I want to upgrade my graphics card from GeForce 6600

[Jonat]

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.

I was surprised myself at the PSU to be honest - I had not really looked in a while and had forgotten what it was

your right though clifford, I just want something that's better than my 6600 and one that my PC can handle fine really. I can't expect to get super graphics off it, but at least something better than my current card ha

if GT630 is that card, then I'd be happy to go for that, or any other suggestions you have

gt630 seems a good price too - much cheaper than the gt640 - as long as it's fine for my PC set up (as rubbish as it is)

 

[GhostRyder]

Just make sure to get the 1gb edition, the 2gb is rated 350watt

 

[cliffordcooley]

if GT630 is that card, then I'd be happy to go for that, or any other suggestions you have

See for yourself with Passmark scores.

• Radeon HD 6570 = 744
• GeForce GT 630 = 720
• GeForce 6600 = 64

I might would recommend the Radeon HD 6570, but for some reason it is rated at 400W.

 

[Jad Chaar]

See for yourself with Passmark scores.

• Radeon HD 6570 = 744
• GeForce GT 630 = 720
• GeForce 6600 = 64

I might would recommend the Radeon HD 6570, but for some reason it is rated at 400W.

That is my baby scoring 744! lol.

 

[Jonat]

So 1GB GeForce GT 630 looks like the safe one to get.

Do I get the gt630 DDR5 or DDR3 version?

GT630 looks poor in comparison to the rest, but it's the best my PC can handle so that is okay

but then again the 6600 looks AWFUL

when was the GT630 made?

 

[cliffordcooley]

Nvidia rebrands Fermi-based cards into budget 600-series
It dates back a couple years, but thats really irrelevant if you are not going first class.

 

[Jonat]

Yep, does it matter which brand of Geforce I buy, e.g ASUS etc

 

[cliffordcooley]

ASUS, EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI, and PNY (Alphabetical order only) are the names I look at, and possibly XFX. I'm not real big on the other brand names, but then I don't have any experience with them either.

 

[Jonat]

ASUS, EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI, and PNY (Alphabetical order only) are the names I look at, and possibly XFX. I'm not real big on the other brand names, but then I don't have any experience with them either.

okay, I'll aim for ASUS

I read DDR5 might be better than DDR3 - seems a bit more expensive, is it worth it and what is the difference?

 

[GhostRyder]

Go for the ddr5, it's faster and better memory speeds. It will be worth the xtra.

 

[cliffordcooley]

DDR5 is better than DDR3, but I myself do not know the differences. And if explained, I'm not sure either one of us would fully understand. There are a few members here, that can explain if you wish it.

 

[Jonat]

would be interesting to know the difference if someone knew
It looks like the one I'll go for is
GeForce GT630 1GB DDR5 ASUS

whats the best place to buy one for UK delivery?

 

[GhostRyder]

Without going into the nitty gritty, ddr5 is twice as fast as ddr3 is and will in turn deliver better performance on gaming. However at the speeds already your looking at with a gt630, the difference won't be huge and in benchmarking and gaming except in extreme resolutions (well 1080p an higher). Honestly either will perform roughly the same for you, but with the ddr5, you will be more maxed out than without it.

The choice is up to you, pick whichever price range you desire. If you want extreme details, I can always try to explain it if you desire.

 

[cliffordcooley]

dividebyzero, you got time to wrap up the topic?

Whats the difference between graphics DDR5 and DDR3?
Have you got a few good sources for UK purchasing?

Thanks in advance.

 

[dividebyzero]

dividebyzero, you got time to wrap up the topic?

Whats the difference between graphics DDR5 and DDR3?

I sort of summarized the difference between GDDR5 and DDR3 >>here<<. Basically, GDDR5 is a subset of the DDR3 specification, but where DDR3 is single/dual/quad channel @ 64-bits per, GDDR5 is optimized for higher bandwidth at the expense of latency. 4 to 8 (256 to 512 -bit) independent channels (memory controllers) being the common range atm.
DDR3 = Low latency at the expense of bandwidth because the nature of the CPU relies upon constant loading to/from RAM to alleviate CPU pipeline stalls
GDDR5= High bandwidth to feed multiple concurrent instances of the same runtime routine, and to hold/load/flip large memory buffer resources (I.e. textures). Comes at the expense of higher latency to minimize write/read errors.

Have you got a few good sources for UK purchasing?

As I think you mentioned from my quick look through the thread, anything more powerful than a lower mainstream card is probably wasted in the OPs configuration and I concur. The HD 6670 probably represents a good trade off for budget versus performance versus CPU limitation. You can get a 2GB version for well under 50 quid, which seems a good deal. After that, I'd suggest a HD 7750 (an XFX w/ Far Cry 3 for £69 ), but no higher in performance as I don't think you'd realize the full potential of the card.

 

[Jonat]

Thanks for the explanation of DDR

@dividebyzero are you saying don't go for the GT630? my PSU is 300w, pent4, 3gb ram etc...

 

[dividebyzero]

Thanks for the explanation of DDR
@dividebyzero are you saying don't go for the GT630? my PSU is 300w, pent4, 3gb ram etc...

By all means, if you want the GT 630 then pull the pin. The suggestions I made were for the upper limit you should be considering (more a cut off point with the HD 7750 since the cards potential would remain untapped)

To get an idea of where you presently are (GF 6600) and that upper limit (HD 7750), I'd suggest a quick look at Tom's Hardware's graphics hierarchy chart ( I think it is updated quarterly). As a rough guide without all the geekspeak numbergasms that a specs chart is going to present you with, it works reasonably well.

