I'm building a budget PC and i'm essentially following the buyers guide (e5200, Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L) but i'm not too sure which graphics card I need. I don't really plan on gaming on my pc since i have a console but i want to be able to run win7 totally smoothly at 1920x1080. Any suggestions? Should I consider onboard graphics? Any help is much appreciated
You don't need much graphical horsepower to run the Aero interface, something like a 9400GT would probably work just fine. It would be good if you could find a passively cooled card too, it's always nice to reduce the noise a bit. [edit] This 4830 will probably do the trick, Anandtech have done a review and it looks pretty good. It won't set the world on fire for gaming performance, but it should do the Aero interface at pretty much any resolution.
I have an X1600 Pro 512mb and I use Aero with Win7 x86 RC on my 1920 x 1080 23" 1080p widescreen Acer. Does the job just fine with DVI. I don't think they sell it anymore though . I'd go with a 3850 for a GPU. With Onboard Graphics, the HD 3300 is faster than my X1600 so I'm sure that'll do the trick.
If cost is your primary concern, you might very well be able to build an AMD system using a 780G/790G/790GX chipset for less money than an E5200 + EP45-DS3L + a video card... - Diosjenin -
Get a 4770. 40nm process makes it energy efficient and cool, and you could get another to achieve very good gaming rates when the two are in CrossFire...
er just get a g45 mobo. the onboard graphics on that are just fine. runs vista media center perfectly at 1080p, and accelerates HD video too. if you're not gaming that's all you need; although it will happily run old games.
If you had a mobo like ASUS M3A78 PRO 780G Socket AM2+ then this has integrated graphics, could you then pair it with this to get a hybrid crossfire setup for added cheap performance?
cheers for your help guys, i don't think that i'm gonna go with onboard graphics since i think that i should get the best motherboard that i can afford now which will give me the most options to upgrade later. I think that i'm either going to go with a 4350 or a 4550, which should do me fine. Also, do you guys think that there's a significant difference in speed between ram at 800mhz and 1066mhz, is it worth the price jump?
not much difference in ram speed there bud, I'd only go 1066 if you wanted to overclock, set it to 800 and then have it ramp up as you change the FSB. For the build you are planning, no point going 1066, save the $$$ and get a better video card, I've got the 4350 here on a Athlon AM2 5000+(65w version) it runs most video ok, but you'd be better off going for a 4650 or 4670, or if your budget can stretch an extra $30, then the 4770 is the way to go
ah ok, thanks for that. I think that i'm going to see how the money goes over the next couple of weeks, see what I can afford and also if any bargains come up online.
Hybrid SLi and Hybrid Crossfire are supported perfectly fine in Windows 7. The story stated that W7 wouldn't support them out of the box and would leave it to the graphics card drivers to run everything - just as it works now, in XP and Vista.
