need a graphics card "upgrade" for my old pc.. which one do i go for?

[winterwonderland]

ok, so my current graphics card in my old is giving up pretty soon.... there is a local store that sells graphics cards for older pc's for like $5-10 in very good condition. i was thinking about replacing my current with another one.

my current card is a ati radeon hd 4870 toxic 512mb (i believe it's 512mb, because i cannot find the package any longer).

which one should i go for and more importantly; how far up CAN i go in terms of model number? i've seen everything up to 6800-series. or should i just upgrade it only to a 4890?? it's like $10 for a 4890 and $15-20 for 6xxx-series...

my pc specs:
- cpu: amd phenom II x3 720
- motherboard: gigabyte ga-ma790x
- gpu: ati radeon hd4870
- os: win7 32-bit
- memory: im not sure about the memory, but i got only 2gb of it...

this will only be a cheap upgrade until i buy myself a new pc, which can take a while. until then, i need this backup solution for my current pc, and since my gpu is having some mad issues lately, causing a lot of blue screens etc., i need to change it for something else.

so. which one you recommend? any chances that i can get myself a gpu with HDMI perhaps?

thanks.

 

[little cat]

How about HD 6870 151W TDP
http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-HD-6870-vs-Radeon-HD-4870

http://www.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu

 

[winterwonderland]

that sounds good, but do you know if that will fit into my pc or not? like, will my motherboard "accept" that card, or?

any cards in 5xxx-series that you would recommend, or? i checked the price for 6870 and that one was like $40... it's not much, but imma try find something cheaper.

 

[Schmuckley]

In b4 "gtx 970" Yes! I say 7870 2gb for $70..or an ol 5870-50 for cheaper.

 

[little cat]

that sounds good, but do you know if that will fit into my pc or not? like, will my motherboard "accept" that card, or?

any cards in 5xxx-series that you would recommend, or? i checked the price for 6870 and that one was like $40... it's not much, but imma try find something cheaper.

All motherboards which i found matching the specs above , have PCI-E x16 gen 2.0 slot . So , any PCI-E card should work on the mobo .

HD 6770 or HD 5770 at least

HD 4870 - 2400 points 3D Mark
HD 5770 - 2700 points
HD 6770 - 2510 points

 

[dirtyferret]

I would not move from an AMD 4870 (especially if it is 1GB) to an AMD 6770 or 7770. Realize that an increase of 20-25% on a game you struggle with means going from 20FPS to 24-25FPS. An AMD 5870 or 6870 would make more sense.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html

 

[winterwonderland]

little cat: oh okay thanks for that. however which of those cards are the better ones? like, 6770 is better than 5770, yes? but 2400 is not better than 4870, right? and how is 5700-2700 and 6770-2510 compared to 4870? sorry for the complicated question, but i hope you understand it.

 

[little cat]

little cat: oh okay thanks for that. however which of those cards are the better ones? like, 6770 is better than 5770, yes? but 2400 is not better than 4870, right? and how is 5700-2700 and 6770-2510 compared to 4870? sorry for the complicated question, but i hope you understand it.

According to 3D Mark
HD 4870 < HD 6770 < HD 5770 But the main benefit wont be the performance but the power draw 42W less than HD 4870 .

HD 5770 is only 12.5% faster than HD 4870

 

[dirtyferret]

little cat: oh okay thanks for that. however which of those cards are the better ones? like, 6770 is better than 5770, yes? but 2400 is not better than 4870, right? and how is 5700-2700 and 6770-2510 compared to 4870? sorry for the complicated question, but i hope you understand it.

the numbers next to the AMD cards (2400, 2700, 2510) are for a synthetic gaming card benchmark, not the cards itself although with the ATI/AMD naming scheme they are easy to confuse.

FYI, you only have 2GB of memory on win7...you may want to get an extra 1-2GB if you want better gaming performance.

 

[winterwonderland]

Im actually looking for a stable and rather similar performance than what my current 4870 is offering, but of course, if i can find something better, it would be nice too. any other alternatives to 5870 perhaps?

im trying to determine what sort of ram i've got, but i can only figure out that it's kingston 99u5429. i got 2 of those attached, and when i click on properties on my computer, it says 2gb ram... WHICH memory would work nicely for me then? any suggestions?

the point is that this "upgrade" should not cost much. as long as it works, it's all fine. it's just that my gpu is giving me some tough time, so i thought i would replace that with something else until i can afford a new pc.

thanks again for helping me, guys!

 

[little cat]

//Your RAM should be this :
//99U5429-002.A00LF
//http://www.itcreations.com/view_product.asp?product_id=44006
//http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134046

In order to use dual channel memory , the RAM should be exactly the same - all 4 sticks . Otherwise , single channel .

There are other numbers of the RAM .Might post them too
like this one
P/N 99U5429-007.A00LF
http://www.memory4less.com/m4l_itemdetail.aspx?itemid=1475579344

 

[winterwonderland]

hmm.. ok. ill scout around to see what i'll find...

the other numbers on them are: -001.A00LF - i got 2 of those, assuming that each is 1gb..

 

[little cat]

Here they say 2x2 ?!
http://www.ebay.de/itm/2x-Kingston-2GB-DDR2-Ram-kingston-99u5429-001-a00lf-/172051964713

Check in the BIOS

 

[xvi]

That board has a PCIe slot, so it'll run just about anything that physically fits. Double check how many 6-pin and 8-pin plugs your power supply has too to make sure your power supply supports the cards too.
For Team Red, I think a HD 7870 or 7850 would do nicely.
Over on green team, I'd think a GTX 950 or GTX 960 would be a decent upgrade. If previous generation doesn't bother you, perhaps a GTX 760 or GTX 770.