Unless you're getting a GT 630 at a very good price, they are generally a little overpriced for what you get. An HD 6570 is a better card (this VTX3D version for instance. Note that VTX3D is a division of TUL and is just a rebadged version of their PowerColor and Club3D cards), and will generally give you better performance. You can pretty much take the 400W PSU specification with a grain of salt- you won't find too many cards with a lower PSU spec than that. The card itself is rated at 44 watts (being DDR3) which actually stacks up pretty well against the GeForce 6600 which ranges from ~29 watts to ~47 watts depending on what bus and memory configuration it is. Vanilla 6600's come in 64, 128 and 256-bit, DDR2 and DDR3, and 128, 256, and 512MB varieties, as well as a slew of different clock speeds.

 

[Jad Chaar]

The 64bit memory bus will bottleneck the GDDR5, I would not recommend it. I like EVGA, ASUS, and XFX cards. I would personally stay away from Sapphire and MSI. XFX comes with a lifetime warranty.

 

[dividebyzero]

The 64bit memory bus will bottleneck the GDDR5, I would not recommend it

What precisely are you talking about? Every card listed above that is GDDR5 is 128-bit.
IIRC, you'd have a very hard time finding 64-bit GDDR5 cards. From memory I can think of nothing higher specced than the HD 6450 (or HD 7470 OEM) that is 64-bit GDDR5. 64-bit usually goes hand-in-hand with DDR3 as a general rule. Cheap GPUs don't often get paired with expensive (by comparison) memory IC's.

I like EVGA, ASUS, and XFX cards. I would personally stay away from Sapphire and MSI. XFX comes with a lifetime warranty.

Probably depends on which geographic distribution area you are under. Personally I have no problem with Sapphire ( their support communication from head office is very good), whilst Asus's support is near non-existent, and XFX's quality and support can be somewhat lacking

 

[Jonat]

HD 6670 vs GT630 vs HD 7750 are now the options

I'm not sure which to go for.

I guess I would go for DDR5 in all of these cases and 1GB DDR5 in the GT630 case.

Is 1GB or 2GB RADEON better for my PC Specs?

and are the RADEON cards as straight forward to replace as the GeForce

are you sure my 300w is fine for all these options?

 

[Jonat]

@dividebyzero

 

[GhostRyder]

Heres the problem Jonat, you were running an NVidia card to begin with, so I would say to stick with the NVidia card because its the most likely of the two to run without any issues. The amount of memory is not going to help as your going to be bottlenecked no matter what (Though id personally still go for the DDR5). Sticking with the 1gb GT 630 would probably be the best bet as it will keep the voltage around the same which is another bonus, you don't want to up it at all seeing your system is old now and its been running same hardware for years, changing that now could cause an issue.

If you switch to a radeon now, you may have issues, on my old P4 system from a 5200 Geforce to a ATI X1300 back in the day and it would not display past bios no matter what I tried due to the board and bough a 6200. At least this way sticking with the same brand, you will be safer than anything.

 

[Leeky]

Heres the problem Jonat, you were running an NVidia card to begin with, so I would say to stick with the NVidia card because its the most likely of the two to run without any issues.
......
If you switch to a radeon now, you may have issues,

As long as the OP replaces the GPU correctly, e.g. he first removes drivers, turns off and replaces GPU then reboots, downloads new drivers and installs them it makes no real difference whether he chooses to go with AMD or nVidia products. They will both work fine as long as they can get enough power.

The brand has nothing to do with it either. The design of a GT630 is a GT630 regardless of whether Sapphire, Asus made it, or if it's even a reference model. What does change between "reference" designs and those of other manufacturers is the base clocks and the cooler solution, with each card varying slightly dependant on those factors.

So to suggest that certain makes aren't suitable based on their name is wholly incorrect. I don't deny you had issues but these aren't true of newer hardware and I've never, ever experienced any problems like these despite changing/replacing/switching GPUs on hundreds of different computers.

To clarify further, what I have seen in my time is GPUs that physically don't fit in cases, some that run far too hot for the cases cooling, faulty GPUs on arrival, GPUs in service failing prematurely (often because of lack of cooling) and power supplies either taking GPUs out when failing, failing gracefully because they're being overloaded and some PSUs just outright unable to cope with the power draw of GPU models.

 

[Jonat]

GhostRyder

ok, GT630 1GB DDR5 it is

question now is, where to get it?

this seemed the best/cheapest I've found so far

http://www.xosa.co.uk/new-asus-geforce-gt-630-1gb-gddr5-pci-express-2-0-810mhz-3200mhz.html


do I need to first uninstall drivers etc for the 6600 I have installed or is that not necessary?

could someone go over the steps of how to replace it, just to double check I do it correctly?

 

[GhostRyder]

In order
Leeky Well what I was referring to was boards during that era sometimes becing NVidia chipset boards (My 2.8 P4 system had one) so without seeing that little detail, I would suggest staying with the same brand as it will be the most likely to work of the two. If its not then by all means the AMD's will work, it was just a little formality because I was trying to say this one had the highest chance without that knowledge to work.

Jonat
Well, im not the best with UK retailers, however I would try Amazon.com as they have a UK store and their prices seem to be pretty good overall. However after comparing prices with that place you found, your site had a better deal. I could not find one cheaper on a site for the UK (Though im in America so its not something I normally search for so I may just not be good at it).

You will have to uninstall the Geforce Drivers first before removing the card because that's a different series of cards from Nvidia. It may not make a huge issue, but its better safe then sorry.