Will this Graphics card work for me?

[Shane119]

Hi there,
I want to buy myself a new graphics card for next year as my current card, which is the GIGABYTE GV-N210D3-1GI is not doing it for me at all at the moment.

Well I am on a budget since I am studying, so I came across this card with the following details:

Asus R7240-OC-4GD3-L AMD Radeon

- PCI Express 3.0
- DDR3 4GB, 128-bit
- GPU Boost Clock : 820 MHz
- GPU Base Clock : 770 MHz
- 900 MHz ( 1800 MHz DDR3 )
- Up to 75Wno additional PCIe power required

My current setup consists out of :

- 3.0 ghZ Quad-core processor (AMD A8-3870 APU)
- 4 gb RAM
- 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate
- 450w Power Supply

I don't expect to have the world's greatest pc and to be able to play all games at max graphics. I recently got me Dragon Age : Inquisition, as I followed the previous games in the series and I would love to start playing the game. It would be great to be able to play the game at Medium to High graphics.

Also I wanted to know if this card will allow me to play games with anti-asialising options?

Thanks in advance! 😀

Here are the links to my current card and the one I am looking to purchase:

Current : http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3913#ov

Possible : http://www.wootware.co.za/asus-r7240-oc-4gd3-l.html

 

[NightAntilli]

Why not use your APU? The R7 240 won't give you much gain.

 

[Shane119]

Why not use your APU? The R7 240 won't give you much gain.

Unfortunately my Onboard graphics card has only 512 mb and can barely run Skyrim on low graphics. I doubt it will play Dragon age : Inquisition.

 

[NightAntilli]

How much can you spend? You will not be playing dragon age inquisition much better with an R7 240 either...

 

[Shane119]

I can spend no more than the cost of the Asus R7240-OC-4GD3-L AMD Radeon, one of my friends mentioned that he plays the game at high graphics and that he has a weaker card than the one I'm about to purchase. I can't recall the name of his card although he said that it had 128-bit, 2 gb of video memory and also ran on ddr3. He said the card that I am about to purchase was better than his.

I tried running the game with my current card which has 64-bit and 1gb video memory but the game looked terrible and even the audio stuttered.

Oh and he also mentioned the game did not look very different between low and high graphics, only the effects were a little better.

 

[NightAntilli]

There are other things that influence, like, the screen resolution. What resolution will you be playing at? In any case, here's a video of someone using it;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHOFgwhm3UY

 

[Shane119]

Wow! That actually looks amazing compared towards my current graphics card! I can't even run the game right now. Also the card the guy was using in the video was 1gb ddr5 with 128 bit where the one I will be buying has 4 gb, ddr3 with also 128 bit. Will the card I am getting also run the game like that? Oh and also, my current max screen resolution is 1366x768.

I play on a samsung computer screen.

 

[Justinsanity]

The minimum required graphics card for Dragon Age: Inquisition is much better than the card you are looking at. I would be surprised if you could run it on low everything at over 30 FPS.

Card you are looking at: Radeon R7 240 - 964 Passmark Score
Minimum card: Radeon HD 4870 - 1376 Passmark Score

 

[CDDogg]

I don't know what your budget is but here is what I do know:
4 GB of DDR3 Pails in comparison to 1 GB GDDR5 performance wise.
Integrated graphics are never good not even intel.
GB of memory is just for handling texture size and quantity not for being fast.
If you want FPS and processing speed look at a card's MHz not it's memory.
If you have less than a 3.0 GHz CPU games will stutter regardless of your GPU.
Same stuttering can also be caused by a lack of RAM.
and finally A GTX -750ti will fit in almost any case AND is only just above 100$ probably cheaper today.
I'm getting a GTX - 750ti soon because it can run BO3 on 60 FPS medium/low settings.

