old PC GPU update

[MikeKyr23]

my friend has a really old PC and when we play games he suffers from the frame rate. so he asked me to find a fine GPU that wont be bottlenecked by his GPU. so i decided to ask in the forum. He want to spend maximum 200euros. his currently CPU is an i5-750 with 4GB of ram and nvidia gts 250

 

PS. thanks in advance

[alphabeta]

GTX 750 Or R9 270 I guess

[Airwolf1984]

What kind of games?

[typographie]

my friend has a really old PC and when we play games he suffers from the frame rate. so he asked me to find a fine GPU that wont be bottlenecked by his GPU. so i decided to ask in the forum. He want to spend maximum 200euros. his currently CPU is an i5-750 with 4GB of ram and nvidia gts 250

 

PS. thanks in advance

 

If he plans to buy from an online retailer, can you link it? Prices vary greatly between countries, so I'm not quite sure what €200 buys in Poland.

 

His PC is aging, but the i5-750 is still a pretty good processor. I'm still using one, myself.

[Lord_Karango17]

What is the PSU, because some of the recommendations may take too much power for it to handle.

 

If it is low end/ under 300W, a 750ti might be your only option, but if it is a bit more beefy, you may have more options.

[MikeKyr23]

If he plans to buy from an online retailer, can you link it? Prices vary greatly between countries, so I'm not quite sure what €200 buys in Poland.

 

His PC is aging, but the i5-750 is still a pretty good processor. I'm still using one, myself.

the shop he will be buying them form will be ceneo.pl and the price in the currency here is 800 zloty(200euros)

[AlexWJD]

Here is an R9 280X on Poland NewEgg for under 800zl. If he bought from ceneo, the prices will greatly increase, to around 900zl for an R9 280 NON-X

 

http://www.newegg.com/global/pl/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150678&cm_re=R9_280-_-14-150-678-_-Product

[MikeKyr23]

What kind of games?

i am building my pc in a monthh so we plan to play gta V and arma 3

[MikeKyr23]

Here is an R9 280X on Poland NewEgg for under 800zl 

 

http://www.newegg.com/global/pl/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150678&cm_re=R9_280-_-14-150-678-_-Product

the problem is will it get bottlenecked?

[AlexWJD]

the problem is will it get bottlenecked?

 

I doubt it. The i5 750 is still reasonably strong. I wouldn't go higher than a 280X though without a CPU upgrade first. 

[Slayer1443]

750ti 

[Lotus]

Is he overclocking? You can get that i5-750 up to fairly high. Easily 3.5 GHz+ with just a 212 Evo.

 

If he has the cash, you may consider an R9 280 (non-X) and a CM 212 Evo CPU cooler for overclocking. Of course overclocking is also board dependent. If he doesn't overclock, the most I would consider would be an R9 270.

[MikeKyr23]

Is he overclocking? You can get that i5-750 up to fairly high. Easily 3.5 GHz+ with just a 212 Evo.

 

If he has the cash, you may consider an R9 280 (non-X) and a CM 212 Evo CPU cooler for overclocking. Of course overclocking is also board dependent. If he doesn't overclock, the most I would consider would be an R9 270.

 

 

What is the PSU, because some of the recommendations may take too much power for it to handle.

 

If it is low end/ under 300W, a 750ti might be your only option, but if it is a bit more beefy, you may have more options.

he i has a 230w PSU so he is definitely not overclocking.

[Airwolf1984]

I'd upgrade the PSU too.

[Lotus]

he i has a 230w PSU so he is definitely not overclocking.

He can't do anything with that PSU. You're now looking at 3 things: R9 280, 212 Evo, and a new PSU. Luckily, all 3 can be transferred over to a new computer should he decide he wants to upgrade.

 

edit: wait, was this a prebuilt? If so, you might want to just consider a whole new computer and just carry over the Windows License and RAM (depending on what the ram is).

Edited April 20, 2015 by Lotus

[MikeKyr23]

He can't do anything with that PSU. You're now looking at 3 things: R9 280, 212 Evo, and a new PSU. Luckily, all 3 can be transferred over to a new computer should he decide he wants to upgrade.

