Author Topic: Graphics upgrade  (Read 25949 times)

Offline richidoo

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Graphics upgrade
« on: November 18, 2014, 08:25:51 AM »
A quick question for all you PC custom build experts out there...

My son plays iracing (professionally.) He earns half his annual income by winning paying races online. He uses an HP Pavillion mini tower, with i3 Ivy Bridge, 8GB. He has been using the integrated graphics, but it can barely do the minimum graphics resolution, so he wants an upgrade video card.

He picked out this which looks bitchin to this old coot! It is GeForce 760, NVidia's top 700 series, one step below the new 900 series. It looks like there is enough room inside the PC for it to fit. The PC has one PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot with room for the card width and cooling space.


The PC has only 300 watt PS, so I picked out this. It has all the right cables and connectors.


The power supply simulator here said I need 326W to power this exact system at peak. Since I watch TV in the same room with him playing, I don't want to hear any fan noise which starts getting louder at 50% power capacity. And the extra power will allow him to use it on a faster system later.

The monitor is what came with the HP, DVI input 19" LCD. The PC has DVI outputs but we didn't have an extra DVI cable so he has been using a VGA adapter and cable. Do you think I should try the DVI cable to see if it improves the video before buying the upgrade card? That won't change the resolution setting he is forced to use now due to processing power.

Does all this make sense or am I missing something? I've never bought an upgrade video or PS before, only memory sticks. :)
Thanks!

What amazes me is how cheap this high tech digital gaming equipment is compared to analog audio equipment. This video card has 3 million transistors. My amplifier has about 12.

Offline machinehead

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Re: Graphics upgrade
« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2014, 10:56:31 AM »
Id upgrade your motherboard to a new one with the latest PCI spec 3

PCI 2 is a bottleneck for graphics.

Also why not get the 970? A huge value and top performer around $350.

You can build it all in newer (was supposed to be New Egg)  for a little over 1K - 1.4K Plus maybe an i5 Haswell processor.


« Last Edit: November 18, 2014, 12:26:23 PM by machinehead »
Its cool ndude.

Offline etcarroll

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Re: Graphics upgrade
« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2014, 11:39:10 AM »
Rich -

Your son is at the point all builders get to - "do I want to upgrade a few parts and eek out a bit more time/use for this box, or should I rebuild for the future?"

Machinehead is correct about mobo upgrade, IF you want to build for the future.

It sounds to me like you want to eek out somemore time, in that case I'd go with the power supply upgrade, and a cheaper video upgrade, one that recognizes the PCI Express 2.0 bottleneck. I use Sapphire cards with success, on NewEgg for $110 I'd get the SAPPHIRE DUAL-X 100314-4L Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16  
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202113

It will be a big increase over onboard graphics, and for about half the cost of what your son is looking to pay.

And 'yes' to dvi cable. If you need one go to monoprice.
« Last Edit: November 18, 2014, 11:40:56 AM by etcarroll »
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Offline shadowlight

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Re: Graphics upgrade
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2014, 12:29:03 PM »
Rich,

Double check and make sure that you can upgrade the power supply on the HP.  Previously, you could not install 3rd party power supply due to dimensions on the HP boxes.

Offline richidoo

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Re: Graphics upgrade
« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2014, 01:12:19 PM »
Thanks very much guys!!

Deepak, the PS dimensions are the same, so I think this HP uses a standard size. Thanks

Thanks Mike, Gene. I didn't realize PCIe v2 was such a big bottleneck! We don't want to sink too much into this, he's already doing just fine as is. I'll check out some PCIe2 cards. Thanks for the rec, Gene.

Big thanks to Sleepy for hooking me up with a DVI cable.  :yay2:

Any other v2 cards I should look at?
Thanks!

Offline shadowlight

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Re: Graphics upgrade
« Reply #5 on: November 18, 2014, 01:22:36 PM »

Deepak, the PS dimensions are the same, so I think this HP uses a standard size. Thanks


 :thumb:

Offline richidoo

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Re: Graphics upgrade
« Reply #6 on: December 25, 2014, 05:21:30 PM »
My son installed the new card and PS, an easy upgrade.  I decided on the Asus GTX-760 2GB. I also got a Corsair 600 PS. I read that it is better to tolerate the minor data bottle neck of the PCI-E 2 bus and get a newer PCIE3 card with newer chip with thinner die that is faster and quieter. The PC is virtually silent now, the stock HP PS was a clatter trap.

He is able to crank every game parameter to the max with no hiccups and stock GPU settings. What a difference in appearance compared to everything turned all the way down. Refresh is maxxes to motion is much smoother. Now there is a crew working on his car in the pits, and billboards, shadows, grandstands, etc. The feeling of a sunny day is much better than before. Almost like driving in a photograph.

Thanks for the help!
Rich

Offline mfsoa

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Re: Graphics upgrade
« Reply #7 on: December 26, 2014, 02:49:59 PM »
My son's an avid PC gamer and always says that a 120 hz monitor is essential.  He can't stand the way mice move on a plain 'ol 60 hz one.