Is a GT 210 worth it?

[tanmayvij]

My PC's current specs are:

Pentium Dual Core E2180, 2 GB DDR2 667 MHz, Integrated GPU NVIDIA GeForce 7100.

Sure enough, I can't play current gen titles with my PC, but I was looking to play games like Portal 2, CS GO, Far Cry 2, NFS Most Wanted (2012) etc. Not tried Portal 2 or NFS MW yet, but Far Cry 2 or CS GO give me no more than 10 FPS at lowest settings, 480p. So I thought of adding a dedicated GPU to get rid of my old GeForce 7100 (which is integrated into my motherboard). I will still not be playing games at high settings. Low settings are okay for me, just if I can take the resolution a bit up, I should be happy with it. So shall I go for a GT 210? Or spend a bit extra on a GT 610? Some online benchmarks showed me negligible difference between a GT 210 or GT 610.. Also, the GT 610 won't be stressing my weak CPU much, so there'd be hardly any difference.. So I thought GT 210 is better, given it's half the price.. Am I making a right decision?


Lastly, will adding a GT 210 really make a difference to my PC's gaming performance?

 

[Darkbreeze]

GT 740 or R7 250 is the absolute rock bottom, lowest tiered card you want to even consider if you plan to play modern games, even at low settings. Anything else is a waste of money that is likely to result in absolute frustration on your part when you find you're no better off than you were before. At the very least, at GT 730 would give you the ability to even play some of those games at minimum settings. Anything below that is probably not even worth spending your money on.

 

[tanmayvij]

GT 740 or R7 250 is the absolute rock bottom, lowest tiered card you want to even consider if you plan to play modern games, even at low settings. Anything else is a waste of money that is likely to result in absolute frustration on your part when you find you're no better off than you were before. At the very least, at GT 730 would give you the ability to even play some of those games at minimum settings. Anything below that is probably not even worth spending your money on.

How is a GT 710? I was able to find a NEW gt710 on eBay for real cheap

 

[Darkbreeze]

Well, it's better than a 210, but you're going to be incapable of playing the majority of games at anything remotely like playable performance levels. Even at the very lowest settings, it's going to suck badly unless you're playing at an extremely low resolution, and probably even then.

 

[Alan Caldwell]

At least a GT 730 with DDR5 memory is good. Which country are you from?

 

[Darkbreeze]

A GT 730 with 2GB of GDDR5 WILL work on the very lowest settings for some games, but there will be an awful lot of games that it will not meet the minimum criteria for, or will not perform at playable levels with. If it's the best you can afford though, then what else can you do, it would have to work. Anything less is absolutely a waste of money as you won't have anything more than you do now.

If you need to drive 50mph to complete the race, it doesn't matter whether you're going 30mph, or 40mph, you are still not finishing within the allowed timeframe. While you will finish faster going 40mph, you still do not get there on time.

 

[Epicness937]

get a r7 250 its a good low end card that runs most games at minimum settings at 20fps