Typical "what kind of graphics card should i get" question

I did post once in the general hardware forum and got a great answer by Stang, but i have not gotten anything after that for a few days. So, i thought it might be appropriate to try and post in the video card forums and just narrow down my question.

Alright, I've been looking for a new graphics card to get, and i've already been through so much trouble trying to find a good one that I might as well go through a little more trouble to find a decent one. My computer is an HP Pavillion a1630n with everything still original. Heres the dxdiag info:

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.080814-1236)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: HP Pavilion 061
System Model: RC658AA-ABA a1630n
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4600+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 1982MB RAM
Page File: 525MB used, 3349MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 6150 LE
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (75Hz)
Monitor: HP vs17 flat panel monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1280,1024
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0011.8122 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 1/15/2009 08:19:00, 6168960 bytes


If theres any other info yol may need, feel free to tell me where to find it.

Im looking for a card that will mainly just last me a long time while playing graphic intensive games smoothly. My budget for the card is $200, which so far i've noticed can buy some good cards off Newegg or TigerDirect. Atm i have a 300w psu, so im aware that i may need an upgrade with that too. Im thinking about getting OCZ StealthXStream 700w since its only $70 after mail in rebate. Apparently theres no need to even have a 700w with my pc, but its pretty cheap and i do need a new psu anyway. Any thoughts on that?

Also, i was actually very close to buying a XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black edition (with 2 included games as well!), but according to the reply in my other post, that would be a tad too powerful for my pc. With the goals mentioned in the paragraph above (first sentence) in mind, what would be the best card suited for me?

I know its not really the best forum manners to repost (even with more info than before), but im pretty restless to get this done. Thx in advance for the help!

I would definitely get a new PSU.

I would go AMD for your card, as well. No sense crossing platforms. I always keep AMD with AMD and Nvidia with Intel.

I disagree with anything being too powerful. Obviously, you are just upgrading. I wouldn't throw in a 4870x2 with the Athlon, but don't not buy something because it is too nice. That is if you get the PSU upgrade.

Sorry I had not replied to your post, I do try to help everyone but sometimes things slip through the cracks and I simply don't notice that someone had raised more questions or concerns.

The power supply upgrade is worth it for the cost, but my point originally was your system as configured, even if you threw in a 4870x2 and a power hungry quad core, would never reach the 700w power mark, you need a lot more than that to tax that power supply. You have to bare in mind that all components are designed to fit into certain envelopes when it comes out power consumption, heat output, and so on. Though its not uncommon for a video card or processor to require more power from one generation to the next, but usually you will see it introduced in a 150w envelope, then it is refined down to 125w or 95w until a new architecture is launched at that 150w level again, and refined down. So realistically you wont be seeing components down the line that will be more power hungry than whats on the market today, so you really dont need to buy more than you need now, because odds are you wont need more than that later. The average high end gaming pc today will consume about 350-450w during peak load, a average gaming pc (using cost effective components) will be seeing peaks closer to 300-350w. You only need big power supplies if you end up stacking components, having 2 or 3 video cards or large hard drive arrays. I for instance have a server with 24 hard drives in it...it needs 2x 750w power supplies to keep it going, as its peak power consumption is 900w on boot, but settles down quickly as hard drives shut down to conserve power when they are idle.

The second point I wanted to make was that if are limited to 1280x1024 and currently have a X2 4600, you are not going to need a GTX 260. This is because low resolutions are not GPU intensive, and in fact at 1280x1024, your X2 4600 would be holding the GTX 260 back, you would not get the best performance out of that card, so why pay $200 for a card that is only going to give you the same level of performance as a card half its price? Your motherboard features a Geforce 6150 chipset, which will limit your cpu upgrades now or in the future, I do not think you will be able to get any new dual cores (such as the X2 7750/7850) or quad cores (Phenom II 920/940), so you are kind of at a stand still with how far you can go.

What I would suggest is a graphics card such as the HD 4770 which is available online for $99. This card will provide you with exceptional performance at 1280x1024, and will also provide great performance at 1680x1050 if you were to upgrade to a 20-22" LCD at some point. At 1280x1024 you wont see the 4770 performance any worse than the GTX 260, simply because the GTX 260 will be bottle necked, it would be able to do more than the rest of your system will allow it too.

Also remember that there is very little "future proofing" in the computer world, on average you will see product cycles every 6-8 months, and basically that means what is high end now will be midrange in 6-8 months, as it is replaced by something faster.

Buy the power you need, when you need it

First off, i have decided to go with the HD 4770. With that in mind, my next upgrade may be a 1680x1024 22' LCD screen (only $160). Could I get away with using my current 300w power supply with the 1680x1024 setup or even my current screen setup? If not, do you have any specific or general recommendations? I'd like to keep the cost down in order to get a new screen, but it's not priority by any means.

