[Help] Which Graphic card to buy ?

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Benipal

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Jun 21, 2011
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Hey forum,

I just got a new Pc today 'cause my laptop screen broke. Anyway, I need a graphics card and I don't know exactly which category do these games fall in so I'm just writing some games that I want to play and hopefully my graphics card would run them.
My budget is $100, I will be installing graphic card manually and its first time I'm buying one and installing. I read somewhere that some Graphics card require upgrading power supply. I've no idea what that means, if anyone could explain please that would be really helpful. Again I will be doing it manually so please don't tell a complicated one [if there is anything like this in graphic cards.. :/]


Games that I expect it to run:

GTA IV
Black Ops (If possible)
Need for speed Undercover
Battlefield 2
Dragon Age 2

Pc configurations:

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_rtm.101119-1850)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Inspiron 620
BIOS: BIOS Date: 04/12/11 16:24:18 Ver: 04.06.04
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2100 CPU @ 3.10GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.1GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 4008MB RAM
Page File: 2073MB used, 5942MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 32bit Unicode


Please do tell me if any more Info is required.
Thanks :)
 
Solution
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If you are going to upgrade your power supply, might as well buy a 500 w supply and a 5770 (twice as powerful as 5670), this will maybe cost you $200, but the increase in performance may be worth it if you are not on a tight budget.

power supplies mostly make sure that they are from a good brand, like corsair, antec seasonic, ocz these are all good ones generally.

if you know the brand and model number of your monitor, do tell us that.
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Overclocked Toaster

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May 5, 2011
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Two pieces of information we need are your power supply and your monitor`s resolution.

Some mid-range and high-end require a lot of power, more power than the current power supply in a computer can provide. And so for that reason you would sometimes need to upgrade a power supply. Im not sure how to check your power supply except to crack open your case and read the label that is currently on it. if you could do that and report to us the the power in Watts that would be great ( i am guessing it is probably some low quality no-name power supply with like 300 watts)

My guess is that a radeon hd 5670 will suit your budget and needs. you should be able to play all the listed games, though not necessarily on maximum settings for all of them.

installing a graphics card is really a basic thing to do and can be done in a few minutes. you can probably find videos on youtube of instructions on how to do it. if you run into any problems just ask us and someone will help you out.
 
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Benipal

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Jun 21, 2011
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I'm not sure about power supply, I will check it and report here very soon.
Monitor resolution is 1600 x 900
And what does upgrading power supply include ? How much will it cost ?

Thanks for your reply :)
 
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Overclocked Toaster

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Upgrading a power supply simply means replacing your old power supply with a new one. Power supply cost is dependent on power and quality. You always want a high quality power supply otherwise they have poor lifespan and may die within a year. how much power you need is dependent on your components, in your case, it would depend on what graphcis card you get. For the 5670, you only need about 300 watts I think, I would have to check. I would imagine it would cost you like $50 to get a decent 400 watt power supply. If your current power supply is half-way decent, you wont need to replace it for something like the 5670.

Replacing a power supply is a bit more laborius than replacing a video card, but it is still pretty straightforward if you have seen someone do it.

Your monitor resolution is somewhat demanding. With a 5670 you should be able to max out black ops, bf2, and nfs. For DA2 and GTA IV, you would have to tone down the settings maybe to medium settings i would guess.
 
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Benipal

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Okay. I checked power supply. Its 300 watts :)
So will it work fine with that one (5670) ?

Now when I search for this graphic card on amazon (http://amzn.to/jtbRUj), I see different results. Some are DDR5 and some are DDR3
Some are VGA and some are HDMI

As I said earlier I'm totally new to this stuff, so if you could please suggest me which one should I go for that would really help me. :)
Or if you know any other better place than Amazon where I should get it from, that would also be great.
Average cost that I see on amazon is $60-85
 
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Overclocked Toaster

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the recommended power supply is 400 W, but that includes a safety margin and assumes full system load. It would probably work with 300 W, but I cant make guarantees, and you would be pushing your power supply to its limit and shortening its lifespan. Maybe someone else will pop in and give you more conclusive advice. If it is a high quailty brand power supply im sure it would work.

The GDDR5 version is faster than the ddr3 by a significant amount, so go for that. Amazon is not a bad place, newegg is great if you are in USA or canada. VGA, HDMI, or DVI depends on your monitor. I think most modern monitors use DVI, but the monitor/graphics card will usually come with an adapter (VGA to DVI) so as long as it has either one of those two it should be fine. I dont think most monitors come with HDMI though, thats mostly for TVs
 
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Benipal

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Ok so I need to see what my monitor use ? (VGA or DVI) and then I buy that EXACT one ?
Btw how do I find out what my monitor use ? :S

Thanks again. :)

EDIT: Its written that 400w is minimum that 5670 requires. So I will upgrade my power supply also. And I'm looking at new egg.
What should I be looking for ? Are there different power supplies for different processors? or are they based on anything else ?
Anyways I've listed my configurations in first post, so if you can please suggest any cheap power supply ?
 
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Overclocked Toaster

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If you are going to upgrade your power supply, might as well buy a 500 w supply and a 5770 (twice as powerful as 5670), this will maybe cost you $200, but the increase in performance may be worth it if you are not on a tight budget.

power supplies mostly make sure that they are from a good brand, like corsair, antec seasonic, ocz these are all good ones generally.

if you know the brand and model number of your monitor, do tell us that.
 
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bilalwaseem

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i will be getting my pc in abou some days and i want a graphics card(ati or nvidia) that have directx 11 and my budget is between 100$to 125$......i would lay games not on high but med....my games will be
nfs hot pursuit 2010
crysis 2
fifa 11 and upcoming 12
upcoming battlefield 3......just tell me whats the best......i will take moniter that supports the graphics card....
 
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