New Graphics Card Help

[Tufcustomer]

Hey guys,

Here's my story. I currently have an NVIDIA GeForce 9500GS graphics card (A pretty decent card) in my system (An HP Pavillion m8532f). Well, for the last couple of days it had been acting funny, the fan was almost always running, and games were lagging ridiculously. Last night, it died.

That aside I was wondering if anyone could recommend a similar graphics card in terms of performance and functionality (or better) within a $100 range. Help is much appreciated.

I've been doing research, but there are just so many options, and it is difficult to differentiate the good cards from the bad ones. Thanks in Advance.

 

[OS-Wiz]

Check out the EVGA GTX 550 Ti

 

[Hameister]

$100 or less is a tough order.

Check this out....on sale for $99.00

Newegg.com - EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

 

[Tufcustomer]

Thanks for the suggestion guys, I'm pretty good with stuff but have been a bit out of touch as of late. The card you guys mentioned GDDR5, while the card I currently have is I believe DDR2. Also my power supply is 350Watts, so I may have an issue there.

 

[Hameister]

....Also my power supply is 350Watts,...

I wish you had said that in the 1st post. Any GPU like the one we're suggesting will need a PSU that's at least 400 watts, minimum!

 

[Tufcustomer]

I wish you had said that in the 1st post. Any GPU like the one we're suggesting will need a PSU that's at least 400 watts, minimum!

Check that, power supply wont be an issue. Found one powerful enough from a previous build which I no longer use. It's a 450 watts so should be ample. I guess the only question that remains is will I have an issue going from a DDR2 video card to a DDR5. I have the required PCI Express 2.0 16x slot.

 

[Hameister]

The memory is specific to the vid card, so there are no compatibility issues.

Before you purchase a graphics card, check the PSU minimum requirements for that card, and then add 20% headroom.

 

[Tufcustomer]

The memory is specific to the vid card, so there are no compatibility issues.

Before you purchase a graphics card, check the PSU minimum requirements for that card, and then add 20% headroom.

Great! Thanks for your help. Appreciate it.

 

[Tufcustomer]

The memory is specific to the vid card, so there are no compatibility issues.

Before you purchase a graphics card, check the PSU minimum requirements for that card, and then add 20% headroom.

Sorry one more question, in regards to the video card you guys have mentioned..there is a 2GB model and a 1GB model available. From where I am purchasing they are available for the same price at the moment. Naturally I'm assuming the 2GB is better because of the increased memory but is it?

 

[OS-Wiz]

I'm assuming the 2GB is better because of the increased memory but is it?Yes, helps with higher resolutions