Graphics Card Upgrade - Help

[Dug]

Hey guys, my old 9600 GT isn't cutting it anymore, at least for me.
So I've decided it'd be time I upgrade it. Now I'm not the guy with a lot of money.
Who can run straight into a 590 and buy it. Those things are like very expensive.
Either way, I need it to fit in my old slot of 9600 GT which is a PCI I suppose.

Anyway here are the specs.

OS: Win 7 64bit
Motherboard: P5K SE/EPU
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.83 GHz
RAM: 6 GB (Upgraded recently from 2 GB)
Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce 9600 GT (as mentioned above)
Hard Disk: 360 GB - SATA ( Yes I realize I have to upgrade this too )

So basically.
I need help with buying a new graphics card, I can't spend much, and I hope it will successfully replace my old one and be a lot better.

[Daniel]

Maybe you should try the GTX 570 ? I'll have it soon with my new PC, still have the 9600 GT in my old PC.

[Mad-Mike]

If you want a good card on a low budget go for the GTX 460 mate.
In the future you might go SLi with it and 2x 460's is near enough the same speed/power as a gtx 580 or better.

Just make sure your mobo is compatible, new cards these days are like GDDR5

[Dug]

How much is it?

[Mad-Mike]

The price is different everywhere you look.

UK Suppliers:

From Overclockers, Click Here.

From Scan, Click Here.

From Novatech...

Aria.....

Ebuyer...

Amazon...

Your looking for a good one around 140GBP, not sure how much that is, in your country.
Try and go with one with the 1GB though.

Graphic Card Benchmarks (upto date)

[Dug]

Thanks mate. Probably will buy that one.

[SnipingCoward]

Make sure you are NOT getting the 768MB RAM version.
The 1GB is the way to go there - I believe there is also a newer version with 2GB but I have no further information on how good that one is.


If you are going for SLI, make sure that your mother board is SLI capable.
Also note: 2 cards will increase heat. You might need to get additional fans (as i had to) to cool down the doubled heat source. Also make sure there is enough room for the cards (those GTX are quite large and some varients need 2 slots). You will want to use two PCI 2.0 16x slots, one for each card otherwise it will render one card inefficient - which then drags down the other.

The SLI topic is not that simple as "just buy them".
There are pros and cons you should really look into first.


On a side note: except for the cooling issue i am pretty happy with my 2x Gigabyte Geforce GTX 460 OC 1Gb (SLI)

[Valleyforge3946]

Make sure you are NOT getting the 768MB RAM version.
The 1GB is the way to go there - I believe there is also a newer version with 2GB but I have no further information on how good that one is.


If you are going for SLI, make sure that your mother board is SLI capable.
Also note: 2 cards will increase heat. You might need to get additional fans (as i had to) to cool down the doubled heat source. Also make sure there is enough room for the cards (those GTX are quite large and some varients need 2 slots). You will want to use two PCI 2.0 16x slots, one for each card otherwise it will render one card inefficient - which then drags down the other.

The SLI topic is not that simple as "just buy them".
There are pros and cons you should really look into first.


On a side note: except for the cooling issue i am pretty happy with my 2x Gigabyte Geforce GTX 460 OC 1Gb (SLI)

Agreed. Don't get the SE version either. the 400 Series does run hot but get either a GTX460 or a GT550 TI if you have the money. i got my 460 for around 120$.

[Daniel]

Or get a GTX 560 or 570 !!!

[Dev1200]

Hey guys, my old 9600 GT isn't cutting it anymore, at least for me.
So I've decided it'd be time I upgrade it. Now I'm not the guy with a lot of money.
Who can run straight into a 590 and buy it. Those things are like very expensive.
Either way, I need it to fit in my old slot of 9600 GT which is a PCI I suppose.

Anyway here are the specs.

OS: Win 7 64bit
Motherboard: P5K SE/EPU
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.83 GHz
RAM: 6 GB (Upgraded recently from 2 GB)
Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce 9600 GT (as mentioned above)
Hard Disk: 360 GB - SATA ( Yes I realize I have to upgrade this too )

So basically.
I need help with buying a new graphics card, I can't spend much, and I hope it will successfully replace my old one and be a lot better.

3 6990's. 2094MH/S all the way across the sky.


Or, you can get an ATI HD 4850 for less than 100$ It's what I got right now.

[Johncro]

If you want to run stuff maxed, on a budget get the Nvidia GeForce GTX 550ti
I managed to get mine for 100 bucks.