 

[Justinsanity]

I don't know what your budget is but here is what I do know:
4 GB of DDR3 Pails in comparison to 1 GB GDDR5 performance wise.
Integrated graphics are never good not even intel.
GB of memory is just for handling texture size and quantity not for being fast.
If you want FPS and processing speed look at a card's MHz not it's memory.
If you have less than a 3.0 GHz CPU games will stutter regardless of your GPU.
Same stuttering can also be caused by a lack of RAM.
and finally A GTX -750ti will fit in almost any case AND is only just above 100$ probably cheaper today.
I'm getting a GTX - 750ti soon because it can run BO3 on 60 FPS medium/low settings.

You are right good sir ^

You have an OK amount of RAM and a solid CPU. At this point your best bet would be to get a new PSU and GPU. 450w is pretty low. You generally don't want one that is less than 500w, especially for gaming.

 

[CDDogg]

I don't know what your budget is but here is what I do know:
4 GB of DDR3 Pails in comparison to 1 GB GDDR5 performance wise.
Integrated graphics are never good not even intel.
GB of memory is just for handling texture size and quantity not for being fast.
If you want FPS and processing speed look at a card's MHz not it's memory.
If you have less than a 3.0 GHz CPU games will stutter regardless of your GPU.
Same stuttering can also be caused by a lack of RAM.
and finally A GTX -750ti will fit in almost any case AND is only just above 100$ probably cheaper today.
I'm getting a GTX - 750ti soon because it can run BO3 on 60 FPS medium/low settings.

You are right good sir ^

You have an OK amount of RAM and a solid CPU. At this point your best bet would be to get a new PSU and GPU. 450w is pretty low. You generally don't want one that is less than 500w, especially for gaming.

You can google PSU calculators and find out just how much wattage you need. I use a 430 watt which actually does really well for my gaming system.

 

[Shane119]

I'm afraid I'm not completely sure how MHz works but it says that the card I am looking at has 900 MHz (1800 MHz DDR3). Don't know if that's anything good or so.

According to the cost of that card I converted our currency to American dollars which is $101. I was kinda looking forward to getting an AMD card (not that I'm picky) since I had some bad experiences with Nvidia cards.

I just want a card that could work for me for like a year or so till I get a job, then I will of course get something more decent. I'm dying to play that game! 😀

 

[Justinsanity]

I don't know what your budget is but here is what I do know:
4 GB of DDR3 Pails in comparison to 1 GB GDDR5 performance wise.
Integrated graphics are never good not even intel.
GB of memory is just for handling texture size and quantity not for being fast.
If you want FPS and processing speed look at a card's MHz not it's memory.
If you have less than a 3.0 GHz CPU games will stutter regardless of your GPU.
Same stuttering can also be caused by a lack of RAM.
and finally A GTX -750ti will fit in almost any case AND is only just above 100$ probably cheaper today.
I'm getting a GTX - 750ti soon because it can run BO3 on 60 FPS medium/low settings.

You are right good sir ^

You have an OK amount of RAM and a solid CPU. At this point your best bet would be to get a new PSU and GPU. 450w is pretty low. You generally don't want one that is less than 500w, especially for gaming.

You can google PSU calculators and find out just how much wattage you need. I use a 430 watt which actually does really well for my gaming system.

Really? I am legitimately curious; what kind of games do you usually play with that PSU onboard?

 

[CDDogg]

I don't know what your budget is but here is what I do know:
4 GB of DDR3 Pails in comparison to 1 GB GDDR5 performance wise.
Integrated graphics are never good not even intel.
GB of memory is just for handling texture size and quantity not for being fast.
If you want FPS and processing speed look at a card's MHz not it's memory.
If you have less than a 3.0 GHz CPU games will stutter regardless of your GPU.
Same stuttering can also be caused by a lack of RAM.
and finally A GTX -750ti will fit in almost any case AND is only just above 100$ probably cheaper today.
I'm getting a GTX - 750ti soon because it can run BO3 on 60 FPS medium/low settings.

You are right good sir ^

You have an OK amount of RAM and a solid CPU. At this point your best bet would be to get a new PSU and GPU. 450w is pretty low. You generally don't want one that is less than 500w, especially for gaming.

