help needed!noob is going to buy a new video card

[David198502]

hey guys.
next week im going to buy a new video card.
which i cant tell yet, because i have still many questions.

1. which cards should i consider to buy?
i noticed, that there are some cards, which have less vram than others, but are more expensive than the "faster" ones....so on which properties should i focus except vram?

2.can i buy every video card i want, without having to worry about compatibility with other hardware on my system?or do i have to look which motherboard(for example) i have and which cards fit on it?

3.as you certainly already noticed due to the first to questions and the headline, im totally clueless when its about computer hardware....so here is my third question....
is it easy to install video cards(not the drivers but the card itself)?
or is there any know how necessary to remove the old one, and insert the new one?


thx for the answers in advance!

[FFCW_Urizen]

The question actually should be: How much do you want to spend? second it would be nice to know, what psu you got. third, what case do you have? i ask because of this

PCI-E 2.1 SAPPHIRE Radeon HD5570,Lite Retail,Low Profile

[David198502]

well i think i will spend about 200 euros.
micro atx,350w bestcom v85

[Igo kyu]

Video cards are fairly easy to install, however if you mess up I take no responsibility for that. Unscrew the screw or screws, push a little tab on the motherboard to get the old one out, push the new one in, screw up the screw or screws. If you have to use a lot of force, something isn't working right, slow down and check what you're doing makes sense.

You do have to check the specifications, some people will be delighted to sell you a weak video card for twice the price that someone else (or maybe even they themselves) will charge you for a stronger one, it's not nice, but you can't just buy on price because of it.

There seems to be a system with video cards that the first part of the number is the year (because of this, you can't assume that a card whose number starts with "62*" is better than a card whose number starts with "59*", it most probably won't be), the second part is the main description of the strength, and the third part is the minor description of the strength. Then, for Nvidia, you have "ti" or not on the end of the name, and other variables too. All in all, you do have to learn what the numbers/names mean, it's not fun, but for whatever reason marketing departments seem to like to confuse things.

These websites are not perfect, but they are some help:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ew,3107-7.html

http://www.gpureview.com/database.php

[kendo65]

Originally Posted by David198502

hey guys.
next week im going to buy a new video card.
which i cant tell yet, because i have still many questions.

1. which cards should i consider to buy?
i noticed, that there are some cards, which have less vram than others, but are more expensive than the "faster" ones....so on which properties should i focus except vram?

For a good summary of the current state of play see this link:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...view,3107.html I see Igo Kyu beat me to it...

A word of caution - CoD seems to be more dependent on vram (at least currently pre-patch) than most games so the general recommendations in that list may (?) not be completely on the money for CoD.

Originally Posted by David198502

2.can i buy every video card i want, without having to worry about compatibility with other hardware on my system?or do i have to look which motherboard(for example) i have and which cards fit on it?

Two big issues are:
1. The size of your case and whether it can accomodate certain of the longer cards - I think ATI cards are generally a little longer than nVidia. This may (?) be an issue for you as FFCW Urizen has suggested.

2. Power supply. The more powerful cards require a decent PSU. You also need to be aware of the type of connectors that the card needs (6-pin + 8-pin etc). Your 350W PSU is a limiting factor. Depends what other hardware you are running but general advice would be to get a new PSU. Generally a 600-650W from a decent manufacturer is adequate unless you plan to install dual gpus.

Originally Posted by David198502

3.as you certainly already noticed due to the first to questions and the headline, im totally clueless when its about computer hardware....so here is my third question....
is it easy to install video cards(not the drivers but the card itself)?
or is there any know how necessary to remove the old one, and insert the new one?

thx for the answers in advance!

Yes - it's pretty much just plug and play. Unfortunately the need to upgrade the PSU makes things a little more complicated, but not I would say beyond even a novice if you take things slowly and do a bit of research first.

A suggestion - with the new patch for COD soon to be released , it might be good to hold off and see how the revisions affect the need for vram.
Also, nVidia are releasing their next-gen cards in a few months. There will obviously be a performance boost, but there will likely also be a knock-on effect on the prices of the current generation of cards.

So, if you can I'd say try to be patient at least until the COD revamp comes out.

[David198502]

thx kendo and the others.
your suggestion to be patient and wait, is certainly a clever one, but my rig is far from high end and is aging with every day.
i have the feeling, that if i wait another few months, it will not be worth to upgrade anymore but to buy a completely new pc.
furthermore we have no clue if the next patch comes out in a week or a year so i stopped to be eager about it.
i would just like to to play the game with high video settings and the natural resolution of my old monitor of 1280x1024.
now i have to turn the graphics that much down, that it really looks worse than 1946 in most aspects except the cockpits.

[kendo65]

I think your PC can be ok for a bit yet - your cpu is still solid enough
(see link: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ck,3106-5.html ) - the turbo-boost feature can I think take one core up to 3.6 GHz [and there's always overclocking further down the road], 4GB ram is fine. Try it with a new graphics card first. You can always transfer the card to a new updated PC later if it still doesn't cut it, but at your resolution a lot of cards should be ok.

I do think (! ) that the patch will be with us in weeks. Personally I've been thinking of upgrading my own videocard for a while as mine doesn't cut it well with COD either. I've put it off for the last 6 months because I spent a silly amount of money on a new hi-fi, then news of the new cards from ATI and nVidia led me to wait that bit longer.

[335th_GRAthos]

Originally Posted by David198502

well i think i will spend about 200 euros.
micro atx,350w bestcom v85

I think with 350W PSU you are very very limited and this will be your key challenge!

The next will be to make sure the card you buy fits into your micro-atx case...

Good luck!

~S~