Looking to upgrade my GT 240 NVIDIA GC

[chris674]

Hello All,

I am currently looking for an upgrade for my NVIDIA GT 240 Graphics Card by EVGA. The card has 1GB GDDR3 Dedicated RAM, but clock speeds are very low. My most graphically intensive game would be Star Trek Online. I run on 0 antialising and low-med settings with lag. I have currently been looking into the NVIDIA GTX 550ti or GTX 650 cards with 1 GB GDDR5. My current Core speed is 550MHz, Shader is 1370MHz, Memory Clock is 790MHz. I am only looking for NVIDIA cards and would really like some advice on the 2 cards. Any card suggestions must be between $100-$120. I really would like to have a graphics card that can handle anything that Star Trek Online has to offer. I DON'T INTEND ON GETTING ANY CURRENT GAMES, I WOULD LIKE A CARD TO DO WHAT I NEED IT TO DO WITH CURRENT GAMES THAT I HAVE. (ex: Star Trek Online, UT3, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Sims 3, etc.)

My Specs:

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Motherboard: MSI G41M4-F Socket LGA775
Processor: Intel Pentium E6600 Wolfdale 3.06GHz--2 Cores
Memory: 4.0GB DDR2 RAM
Graphics: EVGA NVIDIA GT 240 1GB GDDR3 Dedicated
PSU: 300W (I INTEND ON UPGRADING PSU TO 500W UPON PURCHASE OF GC)
HDD: SeaGate 250GB SATA

P.S. I would only like suggestions on graphics card as I am fully satisfied with my CPU.

 

[maxh22]

Hello All,

I am currently looking for an upgrade for my NVIDIA GT 240 Graphics Card by EVGA. The card has 1GB GDDR3 Dedicated RAM, but clock speeds are very low. My most graphically intensive game would be Star Trek Online. I run on 0 antialising and low-med settings with lag. I have currently been looking into the NVIDIA GTX 550ti or GTX 650 cards with 1 GB GDDR5. My current Core speed is 550MHz, Shader is 1370MHz, Memory Clock is 790MHz. I am only looking for NVIDIA cards and would really like some advice on the 2 cards. Any card suggestions must be between $100-$120. I really would like to have a graphics card that can handle anything that Star Trek Online has to offer. I DON'T INTEND ON GETTING ANY CURRENT GAMES, I WOULD LIKE A CARD TO DO WHAT I NEED IT TO DO WITH CURRENT GAMES THAT I HAVE. (ex: Star Trek Online, UT3, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Sims 3, etc.)

My Specs:

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Motherboard: MSI G41M4-F Socket LGA775
Processor: Intel Pentium E6600 Wolfdale 3.06GHz--2 Cores
Memory: 4.0GB DDR2 RAM
Graphics: EVGA NVIDIA GT 240 1GB GDDR3 Dedicated
PSU: 300W (I INTEND ON UPGRADING PSU TO 500W UPON PURCHASE OF GC)
HDD: SeaGate 250GB SATA

P.S. I would only like suggestions on graphics card as I am fully satisfied with my CPU.

You have two options: The new gtx 650 for $120 that will require a new PSU. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130827

Or the Radeon 7750 for $109 and it will not require a new PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121633

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

IF you get anything that needs external power I would get a 550w and then get a 560se or a 650 but I don't think the 650 looks that great but will definitely be a large upgrade from what you have now.

 

[chris674]

Thanks for the response.

Do you know which card is better the 550ti or 650?? I know 650 just came out, but I am just wondering the benefit of either. I know I will have to upgrade PSU, I am not worried about that. Just need some kind of specs on these 2 cards.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[maxh22]

Thanks for the response.

Do you know which card is better the 550ti or 650?? I know 650 just came out, but I am just wondering the benefit of either. I know I will have to upgrade PSU, I am not worried about that. Just need some kind of specs on these 2 cards.

Thanks,
Chris

You will be bottlenecked with your cpu because its a dual core, I say go for the 650 and get a new corsair 500 watt psu!

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

I believe the 550ti is better in general. Here are some benchmarks
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-geforce-gtx-650-benchmark,3297-8.html
But I strongly recommend against the 550ti and usually recommend the 560se as they are the same price and the 550ti is kind of a rip.

 

[chris674]

From this link:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130625

It shows a EVGA 550ti with 4300MHz effective memory clock which is pretty impressive. Core being 951MHz, shader at 1900MHz. Big upgrade from my GT 240. Any thoughts on how this will perform using STO or any other similar high graphical game?

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

I think it would perform fine but I think you should get a 650 or a 560se

 

[chris674]

I looked at the specs of the gtx 560se and it seems to have slower overall clock speeds than the 550ti, just wondering why the 560 is recommended over 550ti? Also, does the more cuda cores mean more performance? Never really knew what the cuda core meant.

 

[chris674]

Also, what does, "Graphics Clock, Base Clock" mean? Are they the same? (550ti features graphics clock, where the 650 features 'base clock'?