I want to upgrade my graphics card from GeForce 6600

J

Jonat

Posts: 64   +3
Hello,

This is my first post.

My PC currently has GeForce 6600 as my graphics card, however I feel it is time to upgrade it so I can play new games etc. I would like the best graphics card (regardless of price) that my PC can allow.

I have Windows XP 32, Intel Pentium 4 540 3.20GHz

2GB RAM with ASUSTeK Computer inc motherboard.

I realize I can't have the ultimate best Graphics card with my current PC set up, but what is the best my PC can allow?
 
PCI- Express

I understand my processor might [FONT=arial] [/FONT][FONT=arial]bottleneck some cards but what is the best my PC can handle basically? :)[/FONT]
 
You can install any of them but as you said there is a bottleneck point. I wouldn't get anything greater than Geforce 450, 550, or 650. If it was me, I'd probably settle with the Geforce 640, or go with AMD and get Radeon HD 6670.

Newegg search
 
Out of the Geforce and the AMD what would you choose?

and what is the best place to get either?

and are you sure those two would be fine on my PC with no problems?

p,s I am in the UK

p.s.s does 2bg or 1gb (for the 640) make a difference with my PC and does memory type '[FONT=Helvetica]DDR3' (on the 640) clash with my 'DDR' RAM or does that not even make sense ha?[/FONT]
 
Graphics and desktop memory are completely different.

Basically, the advice is: any PCIe card will work, but it's extremly recommended to make a full rebuild. The AMD card is probably best bang for buck, but I'd personally not spend more than $50.

You say price is no issue, so I don't understand why you wouldn't rebuild. A GTX Titan costs $1000+ - we can build you a whole new machine for that much.
 
JC713 said:
The Pentium 4 and 2GB of RAM will bottleneck any high end modern GPU.
Click to expand...

I understand I cannot get a high end Graphics card, but what one will my PC accept that won't bottleneck - seems the two options that stickman mentioned are my choices at the moment. :)

I now have 3gb of ram


St1ckM4n said:
Graphics and desktop memory are completely different.

Basically, the advice is: any PCIe card will work, but it's extremly recommended to make a full rebuild. The AMD card is probably best bang for buck, but I'd personally not spend more than $50.

You say price is no issue, so I don't understand why you wouldn't rebuild. A GTX Titan costs $1000+ - we can build you a whole new machine for that much.
Click to expand...


Yep, I understand, some cards are probably not worth paying too much for, given my PC, but ignoring a rebuild atm, I would just like to upgrade my card to a card that can at least play modern games ha

Maybe cheaper ones would be better, as long as it can handle most modern games (not necessarily at the highest settings)
My PC can handle a slighltlymore expensive one, I'd be okay with that.

At the moment though I'm looking at the 640 and 6670 that you suggested, unless there are others you reccomend?
 
What is the wattage rating on your power supply? The Geforce 640 is a 350w minimum and the Radeon HD 6670 is a 400w recommended. So powering a better graphics card might be another issue you will run into.
 
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As above, what is your make/model and wattage of your power supply and how old is it? The power supply and the cases ability to cool a more powerful graphics card are, in my opinion, the two least thought-of requirements considered by those upgrading.

As for the GPU: You could fit a GTX Titan if you wanted but pretty much every single half-decent GPU is going to bottle-neck with your computer hardware. I do get what your asking though -- you want the best GPU your hardware can comfortably use, and since you know it won't be a high-end model price is no object.

The trouble is it just isn't even worth buying anything new to use with your current hardware. If you want to play the latest games you need to invest in a newer system really. If you decide different that's cool but I really would be looking strongly at whether your (likely) now old PSU can muster up enough Watts to run a new GPU and just as crucially, whether your case provides enough cooling capacity to use a new card.
 
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Well the problem from what im reading is you keep mentioning modern games, which ones are you trying to run on your system? Because even if you grab something like a gt 640, the processor is not going to keep up even at low settings on many games, though if your just wanting to get by for awhile on some lower end games, you could grab yourself a gt 640 as its a decent card and will be fairly cheap. That would probably be the best to put in that machine, but your still going to bottleneck it.

Make sure to check what your PSU is because that can help you decide as well based on how much power you have to spare. Since it seems the 6600 is rated at 350 watt, I would stick with nothing more than that.
 
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Reactions: cliffordcooley
Here is a picture of the side of my power Supply

2vcudfs.jpg
 
GT 640 is 350W rated, so you're 50W under that, on an old random-brand PSU. Better stick with what you got, or risk damage! :(
 
Oh your right, I had been looking at the 2gb version, the 1gb version is a 300 watt version. So yeah good catch Clifford, had forgotten to pay attention to that fact.
 
Is a GT 630 going to help much, though? :) That cars is pretty much 1024x768 low graphics on modern games.
 
Jonat wasn't asking for miracles, just something better than the GeForce 6600. And by better, they meant the best graphics that the rest of their system would accommodate.

I must admit initially, I wasn't anticipating such a low powered PSU for a GeForce 6600.
 
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