questions → should i buy a video card?

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Should I buy a video card?

Newegg is tempting me right now. I built my first computer in May for a general purpose machine- i5-2500k, Gigabyte Z68 ATX mbd, 2TB Caviar black, 500w Corsair PSU, and a TV tuner loosely fit in a Thermaltake case. I have been using the onboard Sandy Bridge graphics with no real complaints. I rarely game except for a few laps in Grid, some TF2, and Portal. I mostly use my computer for editing my picture, some audio work, converting family videos from VHS, and some basic 3D CAD in Inventor (engineering student). I forsee this also becoming a media center when I get married in June and have no money for an actual TV...

I am looking at putting an actual video card in it, but don't want to spend much. Newegg has an XFX Radeon 4670 for $15 AR and a Zotac GT440 for $30 AR. (http://tinyurl.com/radeon4670 and http://tinyurl.com/nvidiagt440 )

Any thoughts on the performance/reliability/likelihood of getting a rebate back? Do I even need a video card? I appreciate any suggestions!

by edulmes
asked 6 months ago

7 Answers answer

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vote-for7vote-against

Most newegg Mail in rebates are pretty solid, as long as you read the instructions carefully, and jump through all of the hoops they set up. A dedicated video card will do wonders for your gaming experiences, and if you plan on ramping up your gaming, a dedicated video card will help immensely.

The 4000 series ATi cards are becoming dated, as are the 400 series NVidia cards. Both of those cards were mid-line graphics cards, from those series, and with the games you mentioned work fine, but future games may start to struggle a bit. For $15 bucks though, its not a bad deal at all, as long as you do the MIR.

waltertangofoxtrot
6 months ago

vote-for3vote-against

If you don't game much, you really don't need a video card in there. I wouldn't worry about it, unless you really feel like you're missing out on something.

If you've got some spare cash though, you could get a card "just in case", keeping walter's advice about the performance of those cards in mind.

khellendros1984
6 months ago

vote-for1vote-against

If you're open to spending a bit more, according to PassMark (a maker of benchmarking software), the Radeon HD 6850 based cards currently have the best bang for the buck at about $150 delivered for score of 2848 on the G3D benchmark, which isn't shabby.

psaux
6 months ago

vote-for7vote-against

Even if you don't game a dedicated video card is a plus. A low end video card will help with graphics rendering on many different levels. It will make a noticeable difference. People just don't realize how much of a difference this makes and think that if you are not a gamer than you don't need a dedicated video card. This is far from true, although video cards are becoming less and less needed for the everyday user as the integrated graphics get better and better. If you add a video card, you will take some of the stress off the CPU when doing graphics intensive things. Even with the little bit of gaming you do, you would see drastic improvements in those games. I just bought one on Newegg with a $30 rebate. It's an Asus Radeon 6570 which should be plenty. You pay $80 upfront with a $30 Rebate making it $50. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121441

housry23
6 months ago

vote-for2vote-against

I have the HD4670 paid $ 50 after MIR about a year now. It played all my games @ 1080 with barely a glitch matched up with my quad core cpu. For the price less rebate hassles well worth it for a entry level card. "Tis better to have a card and not need it than to need a card and not have it"... Shakespeare.

mickster1245
6 months ago

vote-for2vote-against

This is a question with a simple answer and the complete answer. The answer is an amalgam of all the above.

Simple answer:
Yes, replacing on-board video with a PCI-Ex card will be beneficial.

More complex:
On-board video always uses part of system RAM and relies on the MB controllers & CPU for more services.

The add-in GPU will always use its own RAM freeing system memory and resources. +1

Video RAM is optimized for vector operations & interleaved RAMDAC access. +1

As long as the new card is recent, it's GPU power will exceed the power of any embedded video chip. Its value is + ???

While the AMD/ATI 4670 is two years old, it's still much more powerful than MB graphics. As noted, for more ca$h you can move to a newer GPU. Look at www.tomshardware.com, http://www.gpureview.com or http://www.guru3d.com for relative chipset comparisons.

You don't do much gaming, but for $15-$50, the value/cost (bang/buck) of adding one of these cards is well worth it. Game more? Go bigger, later.

tpscan
6 months ago

vote-for1vote-against

For $15 absolutely worth it. That being said, the sandy bridge onboard graphics are pretty dam good.

kamikazeken
6 months ago

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