Choosing a graphics card

[d3fu5i0n]

Hey guys,

Well to start, I have to stay around my grandparents a lot of the time (lol

) and y'know, you get a bit bored from time-to-time, so you game in these situations (if there's nothing else to do, and/or your grandparents are a bit silly as being over-protective and you can't really go out).

So my grandparents current comp (which I built) consists of the following:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (@ Stock 3.0GHz)

2X1GB Crucial DDR2-800MHZ CAS5 RAM.

XFX 4550 512MB GDDR2 Fansink stock 625/500 OC'd to 650/550

ASUS M3A76-CM Motherboard (BIOS 2101 / Latest)

The resolution of the monitor [which I also gave them, lol] is 1280x1024

Even at the lowest game settings (aside from the res. being native) with the GPU OC'd, framerates will be beyond dramatically poor.

There are forum threads out there discussing the best GPU for the 6000, although they have never come to a conclusion. I am planning to go ATi for this rig anyway, best price wins, and I'm finicky about keeping everything one branded. xD

Now, VRAM isn't much of an issue at this resolution, and 512MB GDDR5 should do it (if I go for something in the 5K series). Arvutihull on YouTube told me that a 5670 would be the best match.

I don't want ANY power of the GPU wasted. I feel that if I spend 'wasted' money, that it's pointless, especially in the situation of trying to get the best price.

What would be the best choice?

And if I were to run some Anti-Aliasing; say... MW2 maxed at 1280x1024 with 4xAA, would 512MB still cut it, or would I need the higher VRAM buffer to use AA at this res with high game settings?

I'd also be looking for 60FPS+ on games like that. Some games such as Crysis are an exception. BTW, does the original Crysis have a key 'limit' (Not referring to Warhead with it's revoke tool)? I've heard yes and no. Would like to know that as well.

Hope you guys can help me ASAP.

Thanks

 

[GBcf]

Well a Hd 5670, 5750 is as high as you want to go with this hardware.. 512mb is enough for that resolution. If you dont want any power on the gpu to be wasted go with a 5670 to be certain, but than it still isn't good enough for a maxed out smooth mw2.. I say go with a 5670 and be happy with medium setings

Cheers!

 

[d3fu5i0n]

Well a Hd 5670, 5750 is as high as you want to go with this hardware.. 512mb is enough for that resolution. If you dont want any power on the gpu to be wasted go with a 5670 to be certain, but than it still isn't good enough for a maxed out smooth mw2.. I say go with a 5670 and be happy with medium setings

Cheers!

Thanks for replying.

However I would disagree with the settings.

When I had a single 5770 @ stock in my rig (being based with a Q6700 @ Stock 2.66GHz in this example) @ 1920x1080, I would get maxed out + 16X AF, no AA, 60FPS+

The 5750 based on benchmarks looks to be around 1/3 faster than the 5670.

When I said 'power wastage' it depends. If the 5670 is a bottleneck to the CPU, and e.g. 10% CPU power would be wasted versus using a 5750 and 5% of the 5750 GPU being wasted (CPU is the bottleneck) and it wasn't much more expensive, I'd vouch for the 5750.

Have you seen a 512MB 5750? I've only seen the 5770 in 512MB as well as the standard 1GB form.

I can grab a HyperMemory version of the 512MB GDDR5 5670. So if the card wants more VRAM, it can more-or-less, temporarily "eat off of" the system memory.

 

[d3fu5i0n]

I could also go for one of those 'Green' 5750s, as I'd need to change the PSU which would also cost money. and a 'Green' edition would normally be a little weaker than the reference card and come without a power adapter, and being a little weaker might make it the right speed for the CPU.