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[Facekillz058]

Hello everyone.
I'm in the market for a new graphics card right now, but I have a few questions.

1. How do I even tell which ones are compatible with my set up and which ones aren't?

2. Are there any brands that are cheap, but still able to play current gen games decently?

3. Any little things I need to look out for when finally picking one out?

Thanks for your time, ladies and gents.

[Aklyon]

What graphics card do you have now? It wouldn't be too hard I think to compare the relevant specs between your current one and [recent gpu]

[Lord Shonus]

Hello everyone.
I'm in the market for a new graphics card right now, but I have a few questions.

1. How do I even tell which ones are compatible with my set up and which ones aren't?

The most important factor is your PCI express slot version. The best way to determine that is to Google your motherboard product number. Other than that, you'll have to compare your power supply output to current load + the requirements of the card. Also, if you have an Intel processor, get a Nividia card, while it's better to get an ATI if you have an AMD processor. They're more likely to play nice that way.

2. Are there any brands that are cheap, but still able to play current gen games decently?

No. While there are high-end and low-end brands (seperate from the chipset, as generally the two big companies sell chipsets to middlemen that build cards out of them), the price-to-performance ratio is fairly flat.

3. Any little things I need to look out for when finally picking one out?

The physical size of the card is the big one. Medium-to high-end GFX cards are often quite long, and generally take up two slots, meaning that if you have an expanison slot directly below your PCI express slot, you will lose that slot.

As for specific reccomendations, I suggest this site.

http://www.maximumpc.com/best-of-the-best

They have editor's picks in budget, mid-range, and price-no-object categories for all PC components.

[Facekillz058]

My current card is a ATI Radeon HD 4350.

Also, can everything be explained to me like I'm 5? I don't actually understand much of the computer terminology.

Thanks again.

[MaximumZero]

My current card is a ATI Radeon HD 4350.

Also, can everything be explained to me like I'm 5? I don't actually understand much of the computer terminology.

Thanks again.

Well, since my kid just turned five, I'll give it a shot.

The first thing you should do is find out what motherboard you have. The type of card you can buy depends on the slots you have on your motherboard, as well as its actual physical size. You need to look for PCI Express [number]. That will tell you what kind of video slot you have available on your board. For the most part, you should look up individual benchmark numbers for the card you're interested in. Some cards are actually better for things like cryptography than graphics. Generally, the higher the price, the better the performance, but after a certain point, the video cards are going to stop getting better at what you want them to do, and start getting more specialized.

[Tellemurius]

Pci-e slots are backwards compatible for each version. Only difference would be the speed and the size of the slot. Also, nvidias don't work better on Intel's just like AMD doesnt work better on AMD and if that was the case it would royally piss people off.

[Facekillz058]

My current card is a ATI Radeon HD 4350.

Also, can everything be explained to me like I'm 5? I don't actually understand much of the computer terminology.

Thanks again.

Well, since my kid just turned five, I'll give it a shot.

The first thing you should do is find out what motherboard you have. The type of card you can buy depends on the slots you have on your motherboard, as well as its actual physical size. You need to look for PCI Express [number]. That will tell you what kind of video slot you have available on your board. For the most part, you should look up individual benchmark numbers for the card you're interested in. Some cards are actually better for things like cryptography than graphics. Generally, the higher the price, the better the performance, but after a certain point, the video cards are going to stop getting better at what you want them to do, and start getting more specialized.

How do I find out what motherboard I have?

[MadMalkavian]

My current card is a ATI Radeon HD 4350.

Also, can everything be explained to me like I'm 5? I don't actually understand much of the computer terminology.

Thanks again.

Well, since my kid just turned five, I'll give it a shot.

The first thing you should do is find out what motherboard you have. The type of card you can buy depends on the slots you have on your motherboard, as well as its actual physical size. You need to look for PCI Express [number]. That will tell you what kind of video slot you have available on your board. For the most part, you should look up individual benchmark numbers for the card you're interested in. Some cards are actually better for things like cryptography than graphics. Generally, the higher the price, the better the performance, but after a certain point, the video cards are going to stop getting better at what you want them to do, and start getting more specialized.

How do I find out what motherboard I have?

You can either do a search for the make and model of the computer you have or you can use a program like Speccy, which will tell you just about everything you need to know about your computer in most cases. You may find Speccy here.

