Getting a new graphics card

[xEspada]

Well I've been playing Skyrim now for quite a while and I"ve been thinking of putting high resolution textures from texture mods on Skyrim Nexus to make my game look even better. But when I did my fps tanked quite a bit (down to the 20-30 range), despite the fact i pull very smooth fps with vanilla graphics on ultra settings. (I used the fps counter on the ENB with the ENB off). So I was thinking of upgrading my graphics card to be extremely good at handling games with extremely high graphics. My FPS also tanks almost 20-30 fps when I activate most of the popular ENB's with quality settings on them, even with high-performance enb's my fps tanks quite a bit to the point where I pull only 10-20 fps making the game hard to play in combat with vanilla graphics. Looks great though! :P

 

My specs

Model : h8-1210t

CPU : Intel Core i5-2320

RAM : 6 GB

System type : 64-bit

GPU : Nvidia GeForce 545 GT DDR 3

Motherboard : IPISB-CH2 (Chicago)

300 V Power Supply

 

I was just wondering what would be a good graphics card to replace my current one so I could play games with extremely high modded graphics on Skyrim and some other games I play. I don't really care if I have to upgrade my power supply as I was going to do that anyways.

Also I was also curious to how exactly you determine if a graphics card is compatible with your motherboard. My friend said something about the PCI slot size and the version of PCI express my motherboard has, and I just want someone to clarify a bit.

 

Thanks!

Edited January 8, 2013 by xEspada

[Vulon]

I'd personally recommend the Nvidia GTX 650, if you don't want to spend a lot. Relatively cheap (around $100 when I got it), and I've had no issues with it. Any performance hiccups I have seem to be linked to everything but my graphics card, but my computer's also old, too. I believe it requires a power supply of 400w. Considering the performance I'm able to squeeze out of my outdated PC with the 650 (I could barely run Oblivion on medium-high with my old, integrated card), I'm guessing you'd get a pretty nice boost out of it, too. I've actually just recently gotten into PC gaming, though, so at the same time, I might not know what I'm talking about. Just my two cents. *shrugs*

 

As for PCI, I really couldn't say. I know the 650 is PCI 16.

 

I'm also not sure how your existing graphics card compares to the 650, being the noob to PC gaming I am.

[mercurikun]

Your friend is probably talking about if your slots are PCI or PCIE. Yours is equipped with 1 PCIE 16x. I agree that a gtx650 is a great price for the perfomance it dishes out. Unfortunatly for me I bought a GTX550ti 3 months before they came out with the 600 series. I can play Skyrim on High settings full distances and get an around 40fps in towns with 1920x1080 res. I use a lot of mods including HD textures for environment and armor. So a 650 should do the job nicely. You do need a bigger powersupply though.

 

 

 

The best you can get with your powersupply thats new on the market is the Geforce GT 630

 

http://www.geforce.c.../geforce-gt-630

Edited January 8, 2013 by mercurikun

[kalikka]

The same old GPU article...

HD7750, most powerful GPU that doesnt need any extra power from PSU.

 

Please, forget about junk like GTX630... they are just some rebranded old-gen junk.

 

EDIT: GPU uses PCI-e 16x, aka full-size PCI-e. Your old GPU uses that, so no worries.

Edited January 8, 2013 by kalikka

[xEspada]

Well I just decided to get a GTX 660 TI for some real power and a new power supply.

Gonna have some great graphics :D

[Rennn]

I'm planning on a 660 TI GC eventually. Faster than a TI, with a lower price and better cooling. Edited January 13, 2013 by Rennn