Looking to upgrade my graphics card, could use some assistance

[Seramore]

Before I start I would just like to note that this is only a temporary upgrade. I've been told multiple times to just save up and do a full upgrade (which is something I will be doing) but for the moment I'm looking for something temporary.

I am currently using a GeForce GTS 250, specifically this one, and I'm looking to upgrade so I can actually play games without lagging on the lowest setting. My computer is small as shit so it won't fit anything bigger than a PCI Express 2.0 x16, so this narrows things down by a lot for me. My budget is $50-$100 and at the moment I have my eyes set on something like a GT730 or a 720. If I were to get a 730, I was thinking of getting something like this to use for the time being.

Besides that card, can I get some input on other potential graphic cards that I can use that are around the same price, maybe even cheaper? I'm not too picky with the kind of graphics card I get, as long as it's within my budget. I don't even care if the card is slightly worse than a 720/730, just as long I can actually play the games that I want to play. To give an example, Heroes of the Storm is completely unplayable for me (~5 FPS when I'm doing things like running around the map outside of any action and 1-2 fps during anything combat related) and whenever I play Dragon Age: Origins I drop down from 20 FPS to 10 FPS after an hour of play.

If anyone cares about the rest of my specs this is what I have:
Graphics Card: GeForce GTS 250
RAM: 2 2GB sticks
Processor: AMD Phenom X4 9600
Chipset: 780G

[lockblock]

I don't think upgrading gpu will do anything for you. I play HotS on low preset @ 720p on my htpc which only has the integrated hd3000 gpu and I get 45-60fps most of the time. The Cpu is an I3 2105 which has nearly 2x the single core rating of your current cpu.

Any haswell celeron or pentium and appropriate motherboard will do the trick. (ram too if your current machine uses ddr2)

Now that I think of it you may have an overheating cpu which is throttling down to protect itself. I would download something like speedfan and enable logging and post the results you get while actually playing a game.

[Lathais]

The cards you mentioned ARE NOT MEANT FOR GAMING. They will not do much, if any, better then what you already have. The absolute bare minimum GPU I would recommend for any type of gaming is a 750ti and even that is going to be playing some games on low-mid settings with lag. This is likely why you were told to save up, because buying anything that costs $50-100 would be a complete waste and not do what you want to do.

[Seramore]

The reason I was told to save up was because having a temporary upgrade would be a waste of money, simply due to the fact that I would be upgrading my entire PC. They're not wrong, but I really don't care if I end up wasting $50-$100 on something that I can use to play games that I've been wanting to play.

[Lathais]

The reason I was told to save up was because having a temporary upgrade would be a waste of money, simply due to the fact that I would be upgrading my entire PC. They're not wrong, but I really don't care if I end up wasting $50-$100 on something that I can use to play games that I've been wanting to play.

Graphics cards in that price range are not meant for gaming. You will see little to no gain and may as well just burn the cash. Again, the bare minimum I would suggest for gaming would be a 750ti.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3938566&SID=
That one is $120 after a mail in rebate, cheapest you'll find.

Anything less and there is a good possibility you will still not be able to play games. Meaning you may as well have just burned the money. Even with it, you'll be playing some games on low settings and it will not be very enjoyable.

If you could spend around $200 I would say get a GTX960 and when you get the money together for the rest of the upgrades you can just move it over to the new computer.

[Master Guns]

What you actually do is really save up (do not spend 100 dollars on a "temp" card, as that's just 100 dollars less you have for your REAL upgrade) and get the real upgrade as soon as possible.

As others have mentioned, that isn't a gaming card. None of them are. Those are high GB because they are for stuff like video rendering, which doesn't translate into FPS gain. You need to actually upgrade your case first, then get a proper GPU, if your case can't support something like a 960 or better.

[Seramore]

Graphics cards in that price range are not meant for gaming. You will see little to no gain and may as well just burn the cash. Again, the bare minimum I would suggest for gaming would be a 750ti.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3938566&SID=
That one is $120 after a mail in rebate, cheapest you'll find.

Anything less and there is a good possibility you will still not be able to play games. Meaning you may as well have just burned the money. Even with it, you'll be playing some games on low settings and it will not be very enjoyable.

If you could spend around $200 I would say get a GTX960 and when you get the money together for the rest of the upgrades you can just move it over to the new computer.

Thanks, I'm considering the 750ti now. I had a friend suggest it to me the other night as well. I think he's actually currently using one and he said it works out pretty well.

I would actually love to get a good graphics card and transfer it over to my new PC, but the issue is that I would have to get a new motherboard as well as a new tower if I wanted to do that. I have a baby computer and that graphics card is probably over half the size of what I have right now.

What you actually do is really save up (do not spend 100 dollars on a "temp" card, as that's just 100 dollars less you have for your REAL upgrade) and get the real upgrade as soon as possible.

holy shit

Before I start I would just like to note that this is only a temporary upgrade. I've been told multiple times to just save up and do a full upgrade (which is something I will be doing) but for the moment I'm looking for something temporary.

They're not wrong, but I really don't care if I end up wasting $50-$100 on something that I can use to play games that I've been wanting to play.

[Lathais]

Thanks, I'm considering the 750ti now. I had a friend suggest it to me the other night as well. I think he's actually currently using one and he said it works out pretty well.

I would actually love to get a good graphics card and transfer it over to my new PC, but the issue is that I would have to get a new motherboard as well as a new tower if I wanted to do that. I have a baby computer and that graphics card is probably over half the size of what I have right now.

