Upgrading my graphics card

[danny85]

Hey guys,

Well not long ago i built a pc for gaming, nothing special just a small budge one. Anyway before i buy games i check the spec's online to make sure im able to play in top spec..

Everything shows that but not the graphics card .. My graphics card is always listed on the game sites but gives me a red cross and when i put my arrow over it, it says " Red cross, if you can run it, please let us know "

Marks 1 out of 10 for running Mw3 i get

CPU - gold star 9

GFX - gold star 1 ( with a red cross next to it )

Ram - gold star 10

So i would like to upgrade the card to something better.

The graphics card i have at the moment is a NVIDIA GeForce 7025/nForce 630a


PC Spec's

CPU - AMD Bulldozer X4 FX-4100 AM3 4.0 GHZ

Graphics Card- NVIDIA GeForce 7025/nForce 630a

Hard Drive - 2000GB Sata

Ram - 8GB 1333Mhz DDR3 ram


Any help or point in the right direction will be greatly appreciated

Many Thanks

Dan

[stroyal]

Budget, power supply specs, and information on your case, are needed before we can make an educated recommendation.

Brand and 12volt amp rail/s rating is what we are looking for, on the PS.

AKAIK that processor, although not as powerful as the Intel high end stuff, will handle any game, and any video card.

What games do you plan on

[stroyal]

We need a link to your motherboard also,
At least the model, and brand.

[danny85]

The case was a cheap one, 20 odd pound off ebay. Make is Envizage E-3393 Black Blue ATX Gaming PC Tower Case..
eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace

Mother board is a ASRockN68-VS3 FX
ASRock > Products > N68-VS3 FX

PSU is a Sumvision
Sumvision PowerX2 500W
Play.com - Buy Sumvision PowerX2 500W PSU / Power Supply Unit online at Play.com and read reviews. Free delivery to UK and Europe!

Games i plan on playing is call of duty and mostly RPG's like skyrim, wow, oblivion.. Mostly quest games but call of duty now and then, but i play a lot of call of duty on the PS3..


Also a side note, this was my first build, so speaking in real terms i don't have much experience at all ( still learning ) so some of the bits might be wrong for the set up. I really have no idea, just from watching TUTs online and reading bits and bobs on forums.

[stroyal]

Not a gamer, but I have the Internet.
According to this:
Modern Warfare 3 System Requirements and Modern Warfare 3 requirements for PC Games
You need a card that scores about 700, to play MW3 on high settings, on this approximate benchmark

PassMark Software - Video Card Benchmarks - High End Video Cards

I'm not sure of your power supply, but it should run something like this
Newegg.com - ASUS EAH6570/DI/1GD3(LP) Radeon HD 6570 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card
As it only needs a 400watt, and it scores 860, more than you need, for MW3, at least

Wait for the gamers though, they will have UK pricing, and a better Idea.
If you play other games that have more demand, list them.

[stroyal]

You didn't say your budget, but if you want to get a gaming machine that can play most games on respectable setting, get this. It scores Passmark 1749
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100328VXL Radeon HD 6770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

It can be had for as little, as $100, but I picked this for its, high performance cooling.

That is provided your case takes a full height board, and it can fit the length

[stroyal]

Not to forget NVidia
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GV-N550D5-1GI GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

[danny85]

I really like the sapphire vapor-x..

As for the tower case im looking to upgrade to a coolermaster HAF X but due to the price of them it's holding me back, as id rather spend that kind of money on getting the inside sorted first, then the case to finish it all off.

My budge is around £550, so im on two minds to get a decent card for the time being, or just buy all new stuff for the inside with the help of you guys.

[stroyal]

I would strongly suggest a power supply, as I'm pretty sure yours is poor quality, and from what I can find, has trouble putting out 375 watts, and probably dose not have good protection circuitry.
It's the most important part, and should always be a brand name.
Something like this, has more power, than that 500watt.
Newegg.com - Antec NEO ECO 400C 400W Continuous Power ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Here is out good and bad list

Power Supply Info

[danny85]

Yeah im looking at PSU as we speak now. Been casting my eye at the corsair enthusiast TX750 V2 750W 80 PC Power Supply. Seems a lot better step to the one i have now

[stroyal]

Excellent choice, but that is over kill for the cards mentioned,you only need a good 400watt.
You only have 1 slot so SLI, and Cross fire are out of the question, and all but maybe a few if any single cards will run on a 600watt, most on a 550watt.

