Will I benefit from a new graphic card?

unifex · 24 Nov 2010

Accidentally I came across prices for graphic cards today. Turns out, for relatively small money, I can significantly upgrade my graphic card. At the moment, I am running ATI HD 2600 XT. The question is, what happens if I replace it by, say ATI Radeon HD 4650? Not top of the line (hence small money), but clearly newer than mine. Will I actually benefit from such upgrade? For background, I don't play games and I watch my videos on my TV, so if I watch anything on the PC, it's only to make sure I understand what is actually in the file.

Lunarpancake · 24 Nov 2010

chances are you would not benefit much from this upgrade.

mickey megabyte · 24 Nov 2010

if your current card does all that you want, then there's no real reason to upgrade, apart from the fact that it's fun to upgrade!

a more powerful card would be useful if you wanted to play 3D games, and would maybe ease processor load when watching movies. you don't do either of these, so....

also bear in mind that a new card is more powerful in another way - it needs more electric power to run, and may mean that you need to upgrade your power supply as well, to supply its needs.

my advice? if you have to spend, use the money on an ssd drive - i'm sure you will notice the difference in performance a lot more than upgrading your gfx!

brianzion · 24 Nov 2010

ATI HD 2600 XT

ATI Radeon

ATI Radeon HD 4650

ATI Radeon

have a look at the specs at the above links ATI Radeon HD 4650 does it for me out of the two

mickey megabyte · 24 Nov 2010

there's no doubt the new card is more powerful.

the op is aking if he needs it.

brianzion · 24 Nov 2010

i was in the same situation this year when i wanted to upgrade my card lots of peoples opinions where great but i am glad i did and i got it at a good price i was surprised of the upgrade how the digital pictures and videos were much better and windows aero working better the whole visual change for me was astounding and i don't use games much but you pay for what you get and the feedback i get from friends and colleagues is windows 7 graphics run much better with a decent card :)

The Howling Wolves · 24 Nov 2010

Unifex,
There's a difference between wanting it and needing it.
So ask yourself the question.....Do I really need it or could the money be spent more wisely elsewhere?
It's your money so spend it wisely!

Hopalong X · 24 Nov 2010

ATI Radeon™ HD 4600 Series System Requirements

PCI Express® based PC is required with one X16 lane graphics slot available on the motherboard
400 Watt or greater power supply (550 Watt for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode) is recommended
Certified power supplies are recommended. Refer to http://support.amd.com/us/certified/power-supplies/Pages/listing.aspx for a list of Certified products
1GB of system memory recommended
Installation software requires CD-ROM drive
DVD playback requires DVD drive
Blu-ray™ playback requires Blu-ray drive and full 1080p display requires a 1080p-capable monitor
To enable dual mode ATI CrossFireX™ technology, a second ATI Radeon™ HD 4600 Series graphics card, an ATI CrossFireX Ready motherboard and one ATI CrossFireX Bridge Interconnect cable (included) is required.

The power supply will be the limiting factor.

Yours is only 300 watts. You need at least 400 watts per ATI.
Web page for your PC. Click the TECH SPEC tab.
http://www.dell.com/us/en/dfh/deskto...3x&s=dfh&cs=22

Corpsecrank · 24 Nov 2010

If it is cheap enough there is no real reason NOT to upgrade to a better card just for the sake of a longer support period etc.

Will you see a difference upgrading? Maybe.

You would see a difference for sure if you wanted to play games or something. For movies I doubt it would be much if any difference.

You have to consider the memory size as well. If you have a 512mb card and your moving to a new card you will want at least 512mb or higher.

The biggest difference you would probably see moving to the new card would be system performance. You might not see any visual improvement but you will probably notice a decent performance improvement.

Like I said if it it's cheap enough you probably should grab the newer card since it will have a longer support cycle than your current card and will increase system performance.

mickey megabyte · 24 Nov 2010

it's not so cheap if he has to buy a new psu as well.

again, let me say that if the op wants to spend money on an upgrade, then a small ssd would definitely result in a noticeable performance boost - no maybes there.