 

[winterwonderland]

Okay, when i boot up, it says 4gb, so i assume it's 2x2gb, yes

xvi: isn't that a bit overkill to my budget, perhaps? im not planning to UPGRADE my pc, just replace my gpu with something else that works, maybe something that's equal in performance or even better...

 

[ASOT]

A 7770 hd or 7850 hd will fit in any cases.

 

[Outback Bronze]

Guys, I'm not sure we should be advising him on the cheap $15-20 upgrades, I know its cheap but anything pre HD 7xxx has no driver support. Unless he plays older games, then he should be fine.

 

[Frick]

Guys, I'm not sure we should be advising him on the cheap $15-20 upgrades, I know its cheap but anything pre HD 7xxx has no driver support. Unless he plays older games, then he should be fine.

He won't get the latest drivers, but the card will still work, and it'll work well.

 

[Folterknecht]

Before you even think about "upgrading" you should find out (and post here) the exact model of your PSU and the max CPU lenght supported by your case ... .

GPUs like 5870 or 4890 consume more power than a 4870


Edit:

If you have an old crappy PSU, that should be fixed first before spending money anywhere else.

 

[chuck216]

Actually the 4870 isn't that old, and in it's prime was the most powerful GPU you could buy,

As for upgrading it depends on how much you want to spend as any current GPU will replace it, It still used the PCIe X16 slot so a new card is simply a matter of money, I actually had a 4870 in this system for a short time after upgrading my system from a phenom II am2 based system to my FX-8320 and waiting for a new GPU to arrive.

Frankly I would avoid anything second-hand as you never know what the previous owner put it through, there is a reason they basically gave them or are giving them away such as starting to fail after years in a mining or folding etc.

As far as cards go.. I'd skip right over the , 5xxx, 6xxx, and 7xxx series cards and go for something in the R9 2xx or 3xx series as current drivers support them and they have dx-11/12 support. and any of them will be a vast improvement over the 4780.

Even the lowly r9 270X makes the 4870 look like a snail graphics wise

and remember any GPU you choose can be transferred to a new system if you upgrade MB/CPU

 

[winterwonderland]

thank you all for helpful and great inputs!

remember that im more into REPLACING my current 4870 with something that WORKS. im not planning to "UPGRADE" my current pc that much. i just need to find a gpu that works properly since my current 4870 is giving me a lot of errors, blue screens and crashes lately (i made a thread about it here: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...-stopping-and-restarting.220412/#post-3429952 ) - and as suggested there, i should replace my 4870 with something that works. however, i would gladly spend a little bit more if there is a card (used or new) with a bit better performance that my current 4870. in fact, i cannot even run some simple flash games before the game lags out heavily for me...

my current psu is: corsair tx 650w

also, im only using the pc to generic browsing, photo/video editing and some casual gaming. nothing hardcore or so. im used to run games on low settings, so that is never a bother for me.

as long as the replacement card is not WORSE that 4870, im all good. and if it's not that expensive, ofc. my budget is around $30-60 for a replacement gpu.

thanks for good suggestions, and keep them coming.

 

[chuck216]

thank you all for helpful and great inputs!

remember that im more into REPLACING my current 4870 with something that WORKS. im not planning to "UPGRADE" my current pc that much. i just need to find a gpu that works properly since my current 4870 is giving me a lot of errors, blue screens and crashes lately (i made a thread about it here: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...-stopping-and-restarting.220412/#post-3429952 ) - and as suggested there, i should replace my 4870 with something that works. however, i would gladly spend a little bit more if there is a card (used or new) with a bit better performance that my current 4870. in fact, i cannot even run some simple flash games before the game lags out heavily for me...

my current psu is: corsair tx 650w

also, im only using the pc to generic browsing, photo/video editing and some casual gaming. nothing hardcore or so. im used to run games on low settings, so that is never a bother for me.

as long as the replacement card is not WORSE that 4870, im all good. and if it's not that expensive, ofc. my budget is around $30-60 for a replacement gpu.

thanks for good suggestions, and keep them coming.

then you'd definitely have to go with a used card because nothing new sold currently below $60 is anywhere near as powerful as a 4870.

 

[Frick]

Nothing wrong with used cards. Here cards in that range are , HD5870, HD6870, GTX550ti, GTX560/ti, GTX570. And hey look a 6970.

 

[winterwonderland]

yes, the store i mentioned, they have this policy that the used cards they take in, must be in fully working order with no errors etc. (they got this offer so people do not just "throw away" the cards as garbage, which i find quite nice). so if i buy a gpu that is used from that store, it's a safe buy. got friends who have bought loads of stuff there and they are super happy about their purchases. anyway the point is that i will most definitely go with a used card.

now... considering my ram, motherboard and psu... i seem to have the following options from the store (prices are between $40-50 for these cards):
- hd6870
- hd6970
- gtx 280
- gtx550ti
- gtx560/ti
- gtx570

so. which one to go for..? how would you rank those cards in terms of performance and quietness? and which of those will go along with my pc, based on these specs:
- cpu: amd phenom II x3 720
- motherboard: gigabyte ga-ma790x
- gpu: ati radeon hd4870
- ram: kingston 99u5429 2x2gb
- psu: corsair tx 650w
- os: win7 32-bit

hopefully i can get this done by next week then.

 

[chuck216]

Of those the 6970 is the best replacement/upgrade for your current card