Hi All, I'm thinking of just upgrading my graphics card to give my computer a bit more power in that department. I'm just after recommendations really. The base computer is an intel i5 with 8Gb of RAM, The current graphics card is an Nvidia GeForce GTX550Ti. So I just want to know, would the base computer handle a better graphics card and any recommendations. I am very much a novice in this department so any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks very much!

This information really doesn't help much.

It's what the motherboard will support and the power supply you have. I'm not even sure if the graphics card listed is built-in or not.

Find out what kind of slots you have (PCI, AGP, or other) and what the limit on your power supply is (if it's under 550 you are going to be limited to more mobile or low power cards).


To note if you bought the computer from a particular model, looking up the model for specs can help a lot for this.

This is a Core i5 (model generation would be fine to know though) and a 550TI, so it has PCI Express, no AGP or anything older style. The CPU should handle a newer midrange card like 1050TI with ease.

That depends on various factors.
- do you have the right pci-e slot
- is he power supply in the computer strong enough to power a new card
- does your case and items leave enough room to accommodate a big graphics card
- is the rest of your system good enough to get the maximum from a new card

Your best off taking to a local computer store, seeing what they can suggest. I had a 7 series until recently, did most games ok, but obviously depends on what you play/do. More ram may help, solid state drive definitely helps etc.

If you can read more into the minimum hardware that CPU generations give, then great :) However I stopped keeping track of such data sometime in 2000.

your computer looks good. i'd jump to a nvidia 10 series. but exact model depends on your budget. they have some really small micro itx cards with quite a kick. specifically the evga sc 1060 3gb model. however, this is about price at the end of the day.

Thanks for the advice, like I said, I am not very knowledgeable on these matters. I will go into a local store and ask for some advice. The computer was a custom build from my local computer store from a few years ago now (unfortunately that store is no more) I think physical space I should be all right, the case was built to accommodate two cards in SLI. I just was looking at doing a small upgrade as one of the games I have, while it works, chugs quite a bit!

Anyway, thanks everyone for all your help and recommendations!

Thanks to CPU-Z, you can easily get technical details on much of the hardware in your system. Small program, free:

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

With info from that piece of software, folks here will be better able to help with your decision.

You should also give an idea about what you really expect from the new card,
what games should really be possible to game - and in what resolution?
If your not on the FPS only genre and with "it must be 4k resolution" you should find a lot of nice stuff in the 100-200€/$ area
dependend on what generation your corei5 is a graphicscard for higher then 250 would be overkill
(but of course could be reused if you change the other stuff in a year)
My advice would be
Radeon RX460 or RX470, on Nvidia a TI model e.g. 1050TI anyhow i would go for a more then 2gb only model

Go for a 1060 6GB model. If you aren't into 4k or VR this card will deliver great performance in everything you can throw at it. While there are cheaper cards these are affordable and will also be future proof for quite a while.

Have to second this. For the price, even if you aren't going with high resolutions you'll get the most performance bang.

Why would you (basically) pay the same for something like 960, or go with only a marginal upgrade getting something lower tier? I think the 1060 cards are basically the same performance as the high end 9XX series, right?

And I'm also pretty sure the 3 gb models are a lesser chipset (basically different cards) - hopefully someone can confirm - but unless you seriously want to save that $50 or so I think I'd just dive in and grab the 6 gb. It'll probably last the duration of your current computer's gaming relevance.

HUGE EDIT!

Also, just so you know I've seen the prices fluctuate a ton on these things. If you are looking to save a few bucks and time isn't an issue, based on stock you seem to be able to get some models (6gb) in the $230 USD - $260 USD range. But if you buy at the "wrong" time functionally similar cards can creep up to / over $300 USD.

I'd suggest to wait for new GPU from AMD, as they promise good performance. If nothing else, they could make NVIDIA cards cheaper.

Here is a list of graphics cards that you can use to get an idea of which cards are comparable. I found it useful when I was trying to find a new card a while ago. It is also updated from time to time so it should still be good.

Um... no? Why would going high-end be the "definite answer"? In fact, someone who doesn't know much about PC hardware, most likely doesn't care about perfect framerates, Ultra-HD or all the fancy visual effects.

And he doesn't have a problem if he can't afford a GTX 1080, because he doesn't really need one. Picking up a GTX 1060, as others already suggested, sounds much more reasonable.

I quote OP: "Hi All, I'm thinking of just upgrading my graphics card to give my computer a bit more power in that department."

He's just looking for a basic upgrade, a bit more performance, not some overpowered monster PC. ( Or he'd probably have to ditch his current hardware entirely, and start from scratch. ) A GTX 1060 should easily max out ( at 1080p ) anything currently available at GOG, and is a big upgrade from his current GPU.