Best graphics card for $100-200. Sony 17' vgn-ar870 Core 2duo 2.4. 4gb

Floods7 · 19 Dec 2011

I want to make my comp run BTF3 and i need to upgrade my graphics card. I am currently running a NVDIA GeForce 8600M GT.

I used to keep up with latest hardware available but have been getting more into phone software hacking and such and I dont know what is a good graphics card for my system.

Im looking to spend up to $200... my specs:

Sony Vaio VGN-AR870E ---- intel core 2 duo t8300 @2.40ghz
Windows 7 x64 -- however will be upgrading to Windows 8 release client
4gb memory
1920x1200 17''

What would be my best option?

stormy13 · 19 Dec 2011

Short and simple answer is none. Reason being you have a laptop and there are very few laptops that are able to have the graphics upgraded, and even if you could it would be cost prohibitive.

Unfortunately with a laptop you want better graphics, you have to buy a new laptop.

Floods7 · 21 Dec 2011

^

Wow dude, thanks for being useless. But I guess it is my fault I should have specified, "please only responses from people who have done their homework".

If you looked up my computer model, you would know that it is a "gaming-multimedia" type laptop, and I paid over $1900 for it.

Also it is compatible with new graphics cards, and replacing a graphics card on a laptop is, at most, a intermediate experience level job.

There are plenty cards available from both, ATI and NVDIA that offer 1.5gb of memory within my price range that would put out stunning graphics.

I guess this is a lesson to myself.... do my own research

M1GU31 · 21 Dec 2011

get a xfx hd 6870 will run great ,also make sure your psu is around 500watts or more to run stable with 12volts rail

Newegg.com - XFX HD-687A-ZHFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

EDIT:notice you said laptop dont think they are upgradable if its a desktop then my above suggestion is good but for laptops you proably need a new one dont think you can upgrade laptops video card

Floods7 · 21 Dec 2011

yes, you can upgrade laptop graphics cards. ive done it twice before

MrNeeds · 21 Dec 2011

Floods7 said:

yes, you can upgrade laptop graphics cards. ive done it twice before

Buy a desktop and use that for Gaming if you feel so strongly about it, Laptops are not ideal gaming platforms, even the "gaming-multimedia" laptops, also, our guys on the forums are very well educated and a very high amount of laptops simply can't have their graphics cards upgraded, in your case, you can but why would you want to upgrade your graphics card for it to burn out after a year of overheating? in the long run, stormy's advice may save you $2100 ($1900 for the laptop and $200 for the graphics card).

but to answer your question, i'd consider an external Graphics card simply because of cooling.

stormy13 · 21 Dec 2011

Floods7 said:

^
There are plenty cards available from both, ATI and NVDIA that offer 1.5gb of memory within my price range that would put out stunning graphics.

So let's see some of the links to these "plenty of available" GPU's for laptops.

MrNeeds · 21 Dec 2011

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1038172647 said:

FLoods7 n00bie, 4.1 Years
Status:

ive talked to others that said the 8600m gt is upgradeable.. that is the extent of info i have

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FLoods7 n00bie, 4.1 Years
Status:

Ive had about four desktops in my life and i love them but i needed a laptop for school and i tried to combine both

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FLoods7 n00bie, 4.1 Years
Status:

ok there champ, just calm down. I understand what you are saying. Im just saying, Ive personally helped my friend upgrade his sony laptop. It was not the same model as mine but it proves your list wrong. However this was about 2-3 years ago.

Seems like someone who just wants best of both worlds, if you aren't going to accept our help FLoods7 then we have no time for you.

stormy13 · 21 Dec 2011

Just wow. Nice find.

Petey7 · 21 Dec 2011

Hello there. I decided to try to confirm your claim of being able to upgrade the GPU of your laptop. What I found was where you started threads at multiple sites, and the people at each of those sites informed you that upgrading the video card was impossible. Also Ricktendo at Notebook Review confirmed the the GPU was built into the motherboard.

VAIO VGN-AR870 Video Controller Failure