What graphics card is fine for this system?

[Mrfreddy]

Hello all, i am using an AMD A10-5700 and a biostar Hifi A85W with 6 GB DDR3. Can you help me what graphics card to pick that would match with the performance of my gaming?

I have 200$ budget for this...
please feel free for your suggestions as i wanna get it soon by nextweek! 

[DaveLembke]

you can use any video card you like as long as you have enough watts from the power supply to drive it.

Your CPU is an APU so it already is a CPU/GPU... so your options are to get a more powerful APU or install a video card along side this APU and have the APU run only as a CPU with the integrated GPU disabled.

*Personally I like the seperation between CPU and GPU even though APU's have been proven to be faster internally due to the GPU and CPU all contained within the same chip. I have avoided APU's for gaming as for in the case of my neighbor thinking he was going to save money on not having to get a video card for his gaming build, he found the APU to be a let down for gaming. He ended up having to install a video card along side the AMD APU to get the performance that he required although there are some high end APU's that are fine for most gamers.

[Calum]

What games do you play, and what resolution?  What power supply do you have?

[Mrfreddy]

thanks for your answers. I am actually playing shooters like crysis, but not in high resolution. I understand with my budget is no high class video card possible, but i am still hoping that there is room for improvement without getting ripped by the computer shops

my power supply is something about 650 watts and i have 24" monitor. currently i am playing at 1080x720 or something like that

[Calum]

What exact power supply (make and model) do you have?  $200 is enough to get you a decent video card, but we need to know your power supply to make sure it's safe.

[Mrfreddy]

thanks calum. Its an antec true power.

[Calum]

How old is the Truepower?  If it's an original Truepower, it's due replacing, as they used a capacitor design that did not fare well with heat and degraded quite badly, causing degraded performance.  If it's a Truepower New, or Quattro, it'll be fine, and I'll make a recommendation on that.  Let us know

[Mrfreddy]

That sounds like a bad news to me

I dont know whats old in your opinion, i bought the psu last year. I guess in IT time its already old


Can i still ask for an advice for the graphics card? Or do i simply dont need any

[Calum]

Oh, no, that'll be absolutely fine then.  The Truepower series with the issue I'm referring to are the original Truepowers, 5+ years old.
An AMD 7850 or 7870 should fit into your budget, or for a little less consider the Nvidia GTX 650Ti Boost or AMD 7790.

[Mrfreddy]

Just got the 7870 finally for just $190. It feels like "flying" through the game now 

[Calum]

Glad to hear the upgrade was a success enjoy your card!