What Graphics card should I get?

Kimbblesrath

New Member
I was wondering what graphics card I should get because right now, I only have the onboard graohics from Intel, and to do gaiming (especially record with Fraps, DxTory, etc.), you really cant do much with what I have. (i'm on a desktop btw) I think my processor, ram, etc. are good, but if I'm wrong, tell me otherwise. Im looking for something in the 100-200 dollar price range. and I have no preference right now between amd of nVidia. If you need any more info, I can post it. I'm looking to get atleast 60-70 FPS in Minecraft with maxed settings and be able to run Sonic Ethers Shaders(mod for minecarft) quite well, and get decent fps in games such as Skyrim and civilization 5 on med-high settings.(all at [1024x768]720p maybe at 1080p )

PC Specs:
CPU: Intel Core i-3 2120 @3.3Ghz | 4 Cores
RAM: 6144 MB DDR3 Dual Channel RAM (1x4096 MB + 1x2048 MB)
Graphics: Intel HD 1000 (onboard) clock speed=850 Mhz, Memory=60 Mbytes
Motherboard: Dell 0GdG8Y A00
Page File(not sure if this matters):9100MB
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Display: 1024x768(i know I should get a 16:9 monitor, but for now this is fine.) 60hZ 32-bit
Direct X11

So those are my specs. I know they are not the best, but leave feedback and again please help me answer my question: What graphics card should I get?
 

MrBessworth

New Member
Looking at your computer specs they are on the mid-lower end of gaming rigs but do not worry the games you are playing with the display you are using makes your rig fine. But in my experience if you are looking to get a sufficient graphics card with and older rig you want to be looking at AMD over nVidia because AMD cards fit on a lot more older motherboards than nVidia. My rig is a mid-high end gaming rig BUT I run a AMD 5770 (Only thing I have not upgraded in the last 2 years) and its putting up a good fight yes its an old card but I amd not worried about getting the latest games that will need the best of best graphics cards and I can run Skyrim/Minecraft/CoD 4/LoL/WoW/BF3. All pretty stable I do get the odd frame rate drop but not often and its not too bad. Im from the UK so I do not know any stores in the US for computer parts so you will have to look for the Graphics cards in the stores yourself but I do know of good GPUs for rigs like yours.
Heres a list of my recommended GPUs for the games you are looking to record on...
http://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-560ti
http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk...d-6850/pages/amd-radeon-hd-6850-overview.aspx
http://www.amd.com/uk/products/desk...d-5850/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5850-overview.aspx

I would say they are the top graphics cards for their price. Since all of new the Graphics cards have come outall of the older GPU's prices have dropped by about $50

P.S. I believe that Dxtory does not use your Graphics card's Processors it uses your hardrive's Hardware (their RAM)

Please do not hesitate to ask if you have anymore problems...

 

Sarge

Just fix stuff.
Staff member
I would recommand going with a gtx 560 if your on a budget OR the 6870, even though its older gen it compares well to the 560 and costs less.
 

Utrax

Member
Geforce GTX 550 Ti
Radeon 6850
Radeon 6870

Either one of these will run Skyrim on max settings without lagspikes (FPS drops). And they are pretty damn cheap. $100-150
 

ChristopherOdd

Commander
Staff member
Looking at your computer specs they are on the mid-lower end of gaming rigs but do not worry the games you are playing with the display you are using makes your rig fine. But in my experience if you are looking to get a sufficient graphics card with and older rig you want to be looking at AMD over nVidia because AMD cards fit on a lot more older motherboards than nVidia. My rig is a mid-high end gaming rig BUT I run a AMD 5770 (Only thing I have not upgraded in the last 2 years) and its putting up a good fight yes its an old card but I amd not worried about getting the latest games that will need the best of best graphics cards and I can run Skyrim/Minecraft/CoD 4/LoL/WoW/BF3. All pretty stable I do get the odd frame rate drop but not often and its not too bad. Im from the UK so I do not know any stores in the US for computer parts so you will have to look for the Graphics cards in the stores yourself but I do know of good GPUs for rigs like yours.
Heres a list of my recommended GPUs for the games you are looking to record on...
http://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-560ti
http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk...d-6850/pages/amd-radeon-hd-6850-overview.aspx
http://www.amd.com/uk/products/desk...d-5850/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5850-overview.aspx

I would say they are the top graphics cards for their price. Since all of new the Graphics cards have come outall of the older GPU's prices have dropped by about $50

P.S. I believe that Dxtory does not use your Graphics card's Processors it uses your hardrive's Hardware (their RAM)

Please do not hesitate to ask if you have anymore problems...


DxTory has an option to enable CPU processing. It works better for some games than others though, so I usually try it without the checkbox first. If it's not running optimally, I'll turn it on to check for an improvement.

As an example. I needed to have it on for Half-Life, Opposing Force and BlueShift. BUT I had it off for Black Mesa Source and Borderlands 2 :)
 

Kimbblesrath

New Member
Looking at your computer specs they are on the mid-lower end of gaming rigs but do not worry the games you are playing with the display you are using makes your rig fine. But in my experience if you are looking to get a sufficient graphics card with and older rig you want to be looking at AMD over nVidia because AMD cards fit on a lot more older motherboards than nVidia. My rig is a mid-high end gaming rig BUT I run a AMD 5770 (Only thing I have not upgraded in the last 2 years) and its putting up a good fight yes its an old card but I amd not worried about getting the latest games that will need the best of best graphics cards and I can run Skyrim/Minecraft/CoD 4/LoL/WoW/BF3. All pretty stable I do get the odd frame rate drop but not often and its not too bad. Im from the UK so I do not know any stores in the US for computer parts so you will have to look for the Graphics cards in the stores yourself but I do know of good GPUs for rigs like yours.
Heres a list of my recommended GPUs for the games you are looking to record on...
http://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-560ti
http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk...d-6850/pages/amd-radeon-hd-6850-overview.aspx
http://www.amd.com/uk/products/desk...d-5850/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5850-overview.aspx

I would say they are the top graphics cards for their price. Since all of new the Graphics cards have come outall of the older GPU's prices have dropped by about $50

P.S. I believe that Dxtory does not use your Graphics card's Processors it uses your hardrive's Hardware (their RAM)

Please do not hesitate to ask if you have anymore problems...

Thank you very much! I will definetley look into those graphics cards. One more question though. Is there a difference between the "ti" versions of cards and the regular versions?
 

MrBessworth

New Member
Thank you very much! I will definetley look into those graphics cards. One more question though. Is there a difference between the "ti" versions of cards and the regular versions?
Sorry for the late reply, Yes think of the TI versions as more tuned, like a car faster, better. (Overclocked)
 
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