Need help finding a graphics card

Morgan

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Morgan Slick Gekko
Be gentle with me, it's my first post.

My ava is Morgan Gekko. I started playing in 2006. Over the years, I've played Entropia on medium settings at first and then on low as the game has advanced beyond the capabilities of whatever computer I was using at the time. I'm playing on low now. Medium just gets too laggy depending on where I am in the game.

Now I'm retired and living in a retirement community on a fixed income. When I was working my wife would only get mildly annoyed when I'd spend money upgrading my computer. We had money then. She'd get severely pissed if I try that now. This is the reason I'm coming to y'all.

I'm looking for a graphics card that will allow me to run on medium comfortably. High would be nice but I'm not greedy. I'm using an old Dell Optiplex 780, dual core, Windows 10, 64 bit, 8 gig ram, 45 gig free space on my hd, and an Nvidia GeForce 2100 w/ 1 gig onboard. What card can I move up to that won't busts my very limited budget. When I look at the cards given in the Entropia recommendations and research them, I seem to find that they're several years old. Surely there's something out there that will get me easily that "medium" threshold at ,for me, a reasonable price. Your advice would be greatly appreciated. (Haters and smart asses need not respond.) :)

Anyway, here's what I've got:

Windows 10 Professional (x64) Version 1803 (build 17134.48)
3.07 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo E7600
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
3072 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (2 total)
Not hyper-threaded
NVIDIA GeForce 210 [Display adapter]
8126 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Hope this makes things a little clearer.
 
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That seems to be a very good suggestion. Unfortunately, all I have available is a single pci slot. The way the motherboard is, only one opening at the back of the box is available, also. I hope I'm saying that right. That card appears to need two openings.

What do you think about something like an EVGA GeForce GT 730 2G?
 
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Is it the small form factor 780? Dell do 4 versions of that machine i think, so a photo would be useful, or a link to a pic somewhere on the net.

Buying a new card to put into a core2duo machine seems a bit like overkill. Dual cores are gasping their last breath and would probably bottleneck all but the weakest new card. What's your budget?
 
GT 730 is overpriced garbage, you could get a better card for half the price if you went second hand from ebay.

Smallest new card you should look at is the GT 1030.

If you go with a gt 1030 make sure it's the GDDR5 version, they just released a new spec for the card and it only has ddr4 ram, which is much slower.
 
the motherboard would be important cos when the pc is quite old it might only support agp cards and no pci express. and nearly all cards since a few years are pci express cards.
 
the motherboard would be important cos when the pc is quite old it might only support agp cards and no pci express. and nearly all cards since a few years are pci express cards.

It's almost impossible to find a dual core cpu motherboard with an agp slot, and even then they still have pcie slots too afaik. Plus, he's already using a pcie card :)

There is a potential problem with dell machines, some of them have their pcie power limited and so wouldn't run a card like a gtx1050.

As far as new cards are concerned I can't think of a good argument to put anything but the GT1030 in a core2duo machine if your aim is to play games.
 
I would go for either "GT 1030" or "GTX 1050", depending on the budget. Both will serve you well :)
 
GTX 1060 8 GB is doing great job for me, but don´t need that power for EU, there is other games that really need that xD
 
I would also make sure your power supply can handle the new card you decide to go for.

We had some of those where I used to work, and if I recall, they had the bare minimum PSU inside, to what was installed in the machine, being around 250w.
 
I would also make sure your power supply can handle the new card you decide to go for.

We had some of those where I used to work, and if I recall, they had the bare minimum PSU inside, to what was installed in the machine, being around 250w.

Im pretty sure GT 1030 can fit into any PC, since it doesn't require power connection to the PSU and it draws quite low power from the PCIe slot.
 
i googled the opti 780 ..should have one pci-express 16 lanes also.....

i have an old geforce GTX260 (1gb ram) in my about 5yr old pc and eu works well in medium....

but would first check the power supply..how many Watt power it has AND if there are additional connectors for a graphic card...

according on this i would look then for the next things (older graphic card which need less power,or other power supply ..etc..)

bec as other posters said....your pc with dual core could be then a bottleneck also if you get the latest video cards ...

GL,
Eddie
 
Id buy used gtx 660 from e-bay 40-50$ far better and cheaper than gtx 1030 (gtx 660 havent used for mining since not profitable)
Same with PSU, find from e-bay. You need to change it anyway if you happen to have some old low W one.
Processor I-3 2120 you can get for 10$

Although low powered, the dell psu's are ok. Most are at least bronze, I had a machine the other week with a gold certified psu.

I'm fine with pre-owned equipment but the OP sounds like he's not that knowledgeable with pc hardware so buying a new GT1030 (with warranty and simple installation) is probably better than a 2nd hand card and psu with the potential risks of failure and difficulty of installation.

Also, the i3-2120 is LGA1155 socket and won't fit a LGA775 motherboard (assuming we're right in thinking he has a core2duo)
 
Id buy used gtx 660 from e-bay 40-50$ far better and cheaper than gtx 1030 (gtx 660 havent used for mining since not profitable)
Same with PSU, find from e-bay. You need to change it anyway if you happen to have some old low W one.

He probably isnt confortable changing too much on the PC due to lack of knowledge.

The safest and easiest buy for him would be a GT 1030. Just pop the Graphics card into the PCIe, update drivers and play! No need for cables or any other assles.

