Graphic Cards Confused about Graphics cards

H

himeshj

Disciple
Guys,

FIrst of all, my apologies for starting another thread here. I know that if I sift carefully thru the various threads here, I can find the answer I am looking for. But that's easier said than done. After going thru a few pages of the "Sticky-Graphics Card buying advice" thread, I am left reeling, scratching my head and admiring the deep interest and knowledge you guys have.

Me, I know next to NOTHING about technology. Bought an Acer desktop last year for my 8 year old daughter. Core 2 Quad processor, 4 GB RAM and 700 GB HDD, Vista Home Premium, are all the specs that I can remember. Can't tell you more because the said PC crashed last week (just 3 weeks after the 1 yr warranty expired) and the HDD has been taken away by my friendly neighbourhood troubleshooter for backup as he needs to reformat it.

This machine does not have a graphics card and does not run even the most common games like Prince of Persia etc. So while I'm getting it fixed, I thout I'd get a graphics card also installed. This guy recommended the following:

Nvidia 9800 with 1 GB - Rs. 6000/-
Nvidia 9400 with 1 GB - Rs. 3500/-
Nvidia 8400 with 1 GB - Rs. 3200/-
Nvidia 8400 with 512MB - Rs. 2100/-

So to conclude, I want the following:

Best bang for the buck
  1. graphics card around 3-4K.
  2. Should be relatively future proof.
  3. Not stuck on Nvidia can definitely look at ATI if that's the advice of the Gurus here.
  4. Any other upgrades I should be doing to the system.
  5. Any comments on the prices given to me?
  6. Whats the best place to buy on Lamington road? I can go there this weekend and pick up the card myself if it results in a major saving.
Would be really grateful for your answers.
 
Re: Dazed and confused

he he those prices are insanely high.someone is trying to fool you.if u're looking for a decent graphics card then look no further than a sapphire hd5670.shud be abt 4.7k(approx) and wud play almost every game at medium settings.also very eco friendly(low power comsumption)
 
Re: Dazed and confused

tufel said:
he he those prices are insanely high.someone is trying to fool you.if u're looking for a decent graphics card then look no further than a sapphire hd5670.shud be abt 4.7k(approx) and wud play almost every game at medium settings.also very eco friendly(low power comsumption)
Click to expand...
Exactly.

That should be more than enough for your needs.

Please do mention the resolution at which games are being played.
 
Re: Dazed and confused

Here on forth, try using proper topic titles. Goes a long way into gathering people with relevant knowledge to aid your cause.
 
Branded desktops sometimes are slim series ones where u wont be able to install full sized cards and only half sized ones could be installed.

So it would better if u give ur desktop model/ some pics of cabby and mobo so that ppl here can say whether a full sized card will fit inside it.
 
Hi , the prices you have mentioned are high and all the cards mentioned by you are old .

Before suggesting you a card also mention what size your monitor is and which PSU ie Power supply unit you are using since these are important factors to be be considered b4 Buying a card .

Anyway i will suggest u a ATI 5670 512mb provided you have a good enough PSU .
 
most of those OEM machines have the bare minimum powered PSU(Power supply unit-this converts AC power to 12V DC power for Ur PC parts) to run the config.SO it would be better If you could psot some pics of your machine or mention its model no.AFAIK most OEMs like these are bundled with 350w psus

Don't even go to that guy who quoted you these prices.Damn thief.Reminds me of my own System integrator who ripped me off 4 yrs back when I was a complete noob.:(

Check out these sites in Google for an idea on pricing.

Lynx-India

SMC international

Prime ABGB
 
Re: Dazed and confused

tufel said:
he he those prices are insanely high.someone is trying to fool you.if u're looking for a decent graphics card then look no further than a sapphire hd5670.shud be abt 4.7k(approx) and wud play almost every game at medium settings.also very eco friendly(low power comsumption)
Click to expand...
Thanks Tufel, your suggestion seems to be finding favor with most of the others also. I'll go with this, though it is a bit higher than what I wanted to spend (3K).
 
Thanks all for responding so quickly.

Exactly.
That should be more than enough for your needs.
Please do mention the resolution at which games are being played.
Click to expand...
Srirama, my daugher plays the games so I have no clue on which resolution these are played. The monitor is a 19" Acer H203H, if that helps!

damn
Re: Dazed and confused

Here on forth, try using proper topic titles. Goes a long way into gathering people with relevant knowledge to aid your cause.
Click to expand...
Damn, my apologies, just trying to be creative here. You have a valid point, though.

Yesterday 11:22 PMrohan_mhtr
Re: Confused about Graphics cards

Hi , the prices you have mentioned are high and all the cards mentioned by you are old .
Before suggesting you a card also mention what size your monitor is and which PSU ie Power supply unit you are using since these are important factors to be be considered b4 Buying a card .
Anyway i will suggest u a ATI 5670 512mb provided you have a good enough PSU .
Click to expand...
Darkangel/Rohan, there seems to be a consensus that I'm being ripped off here. I hve no clue what make/model my PSU is but yes, I'd think it must be the generic el cheapo product. Do I need to change it before installing ATI 5670? How hot does it get? My CPU is kept inside an enclosed nook so not much scope for heat dissipation there.