You do not need a new motherboard for a 960. If your current board can support a 730 it can support a 960. Heck, your current card is a PCI Express 2.0, which means you can fit a 960. It may not be able to make full use of it, but you could use it and it would be better then what you have. As far as room in the tower, that's a different story, though the 960s are pretty small, they are not as small as a 750ti or most of the media only cards that are not meant for gaming. What case do you have?

[Master Guns]

He's worried about his case, not his motherboard.

and @ OP

You just seem to be contradicting yourself. If you're on a budget, why would you SPEND money in the first place to get something very temporary when you could just suck it up, use that for the big purchase, and be much happier down the road? Patience is a virtue.

[Lathais]

He's worried about his case, not his motherboard.

and @ OP

You just seem to be contradicting yourself. If you're on a budget, why would you SPEND money in the first place to get something very temporary when you could just suck it up, use that for the big purchase, and be much happier down the road? Patience is a virtue.

Actually, he was worried about both. He clearly said in his response to me that he thought he would have to replace his motherboard and case.

Thanks, I'm considering the 750ti now. I had a friend suggest it to me the other night as well. I think he's actually currently using one and he said it works out pretty well.

I would actually love to get a good graphics card and transfer it over to my new PC, but the issue is that I would have to get a new motherboard as well as a new tower if I wanted to do that. I have a baby computer and that graphics card is probably over half the size of what I have right now.

[Seramore]

He's worried about his case, not his motherboard.

and @ OP

You just seem to be contradicting yourself. If you're on a budget, why would you SPEND money in the first place to get something very temporary when you could just suck it up, use that for the big purchase, and be much happier down the road? Patience is a virtue.

I honestly don't understand why you're going to continue making posts like this in my thread when the first thing I said was I understand that it's better to save but I'm still going ahead and get a small upgrade.

You do not need a new motherboard for a 960. If your current board can support a 730 it can support a 960. Heck, your current card is a PCI Express 2.0, which means you can fit a 960. It may not be able to make full use of it, but you could use it and it would be better then what you have. As far as room in the tower, that's a different story, though the 960s are pretty small, they are not as small as a 750ti or most of the media only cards that are not meant for gaming. What case do you have?

I'm actually not sure what case I'm using specifically. This site doesn't name it, but it shows its dimensions.

http://www.cnet.com/products/gateway...-640-gb/specs/

[Lathais]

It seems like it should fit, though I can not say for certain. My bigger concern for you after seeing that though is your PSU. Even with a 750ti, you'd likely need a new PSU. It's only 300w. You should have 450w at the least once you go with a dedicated gaming GPU, so add another $60 or so to your purchase.

[Seramore]

I'm using a 650W power supply.

[Master Guns]

So you're against people attempting to make logical suggestions even though you admit it's a dumb decision? Interesting.

[Deleted]

Gtx750ti is an amazing power efficient gpu. But its barelly a gaming card, more like an entry one, its great as i said for low power consumption as an upgrade to old pc's. If you are thinking getting a better pc later on i would suggest getting something more than that if your pocket can handle it. So for low end get that gtx 750ti or if you want it to last 3+years for gaming, basically you will move it over to your newer pc, consider something like a gtx 960 or a R9 280. Both will fit and work in your current pc.

As someone else said, spending 100bucks now temporarily is a waste of money to start with and your experience won't be great either.

[Lathais]

Gtx750ti is an amazing power efficient gpu. But its barelly a gaming card, more like an entry one, its great as i said for low power consumption as an upgrade to old pc's. If you are thinking getting a better pc later on i would suggest getting something more than that if your pocket can handle it. So for low end get that gtx 750ti or if you want it to last 3+years for gaming, basically you will move it over to your newer pc, consider something like a gtx 960 or a R9 280. Both will fit and work in your current pc.

As someone else said, spending 100bucks now temporarily is a waste of money to start with and your experience won't be great either.

Thanks for confirming a 960 will fit in his current tower. I was not sure. It seemed like it should.

[Nellah]

Regardless of the video card you get, you'll be tied down by that 2.3GHz Phenom. Single-threaded performance is half that of a modern Celeron. The GTS250 is a very low-end card, I'll give you that, but you won't see phenomenal performance increases (sometimes none at all) from upgrading just the GPU. Hell, the GT 720 might actually be slower.

The 750 Ti is the lowest end card I would even consider as an upgrade. I'm in the camp of "get a 960, see performance increases now AND later, don't buy two video cards."

This has been the reasoned response by Nellah.

EDIT: This GTX960 should fit in any case that isn't a low-profile. Or most GTX 750 Tis, really, but the cost difference to bump up to a GTX 960 is soooooo worth it.

[Deleted]

I have a similar decision to make with a new comp. The 750ti vs 960.

The 960 is available in short forms, has a massively lower power requirement than any comparable ati card and should do admirably for wow for a good few years. The 960 does require 6pin power and some750's don't, but it sounds like you have that

I'm pairing mine with an i5 k, asus s1150 (board will have good oc support, not picked model) and 16gb of csl9 Geil goodness.
Down the road for me is building the whole lot between isolated car heater matrices, need to find a quiet pump.

ed to say- I basically agree with Nellah, I'm replacing a c2d e6750@ 3.6Ghz and ddr2@451mhz and this is considerably quicker than your current build for wow. I currently have the same 250gts and it was a toss up whether I replaced immediately.

further ed to say - i would look at temps aswell, particularly if you see a degradation of performance over time. Make sure all your fans are working and that the heatsinks of both cpu and gpu are clean.