Edit: As an added bonus, if his PC is a small form factor, he can buy a Low Profile 1030.
 
He probably isnt confortable changing too much on the PC due to lack of knowledge.

The safest and easiest buy for him would be a GT 1030. Just pop the Graphics card into the PCIe, update drivers and play! No need for cables or any other assles.

Edit: As an added bonus, if his PC is a small form factor, he can buy a Low Profile 1030.

There is also a low profile GTX1050. Since it doesnt need the extra power connector it should be a nice card for now and into the future for EU assuming that the power supply is at least 400 watt...
 
See original post for a better description of my setup.

The real, physical problem I have is that my lone pcie slot is at the top of the available openings in the case. All of the gtx 1050 cards and all but one of the 1030 that are "low" profile require two openings in the case. There is one 1050 card that is "single slot", but, with the cooler, it quickly becomes two openings wide inside the case, if that makes any sense. I just don't have the room. The 1030 card, when held on end is truly low profile.

Considering my space constraints, not to mention my budget, is the gtx1030 my best bet. If so, what is a reasonable expectation for playing Entropia, keeping in mind that this is the most graphically challenging thing I do with this machine? (I just recently replaced my psu with a 650w unit. My brother was giving me an old graphics card that required the extra juice but the space issues discussed above nixed that deal.)
 
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Best option IMO is to try and pick up a 2nd hand GT1030 from ebay, just make sure it's the gddr5 version and that it's cheaper than a new one. If you can't find one at a reasonable price on ebay then buy a new one.

Any card bigger than GT1030 will get strangled by your CPU, so no point going for GTX1050.

You didn't say what size case you have so I can't say which specific model is best, just make sure it fits.
 
GTX 1060 8 GB is doing great job for me, but don´t need that power for EU, there is other games that really need that xD

:) gtx 1060 comes in 3 GB and 6 GB only. I can tell you that as a crypto miner and gamer you should be able to get a cheapish 1060 3 GB now since ethereum is soon to be unable to be mined with it. If you can wait another month or two, prices will be even lower due to the release of Nvidia’s new line of cards.

Brand wise, Zotac is really reliable at making nvidia cards.

Also note, the Zotac 1060 mini requires only 1x6 pin power connector vs. other cards that take 1x8 pin (1070 gtx and 1080 gtx). The rx 580 from AMD needs an 8 pin and 6 pin power connector on most models.

If you have no extra 6 pin power cables, you can buy an adapter for sata to 6 pin or do a 1050 ti or 1030 which require no additional power cables.
 
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Best option IMO is to try and pick up a 2nd hand GT1030 from ebay, just make sure it's the gddr5 version and that it's cheaper than a new one. If you can't find one at a reasonable price on ebay then buy a new one.

Any card bigger than GT1030 will get strangled by your CPU, so no point going for GTX1050.

You didn't say what size case you have so I can't say which specific model is best, just make sure it fits.

Agreed, GTX 1050 would get "bottlenecked" by the CPU. Also, when searching for the Dell model provided by OP, we can see the PSU isn't above 300W, that imediatly limits the GPU choices.

The only question now is, GT 1030 normal or low profile?
 
My setup is:

Asus µatx
I7-7700t
16Gb ram 3000 Mhz
Passive GT1030
Samsung 960pro ssd


and it works great !
I can even play EU and other games at the same time.
So I would defintely advise the GT1030
 
Buy used gaming rig from someone maybe? Pretty sure you can get something 6years newer then what you have for next to nothing :)
 
Looks like a gtx 1030 would work well, currently can get a decent OC version for 92 usd with amazon prime, which for a gfx card of that caliber isn't too bad.

I would recommend gtx 1070, as that is what I use without issue on everything I run, but they are kinda pricey still at around 500 usd.
 
Did anyone considered the PICEx version of the motherboard?
It is probably v1.0, maybe V2.0.
Those newer GPU's all have V3.0
So in the end all those newer cards will be bottlenecked due to the bandwith limitations of the V1.0 or V2.0 of the motherboard.
And ofc also all the rest of the hardware in the system that is also not the fastest anymore.
The GPU will be sitting around and be waiting till something gets thru to it from the rest of the system.

I would advise to go buy a used system with some newer stuff in it.
 
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The pcie version doesn't actually make a huge difference, it's not something to really worry about when you're using a low end gfx card.

It's easy to say you should upgrade a core2duo (and tbh you probably should) but if you don't have the money that may not be an option.
 
The pcie version doesn't actually make a huge difference, it's not something to really worry about when you're using a low end gfx card.

It's easy to say you should upgrade a core2duo (and tbh you probably should) but if you don't have the money that may not be an option.

V2.0 about 8GiB/s vs V3.0 about 16GiB/s if I remember correct.
Tbh I would not consider investing $100 or $150 on the old system, while you could have a quicker system for maybe $250 used.
I would try to save that extra $100 somewere then, and maybe wait just a little bit longer.
And with a little bit of luck you would have a dedicated GPU in it also.
Just need to look around a little, but it's easy to say indeed if you know what to look for.

Anyway, good luck hunting for that GPU, just wanted to throw my opinion in about it.
 
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I'd like to thank everyone who responded on this thread. Everyone took me seriously and gave sound, practical advice. I think I have more than enough info to make a decision that will improve the quality of my EU experience. It won't help my gameplay but it should make my ped drain be a little more tolerable. Again, thanks to you all.
 
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