Solved I got the "Graphics Card Blues" Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

[FredM8]

I am so confused about the huge number of options and considerations, that I need help from people who know.
My current Graphics Card is the ASUS NVIDIA GeForce GT610 with 2GB DDR3 memory. My original card was the GT120 with 1 GB dedicated VRAM. Although the GT610 is supposedly the better card, my windows index went from about 5.5 to about 4.5 ?? It is the Aero figure that went down, all the other numbers stayed the same ??
Also, my motherboard has a small lead on it with a 3 pin plug attached that connected to three pins on my GT120 card, these pins are marked as "SPDIF IN" on the card.
On my Gt610 card, there is nowhere to connect this little plug. However, I seem to have less trouble with some 3D things than I did with the GT120, so I have left the GT610 in place.

My Computer is a Fujitsu Amilo Pi3745
The motherboard is a MSI MS-7504
My main monitor is a Iiyama ProLite E2607WSD 26 inch widescreen. 1920 X 1200 resolution.
My secondary monitor is a Iiyama ProLite E1906S 19 inch 4.5 aspect ratio. 1280 X 1024 resolution.
I have 8GB DDR2 RAM on the motherboard, and another 2GB DDR3 on the graphics card.
The main use of my secondary monitor is to read help/tutorials, while working in the main monitor.
I intend to use my machine for as long as possible.
I have a few eSATA ports, which are plenty fast enough for my use, and as the price of Samsungs nice little 250GB SSD continues to come down, I will be looking at one of those in the future.
A single slot card is all that I have room for, but I can juggle things to allow for a higher card, and the maximum size 'Front to back' is 16.8 cm
Everything that I can think of that may be relevant has been placed in the zip file ... graphic_card_blues.zip

Could someone please advise me what my Graphic Card upgrade options are my machine ?
Many thanks !!

 

[AddRAM]

It really depends on your budget, there are so many choices. I just ordered this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127699

 

[FredM8]

It's all of the options and variables that are doing my head in.
I see that you have a just got yourself a nice looking dual height/slot card. My machine will not accept that, but I could leave the space above my graphics card slot empty, in order to accommodate any extra height of a single slot card. Also, there are limitations concerning my PSU, which I am unclear how to determine ? At the most, if it were to prove worthwhile, I suppose that I could push the $$$$ up as far as $225 which is just under £150 ( £145.147 in fact ) But I would really like to spend less than that, however, as I have said, I intend to get as lengthy a use from my machine as possible, sooooo ??

 

[Faladu]

No more being vague, what's your main uses of the system, please? [nevermind, after digging deeper, it doesn't matter, but keep reading....]

You need low profile card that a listed as 365W (actual in small print) PSU will deal with?
No $ in budget for that to be upgraded..... AddRAM's suggestion is out of the question for size and power requirements, no way it would work in that scenario.

That limits you severely and trying to run 2 monitors on it, you would probably need at least a 1gig video card for those 2 resolutions.

VRAM is different than your regular ram, you are not using that 8gig as video ram, and be glad it's not shared, that would be a performance hit.

I am digging deeper, so far, looking at the motherboard manual, that PCI Express Slot is not 2.0, probably 1.1, motherboard is from 2007, manual says the PCIe slot handles up to 4.0 GB/s which is below 5.0 GB/s which is 2.0 spec. [It doesn't give the version of PCIe but I am working on my A+ and going by my info 2.5 is 1.0 and 2.0 is 5.0, and 3.0 is 8.0 GB/s. Just FYI! 8)]

SO you need a video card that is PCIe v1.1 backwards compatible, which will also limit the field, unless you have some news for me, that the motherboard is newer variant.

Here is info on that S/PDIF business, it's sound related, these low end cards are often put into media center PCs, that's why that card had it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S/PDIF

Looking further, that 610 is looking like the limitation you are stuck at, you are max with that, and I would ignore Windows scoring... I couldn't find a straight up 120 vs 610 comparison, but the 610 overall should be better, and here is a chart that may give you piece of mind on the subject:
[Then, again maybe not]

http://www.game-debate.com/hardware/index.php?gid=935&graphics=GeForce%20GT%20610&compare=gpu

You need to save for a whole new rig, which is what I suspected all along if looking for better performance, but it will be so much better than the current one, wouldn't spend a pence on current one, after my research.

 

[FredM8]

Thank you for your informative reply. The main use of my machine is general purpose, a bit of YouTube stuff, Photoshop, After Effects, DTP, etc. I don't do games, ever. As far as getting a new rig is concerned that is out of the question at the moment. My computer is more or less up to scratch for my needs. No point in going for something much more expensive, that I will not use thoroughly. I will continue to enquire about the graphic card situation as new things are coming along all of the time. But I do understand that I am limited by my PCIe2 x 16 graphic card slot. I run the two monitors via the Windows 7 'extend' facility. Very usefull that is.
Perhaps the best bet just now is to forget about a new graphics card, and get the Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD.

 

[Faladu]

You are limited by your PSU, v1.1 PCIe-16 slot AND case size.

