Video Card? or more memory?

ursen

ursen

Officer SOE/LoE/Where's "here"?
My computer is doing well considering it was custom built in 2009, but the itch to upgrade video card a little is there. Or would I be better off to go with a little more memory? I am hitting 41 fps in Guild wars with mid to max settings in most areas. I do get an occasional freeze up/and or a spontaneous reboot which might be the video card, but it only happens in GW2, usually in Thermonova Reactor. Here are some of the current specs.
Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P6T SE Rev 1.xx
6136 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot 'DIMM0' has 2048 MB (serial number SerNum00)
Slot 'DIMM1' is Empty
Slot 'DIMM2' has 2048 MB (serial number SerNum02)
Slot 'DIMM3' is Empty
Slot 'DIMM4' has 2048 MB (serial number SerNum04)
Slot 'DIMM5' is Empty
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 [Display adapter]

And I am not made of money, so let's try to keep it no more than $150.00. No $400 cards please. And the power supply is fine and can take any video card. If I remember right I ordered a top of line(at that time) 800 watt power supply set up for SLI. Only need to do one card though.


edit: Maybe this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121686
 
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I definitely think the video card upgrade is your best option. I've been running a Radeon 4890 since 2009, and I just recently picked up a GTX 760 for just north of $200 (which was my price point). For the $100 price point, the 650TI you linked looks to be a great value.

I use these two links to help me make decisions regarding video card purchases:

Tom's Hardware monthly "Best Graphics Cards" article (I've linked February's article - check pages 2 and 3):
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-3.html

PassMark Software's Video Card Benchmark chart (to compare average price with performance to find the "sweet spots"):
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

My best advice: pick a price point, and STICK to it (which it looks like you've done). You will always find a card that gives 10% better performance for 8% more cost, and before you know it, you're looking at cards that are twice what you wanted to pay. Remember that a lower-end card may need to be upgraded more frequently than an upper-end card, but it pretty much all averages out in the end. I buy new computer upgrades very infrequently, but when I do, I try to get a great bang for my buck, and something that I'm fairly confident will last me a couple of years. Like you, I don't really want to pay the premium for the latest and greatest - I'd rather buy what I need for today, and let tomorrow worry about itself.
 
I should have noted that I much prefer Nvidia. Real bad experience with Radeon a number of years ago. Bought an Radeon All in Wonder at Walmart, it lasted just shy of 5 mins in the computer. Yes I know some companies manufacture special runs for Walmart and the like, but still I expect longer than that out of a video card.
 
ursen said:
I should have noted that I much prefer Nvidia. Real bad experience with Radeon a number of years ago. Bought an Radeon All in Wonder at Walmart, it lasted just shy of 5 mins in the computer. Yes I know some companies manufacture special runs for Walmart and the like, but still I expect longer than that out of a video card.
Click to expand...

WAL*MART!?!?

That was the problem.......
 
Radeon All-in-Wonders were never great.

Buuuuuuuut, AMD's reliability streak has been more impressive than that of nVidia.
 
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Video card.

I <3 my GeForce 660 Ti, but I splurged and spent ~$290 on a video card because it was part of my first major desktop upgrade in over a decade.

AMD probably have nVIDIA beat on price, but the nVIDIA cards keep rolling out snazzy features like ShadowPlay and integrated Twitch.tv streaming. Cool stuff, man.
 
Just paid the go'ment scads of money on income taxes (for the 1st time evah) so I need to wait for a couple of weeks, but it looks like I will go with the 650Ti. Yes, yes the 660Ti is a better card, etc., etc., etc., but good stewardship says go with the less 'spensive 650Ti. And considering what I am stepping up from, the GTS250, it will be a major step and will be able to run my favorite MMO, GW2, on higher settings without hiccups. And better half has been using on board video for a while now so she gets the GTS250
 
Ok I is a bad boy. I found this, last one, at 1 penny over my limit with free 2 day shipping http://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-GeForce.../ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Note that this is the 2 gig version, almost impossible to find. Unfortunately I don't think this is the Boost version, it still is a 650Ti version though. We still have more money for the next 2 weeks for fuel, food, etc. than we have had at the beginning of the month after bills for several years now, so it isn't as bad as it could be. It was the extra gig of memory that won me over. The only other 2 gig was here http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8889825&CatId=7387

And I just didn't want to go refurb on this, lesser warrenty on refurb, so now I have to talk to my lady, Offer her back rubs, foot rubs, hot tea, which I planned on doing anyway before I found the card.

edit: Forgot to say it came with Final Fantasy XIV
 
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So did you get the card you linked in your last post, Ursen?
 
yuppers, still trying to get the drivers sorted out though. Won't refresh the game capabilities on Windows gaming screen.
 
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