Graphics card purchase help.

[saijm4444]

I am searching for a new graphics card for my old PC, with a DG41RQ1 mobo and I came across these two: Sapphire R9 270X 2GB DDR5 DUAL-X OC WITH BOOST and sapphire r7 265. Which should I choose? Minimal gaming needs, but lots of video editing and processing will be done.

My CPU is Core2Duo@2.93GHz. Will this bottleneck the Graphics card?

Also, Will it be okay with just a RAM upgrade to 8GB, and not buy a card at all?

 

[guanyu210379]

Your current processor would likely bottleneck R9 270x.
But, if you already plan to upgrade your whole rig, you might still wanna to get R9 270x and carry it over or keep it to the upgraded rig.


DG41RQ1 can only DDR2 (if I am not mistaken), I would actually not spend one single cent upgrading the RAM and would rather keep the money to upgrade the whole rig.
If you have already 4GB RAM, it is ok.
If you insist going for 8GB RAM, you can still benefit from it but get the used ones from ebay. There is no point getting a new DDR2 modules.

If you plan to do for temporary upgrade, getting a used Q6600 or Q8200 or any C2Q from ebay is not bad, but again, I would not spend any single cent to upgrade this part of the rig.

 

[Deemo13]

You might need a new power supply to run a better graphics card.

 

[saijm4444]

You might need a new power supply to run a better graphics card.

Thanks!

 

[guanyu210379]

about the PSU, how much or how strong is your PSU? 500W? 550W?
Getting a new PSU could be necessary if you have something less than 450W or if the PSU is not from a brand with well-known reputation.
The PSU can be carried over too to the new rig in the future.

 

[photonboy]

Quick Answer:
I recommend just getting the Asus GTX750Ti:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-gtx750tioc2gd5

Long Answer:
1) For video editing, the Graphics Card usually has very little impact. It's the CPU that is usually most important. It varies between programs, but I believe of the programs that even used video cards much the advantage going above a GT640 was minimal.

2) 4GB is sufficient for most video games, but not for video editing.

3) By video "editing" I don't mean simply converting video either. That's a different story which uses the CPU only for software-based conversion like Handbrake (the best quality conversions). Many programs can now use the GPU decoder in graphics cards which can do a fairly good job and are much faster, but I'd use it for converting to watch on a small screen.

4) DDR2 memory is fairly expensive.

5) You must have a 64-bit OS to use more than 4GB of memory. That includes the System RAM (DDR2) and the Video RAM.

*If you have a 2GB video card and 32-bit Windows, you will have less than 2GB usable of your System RAM.

Summary:
I'm not sure what to recommend really as you need more System Memory for video editing but also lack a great CPU. As said, the R9-270X would be bottlenecked severely, as would some lesser cards though how much varies between the games as well.

So I can only recommend:
a) GTX750Ti to improve gaming performance, or
b) Build a completely new system.

 

[saijm4444]

about the PSU, how much or how strong is your PSU? 500W? 550W?
Getting a new PSU could be necessary if you have something less than 450W or if the PSU is not from a brand with well-known reputation.
The PSU can be carried over too to the new rig in the future.

I have a 400W PSU from Intex.

@photonboy
I have 64bit Win 7, 8GB Ram,
By editing, I meant post processing in After Effects, for example.
That's good?

---------------------------UPDATE------------------------------

I'll build a new system.
Could you suggest a good Graphics Card for this?
Minimal gaming.

 

[guanyu210379]

400W? Woops! You need to get a new PSU too.
hmmm...

For video editing, you will need mainly better processor and enough RAM.
Especially the new Haswel processors are good, the iGPU can be used to support such usages although you have already a discrete GPU. (iGPu to be used as number cruncher)
Now, I have another opinion. If you really do editing professionally, I would rather do full upgrade instead only the GPU+PSU.
I would start considering (non-OC) i7 4770, 16GB DDR3, GTX760 (or better for gaming or lower if you do not game often), H87 mobo and SSD (optional).
See if you have enough budget for those.

 

[saijm4444]

400W? Woops! You need to get a new PSU too.
hmmm...

For video editing, you will need mainly better processor and enough RAM.
Especially the new Haswel processors are good, the iGPU can be used to support such usages although you have already a discrete GPU. (iGPu to be used as number cruncher)
Now, I have another opinion. If you really do editing professionally, I would rather do full upgrade instead only the GPU+PSU.
I would start considering (non-OC) i7 4770, 16GB DDR3, GTX760 (or better for gaming or lower if you do not game often), H87 mobo and SSD (optional).
See if you have enough budget for those.

Thank you for your recommendation!
Sorry, i7 is impossible. i5 can be considered, though.
I also heard that Haswell is not good enough, and that ivyBridge is better. What's your take on that?

 

[guanyu210379]

Performance-wise Hasswell ia about the same as Ivy.