PC Gamers, I have a question.

[Cornerb0y]

Hey guys I'm getting a new Dell Inspirion 580 with 6gb RAM. I want to get a good graphics card that's cheap ($150 range or so) with HDMI/VGA out. I want to be able to play Amnesia, Crysis, Diablo III, StarCraft II, and other FPS games. I'm looking for something that doesn't need a huge power supply (it comes with a 300w, I don't feel like taking it out), and the settings don't have to be on the highest possible, but wouldn't mind at all. What would be the best way to go? Thanks for reading.

 

[Fox1]

I recommend you make your entire computer by yourself rather than getting a dell. Usually ends up being cheaper and a lot better in the long run.

 

[Cornerb0y]

I recommend you make your entire computer by yourself rather than getting a dell. Usually ends up being cheaper and a lot better in the long run.

Well on top of getting a free memory upgrade, I'm getting $228 off which is why I'm going with this. And it comes with 1tb hdd as well.

 

[IcBlUsCrN]

lol there is still no card that can play crysis good. I think youll need to spend closer to $200 and get a nvidia 465 based card or ati 6850 based card. have not kept up on there power requirement though

i would not buy anything new pre-made but i do tell friends to pick something up from dell outlet and get a video card from (newegg) and they are pretty much set. Usually you can find something cheap enough (below$500) on the outlet that its not worth building your own.
I personally would also hold off and see if i could get a sandy bridge cpu and maybe pick up a ati 5870 for under $250.

Well on top of getting a free memory upgrade, I'm getting $228 off whixh is why I'm going with this. And it comes with 1tb hdd as well.

Well how much is the total. Both ram (at least what dell uses) and hdd are super cheap these days (hence free upgrade)

 

[ki_atsushi]

You're going to need more than a 300 watt power supply if you toss in a videocard.

 

[Cornerb0y]

$538.99 + free shipping. I'm not looking to make a gaming rig, I just want to play games on it here an there.

 

[Fox1]

hrm whats the specs on the machine?

 

[Cornerb0y]

Intel® CoreTM i3 550 (3.2GHz/4MB cache)
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
6GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz
1000GB SATA hard drive (7200RPM)
Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator
16X DVD+/-RW Drive

 

[Fox1]

http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=38&name=Video-Cards-Video-Devices

Tbh everyone's advice will be different. I have a laptop with a Mobile Radeon 5870 and I love it...I heard the desktop version is more powerful because it has 256 bit memory. But my advice to you is to look through those and pick what you like based on the reviews and adjust it according to your budget.

 

[Cornerb0y]

http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=38&name=Video-Cards-Video-Devices

Tbh everyone's advice will be different. I have a laptop with a Mobile Radeon 5870 and I love it...I heard the desktop version is more powerful because it has 256 bit memory. But my advice to you is to look through those and pick what you like based on the reviews and adjust it according to your budget.

That's basically what I've been doing. Like I said, not trying to make a gaming rig, I just want to play some pc exclusives, no need to max it out, I'm not going to be the only one using it. Thanks for your input!

 

[shadows]

I would go with custom building one yourself.
ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s
EVGA 01G-P3-1366-TR GeForce GTX 460 SE (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
ASRock P55 PRO/USB3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i3-550 Clarkdale 3.2GHz LGA 1156 73W

Comes to about ~720$ shipped after mail in rebate.
It would give you a much better bang for your buck and would come out about the same if not cheaper then going with a Dell and replacing the PSU and video card and still be way better than whatever crap Dell is putting in their budget line models.

 

[SpamYouToDeath]

My HD5850 plays everything I throw at it just fine. All of the currently released VALVe/ID/Epic games run on max settings at 2048x1536 at 75fps vsync. FGLRX has nice support for it with OpenGL4 under Linux, there's an open-source driver on the way as well, and the regular Windows driver hasn't given me problems.

 

[systmdfect]

1. Don't get a Dell.
2. Good can mean a lot of things, but a good video card for $150 usually cannot be had unless your standards are low.
3. You will need more than 300 watts. Probably 500 to start.
4. Whoever said there is no card that can play Crysis good is wrong. Most of the cards in the past year have been able to play it on extremely high settings with a good frame rate, 40+, at 1080p.

If you don't game that much, I would recommend a 460 or 465 nvidia chipset card. I find nvidia cards to have more consistent performance across different games than ATI. You will need a bigger PSU though.

 

[SpamYouToDeath]

Well, if you turn off AA and drop to 1920x1080 you can run Crysis on anything these days.