< $100 GPU upgrade

[icantread49]

Hey guys,

My brother has a 4-5 year old machine with an AM2 X2 3800+, 8600 GT (PCI Express x16), and 1GB of DDR2. Everything is powered by a PC Power & Cooling 610W. It used to be a solid budget gaming machine, but it's too outdated to run current games. For example, he just bought the THQ humble bundle, and while most of the games run ~25-30 FPS, it's not a very enjoyable experience for him.

I can only afford $100 for his upgrade (not including shipping, using Shop Runner). Please do not suggest anything over $100. I'm already pushing it with $100 - I'd be a lot more comfortable in the $60-80 range.

His upgrade will include the following items from my previous build:

- X2 4800+
- 2GB G.SKILL DDR2 (so he'll have 3GB)

Those items plus a decent graphics card should enable him to play most games with relative ease. I know that the CPU won't be a (major) bottleneck because lowering the resolution instantly increases his FPS (must be a GPU bottleneck). Additionally, keep in mind his PSU puts out 610W tops, but it's an extremely reliable unit (I'm running a 6 year old 750W PC P&C, still solid as a rock).

Any suggestions? I've been out of the loop for far too long to know what to look for. Thanks guys.

[editline]2nd December 2012[/editline]

Also, just to make it 100% clear: the goal is to enable him to play recent(ish) games at his native resolution (1440x900) at minimum to medium settings. He doesn't care about running Skyrim on max or anything like that.

[wickedplayer494]

Here's a Radeon 7750 for $90 (after MIR): [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127709&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=[/url]

[icantread49]

Any other cards I should consider? Any comparable NVIDIA cards?

[editline]3rd December 2012[/editline]

How about this 6670? [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121442[/url] It's the top rated sub-$100 card.

[GreenDolphin]

There really isn't much you can do. The best thing you can do is save that $100 for the future. A really low budget baseline gaming computer today shouldn't cost more than $500 if you get a $400 Core i3 Dell 660 Inspiron Minitower and insert a $100 HD 7750 into it.

[url]http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?brandId=2202&c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh[/url]
[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102969[/url]

[wickedplayer494]

6670 vs 7750: [url]http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/613?vs=535[/url]

There's some differences even in the medium quality benchmarks (such as SCII, BF3 at low, Civ5 at low), and that's at higher resolutions, so that's saying something. Not to mention the fact that the 7750 is just slightly cheaper than the 6670 (after the MIR and shipping).

[editline]2nd December 2012[/editline]

I would go the way GreenDolphin's suggesting though.

[icantread49]

[QUOTE=wickedplayer494;38683741]6670 vs 7750: [url]http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/613?vs=535[/url]

There's some differences even in the medium quality benchmarks (such as SCII, BF3 at low, Civ5 at low), and that's at higher resolutions, so that's saying something. Not to mention the fact that the 7750 is just slightly cheaper than the 6670 (after the MIR and shipping).[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the link to anandtech's GPU comparisons, I was looking for that! You've convinced me that the 7750 is definitely worth it over the 6670.

@ GreenDolphin: Like I said, this is a minor upgrade so he can play recent games at low to medium settings at his native resolution (1440x900). This isn't about building a new budget gaming computer or saving up to play games at maximum settings.