£80 or less card but very confused. Specs included

[Cyb]

I currently have a NVIdia 8500GT card in my PC. I believe it's very old. Assasins Creed II is at present the msot intensive game I play.

Could anyone recommend a card for £80 or so. I'm very confused as to what I should be looking for.


Here is some info on my PC:
Motherboard Chipset: Intel G33 (Bearlake-G) + ICH9
Motherboard Slots: 3xPCI Express x1, 1xPCI Express x16
PCI Express Version Supported: v1.0

Video Chipset: nVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT (G86)
Video Memory: 256 MBytes of DDR2 SDRAM
Video Card: MSI NX8500GT-E (MS-V096)
Video Bus: PCIe v1.0 x16 (2.5 Gb/s) @ x16 (2.5 Gb/s)
Video BIOS Version: 60.86.26.00.09
Video Chipset Revision: A1
iAMT: Not Supported
VLD and IDCT: Supported
AMT DO PRO: Not Supported
AMT DO Fundamental: Supported
Intel Virtualization Technology for I/O Devices (VT-d): Not Supported
3D Integrated Graphics: Supported
Internal Graphics: Supported
Primary PCI Express Port x16: Supported
Primary PCI Express Port: Supported
Secondary PCI Express Port x16: Supported
Secondary PCI Express Port: Supported
ECC: Supported
DDR3: Supported
Primary and Secondary PCI Express Gen 2: Supported
DDR Frequency Support: 666 MHz (DDR-1333)
FSB Frequency Support: 333 MHz (1333 QDR)


Will this one keep me ticking a long for some time? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-111...bs_430524031_2


Many Thanks.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What are the specifications of your computer??

What PSU do you have??

Edit!!

I would use CPU-Z to find the specifications:

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

You will need to look inside the computer for the PSU rating and model number.

[Cyb]

What are the specifcations of your computer??

What PSU do you have??

Apologies for missing info let me know if anythign else is needed:


CPU Brand Name: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz
Total Memory Size: 3 GBytes


I'm not sure but I think it's a 350W PSU - the PC is a Philips HEPC 7511.







EDIT:





CPU-Z TXT Report
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Binaries
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

CPU-Z version 1.58

Processors
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of processors 1
Number of threads 4

APICs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Processor 0
-- Core 0
-- Thread 0 0
-- Core 1
-- Thread 0 1
-- Core 2
-- Thread 0 2
-- Core 3
-- Thread 0 3

Processors Information
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Processor 1 ID = 0
Number of cores 4 (max 4)
Number of threads 4 (max 4)
Name Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Codename Kentsfield
Specification Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz
Package (platform ID) Socket 775 LGA (0x4)
CPUID 6.F.B
Extended CPUID 6.F
Core Stepping G0
Technology 65 nm
Core Speed 2402.3 MHz
Multiplier x FSB 9.0 x 266.9 MHz
Rated Bus speed 1067.7 MHz
Stock frequency 2400 MHz
Instructions sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, EM64T, VT-x
L1 Data cache 4 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache 4 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache 2 x 4096 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control yes
FID range 6.0x - 9.0x
Max VID 1.275 V


Chipset
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Northbridge Intel P35/G33/G31 rev. A2
Southbridge Intel 82801IB (ICH9) rev. 02
Graphic Interface PCI-Express
PCI-E Link Width x16
PCI-E Max Link Width x16
Memory Type DDR2
Memory Size 3072 MBytes
Channels Dual, (Symmetric)
Memory Frequency 333.7 MHz (4:5)
CAS# latency (CL) 5.0
RAS# to CAS# delay (tRCD) 5
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 5
Cycle Time (tRAS) 15
Row Refresh Cycle Time (tRFC) 36
Command Rate (CR) 2T
MCHBAR I/O Base address 0x0FED14000
MCHBAR I/O Size 4096


Mainboard Model MS-7357 (0x000001A3 - 0x005F1CD7)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Do you have Windows Vista 32 bit or 64 bit?

