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[Livonya]

It appears that my video card died.

I am trying to figure out what I can replace my video card with.

Not sure what will work with my current system.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a graphics card that should work that would be at least as good as my current card?

[Phmcw]

First of all pay it due respect and organize a proper burial ; then buy anything above the 440 or 540 and you'll be fine. The 560ti had a good rep and can be found not too expensive, but will probably be overkill for the rest of your machine.

[nenjin]

If you're upgrading from that to a 550+, you will definitely want to make sure your PSU can support the newer gen cards.

[bombzero]

I have a GT 440 myself, they Overclock well so they are ok, however they are not quite 'optimal' for everything, so go for something a bit better than that.


however on that note i built a quality gaming computer from a 400$ emachine with a decent processor, than just plugged in a 70$ GPU, and boom i can play games on max graphics.

pretty much as long as its Nvidia, has at least 256mb of Vram and a good amount of bandwidth, should do anything you need it to.

(VRAM is the less important number btw)

[Livonya]

Thanks for the input.

I think I am going to go with a GTX 460

(EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1363-KR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card from Newegg.com isn't too bad... $170 with shipping I reckon).

I think it should work with my system.

I have a Seasonic SS-650 HT Active PFC F3 power supply... and that should be fine.

And my motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R FSB 1333 DDR II 800/1066

I am a little worried that I won't be able to fit the GTX 460 into my case, as the GeForce 8800 GTX is only 2" tall, while the GTX 460 is nearly 4.5 inches tall... but it should be okay as it looks like there should be the clearance.

It all looks okay.  I hate messing with this stuff as I only get inside my case every 4 or 5 years and I feel like the world has changed every time I do it.

[bombzero]

Holy balls, 4.5!

anyways, factory OC is usually not anywhere near what the card CAN do.

also, fan noise, expect it, lots of it. compared to the 8800 the 460 will probably sound like a jet engine. i would recommend oiling the bearing in the fan (industrial lube of some kind) very carefully.
its also worth noting that its possible to switch to an entirely liquid cooled system, it is a hell of alot quieter.

I hate messing with this stuff as I only get inside my case every 4 or 5 years and I feel like the world has changed every time I do it.

this, always.

[nenjin]

I have a Seasonic SS-650 HT Active PFC F3 power supply... and that should be fine.

Just check how many amps the 12 volt rail runs...versus how many amps that 460 will want. My 550 Ti wanted 30, and that required me to buy a new PSU despite having plenty of wattage.

[Livonya]

Actually, I don't think I can get the GTX 460 into my case.  It appears to be too tall.

I can't seem to find a graphics card that is comparable or better that isn't too big for my case.

The GTX 440 and GTX 450 would probably both fit, but they both seem to be not as good as the GeForce 8800 GTX, but maybe I am wrong about that... hard to know what I should be looking at to compare them.

[nenjin]

The GTX 440 and GTX 450 would probably both fit, but they both seem to be not as good as the GeForce 8800 GTX, but maybe I am wrong about that...

They are most definitely better than 8800 GTX. Maybe you should try to find ~$40 to ~$50 to get a new case. It seriously is worth the money to have working room....and not have to think about physical space requirements.

[bombzero]

heh, yeah whenever i get around to building my own computer im getting a GIANT ass case.

[nenjin]

From experience, don't go giant. Your lower back will thank you A mid-size server tower is more space than I need without being a full-size tower with 4x the space I don't need.

[Livonya]

The space issue is actually more due to my motherboard then my case.

The only way to fit a 4" tall video card in there is if I take out the sound card.  I guess the motherboard has on-board sound, but not sure how that would go.

I will probably just bight the bullet and build a new rig... or maybe I will just buy a new 8800 GTX.

EDIT: Actually, I have been getting the height and width wrong... I had them flipped.  So I can get this card into my case with no problem.  My mistake. But good news, so that I am glad I was making a dumb mistake.

[Thief^]

The 4" is the standard size, the length of the back panel bracket. It's two back panel brackets wide, which is the normal thing to worry about unless you have a really thin case that means you need to use half-height (2") cards for everything, or the cards are mounted parallel to the motherboard using a riser.

[Livonya]

The 4" is the standard size, the length of the back panel bracket. It's two back panel brackets wide, which is the normal thing to worry about unless you have a really thin case that means you need to use half-height (2") cards for everything, or the cards are mounted parallel to the motherboard using a riser.

Yeah, I made a really dumb mistake and was getting the height and width flipped.  It was just a dumb mistake on my part.

[Tellemurius]

The space issue is actually more due to my motherboard then my case.

The only way to fit a 4" tall video card in there is if I take out the sound card.  I guess the motherboard has on-board sound, but not sure how that would go.

I will probably just bight the bullet and build a new rig... or maybe I will just buy a new 8800 GTX.

EDIT: Actually, I have been getting the height and width wrong... I had them flipped.  So I can get this card into my case with no problem.  My mistake. But good news, so that I am glad I was making a dumb mistake.

If you run HDMI you won't need the sound card.
if you can support a PCI-E x16 card your integrated board should be fine, there hasn't been a huge update to the sound area for computers in years.


I really do recommend the 500 series due to the fact they burn less power and emit less heat than the 400s (the beast 480 was notorious for running at 100c burning your fingerprints on the card). They are quieter too.
Indeed the 550Ti has less processors than the 460 (192 vs. 3360), it's still running faster stock than the 460 and you definitely have more room to overclock.  But the 460 was the only graphics card to survive the 400 series due to the quick rebuild of the Fermi chip, this gave it its chance and yes this card is still screaming fast. All in all your decision for the 460 is good, you want high end gaming you get it with this card, that 30 bucks difference is good.


-Telle your old ol hardware expert from intels to amds