It depends on the card, and if you want to plan for the future,

Power supply size is based on the Video card, unless you have ie. 8 hard drives in a RAID, or some other unusual power usage.

[ShyguyXPC]

550 will be enough for a new case, GPU, Motherboard, Power supply, Hard drive, and then some.

Not the HAF-X but still one of the HAF series and honestly enough room to stuff everything in, with out being over priced, and oversized.

Coolermaster HAF 912 Plus Case | Ebuyer.com

PSU, plenty for Dual GPU's if you want down the road: XFX Pro 650W Core Edition PSU - Single Rail 9x SATA 4x.. | Ebuyer.com

60GB SSD, install the OS and frequent use apps on: Corsair 60GB Force GT SSD - 2.5" SATA-III 6Gb/s.. | Ebuyer.com

New SATA HDD, install games and whatever else to: WD 750GB 3.5" SATA-III 6Gb/s Caviar Black Hard.. | Ebuyer.com

New Mobo, supports your current CPU and better ones, can transfer your CPU and RAM to it just fine, also supports AMD CrossfireX or Nvidia SLI, so plenty of upgrade options. Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 Socket AM3+ 7.1 Channel HD Audio.. | Ebuyer.com


And the GPU, Should be plenty for MW3 and anything else your running, Add in a 2nd down the road for Crossfire for increased performance if needed, the PSU above will handle them just fine: PowerColor HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI Dual Mini.. | Ebuyer.com

Cart total inc vat: £536.50

Shipping Charge: £15.28

Total: £551.78

[danny85]

Ahh i see, so 400w would be fine.. With the graphic's card how will i come out? The one that i have now is an onboard would i have to upgrade the motherboard also to upgrade the graphics card?

[danny85]

550 will be enough for a new case, GPU, Motherboard, Power supply, Hard drive, and then some.

Not the HAF-X but still one of the HAF series and honestly enough room to stuff everything in, with out being over priced, and oversized.

Coolermaster HAF 912 Plus Case | Ebuyer.com

PSU, plenty for Dual GPU's if you want down the road: XFX Pro 650W Core Edition PSU - Single Rail 9x SATA 4x.. | Ebuyer.com

60GB SSD, install the OS and frequent use apps on: Corsair 60GB Force GT SSD - 2.5" SATA-III 6Gb/s.. | Ebuyer.com


New SATA HDD, install games and whatever else to: WD 750GB 3.5" SATA-III 6Gb/s Caviar Black Hard.. | Ebuyer.com

New Mobo, supports your current CPU and better ones, can transfer your CPU and RAM to it just fine, also supports AMD CrossfireX or Nvidia SLI, so plenty of upgrade options. Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 Socket AM3+ 7.1 Channel HD Audio.. | Ebuyer.com


And the GPU, Should be plenty for MW3 and anything else your running, Add in a 2nd down the road for Crossfire for increased performance if needed, the PSU above will handle them just fine: PowerColor HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI Dual Mini.. | Ebuyer.com

Cart total inc vat: £536.50

Shipping Charge: £15.28

Total: £551.78

Thank you, will have a good look at all this now.. That's also a great price

[ShyguyXPC]

since you listed the budget, I just went all out on parts to replace in the current system, aside from the OS, RAM and CPU, its basically a complete system overhaul.

You could forgo the SSD drive, and spend more on the GPU, GTX 570 or Radeon 6970, which are some of the top cards out there (Only GTX 580, GTX 590, and Radeon 7950/7970 are better really).

or even go for a better GPU (at least a GTX 560 Ti, Radeon 6950 or GTX 560 Ti 448 core) and get a new aftermarket CPU cooler to cool the CPU, in case you wanted to overclock it down the road too.

but the list as is should be plenty for your uses. I can guarantee Elder Scrolls Oblivion will run silky smooth on it. Skyrim should run pretty good, and MW3 should run pretty good as well.

add in the upgrade options on the mobo... and you should be fine for a couple years, just updating the GPU/CPU over that time period.

[danny85]

I give myself the budge because im not really sure on what stuff is best and really don't want to waste money on getting something thats wrong..

But to make it easier on myself, if i could just find a gaming pc with the spec's of everything inside listed, then i could spend a lot more and i could be sure i new what i was buying was right.

Like picking a top spec motherboard and then finding a graphic's card to match the motherboards spec's, if you know how i mean. Id end up buying a decent motherboard then ending up with a poor graphics card lol

[stroyal]

Except it will be near impossible, to find a top notch motherboard in a prebuild, same goes for the power supply.
You are not going to do better than Shyguys build, for the money vs quality.