You can google PSU calculators and find out just how much wattage you need. I use a 430 watt which actually does really well for my gaming system.

Really? I am legitimately curious; what kind of games do you usually play with that PSU onboard?

Mostly Skyrim, Just Cause 2, Black Ops 2, MW3, CS:GO, KSP, and GTA 5. I run it all on a Corsair CX430 with a Radeon R5 230 2GB GPU and a 2.8GHz Dual-Core Athlon II X2 220. One I finish installing my new mobo, AMD FX 6300, and a GTX 750 ti i'll only go up an extra 40 watts out of the 300 I use already. Oh and I rarely overclock.

 

[Justinsanity]

I don't know what your budget is but here is what I do know:
4 GB of DDR3 Pails in comparison to 1 GB GDDR5 performance wise.
Integrated graphics are never good not even intel.
GB of memory is just for handling texture size and quantity not for being fast.
If you want FPS and processing speed look at a card's MHz not it's memory.
If you have less than a 3.0 GHz CPU games will stutter regardless of your GPU.
Same stuttering can also be caused by a lack of RAM.
and finally A GTX -750ti will fit in almost any case AND is only just above 100$ probably cheaper today.
I'm getting a GTX - 750ti soon because it can run BO3 on 60 FPS medium/low settings.

You are right good sir ^

You have an OK amount of RAM and a solid CPU. At this point your best bet would be to get a new PSU and GPU. 450w is pretty low. You generally don't want one that is less than 500w, especially for gaming.

You can google PSU calculators and find out just how much wattage you need. I use a 430 watt which actually does really well for my gaming system.

Really? I am legitimately curious; what kind of games do you usually play with that PSU onboard?

Mostly Skyrim, Just Cause 2, Black Ops 2, MW3, CS:GO, KSP, and GTA 5. I run it all on a Corsair CX430 with a Radeon R5 230 2GB GPU and a 2.8GHz Dual-Core Athlon II X2 220. One I finish installing my new mobo, AMD FX 6300, and a GTX 750 ti i'll only go up an extra 40 watts out of the 300 I use already. Oh and I rarely overclock.

Do you get a high framerate? If you do, Shane119, you need to take notes here.

 

[Shane119]

I mainly want to know if this card will be able to play Dragon age inquisition? I asked my friend and he said it's supposed to work. My pc is ddr3, with pci- express. He also stated that my power supply would work fine handling that card. He's better with computer hardware than I am.

I can't really find a better alternative.

 

[CDDogg]

I get a ridiculously steady 40 FPS on medium settings in Just Cause 2, I get 25-30 FPS medium-high skyrim, 20 - 25 FPS GTA 5 Low, 15 FPS KSP High settings + Memory intensive mods, 50-60 FPS Black ops 2 low/medium settings, 30 FPS CS:GO Medium, 60 FPS MW3 High. And Most of the low frame rates is probably because my CPU is bottlenecking my cards full potential and I'm stuck with 4 GB RAM until i finish with my new mobo. I paid 50$ for the card brand new but other than GTA 5 it's NOT for next gen gaming thats why i need the 750ti.

 

[Justinsanity]

I mainly want to know if this card will be able to play Dragon age inquisition? I asked my friend and he said it's supposed to work. My pc is ddr3, with pci- express. He also stated that my power supply would work fine handling that card. He's better with computer hardware than I am.

I can't really find a better alternative.

The card is well below the minimum requirements for the game. That is all I know for sure. You are definitely going to have to run it on low if you want a somewhat playable frame-rate.

 

[Shane119]

I do not doubt your answer Justinsanity. But, what specs do you point to about the card that would cause it to not run efficiently?