[nogoodnames]

I'm in the market for a new laptop as I've finally giving up trying to fix my Pavilion dv7's self destructive tendencies after multiple expensive attempts failed to provide a lasting solution.
I'm looking for something around $500-800. Not too expensive, but powerful enough to last me the next few years and run the occasional big studio AAA game at an adequate level.

Here are a few I was looking at, to give you an idea.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/acer-acer-v3-series-17-3-laptop-iron-intel-core-i5-3230m-1tb-hdd-16gb-ram-windows-8-v3-771g-6662/10254580.aspx?path=41870ef6fe2cf7baa15941c63c21b0aeen02

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/acer-acer-aspire-v5-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i5-3337u-500gb-hdd-8gb-ram-windows-8-v5-572-6632/10254570.aspx?path=c46d460255c7cf562d1fba61d63f0947en02

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/dell-dell-inspiron-17r-17-3-laptop-silver-intel-core-i7-3537u-1tb-hdd-8gb-ram-windows-8-i17rm-67756slv/10257574.aspx?path=614acc07a1af25979e515358ef72f94den02

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/toshiba-toshiba-satellite-p70-17-3-laptop-grey-intel-core-i7-4700mq-1tb-hdd-16gb-ram-windows-8-p70-a-01y/10256998.aspx?path=e8453729cbd9274bab20151ad3108f4cen02

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/hewlett-packard-hp-envy-17-3-laptop-silver-intel-core-i5-3230m-1tb-hdd-12gb-ram-windows-8-17-j034ca/10255825.aspx?path=5374f9201ee3f00246d7fefab9c43a69en02

Any suggestions or advice is appreciated.

[Tellemurius]

The Toshiba and the HP Envy both have the most powerful graphics card out of that whole group. both of them got a crapton of ram but that HP has a blu-ray player and that Toshiba has a backlit keyboard. I own a HP Envy and my biggest complaint is that damn keyboard, its too spaced out for me for gaming and such. Toshiba's i never had one but they are sturdy but that thing is a 1000 dollars compared to the HP for 800.

[MadMalkavian]

I'm having to get a new computer this month instead of waiting due to the recent incident with my current computer nearly breaking three times in one day this week. My budget is $300 which means I can likely only get a used or refurbished computer of some kind.

I was thinking of purchasing this computer right here from Newegg. It's a HP DC7900 with a Core 2 Duo 3.00 GHz, 4GB of RAM, a 750GB HDD, and while it's not listed after research and looking things up at HP's website I'm certain this model has an Intel GMA 4500 integrated graphics card. I wanted to go with this one since it would be a big improvement over my current machine but I thought I'd ask for your input just in case if there is a better one out there that I could get.

Any suggestions or advice will be appreciated, but please keep in mind that my budget is $300 USD and I don't have the luxury of waiting anymore.

[Descan]

Just make sure whatever computer you get doesn't have any hidden fees that bring it over 300, yeah?

And make sure whatever computer you get can be upgraded. Since you have to buy it now, when you have more money (I.E. the money you were saving) you can use that to upgrade the card and hard-drive and all the other fangled devices.

I don't know 'nough 'bout computers to say whether that is the best you'll be able to find, but I figured I'd offer that advice that you may or may not have taken into account, ye?

[MadMalkavian]

The one I linked will cost about $279-$284 USD with taxes and shipping, though that's depending on whether I get 3-day shipping or free shipping. I'll be able to get a low-profile video card to upgrade it with eventually but until then the Intel GMA 4500 will be good enough for what I want it to do. It can even play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim last time I checked though at about 15-30 frames per second - about what I get with Morrowind on the computer I am posting from.

If someone can however recommend a better machine I'd be interested in checking it out. My budget is $300 USD. I've also got to make my final decision by Friday as that's when my payee is going to decide whether or not she'll give me my money for this when she goes to the bank on Sunday.

Also thanks for your advice Descan. I appreciate it.

[Descan]

It's very hard to upgrade a laptop, so I'd stick with a desktop. >_>

[MadMalkavian]

It's very hard to upgrade a laptop, so I'd stick with a desktop. >_>

Yeah in hindsight I probably should stick with desktops. I'll redact that bit about laptops.