Old system video card upgrade?? GT 730 2GB 64-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0

[mww2165]

Asus desktop tower (purchased 2010)
Mod # CG 5275
Ser # A2PDCG000A13
MoB P7H55 M/CG5275/DP_MB
CPU Intel Core i5 650 @ 3.2GHz
Ram 8Mb
GPU Intel HD Graphics
PCI x16 2.0 (half length)
PSU 400W (6 pin connector available)
O/S Win 8.1 Pro 64-bit
Bios American Megatrends ver. 0502 7/16/2010
32" HD via HDMI


Uses: Streaming video, web, light to mid gaming (getting heavier), design software generating 3D views (Chief Architect Home Designer Pro 2016)


I know the system is dated and nearing the end of it’s technological life, but I want to squeeze a bit more out of the old girl.

I have been looking at 1GB passive cards ($30-$50 US), which should beat the onboard video, and was wondering if 2GB and DDR5 would be worth the cost. I know it would be bottlenecked at the bus.

EVGA 02G-P3-3733-KR GeForce GT 730 2GB 64-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0

At $75.00 US, seems to be the card of choice for the last great upgrade for this system?

Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[MeteorsRaining]

Yes the card is perfectly fine with your system, and your PCIe bus will not hold the card back one bit. 2GB GDDR5 isn't really a compulsion since the GPU itself isn't powerful enough to make use of all available VRAM.

 

[mww2165]

Thanks for the input! I haven't found any benchmarks comparing the same cards with diferent memory configs, hence my questions...

So which one? No sense wasting $$ if the system OR GPU isn't going to use the resources...

1) 1GB DDR3 @ $50.00
2) 1GB DDR5 @ $65.00
3) 2GB DDR3 @ $65.00
4) 2GB DDR5 @ $75.00

Is there a better card I should be looking at?

 

[MeteorsRaining]

GDDR3 is an old and slow VRAM, cut that off the list. Since the card won't be able to utilize 2GB of VRAM in most games, I'd save the money and go for 1GB, that's the best value/money.

That being said, it doesn't always mean the card can't use more than 1GB of memory, so if you can go for 2GB, then it won't really be a waste, looking at the prices.

 

[mww2165]

That settles that then, 2GB GDDR5... Thanks!

Is there a "better" card I should be looking at?

 

[MeteorsRaining]

Give this article a read:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html

Or simply jump here and see what cards are level with your choice:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

R7 250 is a card which's slightly better than the GT 730.

 

[mww2165]

R7 250 is PCI 3.0, which will be slowed by the 2.0 bus, will this make that much difference?

 

[MeteorsRaining]

Nope, the PCIe bus will not degrade the performance even by a bit. This article answers this very confusion by using an enthusiast level GPU (GTX Titan):

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Impact-of-PCI-E-Speed-on-Gaming-Performance-518/

 

[mww2165]

Now you got my hopes up after reading that!

From what I gather then, the only thing holding the system back is the PSU? So I find the best card for a 400W PSU or go BIGGER... LOL

 

[MeteorsRaining]

Yes, that's true indeed, you can go all the way upto GTX 960 or even GTX 970 (though the CPU will bottleneck it a bit) without worries about any other components. For the current PSU though, I'd go for a GTX 750 Ti at best (since the PSU is quite old).

 

[mww2165]

See, it pays to buy quality junk! 10 yrs old and still kicking the can down the road! LOL

I must say, MeteorsRaining, you are the best! Tom's is the best! Thank you so very much for helping me locate and sift through all the articles.

How do I pick all the answers as the best? You should make a sticky with this information about choosing a card for older machines... Would have saved me bugging you!


P.S. You seem to like Radeon around here, from what I can tell... <poke>

 

[mww2165]

The winner is:

EVGA GTX 750 Ti FTW 2GB GDDR5 ($145.00 +/-)

Pulls 85W with a 6-pin PCI connector, but still within the 400W PSU (says it needs 300W).

Went with this b/c you can over clock the snot out of this for even better performance! http://www.overclockers.com/evga-gtx-750ti-ftw-graphics-card-review/


Thanks again for the help!

 

[MeteorsRaining]

Sorry for late reply, a little research yields sizeable benefits! Feel free to give a shout here in the forums for any technical assistance, it's a great ecosystem for hardware freaks.

Great choice on the card there, your PSU can easily take it, and it delivers the best power/ performance in the mid range segment.

Glad to help!

PS. Yes, R9 290 is powering up my rig for whatever work (and sometimes games) I do!

 

[mww2165]

Just bought it for $139.99. Shipping UPS ground so will update near the end of next week.

 

[mww2165]

So, the card is in and running out of the box FLAWLESSLY...

The only issues I have... It required an HDMI DISPALY to HDMI cable to run my HDTV and then the patch cords for sound...

The results...


3DMARK SYSTEM REPORT

                                       Intel HD Graphics              GeForce GTX 750 Ti FTW
 Vendor:                                Asustek                                    EVGA
 # of cards:                               1                                            1   
 SLI / CrossFire:                        Off                                         Off              
 Memory:                                0 MB                                   2,048 MB
 Memory Type:                     Shared                                      DDR5
 Core clock:                         747 MHz                                 1,189 MHz
 Memory bus clock:               0 MHz                                  1,350 MHz
 Driver name:                  Intel(R) HD Graphics      NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti
 Driver version:                    8.15.10.2900                          9.18.13.4752


3DMARK BENCHMARKS

NOTE: (Intel HD Graphics IS NOT DirectX 11 compatible)


CLOUD GATE
                                      Intel HD Graphics              GeForce GTX 750 Ti FTW
3DMark Score:                       809                                     9985
Graphics Score:                      674                                    35704
Physics Score:                       2728                                    2836
Graphics Test 1:                  2.36 fps                               157.59 fps
Graphics Test 2:                  3.86 fps                              152.96 fps
Physics Test:                       8.66 fps                                  9.0 fps


ICE STORM
                                     Intel HD Graphics              GeForce GTX 750 Ti FTW
3DMark Score:                      20806                                  83477
Graphics Score:                    18792                                 139311
Physics Score:                       33306                                 34743
Graphics Test 1:                  85.83 fps                           512.2 fps
Graphics Test 2:                  77.96 fps                           740.97 fps
Physics Test:                       105.73 fps                            110.3 fps


FIRE STRIKE
PERFORMANCE 1.17
                                    Intel HD Graphics            GeForce GTX 750 Ti FTW
3DMark Score:        NOT DirectX 11 compatible                 4092
Graphics Score:                    N/A                                      4879
Physics Score:                      N/A                                      4142
Combined Score:                  N/A                                    1837
Graphics Test 1:                    N/A                                  23.0 fps
Graphics Test 2:                   N/A                                 19.69 fps
Physics Test:                         N/A                                 13.15 fps
Combined Test:                      N/A                                 8.55 fps