NZFF

Posted: **Sat Dec 13, 2008 6:41 pm**

Hi all,

Looking for a better graphics card.
I don't want to burn out my machine. Running a PCI Express ATI X300 128m card at present.

What do you recomend as a replacement.

I think my PSU is around 300.

Thanks

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 12:42 pm**

8800 gts nivdia geforce or the likes pci express

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 1:18 pm**

creator2003 wrote:
QUOTE (creator2003 @ Dec 14 2008, 01:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
8800 gts nivdia geforce or the likes pci express

Yeah, although there was a mention of only a 300w power supply, so that card might be a bit much for his system...

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 4:44 pm**

markll wrote:
QUOTE (markll @ Dec 14 2008, 02:18 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Yeah, although there was a mention of only a 300w power supply, so that card might be a bit much for his system...

Thanks,

What do you recomend?

Should I purchase a new PSU?
I don't want to burn out my mother board either.

I am running 2Gb Ram, just feel bigger card would improve graphics.
What 256 or 512 card could i use?

Cheers

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 5:32 pm**

Whats ur budget??

Any new cards like the 8800 GTS and require power supply 450+ or around there, Will still work with your current 300W but you could run into issues. Also if your are into FSX or FS9 and are wanting to upgrade your Graphics Card to improve frames, May I suggest to you that you invest in a better CPU if you don't have a latest one (What is your CPU)

FSX and FS9 use CPU more than Graphics (Although graphics card are needed, CPU is a better investment to improve frames)

Also don't go by the amount of ram on a card, for example you could get a Nvidia 7500 512MB which sounds good but a 8800GTS 320MB will kick it's ass.

Have a think mate and hope my advice has been helpful to you and just answer the questions I asked and I might be able to help you more.

Cheers

Chris

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 6:01 pm**

pilotgallagher01 wrote:
QUOTE (pilotgallagher01 @ Dec 14 2008, 06:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Whats ur budget??

Any new cards like the 8800 GTS and require power supply 450+ or around there, Will still work with your current 300W but you could run into issues. Also if your are into FSX or FS9 and are wanting to upgrade your Graphics Card to improve frames, May I suggest to you that you invest in a better CPU if you don't have a latest one (What is your CPU)

Cheers

Chris

Hi Chris,
Thanks

Cpu is a P4 3.06 Intel.

Was top of line when purchased 2 years ago. Mrs would go ape O if I tried to up grade.

Whats a PSU and grapics worth for my machine?

Cheers
Derek

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 6:11 pm**

No offense but CPU is a bit out dated. Still ok though. You intending it for FSX or FS9 . FSX I would suggest you upgrade the CPU. You can get a nice fast Core 2 Duo which will improve frames and performance like mad for under $500 and somtimes even cheaper than graphics cards. Check Trademe as they have some great deals.
As for Power Supply, You can get a 500W power supply brand new for about $100-$150 which will let your machine run more power heavy parts like SLI Graphics Cards.
Also another thing is to know about is your Motherboard. If you want to do any upgrading then check what your motherboard is and what it can handle. No point buying a powerful Graphics card if your motherboard can't handle it.

Also if you arn't willing to spend, Find out what card you have at the mo and you might be able to increase the performance by 30% on a Cheat $100 graphics card off trademe.

Depends how much you want to spend.

Hope this was useful.

Cheers

Chris

Posted: **Tue Dec 16, 2008 9:10 pm**

I think you would be sweet just getting a 8800gts and a cheap power pack ,i very much doubt it would burn any parts out doing this and with a upgraded ram aswell your 3.0ghz single core will work sweet ..
dual would be the way to go in the future but that computer should last well with some simple pimp mods ..

Posted: **Tue Dec 16, 2008 10:16 pm**

FS9 ur sweet mate as creator 2003 said, FSX I would suggest upgrading.

What one you intending it for?

Posted: **Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:30 pm**

im running i really old Pentium D, 3ghz, its dual core... but FSX is almost intolerable (all other games are sweet, FS9, FS2002, Lock On, etc)... i advise getting a new Dual-core (the pentium D is one of the first dual cores so it is surpassed by others)

GPU i found didnt make much difference when i upgraded from my old 7500LE 256mb to a new Radeon 3870 512mb, i only got an increase of about 3-4FPS and hardly any graphics increase

check your MB before you upgrade, because ive had past experiences where people have bought new stuff only to find its un-supported by their MB

PSU's are generally cheap, id say 450-500W is your sort of range, and as said above, they are very cheap and have almost become a throw away good (almost no resale value)

Posted: **Wed Dec 17, 2008 8:19 am**

pilot.masman wrote:
QUOTE (pilot.masman @ Dec 17 2008, 12:30 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
PSU's are generally cheap, id say 450-500W is your sort of range, and as said above, they are very cheap and have almost become a throw away good (almost no resale value)

Only if you don't care about quality... or your components!

A computer cannot run without electricity, so do not overlook a decent PSU. A quality (Enermax, Silverstone etc.) unit will run quieter, cooler and produce more stable voltage/current levels. This helps to stop voltage/current spikes and/or drops which can cause issues and shorten the life of your components...

Having said that, if you main goal is to just whack a new card into an aging system to try to stretch it out for another 6-12 months, then by all means go the budget route... as you'll probably need to discard everything but the GPU when you eventually upgrade everything anyway...

With new gen GPU's... you will need around 450W minimum... the more stuff you have (Optical Drives, HDD's etc.) the higher your power requirements...

Posted: **Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:27 am**

[quote name='HardCorePawn' date='Dec 17 2008, 09:19 AM' post='8233858']
Only if you don't care about quality... or your components!

If you know where to get it from then it's cheap

Posted: **Wed Dec 17, 2008 1:46 pm**

QUOTE

Only if you don't care about quality... or your components!

A computer cannot run without electricity, so do not overlook a decent PSU. A quality (Enermax, Silverstone etc.) unit will run quieter, cooler and produce more stable voltage/current levels. This helps to stop voltage/current spikes and/or drops which can cause issues and shorten the life of your components...

Having said that, if you main goal is to just whack a new card into an aging system to try to stretch it out for another 6-12 months, then by all means go the budget route... as you'll probably need to discard everything but the GPU when you eventually upgrade everything anyway...

With new gen GPU's... you will need around 450W minimum... the more stuff you have (Optical Drives, HDD's etc.) the higher your power requirements...[/quote]

lol, you mistake what im saying, and i think pilotgallagher got it...

if you kniow where to get it from, you can get a decent 500W PSU for VERY cheap...

for instance i just upgraded mine from the Std HP 300W to my new SilverStone 500W

, cost me $120 (from my supplier

)

NZFF

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