Solve : Graphics card replacement?

1.	Solve : Graphics card replacement?
Answer» I have an ATI Radeon 3400 HD in my computer at the moment. Have been having issues such as frame rates being slow and no signal to the monitor. I was considering replacing with an ATI Radeon 3450 HD but am not sure if i can or what steps i need to take to do this. Also looking for any tips on other graphics cards i could possibly upgrade to. Would appreciate some feedback.The Radeon HD 3450 is about as weak as the HD 3400, what are your system specs, budget, and most intensive graphics program or game you will run on this and normal or MAX settings, to suggest a video card for you? I have a couple systems using the Radeon HD 5450 with 512MB and 1GB video Cards in them and they play games like World of Warcraft between 30 and 60fps at normal graphics settings on 1024 x768 on dual-core computers such as the Intel Pentium E5400 2.7Ghz, AMD Athlon 64 x2 4450B 2.3Ghz, and Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4Ghz and the video cards were cheap $30 at www.newegg.com each. These cards are ok for WoW and other games I have like GTA San Andreas etc, but against newer games like Crysis 3 and Battlefield 4 etc the Radeon HD 5450 would probably stuggle if able to run these games at all. The one game I have that the Radeon HD 5450 does show some struggling on is Skyrim where when there is a lot of action happening the frame rate plunges to like 15 to 20 fps from 30 fps on normal settings, but it does this for about 2 or 3 seconds and then jumps back up to 30fps so it slows but picks right back up again. The textures in Skyrim are probably what is really making the Radeon HD 5450 cards struggle to keep up which graphics far more realistic than World of Warcrafts cartoonish textures. With additional info we can help point you to a video card that should work for you.I play World of Warcraft almost exclusively. I'm running an AMD Phenom 8450 triple core. As far as budget i really don't wish to invest any large amount of money on a system that i will probably replace in 12 to 18 months.The Radeon HD 5450 with 1GB RAM is about $30 and will run WoW on 1024x768 res at the middle/normal graphics setting at 30-60 fps. Only thing to watch out for in the cheap cards is that they have proper cooling, some come with small fans and others are passive. One of the HD5450's is ASUS brand and Passive Heatsink = No Cooling Fan, and so I added a 80mm fan inside the case to blow cool air across the heatsink surface and its been working well that way for last 2 years. Here are 2 good cheap cards that are name brand, but I'd add a fan to cool them. The ASUS same as shown in 2nd link roasts burning hot when gaming without airflow across the heatsink. I added a 80mm fan with a tie wrap upright in my mATX tower to blow air across the video card and the GPU is a nice 43C when gaming vs roasting 85C+ without airflow as measured with speedfan gaming. I made use of the floppy power connector that is not used to tap into the 12VDC inserting the wires into the yellow 12VDC and black common and then placing scotch tape over this to keep wires from backing out. XFX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150655 ASUS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121447 Last year I BOUGHT another 2 of these cards on a black friday deal with a rebate of $10 off each card and the final price was $14.99 per card, and those which where sapphire brand came with small fans on the heatsink so that adding a fan was not necessary and they are still going strong. Quote from: texasken on December 24, 2013, 03:21:13 PM i really don't wish to invest any large amount of money on a system that i will probably replace in 12 to 18 months. You may want to consider getting a really good card (And possibly a power supply upgrade) now then down the line you can always move it into a new system, that makes more sense to me than spending money on a fairly low end card you'll be replacing.I agree with Camerongray if you have the money to spend on a better card. But if your looking at a cheap card for 12 to 18 months in hopes to get a more modern video card in 12 or 18 months, you can buy cheap now and spend more later. Since you can get a better video card for the same money today, down the road in 12 or 18 months. I have gone that route sometimes myself vs buying a high end card now and 12 to 18 months down the road you could have gotten an even better video card for the same $120 etc. Although for the past 4 years I have gone the route of bargain cards after FIRST researching into their graphics processing benchmarks to make sure they are a good deal and better than integrated video. One time in the past I lucked out in holding off on an ultra powerful video card back in 2004 when my system was 8x AGP in and I decided to get by on the GeForce FX5200 AGP video card I already had vs buying a far more powerful nVidia FX5900 video card. Less than a year later PCI Express cards/motherboards came out and that was where you wanted to be vs older slower AGP graphics card connection for games and so I was able to get a more powerful video card later that also was able to be moved to future builds vs having a slower and obsolete AGP video card that had to be paired up with older hardware. *But PCIe is here to stay for a while so I dont see this happening any time soon! I just got lucky in holding off in 2004 that it worked out to avoid buying AGP and later buy PCIe instead! Quote PCI Express 4.0 On November 29, 2011, PCI-SIG announced PCI Express 4.0 featuring 16 GT/s, still based on copper technology. Additionally, active and idle power optimizations are to be investigated. Final specifications are expected to be released in 2014 or 2015. As quoted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express This below was a concern back then: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/60414-28-expressI really appreciate the feedback. One final question. I have $150.00 give or take to spend. I can get a Diamond ATI AMD Radeon HD6450 PCI Express 1 GB for around $80.00. Any card you feel is a better bang for the BUCK than this? Quote from: texasken on December 25, 2013, 02:23:27 AM I really appreciate the feedback. One final question. I have $150.00 give or take to spend. I can get a Diamond ATI AMD Radeon HD6450 PCI Express 1 GB for around $80.00. Any card you feel is a better bang for the buck than this? Something like a GeForce 650 (Or better the 650ti) would fit your budget and would be miles better than the Radeon 6450 which is a very low end card.

