Good bang for the buck these days.

[Silk_the_Absent1]

I haven't been following the GPU business for a while, since my 4850 does what I ask of it, so I'm a bit out of date when it comes to what models are good for the money.

Anyway, my girlfriend is looking to do some upgrades to her prebuilt HP (an A6700Y (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&docname=c01612549)), and looking at the specs of it, I'm not seeing much that really needs to be upgraded other than putting in a video card, and ditching the factory PSU.

Anyhow, for the PSU, I'm thinking something along the lines of a 400CX, but I'm not sure on a video card. She's looking to do the upgrades later in the Fall or over winter break (we're both students), and the budget isn't large, but considering that she's not a huge gamer, the card doesn't need to be either.

-Adam

[Phaedrus2129]

The Radeon 5770 and GeForce GTX460 1GB/768MB are the best bang for the buck in the $150-$200 and $200-$250 ranges respectively, and in overall FPS/$. The 5770 would be my pick for a casual gamer since it's smaller, cooler, and uses only 80W under load. If you're serious gamers then the extra performance of the GTX460 would be more worthwhile for the 150W power draw and louder fan.


If you give me a budget I can be more specific.

[boredgunner]

I agree with the above post, although I never knew the 5770's power consumption is that low. A non reference model perhaps? Also keep in mind that GF106 will be out in a month, the GTS 450 more specifically which should best the 5770 considering the release date of both products.

[Silk_the_Absent1]

I'll check them out, but IIRC, they might be massive overkill. Also, would they be significantly better than a 4850? Because for a lot less, there is this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150482) with a lifetime warranty, which from what I've seen, even a 4850 would still be massive overkill for what she does, game-wise.

-Adam

[boredgunner]

The 5770 performs on par with a GTX 260 and a 4870. Considering the specs of that prebuilt HP system, a powerful video card would be pointless. You can just get a 5670.

[MrWicked1968]

if she's not a gamer, why bother with such an expensive card?

HD5550 $65 shipped (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131355) plus it comes with a $15 MIR

[Silk_the_Absent1]

if she's not a gamer, why bother with such an expensive card?

HD5550 $65 shipped (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131355) plus it comes with a $15 MIR

Somewhat of a gamer, but not what would push a system very hard. She gets slight lag in the games she plays on the onboard 6150 SE, so I'm thinking it'd be a good idea to do a minor upgrade.

Hell, I have a 6600 vanilla sitting here somewhere (it got displaced during cleanup from the flood), that she can have, but I'd like to get her something a little better. That said, that card, the 5550, looks like it would fit the bill nicely. I know it's a bit silly, but I still lean toward ATI, after that 6800 debacle.

-Adam

[MrWicked1968]

yeah, newegg has cheaper cards but they either have a 64-bit memory interface or DDR2 memory, or both.

[Silk_the_Absent1]

I did some digging through parts bins here, and found the spare card I had. It's an Asus en6600silent/td/512m/a, which I *think* is a 6600 vanilla, but I can't really find much on it (understandable, since not a lot of people bought passively-cooled cards). Not sure if it even works, as it's been sitting for a few years, but if it does, it's a nice temporary upgrade until later in the Fall when she can afford to do the upgrades she wants.

-Adam

[Silk_the_Absent1]

Quick question for in case the card does work.

I've never used such a non-standard card as this (it's upside-down, for some obscure reason known only to Asus...), here's someone's pics (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nk-h/2252695257/) of it, for reference. Should I use the outdated drivers Asus has on the website, or do you guys think I can use the standard Nvidia ones?

-Adam

[MrWicked1968]

Install it and see if Vista has it's own drivers for it.

according to the link on the machine in question, it comes with 64-bit Vista, so that might be a problem with the old Asus drivers.

standard nvidia drivers should be fine, but you're going to have to go back in the archives to find a package that supports such "old" tech.

[Zero82z]

Quick question for in case the card does work.

I've never used such a non-standard card as this (it's upside-down, for some obscure reason known only to Asus...), here's someone's pics (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nk-h/2252695257/) of it, for reference. Should I use the outdated drivers Asus has on the website, or do you guys think I can use the standard Nvidia ones?

-Adam
It's not upside-down, the heatsink just extends to the back of the card to increase the surface area.

[Lemmy]

I've always used the latest driver from chipset manufacturer.Video, mobo, sound, network...

[Phaedrus2129]

Always use the latest drivers.

[Elledan]

Always use the latest drivers.

I disagree, with legacy drivers the quality often goes down. For each GPU there's one last set of drivers which is the best, after that it only gets worse. The trick is finding this set of drivers :)

[Silk_the_Absent1]

It's not upside-down, the heatsink just extends to the back of the card to increase the surface area.

No, it actually is upside-down. Look at the pics again...

-Adam

[Zero82z]

No, it actually is upside-down. Look at the pics again...

-Adam
Hmm, so it is. That's a very strange design.

[Silk_the_Absent1]

Hmm, so it is. That's a very strange design.

Heh, it's an Asus. 'Nuff said.

-Adam

[Silk_the_Absent1]

As proprietary as it is, it seems to work with the 258.96 drivers.

-Adam

[MrWicked1968]

Adam, this is completely unrelated to the topic, but I was just wondering how your Nissan Versa has been treating you?

[Silk_the_Absent1]

Adam, this is completely unrelated to the topic, but I was just wondering how your Nissan Versa has been treating you?

To put it simply, I love it. I am averaging 34MPG combined (considering that it's rated for 26 city, 33 highway, 28 combined, that's pretty good) with the AC, and in the cooler months, I can pull 37 combined. The seats are very comfortable, and it's got more space than it looks like. It fits myself, my girlfriend, her two kids (14 and 6), and one of their friends with nobody getting squished, and holds all of our swordfighting gear in the trunk with room to spare, though I would still have preferred a hatchback. I have called it the engineering equivalent of a Bag of Holding on several occasions.

I haven't had any problems with it, it has 16K on it now, and just purrs. Nissan did very well with this little 1.6; it's only 107HP, but it feels more like my old '88 Formula Firebird (5.0 TBI) did in terms of acceleration, and it takes turns like it's on rails.

Okay, I'm harping, but I really do love this little thing. I have to be realistic about one thing here: If not for Cash for Clunkers, I wouldn't have been able to get this car, which would have meant that I wouldn't have been able to go back to school, which would have meant that I wouldn't have met my girlfriend who I just designed a custom engagement ring for. So say what you will about the program, I'm not blind and I can certainly see both sides; but for me, it seriously did change my life.

-Adam

[MrWicked1968]

that's great to hear, on all counts.

engagement ring?? Congratulations!!

[Silk_the_Absent1]

that's great to hear, on all counts.

engagement ring?? Congratulations!!

Thanks man. If the jeweler I designed it with is right on his time estimate, it should be done within the next couple of days, so I'm a bit of a nervous wreck, but it's a good kind of nervous.

One of my friends did some snooping, and found that she hates diamond solitaires, but loves Opal, and I designed the ring with an golden-age Hollywood type feel to it. It has a white opal with a ton of green and yellow fire (took me more than a month to pick the opal, I kept saying I'd know it when I saw it, and as soon as I saw this one it was like an Emeril "Bam!"), bezel-set on a 14K white gold band, and on both sides of the opal there is a 2pt. round brilliant diamond, each set into a white gold tube coming out of the band, so as to be separate from the opal. I'm really hoping she likes it.

-Adam

[Silk_the_Absent1]

Sorry for going off (my own) topic, but /me is engaged.

-Adam

[slugbug55]

I'm loving my EVGA GTX 460. It runs cool and overclocks like mad.