Choosing GPU for 500$

Hello everybody! I'm about buying a new graphic card for my PC, I wanna spend 500 on it, which graphic card you advice me to choose? And my CPU is i3, so do I need to buy a new CPU as well? And, btw, where to buy a graphic card for a cheaper price? Thank you for answers!

I need an ultra performance in video games, and my working resolution of monitor is 1920x1080, so I don't think I need 2 cards to link'em in SLI...

Can you list your full system specs, including model numbers?

Motherboard is ASRock, don't remember full title, and can't reach my home PC now, but socket is H2 (for my i3 3210 3.2 Ghz), GTX 650, and 8 Gb of RAM memory Kingston Hyper-X. Frequency of memory can be 1600, but my motherboard doesn't allow it work higher than 1333, so I think I need to change motherboard.

When you can get to the PC get the full specs.
I expect a mild overhaul would do well for you though. That i3 and 1333MHz RAM is going to choke a top-tier GPU.

well, so I need to upgrade a CPU as well. I really want to get a top GC, like GTX 770. So what motherboard and CPU would you advice?

I would look for an i5 at least.

Is $500 your full budget?

ATMINSIDE said:

I would look for an i5 at least.

Is $500 your full budget?

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Well, I can spend $700. I initially was gonna spend $500 only for graphic card, but if I need a new CPU - I'll spend more. But also I need a new motherboard too

spaunshadie said:

Well, I can spend $700. I initially was gonna spend $500 only for graphic card, but if I need a new CPU - I'll spend more. But also I need a new motherboard too

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As soon as I know what your current system is to carry over parts from I'll make a suggestion in the $600-700 range for a moderate upgrade.

The only part I'ma leave untouchable is my RAM (Kingston Hyper-X 8Gb). My motherboard is ASRock M2V (socket H2, and it locks my RAM frequency to 1333), CPU is Intel i3 2120 3.3 GHz, graphic card is nVidia GTX 650. So I'd like to spend more money on graphic card cuz it has more work in games I suppose. But I have no idea how to choose a motherboard so I need your help with it.

Again, a FULL list of your specs including model numbers.

Also, there's not a motherboard I can find called an "ASRock M2V".
The only M2V I can find is an old AMD 754 board made by Asus.

Get Piriform Speccy and take a screenshot of the main window, then post it here.

Be sure to include the make of your power supply as well.

You can give gtx 770 a try. If it gets choked up due to cpu and ram locks, then get another motherboard and if it still chokes, get another cpu too, probably core i7 haswell.

I cannot reach my PC until 16th of September so I can't give you specs. But why do you need it if I'm gonna change motherboard, CPU and graphic card all together? If I'll need a new power supply, I'll get one, don't worry, just advice me a motherboard + CPU +graphic card )))

undefinedgamer said:

You can give gtx 770 a try. If it gets choked up due to cpu and ram locks, then get another motherboard and if it still chokes, get another cpu too, probably core i7 haswell.

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This is bad advice. Full system specs are needed (ATM's been trying to get them...) before any suggestion can be made. What PSU/mobo he has will tell us what parts his system can support. From there, we can move on to GPU/CPU suggestions.

Also, why, if the GPU was bottlenecked, would replacing the motherboard first be a good idea? It may need to be replaced to support a new CPU, but on its own would do absolutely nothing.

Please don't post meaningless, baseless misinformation. Save that for the Tom's Hardware forums...

spaunshadie said:

I cannot reach my PC until 16th of September so I can't give you specs. But why do you need it if I'm gonna change motherboard, CPU and graphic card all together? If I'll need a new power supply, I'll get one, don't worry, just advice me a motherboard + CPU +graphic card )))

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OP, if you won't have access to your PC until September 16, then wait until then to ask these questions. Advice in these forums is typically given in a more "holistic" manner, looking at the full system specs and not just spewing out the latest, greatest GPU model numbers with utter disregard to the rest of the system. If you'd like advice more along those lines, please visit the aforementioned Tom's HW forums.

For now, to sate your obvious (and understandable ) upgrade hunger, we can do a "theoretical upgrade". Given that you have a quality power supply and enough room in your case, for $600-700, I would grab an i5/z87 or z97 combo (i5 over i7 because the latter gains you nothing in gaming) and either a 4GB 770 or, preferably, an R9 290 (gigabyte WF is ~$370 now at NE).

That combo will allow you to max out just about any game at 1080P.

You could sell your 1333 ram for $35-40 and go with 1600 or 1866MHz, but the FPS bump will be in the <5 range, so it isn't really worth it, IMO.

Again, this is assuming you can fit a long GPU in your case and your power supply isn't garbage or underpowered.

ninjacore said:

Again, this is assuming you can fit a long GPU in your case and your power supply isn't garbage or underpowered.

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That's what I wanted - advice based on prediction that my case and power supply is alright. And one more question: do you know where can I buy this hardware for a better price? Maybe any cheap store or something like cuz I don't really good at the USA shopping.

Are u buying from US websites? Newegg, tiger direct, Fry's, amazon, eBay

ninjacore said:

Are u buying from US websites? Newegg, tiger direct, Fry's, amazon, eBay

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I don't know where to buy. I can reach Las Vegas and Los Angeles, and I prefer buy at store, without delivery to my address cuz I have only 1 week here and cash pay only.

Look for either a Fry's or Microcenter, then.

thank you, I'll try. and what type of z87 should I buy? Asus, MSI? Does it really matter?