Now for SSD, beware you are only spec v2.0 (Max 300 MB/s [SATA II]) on that motherboard.

 

[FredM8]

Yes, I understand that I am limited to SATA2. But if I can actually achieve that speed it will be a result. Starting some of the larger programmes can be like trying to wake up a slug on a cold day. When checking around re: USB 3 and USB 2 speeds, I was happily surprised to discover eSATA, and that I had two spare ports on my motherboard. I can clone my entire drive with Acronis in about 40 or 50 mins. I have a dedicated eSATA enclosure just for this back up option. God knows how long it would take via USB 2.
But !
Would the card below that I found on Amazon, be suitable for my machine ?
The physical size is pushing things a bit for my machine, but it might go in.

MSI GeForce GT630 Nvidia Graphics Card (4GB, PCI-E 2.0 x16)
Brand MSI
Product Dimensions 3.3 x 17.8 x 7.3 cm
Item model number N630GT-MD4GD3
RAM Size 4096 MB
Computer Memory Type DDR3 SDRAM
Graphics Card Description Nvidia GeForce GT630
Graphics RAM Type VRAM
Graphics Card Ram Size 4 GB
Wattage 300 watts

 

[linnemeyerhere]

The real question is why are you shopping for a new card ? If it was me, I would pull the trigger on that Samsung SSD even knowing that your system won't fully exploit it. Then set my sights on building up funds for a new rig based on a cpu, mobo and case that offers all the flexibility that new modern graphics card(s) require.

 

[FredM8]

I suppose it's a case of getting some extra benefit that I can afford ASAP, as opposed to waiting a pretty long time before I can replace my current set up.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

SSD all day and twice on Sunday ! Then wait till you can design a ground up rig in a full size case....IMHO.

 

[Faladu]

SSD is a good idea, just don't expect miracles, and I suggest starting OS fresh on it, be sure to check out the Tutorials here on sevensforum:



http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/149969-ssd-install-transfer-operating-system.html?ltr=S

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91339-ssd-hdd-optimize-windows-reinstallation.html?ltr=S

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/70822-ssd-tweaks-optimizations-windows-7-a.html?ltr=S

 

[FredM8]

Thank you for this info !
My reasoning with my machine is this ...

Although just a SATA2 set up, if I get the maximum or near it, from that SATA2 ability, I can consider that I have a half decent machine ( If you ignore the specialist / high power rigs to be found in these forums ) That being the case, with a bit of luck I may be able to miss the SATA3 and go straight to SATA4 ??? sometime in the future. Always assuming that the way computer technology is accelerating every few months, will continue. Even if that does not happen in time, as long as my machine is capable of a bit more than I actually require of it, it should do what I need without too much frustration for some time. By which time the cost of buying a machine that is 5 times better than the one that I have now, will be coming down in price all the time.

I will certainly look into the cloning side of things re: SSD's
My preferred back up facility is to use a clone via Acronis True Image. Do you think that there would be any problems with cloning a SSD to a conventional HDD ? I am quite prepared to suffer the slower speed of the conventional HDD, as long as I get an accurate clone at the end of it. I just go and have a cup of tea, no problem. Perhaps I will change to creating a disk image as my back up, I don't know yet.

Thank you again

 

[Faladu]

Well the SSD brings some issues to the table, it has a finite # of writes to each sector before they become unwritable, so if this is a heavy use computer, theoretically if you let Windows have it's OWN way with temp file writes on it, you could wind up against that barrier, and if a SSD goes bad, it's high speed flash memory, it's probably unrecoverable.

I wouldn't want my virtual memory, hiberate, or browser cache for instance writing to the SSD and never defrag a SSD, that's a big no no, you have TRIM to deal with keeping it in shape, instead.

I prefer to wipe and drop fresh 7's and have done it enough that most of the configuration tweaks I use are committed to memory or I let a tool like BoostSpeed do a lot of it for me.

You can clone the SSD once happy with the setup to an HDD and back again, if that was really what you want to try, sure.

Possible 12Gbps spec in 2013, interesting.... But, the cost of drives that fast.... I like it when it drives the cost of very adequate hardware down though, so yes bring it on! :devil2:

 

[FredM8]

Well, perhaps not 12Gbps in 2013, but perhaps not too long afterwards either ?
Anyway, you have given me a lot to be thinking on for the present. But, I am still not clear what my PSU will handle Graphic Card wise, in terms of Watts, Amps, Volts, etc. Someone a while ago said that replacing the PSU with a better one would sort out the situation. I suppose that on the plus side of things, doing all these bits and pieces does in fact teach me a little bit more about computers, in preparation for when I grow up and Sire a computer of my own !

Many thanks

 

[linnemeyerhere]

It will in fact de-mystify many aspects of how computers go together and open you eyes to just how cheap many oem components are. When taken into it's whole once I built my first build I was hooked on the process....still am so beware! Secondly after that build I began to understand the errors of me first and each subsequent build have gotten better and bigger with components that are close to if not class leading.