The best GPU within my constrains

[anirudh2792]

Current specs: i3 2100- 3.10GHz,Intel DH61WW, 4 GB RAM, 600VA UPS

I was using a 8400GS which broke down a year or so ago. Since then, I was unable to play any games. I was told that DH61WW does not have any on-board gfx too. Now, I am planning to get a GPU with a budget of around $110-$115 (which need to be converted into INR for me.)

Can you suggest a good graphics card mostly for the purpose of gaming? And how important is the PSU's capacity in this case? Will my 600VA PSU be a problem? Thank you in advance and happy July 4 for all Americans!

 

[tigerg]

You are correct, that motherboard does not have any integrated graphics capabilities. It supports PCI Express x16 2.0 cards so you have plenty of options, however, with the CPU and RAM, don't get anything too powerful as those could be bottlenecks. Your price range is probably the upper limit of what you should spend. You will be happy with cards that cost a bit less too.

Did you read the latest Toms Hardware article on best graphics cards for the money? It is here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html

If your PSU is capable of 600 Watts, then you have no problem as long as you have all the right connectors. However, you probably don't even need extra power into the card besides the power it gets from the motherboard.

 

[herrwizo]

If your were really using 8400GS with i3, you already had a huge, huge bottleneck. i3 is way more capable than some people think. In that price range on flipkart, your best bet is this card:

http://www.flipkart.com/inno3d-nvidia-geforce-gt-740-2-gb-ddr5-graphics-card/p/itme6srgyydcff4u?pid=GRCE6SRGRRH8VPRZ&ref=L%3A6456998565183114729&srno=b_33

In general, you are looking for a Radeon 250, 250X, 260X, Nvidia 730, 740. Preferably GDDR5, at least 2GB.

That being said, your main bottleneck after the upgrade will be your RAM. You should upgrade it to 8GB for gaming.

 

[anirudh2792]

If your were really using 8400GS with i3, you already had a huge, huge bottleneck. i3 is way more capable than some people think. In that price range on flipkart, your best bet is this card:

http://www.flipkart.com/inno3d-nvidia-geforce-gt-740-2-gb-ddr5-graphics-card/p/itme6srgyydcff4u?pid=GRCE6SRGRRH8VPRZ&ref=L%3A6456998565183114729&srno=b_33

In general, you are looking for a Radeon 250, 250X, 260X, Nvidia 730, 740. Preferably GDDR5, at least 2GB.

That being said, your main bottleneck after the upgrade will be your RAM. You should upgrade it to 8GB for gaming.

I have another 2 GB RAM. The issue is my 4 GB and 2 GB RAMs are of different working frequencies. I was told this should not be a problem. But somehow, the RAM inserted in Slot 2 does not get recognized. Can you help me with that? I did not want the RAM to be a bottleneck. Hence I bought a 4 GB. I had a 2 GB initially.

 

[turbopixel]

I suggest the GTX 750 Ti
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121855R
2g vram and $ 119, and the Maxwell architecture

or any other version here
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Property&N=100007709%20600095874%204017%204027%20600487565&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=30

But like said already, you should upgrade your system ram. Mixing different frequencies can work, can not. This depends on your mainboard I bet. Just watch for voltage and don't mix these. I ruined my motherboard (but still works) functionality by mixing 1.35v and 1.5v ram (didn't pay attention).

 

[anirudh2792]

I suggest the GTX 750 Ti
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121855R
2g vram and $ 119, and the Maxwell architecture

or any other version here
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Property&N=100007709%20600095874%204017%204027%20600487565&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=30

But like said already, you should upgrade your system ram. Mixing different frequencies can work, can not. This depends on your mainboard I bet. Just watch for voltage and don't mix these. I ruined my motherboard (but still works) functionality by mixing 1.35v and 1.5v ram (didn't pay attention).

But I thought incompatibility of dissimilar RAM capacities were a problem of the olden motherboards. Even i3 supporting boards can have it? I am really surprised.

 

[turbopixel]

I don't know what you mean by dissimilar RAM capacities. You can mix different Mhz like 1600 Mhz and 1333 Mhz. Then the motherboard would downgrade the higher one to the lowest same, 1333 Mhz. Or you have to set it in the bios. Same goes for the latency settings and such, like 9-9-9-9-24. But the voltage should be the same. On my ram, the Mhz and latency was exactly the same, both from Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3-1600, CL9-9-9-24, but different voltage.

 

[madmatt30]

You would have to post the ram specs mate - it maybe a case of settings bios timings manually to get them running.
GPU wise just get the best you can afford - the i3 2100 is still a decent CPU.