Need MAJOR Help Choosing New Graphic Card - Tech Support Forums

Eamonable · July 18th, 2008, 12:13 PM

Hey guys! I just registered on this forum mainly because I need some serious help picking a graphics card. My m7790e Media Center came stock with an Nvidea 7500 LE, which is utter crap. I'm upgrading my computer to 4 gigs of RAM and I want to get great seamless gameplay on games like Crysis and Age of Conan. Probably others too, I'm new to this whole computer gaming scene

I've been looking at a few graphics cards, mainly the XfX Geforce 8800 GT 512mb Alpha Dog Edition, or the eVGA GEforce 8800 GT. Each i could get for like 120-150$. These are written in stone, if you know of a better one thats in a reasonable price range (lets say.. 200-250) pleeease tell me =D

In addition, while talking to tech support i figured out that the only reason my pc wouldnt run most high end cards is because my power supply is at 350 watts. Thing is, HP said 'DONT change it, beacuse it will void your warranty" I need to know if their just saying that out of liability or if i should just change it. Can you guys offer me any information on which card I could get, if I'd have to buy a new power supply and if so, what kind a wattage I'd need.

Thanks so much, any help is greatly appreciated and sorry for the great wall of text

KarmaKiller · July 18th, 2008, 01:03 PM

Hi there, welcome to TIMO.

First, HP is saying that because it WILL void your warranty. So if you'd like to keep the warranty that came with your PC good, then you can't change out power supplies.
But if you don't care, then your almost gonna have to change it out for a better GPU.

As far as GPU's go, the best card for $200 or under is the ATI 4850. It's running ~$180 after MIR's.
For a Power Supply, I'd recommend at least a 400-500watt PSU. If you jumped up to 600watts, that would insure you have plenty for this system, and probably the next.
The most important thing about Power Supplies though is Quality. Don't just get a cheap unit, it's not gonna last, and you putting all your other hardware at risk.
You can pick up a quality PSU for around $35-$70, depending on wattage.
What's your total budget for the new PSU and GPU?

Eamonable · July 18th, 2008, 03:21 PM

thanks for the reply! i haven't looked into the ATI 4850, but i'll be sure to check it out.
i figured the people who said that it was a good card were just raedon fan boys, lol.

so the second i unhook the power brick, it voids the warranty? and they'll be able to tell upon inspection? i'd be willing to void the warranty, but would you say that it's improbable for the brick to malfunction and mess my video card, motherboard up? (i plug my computer into a surge protector) because a little ease of mind would be good if i'm voiding my warranty, lol.

i could pay 60 for the brick, which would you say would give me most bang for my buck, and of good quality? think i could go to 275$ for the full setup.

jamhough22 · July 18th, 2008, 04:00 PM

Im not a big fan of ATI and i have recently swaped to Nvidia and they are good, but i did get a 8800 GTX at an exelent price of £105!!!!! it is an exelent card but you need a good quality PSU (mine is a 550W) as my system goes i have maxed out COD 4 (and getting 60-70FPS) and COD 2.....but crysis, low-medium settings at most, getting 10-20FPS at medium settings.

dont forget crysis is a big game and needs alot of power.

I bought my PSU for arround £25.....its not half bad, the make, colorsit.

also, i did have the 8800GTS and that is a great card aswell, not too much diference between the GTX and GTS. I didnt want to get the GT because it is only a 1 slot design and there is no where for the heat to go.
I bought the GTS for £180 brand knew, and GTX is arround £200 brand knew.

Achay · July 19th, 2008, 11:44 AM

I'm with Karma on the 4850, im waiting on mine coming to replace my old 8800 GTS as its starting to shows its age a little, and the 4850 from the reviews I have been reading beats all the 8800s and even the 9800s in some games. Pretty impressive for the price tag.

I have read its requires a 2.0 PCI-e slot, but I checked ATIs site ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 Series - System Requirements and it just states you need a PCI-e slot so am a little unsure about that as my mobo isn't 2.0. I'll find out on Tuesday when it arrives and power it up.

This is ATIs officially supported PSUs for the 4800 series Power Supplies Certified for Single Card Operation although I don't own one I do have an Antec Truepower 550W so should be fine as other 550W types are listed and the requirements only states 450W or greater.

[EDIT]

Oh yeah, it also supports DX10.1. I'll be honest, don't exactly know how big a deal this is, but nice to have it all the same.

Achay · July 22nd, 2008, 07:49 PM

Just in case your still considering a HD4850 mine arrived and it was a nice move from my 8800GTS.

I now play Crysis in DX10 1440x900 everything maxed. Not getting amazing FPS floating around 20-25, but it looks awesome. Haven't played it for long but first few levels play quite well that high. When I tried it on my Max settings on my 8800GTS it hit 1FPS hung and crashed. I will likely lower one or 2 settings try and get over the 30FPS mark.

Heat does seem to be an issue, due to poor fan control in drivers, hopefully they will fix it soon, but I made profiles to spin up the fan a bit more keeps it below 70C under load. Was peaking 80-85 which might be ok, just seems quite hot to me.

jamhough22 · July 23rd, 2008, 09:29 AM

i dont know about that card but most cards are designed to run at high temperatures, max temp for the 8800GTX is arround 125oC which is verry hot, but they dont really go that high, my GTX goes up to 80oC, which is hot, but i have had no problems with crashing, exept with my 550W power supply, keeps overheating, and while playin long games of cod4 starts to burn!!, im going to spend alot on a decent 800W powersupply =]