Thx a ton so far as well. Wish I would've known to come here a long time ago!

I'm also pretty active on a few public and private gaming forums, and I fully realize that occasionally (sometimes more when I'm busy) I just completely forget about someone I was trying to help. So I know where your coming from on that one!

As long as your current power supply offers a 6-pin PCI Express power connection you should be fine using your current power supply with that HD 4770. By my math your current system would top out about 260-280w, which is cutting it a bit close but I dont see the power supply failing under gaming conditions. But there are a number of great power supplies out there on the cheap, Rosewill has a few, along with this one from HEC, which is among the most popular. It is very good quality, never heard of one failing yet...and its only $35 with shipping. Granted, once again you dont really need this much power...but I see no better deal on newegg right now...

The monitor should be powered by its own power source, it will not be fed of your existing 300w power supply so you do not have to worry about that. All new monitors will also be powered by their own power source.

The HD 4770 will run games at 168x1050 very well, and even demanding games like Crysis will be smooth and playable. The 4770 is an exceptionally good card, and is actually not that much slower than the 4850 in some cases.

I try not to forget, but sometimes it just happens. At one point I had set it up so I was emailed about replies to topics...but my inbox suddenly exploded and I decided that was a bad idea

I always recommend new PSU's, especially, if nothing else, to get the <80 efficiency. Rosewill makes great Powersupplies. As far as I see it, you wouldn't run an engine at full boar all the time, so why max out a PSU all the time. Don't want one to die and then not be able to use it for a week. Heck, how would you even order a new one if your old one exploded. You would have to go to a public computer! Bah!

i would actually go with the 4850 even though its a little older its a faster card for the same $100 that the 4770 costs

as of writing newegg has a 4850 512mb from sapphire for 99 after rebate and if you enter in VGA48522 as a coupon you get another 12% off the card. comes with free shipping as well. its even got built in hdmi

yea its a great deal, but one thing that would be worth pointing out is his existing power supply should power the 4770 just fine, the 4850 would require a new power supply. Granted a 4850 for $87 is a hell of a deal though

well the good thing though is that a new psu is going to be more efficient than running the stock at max output for wattage

If I were to get a new power supply anyway (since apparently some are pretty cheap), would it be more efficient to get the 4850?

Also Starwarskid, would you mind linking that card? I saw one from Powercolor for $99 after rebate, but not one from Sapphire.

I strongly recommend a 550 W or 450 W PSU from Rosewill for about 40 dollars and the 4850. I have a 4870, and quite frankly, the 48xx's beat the 47xx's everytime, for very little less expense.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814102824

seems to me that thewy took the coupon off the page but put in what i posted earlier in for it

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814102824

seems to me that thewy took the coupon off the page but put in what i posted earlier in for it


as for a powersupply this corsair is the best in the $50 price range

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16817139003

well lets break it down because the poor guy is gunna get a hell of headache trying to figure out what to do

Basically, the HD 4770 should not require you to get a new power supply, though at some point you probably will want to. But not upgrading the power supply now will leave a bit more money in your pocket to put towards that new monitor. The HD 4770 even at 1680x1050, will not be much slower than the HD 4850 when it comes to real world gaming. You can refer to a number of indepth reviews such as this review from legitreviews, this from techspot, pcperspective, xbitlabs, anandtech, and many others.. You may not want to read them all, but the bottom line is for most scenarios it is not significantly slower. When it is significantly slower, the 4770 is still keeping in the playable frame rate zone.

Now the 4850 is a better card, there's no way around it... And the fact that you can get them on sale for as little as $90 with rebates...well thats just a bargain. But you cant overlook that it does consume more power, it does produce more heat, and it is a physically larger card. These things should factor into your choice given that there is only so much you can pack into a little HP case before you risk stability. Buying a HD 4850 now, without expanding your current budget, would mean you need a new power supply to use the card and that means you'd put off the monitor upgrade...which means you have a powerful card and no way to use it since 1280x1024 is not gpu limited.

You wont get any future proofing by going with the HD 4850 over the HD 4770 because as you can see, right now there is very little performance gap between them. By the time the 4770 is bogged down with next generation games, so will the HD 4850.

Its not just about the fastest you can get your hands on, often times its a much wiser choice to get the performance you need and worry about later...later... Odds are your next upgrade will involve a bit of an overhaul because you are fast approaching the point where upgrading what you have will not be worth it. So why spend more than you have to now?

I run dual 260GTX's on a 32" lcd @ 2560x1600, on a 780i mobo, 2 gig 1066 ram, with XP home and its fraking awesome when both cards are SLI'ed in any game I play

ATI may be cheaper, but all the driver issues I read about make me so thankful I went Nvidia!!