installing the PSU by yourself then just ask on the forum and the people will be more then happy to help, and once you have dont it you will be wondering what all the fuss was about. seriously it's easier then you think

 

[jyjjy]

Why would you recommend a GT 240 for $102, a DDR3 one at that? There are DDR5 versions for less than half that price after rebate on newegg at the moment.
For the same money as the parts you linked he can get this;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102901
and this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008
Not only are both the card and power supply much better but they come with $30 in rebates.

 

[pepperman]

If you are talking about the max load it is possible to force you GPU to achieve then yes, that is in fact the point of the program. If you mean max load the card will actually use during regular gaming then the 30w is much more accurate.

If you look at the next chart in the same article it shows the 5670 pulling 56 Watts in 3D Mark (which I believe is a very good indicator for what it will pull in a demanding game).