Noob looking for graphics card advice

[Cuda440]

Thanks everyone for the advice.

I was talking to a fiend earlier, he uses a GTX 570 and highly recommended it so I'm leaning towards that card but nothing has been ordered yet.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130687

I have also found a corsair 600w PSU that has a 40A supply that would be sufficient to run the gtx 570 card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028

I opened my case and measured to make sure there's enough room, and it turns out that I have plenty of open real estate inside, I'm not sure why the article I posted earlier made it sound like it was such a tight fit.

So, does that sound like a good plan to you guys?

BTW- I cant try playing a game right now and again after the change, as I'm currently having trouble playing youtube videos on low res and animated GIF's are screwing with my whole display.

[Merc1138]

BTW- I cant try playing a game right now and again after the change, as I'm currently having trouble playing youtube videos on low res and animated GIF's are screwing with my whole display.

Then you've got other issues that will not be resolved simply by changing the videocard.

[Eldraque]

My video card brand bias aside, on your current processor much cheaper graphics cards still wouldnt be fully utilized by your system. My recommendation, instead of paying $320 for a graphics card your system cant use, buy a nice graphics card for $200, and a decent processor with the other $120. As well as the new power supply of course.

[Cuda440]

My video card brand bias aside, on your current processor much cheaper graphics cards still wouldnt be fully utilized by your system. My recommendation, instead of paying $320 for a graphics card your system cant use, buy a nice graphics card for $200, and a decent processor with the other $120. As well as the new power supply of course.

I already have an I5 CPU, just replacing it with the exact same one would cost more than $120. If I wanted to upgrade to an I7, the cheapest one is $270

Where should I look to determine what video card would work well without being overkill for a Core I5 CPU? The only reason I looked up the GTX 570 is because a friend of mine has one and really likes it. I'm not opposed to AMD either, I just know nothing about this stuff and I figured if my pc came with a Nvidea, maybe it would be best to stick with a nvidea. If an AMD card would work just as good, I'm all ears. I looked up the Radeon 6770 and the 6870 that were recommended, would both of those be a decent choice?

[Eldraque]

I already have an I5 CPU, just replacing it with the exact same one would cost more than $120. If I wanted to upgrade to an I7, the cheapest one is $270

Where should I look to determine what video card would work well without being overkill for a Core I5 CPU? The only reason I looked up the GTX 570 is because a friend of mine has one and really likes it. I'm not opposed to AMD either, I just know nothing about this stuff and I figured if my pc came with a Nvidea, maybe it would be best to stick with a nvidea. If an AMD card would work just as good, I'm all ears. I looked up the Radeon 6770 and the 6870 that were recommended, would both of those be a decent choice?

Heres a 6 core for $135

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103962

Me and my friends all run AMD cards, we are college students on budgets, none of our cards have done us wrong, great prices for great performance. I cant recommend specific nvidia cards as I dont know them very well. Me and two friends personally are running 6870s. They are inexpensive but very powerful upper midrange cards. As for figuring out how much your processor will support, im not sure if there is a way to measure it, im running an amd equivilant of an i7 and when I upgraded my graphics card to a 6870, the upgrade was minimal. Im gonna be buying an 8 core soon so that I can run the 6870 harder..I think the nvidia equivilant is a gtx 560 which is slower than the 6870. but the gtx 560 Ti is faster. As far as brand goes I dont believe it matters. You can run a nvidia graphics card eith an amd processor and vice versa

I am unsure what will fit your motherboard though

[Cuda440]

Heres a 6 core for $135

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103962

Me and my friends all run AMD cards, we are college students on budgets, none of our cards have done us wrong, great prices for great performance. I cant recommend specific nvidia cards as I dont know them very well. Me and two friends personally are running 6870s. They are inexpensive but very powerful upper midrange cards. As for figuring out how much your processor will support, im not sure if there is a way to measure it, im running an amd equivilant of an i7 and when I upgraded my graphics card to a 6870, the upgrade was minimal. Im gonna be buying an 8 core soon so that I can run the 6870 harder..I think the nvidia equivilant is a gtx 560 which is slower than the 6870. but the gtx 560 Ti is faster. As far as brand goes I dont believe it matters. You can run a nvidia graphics card eith an amd processor and vice versa

I am unsure what will fit your motherboard though

Thank you for the good advice so far. Is there any way to determine what my motherboard will work with? I can try to look and see if there's any manufacturers model numbers on my motherboard to try to figure out what is compatible.

