What GPU should I get

[mpgould34]

I have an
AMD A8-3850 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics(4 CPUs), ~2.9GHz
and what I want to know is what GPU is compatible, affordable, and will allow me to play games and possibly stream/record in the future?

I run most games well but on lower settings because I lack a GPU so I would like to upgrade so I can have both my APU and GPU to make everything run smoother.

 

[terry4536]

What is your price range? And are you willing to upgrade the power supply? What is the current power supply rated at?

 

[mpgould34]

What is your price range? And are you willing to upgrade the power supply? What is the current power supply rated at?

My price range is around 100$ and I currently have a CX430 and has 430 watts

 

[Andrew Buck]

A GTX 750 would work great. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487027&cm_re=GTX_750-_-14-487-027-_-Product That is great GPU for the price and will get you 60 fps on medium-high settings.

 

[terry4536]

I would recommend a R7-250 or R7-250X for that price range. You may be able to find a better graphics card on sale, but it will require upgrading the power supply.

 

[mpgould34]

A GTX 750 would work great. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487027&cm_re=GTX_750-_-14-487-027-_-Product That is great GPU for the price and will get you 60 fps on medium-high settings.

Would I need to upgrade my power supply for this?

 

[terry4536]

The GTX 750 is above the price range, $ 100-140.

 

[terry4536]

No you wouldn't.

 

[Andrew Buck]

The 750 takes much less power usage than the R7 250X or R7 250. This would work really well in your system.

 

[terry4536]

These are entry level cards, don't expect 60 FPS on anything but the low echelon games.

 

[Andrew Buck]

You could get 60 fps on most games on medium settings at 720-900p.

 

[SpectreUnleashed]

First of all, you must not buy an additional GPU. Do not even think NVidia with an APU. Problem is APU has a GPU inside which you cannot deactivate. This means an NVidia GPU will be idle for all time because APU has the priority. Even if you buy an AMD to CrossfireX the 2 GPU's, you can only get AMD Radeon HD 6670 at your best bet. Your APU could only be CrossfireX'd with 6470,6570 and 6670. Obviously best is 6670 but it is a 1GB DDR3 GPU for a 70 USD. If you are OK with it, this is your certain GPU.

Conclusion: You CANNOT buy any NVidia GPU since you cannot SLI or CrossfireX them but you can have some specific AMD GPU's. Best you can have is HD 6670.

 

[Andrew Buck]

First of all, you must not buy an additional GPU. Do not even think NVidia with an APU. Problem is APU has a GPU inside which you cannot deactivate. This means an NVidia GPU will be idle for all time because APU has the priority. Even if you buy an AMD to CrossfireX the 2 GPU's, you can only get AMD Radeon HD 6670 at your best bet. Your APU could only be CrossfireX'd with 6470,6570 and 6670. Obviously best is 6670 but it is a 1GB DDR3 GPU for a 70 USD. If you are OK with it, this is your certain GPU.

Conclusion: You CANNOT buy any NVidia GPU since you cannot SLI or CrossfireX them but you can have some specific AMD GPU's. Best you can have is HD 6670.

Of course you can deactivate the GPU inside.

 

[SpectreUnleashed]

First of all, you must not buy an additional GPU. Do not even think NVidia with an APU. Problem is APU has a GPU inside which you cannot deactivate. This means an NVidia GPU will be idle for all time because APU has the priority. Even if you buy an AMD to CrossfireX the 2 GPU's, you can only get AMD Radeon HD 6670 at your best bet. Your APU could only be CrossfireX'd with 6470,6570 and 6670. Obviously best is 6670 but it is a 1GB DDR3 GPU for a 70 USD. If you are OK with it, this is your certain GPU.

Conclusion: You CANNOT buy any NVidia GPU since you cannot SLI or CrossfireX them but you can have some specific AMD GPU's. Best you can have is HD 6670.

Of course you can deactivate the GPU inside.

There are ways to do it but still it does not really seems good. I fear compatibility problems would happen. Last time I used AMD APU was in my laptop which was a A10-5750M with 8650G+8670M. Single 8670M had better benchmarks than mine due to lack of drivers for APU CrossfireX's. Also, I was not able to disable the iGPU. Maybe it was because I had a laptop though.

 

[Andrew Buck]

First of all, you must not buy an additional GPU. Do not even think NVidia with an APU. Problem is APU has a GPU inside which you cannot deactivate. This means an NVidia GPU will be idle for all time because APU has the priority. Even if you buy an AMD to CrossfireX the 2 GPU's, you can only get AMD Radeon HD 6670 at your best bet. Your APU could only be CrossfireX'd with 6470,6570 and 6670. Obviously best is 6670 but it is a 1GB DDR3 GPU for a 70 USD. If you are OK with it, this is your certain GPU.

Conclusion: You CANNOT buy any NVidia GPU since you cannot SLI or CrossfireX them but you can have some specific AMD GPU's. Best you can have is HD 6670.

Of course you can deactivate the GPU inside.

There are ways to do it but still it does not really seems good. I fear compatibility problems would happen. Last time I used AMD APU was in my laptop which was a A10-5750M with 8650G+8670M. Single 8670M had better benchmarks than mine due to lack of drivers for APU CrossfireX's. Also, I was not able to disable the iGPU. Maybe it was because I had a laptop though.

The iGPU cannot be disabled in a laptop if the GPUs are linked with Crossfire like that. He already has an APU, so no changing there.

 

[terry4536]

I agree, disabling the integrated graphics (in the BIOS) doesn't present any problems that I'm aware of.

 

[terry4536]

Either graphics card will work fine for you. The GTX 750 is just a bit more expensive.

 

[Andrew Buck]

A 6670 suffers in mostly all games and is considerably less power-efficient. The GTX 750 is a perfect option in your case.