I would open up the PC and check the model number of the PSU.

[Cyb]

I've got Win7 32Bit now.

Off to open the case... brb!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

BTW,I assume your case is the same one as in this review:

http://www.desktoppcs.org.uk/philips...top-pc-review/

So I suspect it will be fine with a full height graphics card.

[Cyb]

BTW,I assume your case is the same one as in this review:

http://www.desktoppcs.org.uk/philips...top-pc-review/

So I suspect it will be fine with a full height graphics card.

Correct it looks exactly the same.

Unfortunately I had trouble getting to the PSU because I appear have no screwdriver in the house, I've searched but I can't find the PSU spec online.


I did manage to take a photo of the innards though.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The best card for under £80 is the HD5770 1GB:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-x...dp-single-slot

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/270545

It does require a PCI-E power connector and will run fine off a decent 350W PSU.

This card is bus powered though:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/265342

It is a HyperMemory card although it seems to have no impact on the performance of the HD6570 version:

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=30215&page=4

The normal HD6670 with 1GB of VRAM is a few quid more but since you have a 32 bit OS you might see a bit less system RAM.

However,the HD5770 1GB is a much faster card than an HD6670 1GB:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_6670/22.html

[Cyb]

I could kiss you right now! Thank you for making this simple for me

Do you think the Saphire cards mentioned in 1 & 3 on this page is OK? http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...sort=salesrank

[Millenwagon]

personally i'd look at a gts 450, thats a great little card and it's around £80. thought a 400watt psu would be advised.

http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-...-gts-450-pci-e

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It might be worth checking your PSU to make sure if it is a reasonable one as the HD5770 1GB is faster than an HD6670 GDDR5 but OTH the HD6670 consumes relatively little power.

Out of interest why don't you get the HD6670 from Ebuyer as you get free postage?

You can get this reference HD6670 single slot card for a few quid less:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AMD-Radeon-HD-...item2565878281

The HD6670 GDDR5 is around 20% to 25% faster than an HD5670 GDDR5. It also seems to consume less power.

BTW,I have an HD5670 512MB GDDR5 myself. I can play both L4D games at high settings at 1680X1050 and Sins of a Solar Empire and Borderlands on high settings at 1440X900.

It seems that an HD5670 GDDR5 will run Assassin's Creed II fine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfsZaIXbwpc

[Cyb]

I think it's becuase you said the 5770 is the best card and didn't really know what "card is bus powered though" meant. So HD6670 is the better card to go for?

I don't mind upgrading the psu.

I think I just need someone to say "Shut up and buy xxxx card".

[watercooled]

I agree with CAT, the best card for ~£80 is the 5770 IMO. Note the 6770 is the same so if you can get one or the other cheaper - go for that one. But we need to know exactly what PSU you have in order to advise better - if it's a poor one, a 5770 could overload it causing it to go bang and taking everything with it.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I think it's becuase you said the 5770 is the best card and didn't really know what "card is bus powered though" meant. So HD6670 is the better card to go for?

I don't mind upgrading the psu.

I think I just need someone to say "Shut up and buy xxxx card".

Bus powered means the card requires no additional power from the PSU like the current one you have. The HD6670 consumes around 26W more than your current card under load but the uses HD5770 1GB uses significantly more. I don't what model of PSU you have so I cannot say whether it would be sufficient to power an HD5770 1GB. As watercooled says it could go bang if it is not the best 350W PSU.

If you are going to upgrade your PSU then I would get the following one:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/450w-...-sli-crossfire

BTW,you can get free next day postage from Scan:

http://forums.hexus.net/scan-care-he...-delivery.html

[Cyb]

Many thanks Cat & Water I've going to buy the 450W PSU and this is that OK?

[watercooled]

Great choice.

You should see a massive improvement in game performance over your current card, being able to easily max out many recent games.