[Eldraque]

If you are okay with your case, what you SHOULD do is replace your

1. Motherboard
2. Processor and heat sink
3. graphics card.

Use the case, ram, DVD drive, and hard drive that you already have. For about $450 you could transform your comp into a beast rig

[Cuda440]

If you are okay with your case, what you SHOULD do is replace your

1. Motherboard
2. Processor and heat sink
3. graphics card.

Use the case, ram, DVD drive, and hard drive that you already have. For about $450 you could transform your comp into a beast rig

Sweet thanks, I'm all over newegg right now checking out motherboards, but I might be jumping in over my head.

I think I'll start out with the power supply, and the price of the 6870 is agreeable. Then I can swap out the motherboard and CPU in the future if the current configuration doesn't live up to my expectations.

I really appreciate the help so far from everyone who chimed in. I owe you some beer

[Eldraque]

I actually ordered a new PSU myself just yesterday.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

Its spendy for a psu but id recommend spending at least $60. if a PSU fails it can take other parts with it. Im also buying that 6 core to replace my quad..lol. im not an expert, maybe someone else can chime in, but my current motherboard has a "AM3+" processor slot, call or email newegg and tell them you want a new motherboard and ask what they recommend that has the newest slots on it, also how many sticks of ram do you have currently? Most motherboards now have 2 RAM slots instead of the older 4 slots

Buy a new PSU,, then id recommend a 6780 or a gtx 560 ti. Youll end up replacing the motherboard and processor lol

[Cuda440]

I actually ordered a new PSU myself just yesterday.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

Its spendy for a psu but id recommend spending at least $60. if a PSU fails it can take other parts with it. Im also buying that 6 core to replace my quad..lol. im not an expert, maybe someone else can chime in, but my current motherboard has a "AM3+" processor slot, call or email newegg and tell them you want a new motherboard and ask what they recommend that has the newest slots on it, also how many sticks of ram do you have currently? Most motherboards now have 2 RAM slots instead of the older 4 slots

Buy a new PSU,, then id recommend a 6780 or a gtx 560 ti. Youll end up replacing the motherboard and processor lol

Lol, nice.
Right after I posted, I ordered that exact same psu and the 6780. That PSU isn't the cheapest available, but at least it has a decent amperage rating on the 12v bar for the video card. I read too many specs that were 25a or less.

You're probably right about replacing the motherboard and CPU also. At least I'll have a psu that will run it and a decent video card waiting for the new CPU.

[Eldraque]

Okay so I just did some reading, certain motherboards have certain processor slots that only work with certain processors. Intel and amd have their own sockets thst only work with their processors, your motherboard is actually pretty modern, it has 4 ddr3 ram slots and plenty of ram, you shouldnt need to upgrade your motherboard,

just processor, heat sink, graphics , and power supply

Now, your processor socket is a "LGA 1156" so you can only use Intel CPUs with that socket type. Which is kinda bad because Intel processors are pricey. Search newegg for a quad core Intel processor with a lga 1156 configuration

You can mix graphics cards, but not processors and motherboards

[Eldraque]

Note that unless overclocking, more cores = faster processor

[Cuda440]

Note that unless overclocking, more cores = faster processor

Yeah, after reading your last post, it seems like I would get better performance for less cash if I moved away from intel. A good motherboard and 8 core CPU is less money than an I7 extreme.

Btw, I have 4x 2gb ddr3 1066 ram. Is it worth upgrading this? Ram seems to be pretty cheap, I can double my ram for $100. And the 1066- I'm assuming that's the speed? Does better ram make a big difference?

[Merc1138]

Yeah, after reading your last post, it seems like I would get better performance for less cash if I moved away from intel. A good motherboard and 8 core CPU is less money than an I7 extreme.

Btw, I have 4x 2gb ddr3 1066 ram. Is it worth upgrading this? Ram seems to be pretty cheap, I can double my ram for $100. And the 1066- I'm assuming that's the speed? Does better ram make a big difference?

Umm, better performance for less cash in certain circumstances.

Also, more cores does not = more performance, because such a statement is ignoring CPU architecture. 8 core AMD CPUs are about on par with Ivybridge based Intel core i7's, which are only 4 core.

Speed of the RAM is not a big deal(unless you're overclocking) in most circumstances or looking to just run benchmarks all day. Unless you can tell us why you need more than 8GB of RAM, you don't need it.

[Eldraque]

You definately dont need more than 8 GB of ram. ivy bridges are fast, but spendy. Its up to to u