Since Christmas is coming up, I've decided I need an upgrade. I'm also on a tight budget, unfortunately.
Current specs:
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD FX(tm)-4100 Quad-Core Processor (CPUs), ~4.0GHz
RAM: 8GB
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 6570
I'm wanting to get another AMD Radeon HD-type card as they seem to be pretty cheap and decent enough, but I also don't feel like buying another heat-skin or fan or whatever it's called.
I'm sure you're aware that I'm not particularly techy so I really don't know where to start.
If you have any recommendations, please suggest them.
Here's what I'm seeing from looking into a similar upgrade:
AMD has R7 and R9 cards now, instead of HD 6xxx like your card was called. Some R9 and R7 cards are basically rebadged versions of HD 7xxx cards. For instance, the AMD R9 270 and R7 265 are rebadged HD 78xx cards. Checking at one UK site, PC World, it looks like cards up to the R9 270x or Geforce 760 are in your price range.
One consideration is power. The newer Maxwell based Nvidia cards are very low power demanding. Depending on your PSU, it might be what swings you over to Nvidia vs AMD. I'd need to know what games you'll be playing and at what resolution to specifically recommend a card.
What's your power supply model and wattage? You could go with [URL="http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-xfx-radeon-r9-290-28nm-5000mhz-gddr5-gpu-947mhz-boost-1000mhz-2560-streams-dp-dvi-hdmi"]this[/URL] card, which has top notch performance.
I would either go with the above, or if you are willing to get a nvidia card, you could go for this which is more powerful (although its just above your price range) - [URL="http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-zotac-gtx-970-7010mhz-gddr5-gpu-1076mhz-boost-1216mhz-1664-cores-1x-dp-2x-dvi-1x-hdmi"]GTX 970[/URL]
I doubt, since he's been using a 6570, that he even has a power supply with the connectors for cards like that.
[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;46182156]I doubt, since he's been using a 6570, that he even has a power supply with the connectors for cards like that.[/QUOTE]
Cards like the GTX 970 or the one Levelog suggested? Or both?
I've got a 1920x1080 (though I have it set at 1440x900 since I can't actually get it up to 1920x1080 for whatever reason), as for games I'd prefer if I was able to play some of the Battlefield games at mid-high, or Skyrim and it'd be great if I didn't have to run Arma 2 at minimum options 20-30FPS anymore.
For a 290 AMD says you need a 6 pin and 8 pin connector. For the 970 Nvidia says 2 6 pin connectors. Your CPU should allow you to run BF4 at 1080p with high settings, with the videocard being the limiting factor.
So then you need to look at your power supply. There should be a tag on it that lists all the relevant details. Brand/model for a start. Your current videocard is a low power card, which is why I tend to think your current power supply is low powered. You need to know if it is, so you can budget for a new PSU and a new videocard.
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