Help choosing graphics card.

You should be able to just visually check your motherboard to see if a mounted card will extend too far. If you have a mid tower case or larger, I suspect it will not be a problem.

Come on! Lets get real here. BY FAR, the vast majority self builders use OEM fans. Why? Because they are excellent coolers. Maybe not the quietest, and maybe you can get a couple more degrees from a good aftermarket cooler, but OEM coolers are built to last and cool. And they do both well.

Absolutely! I did question the facts you presented because not all were correct. But, unlike you, I did not attack you! I did not launch personal insults against you (which you are STILL doing!). I provided links to the original sources to back me up because I don't expect everyone to just believe me because I say so.

So if you want to debate the facts, then please, stick around and contribute. You clearly have some experience. But this place is not about stroking egos. It is about providing ALL the information the user needs to make an informed decision. Not just the information you might agree with.

Personally, I think this site is a great site for hardware support and don't feel it necessary, appropriate, or respectful to MajorGeeks to direct folks to other sites for their hardware advice. But that's a call for admin, not me.

 

For some card/case combo's 12" plus room for the power connector is needed.

The HD7750 on your list is lower powered than the others (think less power = less heat produced and less fan noise to dissipate it), it does not require a GPU power plug. This may mean it is crippled somehow, you'd need to compare the specs/stats against those of a HD7750 reference card.

 

Good point! Some cards do have connectors on the back instead of the side edge. I guess that is so they might be used in lower profile (slimmer) cases.

 

Hi guys,

I want to apologize for not getting back to this thread and giving some resolution.

I want to thank everyone for giving me advice and teaching me about video cards! Every single post gave me something to consider and learn.

Just to let you know, I ended up buying an HD4870 for about $70 (used on Ebay supposedly less than 1 year in service) it gives me a 7.5 Windows Experience with an overall 7.4 WE. That is great and if it fails in the next year or so, a replacement won't be such a big deal as it was when buying parts initially.

Spad's post was very helpful explaining the basics of what I was looking for in a graphics card. Knowing that DDR5 and at least a 256 memory bus was important, helped. But each of your answers helped drive those points home when I glossed over them.

Thanks to Digerati, who explained the dual slot situation that I had gotten wrong. It was a motherboard situation where I thought it was an expansion slot situation.

Thanks to Goldenskull for the Nvidia GTX 550 TI recommendation as well. If this card fails I think that will be a fine card as a replacement. I was going to go with that card but since I found the HD4870 for the $50 less I was hoping to save, I went with that one. I hope I made the right choice. As long as this one last a year I'm good with that, replacing the card won't be such a big deal later on. I went from this comparison which was good enough for me as a non-gamer: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/513?vs=541 and wanting to save a few bucks.

Just as a side note, Tumblr is still a little slow on Archive pages but since my processor, RAM and video card all seem to never max out, I attribute that to my DSL service which I won't give up since I require a copper phone line.

To everyone I didn't mention in this thank you post, I say Thank You!

Each post gave me something to consider and I learned from each of you. I appreciate your help.

 

I got my 4850 years ago in Sep. '09 (still running it) and it has 1 GB DDR3, and the same bandwith, 256 bit.

Mine is XFX, but they are both the same hardware.

Good luck with it!!

:major