 

[Justinsanity]

I get a ridiculously steady 40 FPS on medium settings in Just Cause 2, I get 25-30 FPS medium-high skyrim, 20 - 25 FPS GTA 5 Low, 15 FPS KSP High settings + Memory intensive mods, 50-60 FPS Black ops 2 low/medium settings, 30 FPS CS:GO Medium, 60 FPS MW3 High. And Most of the low frame rates is probably because my CPU is bottlenecking my cards full potential and I'm stuck with 4 GB RAM until i finish with my new mobo. I paid 50$ for the card brand new but other than GTA 5 it's NOT for next gen gaming thats why i need the 750ti.

Some of those would be unplayable for me, but I am just really surprised you can pull that off with such a low wattage. I run Skyrim on high textures and res (everything else on low) at 40-55 (30 in towns) with a 550w supplying a Geforce GTX 260, which is really pushing it imo. I used to have PSU problems, but I found a way to get more power to my GPU using various adapters and such.

 

[CDDogg]

I mainly want to know if this card will be able to play Dragon age inquisition? I asked my friend and he said it's supposed to work. My pc is ddr3, with pci- express. He also stated that my power supply would work fine handling that card. He's better with computer hardware than I am.

I can't really find a better alternative.

Shane just get a GTX-750 Ti it comes in low profile version if you're case is tiny it doesn't need that much power and it's only 10$ more than your budget, If you buy it today(because it's cyber Monday) it's probably even closer to your budget. It's a great looking card that is more than capable of play dragon-age inquisition or any new game out there.

 

[Justinsanity]

I do not doubt your answer Justinsanity. But, what specs do you point to about the card that would cause it to not run efficiently?

The passmark score is too low under the minimum requirements. Here is what you want:

GPU: Radeon HD 4870
PSU: AMD states “500 watt power supply” as a requirement on the packaging

[EDIT] This is assuming you want a high framerate. In my opinion, anything consistently under 45 is unplayable.

 

[CDDogg]

I get a ridiculously steady 40 FPS on medium settings in Just Cause 2, I get 25-30 FPS medium-high skyrim, 20 - 25 FPS GTA 5 Low, 15 FPS KSP High settings + Memory intensive mods, 50-60 FPS Black ops 2 low/medium settings, 30 FPS CS:GO Medium, 60 FPS MW3 High. And Most of the low frame rates is probably because my CPU is bottlenecking my cards full potential and I'm stuck with 4 GB RAM until i finish with my new mobo. I paid 50$ for the card brand new but other than GTA 5 it's NOT for next gen gaming thats why i need the 750ti.

Some of those would be unplayable for me, but I am just really surprised you can pull that off with such a low wattage. I run Skyrim on high textures and res (everything else on low) at 40-55 (30 in towns) with a 550w supplying a Geforce GTX 260, which is really pushing it imo. I used to have PSU problems, but I found a way to get more power to my GPU using various adapters and such.

Justin the reason why you're under the assumption that power matters is because you have an old GPU. Older GPUs need a large amount of power but for instance my card(which was released in 2013) while it lacks in next-gen ability it support DirectX 12 and only uses 35 Watts(Yes I said 35 tiny little watts)

 

[CDDogg]

I do not doubt your answer Justinsanity. But, what specs do you point to about the card that would cause it to not run efficiently?

The passmark score is too low. Here is what you want:

GPU: Radeon HD 4870
PSU: AMD states “500 watt power supply” as a requirement on the packaging

Also packaging is WAY exagerated, When i was shopping for my card online it said it needed 300+ watts the packaging itself said 600+ recommended whereas the cards actually power consumption is only 35 watts

 

[Shane119]

I mainly want to know if this card will be able to play Dragon age inquisition? I asked my friend and he said it's supposed to work. My pc is ddr3, with pci- express. He also stated that my power supply would work fine handling that card. He's better with computer hardware than I am.

I can't really find a better alternative.

Shane just get a GTX-750 Ti it comes in low profile version if you're case is tiny it doesn't need that much power and it's only 10$ more than your budget, If you buy it today(because it's cyber Monday) it's probably even closer to your budget. It's a great looking card that is more than capable of play dragon-age inquisition or any new game out there.

It's gonna be hard to find that card. If I do find that card, what quality will I be able to play the game at?