Marcus Fenix
Re: Confused about Graphics cards

most of those OEM machines have the bare minimum powered PSU(Power supply unit-this converts AC power to 12V DC power for Ur PC parts) to run the config.SO it would be better If you could psot some pics of your machine or mention its model no.AFAIK most OEMs like these are bundled with 350w psus
Don't even go to that guy who quoted you these prices.Damn thief.Reminds me of my own System integrator who ripped me off 4 yrs back when I was a complete noob.
Check out these sites in Google for an idea on pricing.
Lynx-India
SMC international
Prime ABGB
Click to expand...
Marcus, thanks for the links. The model is Acer Aspire ASP IQ4830. Posting a pic here as you suggested. No idea what the motherboard is.
5233564723
 
Just hunted online for prices and the same card has different prices from Sapphire/Asus/MSI etc., sapphire being the cheapest at 5,565/- (Pl see Product search). Is Sapphire a good brand or should I pay a little extr for known brand like Asus?

Another question, I'll be in Singapore next week. If the prices are substantially cheaper, I can buy the card there. What say you? Anybody has any ex[erisnce buying from there? I've heard there are some great deals at Sim Lim square.
 
Go for Sapphire.It is a premium partner for ATI/AMD GPUs and also incase you run into issues the RMA of Sapphire is said to be better than that of Asus.U can also try and look for 5670 512 mb models which are bound to be cheaper.
Better buy from India if the price difference is not huge coz u can easily go to the local dealer in case of issues which would'nt be the case if u buy card sfrom outside India.Check this out
http://www.techenclave.com/pc-buying-advice/price-updates-from-nehru-place-delhi-137835-47.html

The price of 1gb hd5670 seems to be 4952
 
Marcus Fenix said:
Go for Sapphire.It is a premium partner for ATI/AMD GPUs and also incase you run into issues the RMA of Sapphire is said to be better than that of Asus.U can also try and look for 5670 512 mb models which are bound to be cheaper.
Better buy from India if the price difference is not huge coz u can easily go to the local dealer in case of issues which would'nt be the case if u buy card sfrom outside India.Check this out
http://www.techenclave.com/pc-buying-advice/price-updates-from-nehru-place-delhi-137835-47.html

The price of 1gb hd5670 seems to be 4952
Click to expand...

That quote is without 5% VAT. New one is selling for Rs.5250 from DVD Store,Delhi here in TE. 512MB version is hard to find these days :(
http://www.techenclave.com/dealers-paradise/sapphire-ati-radeon-hd5670-1gb-ddr5-179776.html

Buy the GPU locally. It is one of the PC components thats more likely to break down and u would need a local warranty to get it RMAed.
 
@ darkangel,what do u mean by 'Local warranty'? does it mean he wont be able RMA his card if it was bought from some other state,say Delhi? pls do clear the air on this,extensively.
 
tufel said:
@ darkangel,what do u mean by 'Local warranty'? does it mean he wont be able RMA his card if it was bought from some other state,say Delhi? pls do clear the air on this,extensively.
Click to expand...
local warranty in this case is Indian Warranty, since OP had mentioned he might get the GPU from singapore, he wont be able to get RMA service in India & he would have to send card to singapore for rma.

If you buy card anywhere in india you have its warranty/RMA service anywhere in india, thats local warranty
 
Was already in Singapore and missed all the good advice about buying locally :-( Bought Sapphire ATI Radeon HD5670 1GB DDR5 for SGD 120 ~INR 4150/-. Not that much of a difference from the Indian prices and warranty will be a problem as you all pointed out. However, I travel to S'Pore at least once every quarter and I guess I can try to get a replacement in case I get unlucky. Should have logged into the forum before visiting Sim Lim. Let me keep the fingers crossed.

Now I need all you good folks to advise me on the PSU. Like I mentioned before, I have an Acer Aspire IQ4830 so am not too sure which PSU will fit in it. What do you guys say? Request suggestions with prices if possible.
 
Based on your feedback, I bought the Corsair 400cx. The price in Mumbai was Rupees 2600/- (~USD 58). Both PSU and graphics card were installed successfully yesterday and working perfectly. This is the first time I looked at the innards of any sort of PC and the jumble of wires was quite intimidating. But at the end, it seemed to be a piece of cake.
:cry: Shucks - I thought that since the PC restarted after the installation, my attempts have been successful. The PC gods are not so kind to noobs, it seems. I have connected my monitor to the card and I'm getting a display. But even after installing the drivers from the CD, the card is not showing up in the Display profile. My daughter was trying to play some games today (which worked before the GPU install :eek: )and it showed a message that a newer card is required. I tried to install some new games, it showed a message that it needed a card with DirectX9 support.

What do you guys think went wrong? Please help.
 
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