Buying New Graphics Card: Need Help!

[Carfreak4]

Hi all,

I'm looking to purchase a new graphics card for my computer, as the stock one runs TS12 terribly (like a slideshow it's so jerky). I'm thinking Nvidia, and I have $100 to spend, but I have no clue where to start. So, which card should I buy? These are my specs:

AMD Athlon II 635 Quad-CoreProcessor
6GB DDR3 System Memory (3 DIMM)
1TB (5400RPM) Hard Drive (SATA)
Windows 7 Premium 64-bit
ATI Radeon HD 4200 integrated graphics
Monitor is a Sony SDM-HS93

Any guidance would be appreciated! Thanks so much!

-Carfreak4

 

[tomurban]

Hi all,

I'm looking to purchase a new graphics card for my computer, as the stock one runs TS12 terribly (like a slideshow it's so jerky). I'm thinking Nvidia, and I have $100 to spend, but I have no clue where to start. So, which card should I buy? These are my specs:

AMD Athlon II 635 Quad-CoreProcessor
6GB DDR3 System Memory (3 DIMM)
1TB (5400RPM) Hard Drive (SATA)
Windows 7 Premium 64-bit
ATI Radeon HD 4200 integrated graphics
Monitor is a Sony SDM-HS93

Any guidance would be appreciated! Thanks so much!

-Carfreak4

nVidia is a good choice, but they mainly make the chips, not the cards themselves. Their house brand is PNY. To answer your question, what is the capacity of your power supply measured in watts? How many PCI x16 slots do you have? These are factors that need to be considered before recommending or selecting a graphics card. To get an idea of the many choices on the market, visit newegg.com and do a search for nvidia graphic cards or GPU.

tomurban

 

[Carfreak4]

250 W supply (I will upgrade)
1 PCI Express x16 slot

 

[johnwhelan]

If you go nVidia then you'll need to clean out any traces of the old drivers. Reinstalling the operating system works well.

Stay with AMD and you'll have less problems.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card-game-performance-radeon-hd-6670,2935.html is a good place to start.

Cheerio John

 

[Carfreak4]

Is AMD capable of running Trainz well? I'm really just buying this card for use with Trainz; I don't play much else on my PC. I thought I heard from a few people that Trainz doesn't run smoothly with ATI, but I could be wrong. Thanks for the link too, John! It seems like the 5670 might be what I'm looking for. One question, though: Is it worth upgrading to the 6670, or would Trainz run just as well with the 5670 vs 6670?

 

[cascaderailroad]

Just don't buy a higher wattage video card than your power supply ... Remember Circuit City ... they put in a 450 watt video card in my 300 watt power supply. It operated well for years ... but it's a wonder things din't blow !

 

[lewisner]

I have the same CPU as you and I run a Palit GTX460 1GB GPU plus 8GB OCZ Platinum RAM and it is very sweet - totally reliable, never crashes. I didn't think it was possible to run a PC on a 250 Watt PSU!

 

[johnwhelan]

Is AMD capable of running Trainz well? I'm really just buying this card for use with Trainz; I don't play much else on my PC. I thought I heard from a few people that Trainz doesn't run smoothly with ATI, but I could be wrong. Thanks for the link too, John! It seems like the 5670 might be what I'm looking for. One question, though: Is it worth upgrading to the 6670, or would Trainz run just as well with the 5670 vs 6670?

nVidia have a support program to help people such as N3V get the most out of their graphics cards. However reality is AMD work fine especially in DirectX mode. Well I run one anyway, it was either that or buy a bigger power supply as the AMD graphic cards at the time drew less power than the equivalent nVidia ones.

Cheerio John

 

[tomurban]

250 W supply (I will upgrade)
1 PCI Express x16 slot

That pretty much limits you to the nVidia 4XX series of cards unless you up grade the PS. Personally, I am using a factory over-clocked 1GB MSI 430 that runs TRAINZ 09 and 2010 quite well with fps in the 20-40 range. Whichever card you ultimately choose make sure beforehand that you have enough room in your computer case. Some cards with fan shrouds physically use more than one slot.

tomurban

 

[Carfreak4]

Hi all,

I went out today and bought an ATI Radeon 6670 and a GS600 power supply. I couldn't be happier; it runs Trainz beautifully! Thanks for your help, gentlemen!

-Carfreak4