 

edit: wait, was this a prebuilt? If so, you might want to just consider a whole new computer and just carry over the Windows License and RAM (depending on what the ram is).

yes it is a prebuild. and he has ddr3 i think 1333mhz 4gb ram. could he also keep the CPU plus motherboard

[Lotus]

yes it is a prebuild. and he has ddr3 i think 1333mhz 4gb ram. could he also keep the CPU plus motherboard

The problem is that a prebuilt's motherboard sucks, and I seriously doubt you'll be able to do any kind of overclocking at all, which severely gimps that CPU. Yeah you could get a PSU and an R9 270, but it'll still run like shit on any CPU demanding game since you can't overclock. It might be time to consider a complete upgrade. The memory might be saveable since 1333 isn't the worst thing in the world, and assuming it's dual channel that still leaves 2 slots open on a standard 4 slot motherboard.

[typographie]

the problem is will it get bottlenecked?

 

I have an Core i5-750 and a GTX 770, which is a little faster than the R9 280X. The CPU is showing it's age a bit, but it's still very capable in most games. There isn't a serious issue of it bottlenecking very often.

 

Is he overclocking? You can get that i5-750 up to fairly high. Easily 3.5 GHz+ with just a 212 Evo.

 

3.6 GHz on my i5-750 is almost effortless, I think I gave it like 100 mV beyond the stock voltage. Some manage to make it to 4–4.2 GHz with good cooling.

[MikeKyr23]

I have an Core i5-750 and a GTX 770, which is a little faster than the R9 280X. The CPU is showing it's age a bit, but it's still very capable in most games. There isn't a serious issue of it bottlenecking very often.

 

 

3.6 GHz on my i5-750 is almost effortless, I think I gave it like 100 mV beyond the stock voltage. Some manage to make it to 4–4.2 GHz with good cooling.

 

 

The problem is that a prebuilt's motherboard sucks, and I seriously doubt you'll be able to do any kind of overclocking at all, which severely gimps that CPU. Yeah you could get a PSU and an R9 270, but it'll still run like shit on any CPU demanding game since you can't overclock. It might be time to consider a complete upgrade. The memory might be saveable since 1333 isn't the worst thing in the world, and assuming it's dual channel that still leaves 2 slots open on a standard 4 slot motherboard.

but can it overclock since it is an non K edition. or do u have to ramp up the voltage of the motherboard and ram etc

[Dabombinable]

he i has a 230w PSU so he is definitely not overclocking.

Does he have a graphics card at all? At that power level I expect the iGPU to be in use.

[Lotus]

but can it overclock since it is an non K edition. or do u have to ramp up the voltage of the motherboard and ram etc

That first generation of the Core series can overclock even though it's locked due to their architecture. My i7-920 stock is 2.66 GHz, and I'm running it at 3.9 GHz, even though it's not a K or X version. Your motherboard won't let you overclock though. All good overclocks take advantage of a small increase in voltage, usually something like 1.2V to 1.275 volts, so I don't know what you're talking about there. It sounds like you don't know what overclocking is or how it's done.

[typographie]

but can it overclock since it is an non K edition. or do u have to ramp up the voltage of the motherboard and ram etc

 

You literally just quoted me saying my Core i5-750 is overclocked, and that I did increase the voltage slightly to do it.

Here's some in-depth data and explanation as to how it works and performs: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i5-750-overclock,2438.html

 

The older Core i5-750 doesn't use it's multiplier to overclock, in fact it's locked to 20 (though it boosts to 24). You can overclock using the BCLK, that's how it was done on that platform. Mine reaches 3600 MHz from 180 MHz × 20. My DRAM multiplier had to be dropped to compensate.

 

The "K" SKU was introduced later, in the Sandy Bridge generation. Overclocking newer chips has shifted almost entirely to multiplier overclocking, and adjusting the BCLK on newer chips is discouraged.

[MikeKyr23]

Does he have a graphics card at all? At that power level I expect the iGPU to be in use.

yes he does as i said, a gts 250