I need help choosing a graphics card for my old PC with Q6600 CPU

[baby_boy]

Hello everyone.
I really need your help as I don't know what graphics card to choose from.
I have an old PC, which has a Q6600 CPU and the motherboard is Gigabyte P35-DQ6.
Recently I have upgraded my RAM to 8GB and somehow messed up the graphics card(tried to replace the thermal paste and it didn't work out very well).
I know that I should save money for a new PC, but this PC does the job done very well for me and also I cannot afford a new PC.
So I want to know what graphics card I can get for maximum performance without wasting money.
I mean considering that I have Q6600 which isn't that powerful anymore, what graphics card could maximise my performance.
I have looked at the graphics card out there and a 2GB DDR3 128bit seems to be a good choice considering the price, but I was wondering if I get a 4GB and maybe 256bit am I able to run it at its maximum performance or not.
So please give me some advice as I don't know what to get.
BTW I am looking for a gaming card if that makes any difference, I know I can't run any of the new games, but old games are good enough for me.
Thank you very very much beforehand.

 

[RememberThe5th]

Overclock Q6600 3.0Ghz you have very good motherboard but what's your PSU? I would suggest you 1060 6GB it may be bottlenecked by Q6600 but its good upgrade path after you get money for new system.
Other choices if you have lower budget would be 1050ti or RX 470/570/580 depends what you can find for money.

 

[baby_boy]

Dear Robert Ban, thank you very much for your answer and for your time.
Well, I can't really overclock the CPU, because of the crappy cooler(Intel stock cooler), the idle temp is around 45-47, so I'm not sure how overclocking would go, but since buying a fan(a new cooler) isn't expensive, I could absolutely do that, so thank you for that.
My PSU is a 500W Acbel brand which was very high end at the time I've got it, right now it says I am using between 15% to 25% of the power, so I assume it's going to work well with the new GPU, and I should mention I have 3 HDDs on the PC.
And for the last and most important part of your answer.
The 1060 is way too expensive, so this one is out of order.
The AMD ones aren't available, not any of them, all online shop says not available.
But the 1050ti is available, in various brands with a little bit of difference in pricing, please forgive me, but I have one question regarding this card.
If I get this card, will I be able to use its full potential?
I am asking this, because this card's price is expensive, I mean not that I cannot afford it, but I thought a card with a maximum third of 1050ti's price would be the best I could get!
So it's getting a little bit expensive, but it is okay as long as I can use it.
What about the 1050 without ti, they're 2GB instead of 4GB in ti version(what's available here) but the pricing is almost half than ti.
I am sorry for asking too much question and thank you one more time Sir.
Cheers.

 

[SoNic67]

The 1050 should be OK on your system, they use very low power. Even an used 960 with 2GB should be fine.

 

[RememberThe5th]

Well if you buy 1050ti you can use it in future when you are willing to upgrade your PC, which would be awesome, 2GB variant is more focused on Esports games, and you will stutter playing on AAA games (because Vram is limit) and from choosing 1050ti just pick the cheapest variant you can find they are all same (except the Low profile LP, which is same but a bit anyoing cooling solution).

If you aren't gonna play AAA (like Witcher and some heavy games on vram) then 1050 would be good choice for that system.

 

[RememberThe5th]

The 1050 should be OK on your system, they use very low power. Even an used 1060 with 2GB should be fine.

There is 3GB variant and 6GB...

 

[dontlistentome]

For the sake of compatibility with an older motherboard, and trying to keep the expense low, I'd consider a used card like an HD 7870 or Nvidia GTX 660. Make sure your power supply has a 6 or 6+2 pin pci-ex connector to power whatever you choose.

You have the right idea with getting a 2gb DDR5 equipped card with a 128 bit memory bus. That will get you 1080p gaming on games that your 6600 can handle. An HD 7970 will get you similar performance to a 1050 Ti, assuming you can power a 7970.

 

[Li-chan]

Right now the sweet spot for any "budget/mid-end" system is the 1050 or 1050ti due to its performance difference over previous generation graphics cards. A reccomendation by me would be this card:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zotac-GeForce-1050Ti-Mini-Grap...

it is going to be a more viable option even for a system such as yours as when upgrade time comes you will be at an advantage with the current generation of processors as you would have half decent graphics

 

[RememberThe5th]

For the sake of compatibility with an older motherboard, and trying to keep the expense low, I'd consider a used card like an HD 7870 or Nvidia GTX 660. Make sure your power supply has a 6 or 6+2 pin pci-ex connector to power whatever you choose.

You have the right idea with getting a 2gb DDR5 equipped card with a 128 bit memory bus. That will get you 1080p gaming on games that your 6600 can handle. An HD 7970 will get you similar performance to a 1050 Ti, assuming you can power a 7970.

High end motherboards or budget range (DDR3) worked well with pcie GEN 3 as they are pcie 2.x , well if he has time he can search for used GPU's http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html just look above 1030 and see what you can find.

 

[baby_boy]

Dear Robert Ban, SoNic67, dontlistentome and Li-chan I thank you from bottom of my heart for your time.
I seriously doubt that I could find the best option without the help of this forum and more importantly without your help.
Unfortunately I cannot find 7970 or 7870(they are sold out).
The thing is I cannot get anything outside of the country for various reasons that I don't think you wanna hear, so I'm stuck with whatever available here.
And yes, my PSU actually does have 2x6 pins power connector for GPU.
But it seems my best option would be 1050, either the 4GB or 2GB, the thing is I don't want to buy something that I could use later, I am absolutely fine with getting something only for this PC as I don't think I would get a PC anytime soon.
And last but not least, my motherboard is DDR2 and the PCI e16 version 1(?) as I don't see anywhere saying PCI e16 v2, not that I need to tell you, but just to be clear.
So thank you very much for helping me out, I will be getting the 1050, but I am a little bit unsure whether to get the 2GB or 4GB.
I mean if it's going to make a difference in my gaming with the current PC, I will get the ti version, but if not, I would go with the 2GB version.
BUT, I think if get a new cooler for the CPU and overclock it which the motherboard allows me thankfully and go with the 1050ti would be the best option and if not overclocking the 2GB would be the best option.
If what I have stated above is correct, then I think I've got everything I need.
Cheers.

 

[dontlistentome]

Assuming you overclock the CPU, having the 1050 Ti will benefit you in games which mostly depend on the videocard. The faster speed of the Ti plus the extra memory will mean higher framerates and you can use higher settings.

In CPU intensive games, the Ti will not help much if at all. That's because in those kinds of games the 6600 is going to be overwhelmed, whether it's at 2.4ghz or 3ghz.

 

[SoNic67]

I meant to say an used GTX960 with 2GB RAM. They are cheaper, low power and very capable at 1080p...
As for the 2GB limit, don't worry, with your CPU you won't be able to use more than that.
See comparative tests below:
https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp%5B%5D=3114&cmp%5B%5D=3595&cmp%5B%5D=3596

 

[baby_boy]

Guys, thank you so much.
I don't know any better way to show my appreciation other than saying thank you.
I am absolutely thankful for your time.
Unfortunately, there is no way to pick multiple replays as answers and all your replays really helped me out and I am forced to pick one replay as an answer, but it doesn't mean other replays weren't good enough or not being helpful, every single replay helped me out, just allow me to say it's very hard to choose from and I would like to thank you all once again.
I wish you all a great year.
Cheers.