Best graphics card to use....

[Chapster5]

Hi guys,

I have a bit of a gaming rig nothing major and to be honest as of recent I've only been using it for 3D modelling.

It can get quite sluggish and I've been told to change the graphics card so here's the setup.

AMD Phenom 9550+ quad core
4 x 2GB DDR2 ram
250GB HDD - O/S
2TB HDD - apps and downloads
160GB HDD - random shite
Nvidia GeForce 9500GT Sparkle edition 1GB DDR2?
Windows 7 Ultimate x64 edition.

Now its not bad as a machine it just gets a bit sluggish here and there. I've heard AMD and Nvidia are a no no and I should go for an ATI Radeon or similar?

Thoughts?

 

[Krispwee]

I don't think the AMD with ATI was so important back when that CPU was released, it's only really been in the last few years that it has become a thing.

First off is the OS HDD an SSD? If it isn't then swap that out for a Samsung 840 Evo, it will help out a little in games but it will transform Windows. In terms of the graphics card the 9500GT wasn't great when it was released so even less so now. For around the £100 - £150 mark you'll get a Nvidia 650 Ti or similar. The problem you will have is the system will then be bottlenecked by the CPU or DDR2 RAM.

 

[Chapster5]

So basically I need

An up to date mother board with DDR3
Better graphics card
SSD

and we should be good?

 

[Addicted]

If you're upgrading all that, you will need a new CPU too (of course), maybe also a new PSU depending what spec you have currently.

Imo with all that you're replacing, may as well get a new case too so you can build it all from scratch and avoid the hassle of taking it all aprt!

 

[Krispwee]

Yeah, unfortunately you're in that annoying place of having to upgrade everything because everything has moved on. Thankfully decent spec gaming components these days are much better value than they were 5 or 6 years ago. You can spend around £500 on everything (probably less) and get something that will give decent frame rates at 1080p in most games I believe.

 

[Chapster5]

I've got a custom case anyway mate with ports for water cooling and stuff the PSU I think is 800W if I remember with braided cables