Answer»

I have an ATI Radeon 3400 HD in my computer at the moment. Have been having issues such as frame rates being slow and no signal to the monitor. I was considering replacing with an ATI Radeon 3450 HD but am not sure if i can or what steps i need to take to do this. Also looking for any tips on other graphics cards i could possibly upgrade to. Would appreciate some feedback.The Radeon HD 3450 is about as weak as the HD 3400, what are your system specs, budget, and most intensive graphics program or game you will run on this and normal or MAX settings, to suggest a video card for you?

I have a couple systems using the Radeon HD 5450 with 512MB and 1GB video Cards in them and they play games like World of Warcraft between 30 and 60fps at normal graphics settings on 1024 x768 on dual-core computers such as the Intel Pentium E5400 2.7Ghz, AMD Athlon 64 x2 4450B 2.3Ghz, and Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4Ghz and the video cards were cheap $30 at www.newegg.com each. These cards are ok for WoW and other games I have like GTA San Andreas etc, but against newer games like Crysis 3 and Battlefield 4 etc the Radeon HD 5450 would probably stuggle if able to run these games at all. The one game I have that the Radeon HD 5450 does show some struggling on is Skyrim where when there is a lot of action happening the frame rate plunges to like 15 to 20 fps from 30 fps on normal settings, but it does this for about 2 or 3 seconds and then jumps back up to 30fps so it slows but picks right back up again. The textures in Skyrim are probably what is really making the Radeon HD 5450 cards struggle to keep up which graphics far more realistic than World of Warcrafts cartoonish textures.

With additional info we can help point you to a video card that should work for you.I play World of Warcraft almost exclusively. I'm running an AMD Phenom 8450 triple core. As far as budget i really don't wish to invest any large amount of money on a system that i will probably replace in 12 to 18 months.The Radeon HD 5450 with 1GB RAM is about $30 and will run WoW on 1024x768 res at the middle/normal graphics setting at 30-60 fps. Only thing to watch out for in the cheap cards is that they have proper cooling, some come with small fans and others are passive. One of the HD5450's is ASUS brand and Passive Heatsink = No Cooling Fan, and so I added a 80mm fan inside the case to blow cool air across the heatsink surface and its been working well that way for last 2 years.

Here are 2 good cheap cards that are name brand, but I'd add a fan to cool them. The ASUS same as shown in 2nd link roasts burning hot when gaming without airflow across the heatsink. I added a 80mm fan with a tie wrap upright in my mATX tower to blow air across the video card and the GPU is a nice 43C when gaming vs roasting 85C+ without airflow as measured with speedfan gaming. I made use of the floppy power connector that is not used to tap into the 12VDC inserting the wires into the yellow 12VDC and black common and then placing scotch tape over this to keep wires from backing out.

XFX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150655

ASUS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121447

Last year I BOUGHT another 2 of these cards on a black friday deal with a rebate of $10 off each card and the final price was $14.99 per card, and those which where sapphire brand came with small fans on the heatsink so that adding a fan was not necessary and they are still going strong.

Quote from: texasken on December 24, 2013, 03:21:13 PM

i really don't wish to invest any large amount of money on a system that i will probably replace in 12 to 18 months.

You may want to consider getting a really good card (And possibly a power supply upgrade) now then down the line you can always move it into a new system, that makes more sense to me than spending money on a fairly low end card you'll be replacing.I agree with Camerongray if you have the money to spend on a better card.

But if your looking at a cheap card for 12 to 18 months in hopes to get a more modern video card in 12 or 18 months, you can buy cheap now and spend more later. Since you can get a better video card for the same money today, down the road in 12 or 18 months. I have gone that route sometimes myself vs buying a high end card now and 12 to 18 months down the road you could have gotten an even better video card for the same $120 etc. Although for the past 4 years I have gone the route of bargain cards after FIRST researching into their graphics processing benchmarks to make sure they are a good deal and better than integrated video.

One time in the past I lucked out in holding off on an ultra powerful video card back in 2004 when my system was 8x AGP in and I decided to get by on the GeForce FX5200 AGP video card I already had vs buying a far more powerful nVidia FX5900 video card. Less than a year later PCI Express cards/motherboards came out and that was where you wanted to be vs older slower AGP graphics card connection for games and so I was able to get a more powerful video card later that also was able to be moved to future builds vs having a slower and obsolete AGP video card that had to be paired up with older hardware.

*But PCIe is here to stay for a while so I dont see this happening any time soon! I just got lucky in holding off in 2004 that it worked out to avoid buying AGP and later buy PCIe instead!

Quote

PCI Express 4.0

On November 29, 2011, PCI-SIG announced PCI Express 4.0 featuring 16 GT/s, still based on copper technology. Additionally, active and idle power optimizations are to be investigated. Final specifications are expected to be released in 2014 or 2015.

As quoted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express

This below was a concern back then:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/60414-28-expressI really appreciate the feedback. One final question. I have $150.00 give or take to spend. I can get a Diamond ATI AMD Radeon HD6450 PCI Express 1 GB for around $80.00. Any card you feel is a better bang for the BUCK than this? Quote from: texasken on December 25, 2013, 02:23:27 AM

I really appreciate the feedback. One final question. I have $150.00 give or take to spend. I can get a Diamond ATI AMD Radeon HD6450 PCI Express 1 GB for around $80.00. Any card you feel is a better bang for the buck than this?

Something like a GeForce 650 (Or better the 650ti) would fit your budget and would be miles better than the Radeon 6450 which is a very low end card.

Solve : Graphics card replacement?

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