Recommended better graphics card?

[Schatzi Timmerman]

These are my specs now:

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-7100 CPU @ 3.90GHz (3912 MHz)
Memory: 8112 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit (Build 19042.804)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 750/PCIe/SSE2
Graphics Card Memory: 1024 MB

 

Can anyone recommend a better graphics card to install into my puter to help boost my FPS and overall enjoyment of SL.

Oh, BTW I use a 300w power supply. Can it be done getting a newer card with higher power rating and safely use it w/o blowing out my power source?

[Lillith Hapmouche]

Bad time to buy graphic cards, very very bad.

[Fritigern Gothly]

49 minutes ago, Schatzi Timmerman said:

These are my specs now:

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-7100 CPU @ 3.90GHz (3912 MHz)
Memory: 8112 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit (Build 19042.804)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 750/PCIe/SSE2
Graphics Card Memory: 1024 MB

 

Can anyone recommend a better graphics card to install into my puter to help boost my FPS and overall enjoyment of SL.

Oh, BTW I use a 300w power supply. Can it be done getting a newer card with higher power rating and safely use it w/o blowing out my power source?

A few things here:
First of all, you have only 8gb of memory. 16 would make SL a lot smoother already, but your motherboard must support that amount or it would be wasted money. A while ago I managed to temporarily add some memory to my PC (same rating as my usual memory) and my SL experience suddenly improved a lot. Rezzing was faster and my FPS was also better.

Second, your GTX 750 is not all that bad. I have a GTX 660 and it is just a smidge faster, the difference is so small that you would not even notice the difference (see this link to compare the two).

Third: 300w is pretty darn low. Considering that what you basically want is a gaming PC (and so do I), having a more beefy power supply will be useful. It will keep your PC more stable too because it is better equipped to deal with power fluctuations on the power grid and can also deal with in an increased power demand from your PC hardware (which is not constant, the harder the PC has to work, the more power it wants). It is possible that your current 300W power supply already does not suffice, and if that's the case you will get a lot of freezes and full-on computer crashes.

So, my recommendation is to increase your RAM (if your motherboard supports more than 8GB of RAM). I would also recommend buying a power supply which can provide more watts (500-600 should be good). And after all that, a newer graphics card might be considered and hopefully by then, prices for the GTX10xx, 20xx and 30xx series have come down because they have increased in the past year and are continuing to rise due to demand and low supply.
 

[Lyssa Greymoon]

nVidia GTX 1060, 1650 or 1650 Super.

Power supply: First thing is, you're going to need a 6-pin PCIe power connector for anything that's an upgrade from your 750. I kinda doubt a 300 watt power supply is going to have one, so a power supply upgrade is probably in your future. I'd upgrade the power supply regardless.

Availability: Good luck. Any video card worth having is likely either out of stock or costs twice as much as it should. If you can get one of the aforementioned cards for $200 or less, go for it. Otherwise, I'd just tough it out with the 750 until sanity returns to the GPU market. Maybe you could find a decent deal used, if you're okay with that kind of thing.

[Schatzi Timmerman]

2 hours ago, Lyssa Greymoon said:

nVidia GTX 1060, 1650 or 1650 Super.

Power supply: First thing is, you're going to need a 6-pin PCIe power connector for anything that's an upgrade from your 750. I kinda doubt a 300 watt power supply is going to have one, so a power supply upgrade is probably in your future. I'd upgrade the power supply regardless.

Availability: Good luck. Any video card worth having is likely either out of stock or costs twice as much as it should. If you can get one of the aforementioned cards for $200 or less, go for it. Otherwise, I'd just tough it out with the 750 until sanity returns to the GPU market. Maybe you could find a decent deal used, if you're okay with that kind of thing.

My puter can handle up to 16 GB of memory. With that said, I went and ordered two 8 GB cards that can deal with my HP.  As for a new power source, still window shopping for now, but keeping my eyes open. When it's all said and done, I'll look for a new or gently used video card.

The upgrade of RAM may be enough for now.

[Anna Nova]

You are using a Graphics Card to play SL?  You fool, they are only to be used for mining Bitcoins!

I sold an old AMD card on ebay, I was amazed I got more for it than I paid.  Bitcoin miners!

[Schatzi Timmerman]

14 minutes ago, Anna Nova said:

You are using a Graphics Card to play SL?  You fool, they are only to be used for mining Bitcoins!

I sold an old AMD card on ebay, I was amazed I got more for it than I paid.  Bitcoin miners!

When the RAM sticks arrive, I will install and test them bypassing the 750. If I get the desired results (faster FPS and faster rezzing), I will remove the 750 and box it for sale. Any reasonable offer will be entertained since the card was given to me.

All profit, baby!!

[Lillith Hapmouche]

No way this foolproof plan could fail...

[MarissaOrloff]

If you do get a new graphics card it will be bottle necked by your cpu which is a rather low end cpu. You should be aiming for a whole computer replacement. As stated above this is a very very very bad time to buy a new computer (or parts) as there are massive shortages going on right now and new US tariffs on Chinese goods have just come into effect . My advice.. Don't buy anything now and save your money till the covid crisis dims down which is causing much higher demand from people staying at home and production ramps up at TSMC and Samsung. Also causing massive shortages in graphics cards is crypto going through the roof and miners are grabbing every piece of stock they can get. 

If you do decide to buy a new graphics card anyways you will most likely be paying 170% of MSRP from scalpers. AMD 5000 series cpus, 6000 series gpus and Nvidia 3000 series gpus are known right now in the tech world as being unobtainium. Even used gpus from last year are going for a lot more than what they were purchased at.

Edited February 15, 2021 by MarissaOrloff

[Lillith Hapmouche]

You misunderstood. The RAM sticks will make up for for the GPU.

[MarissaOrloff]

2 hours ago, Lillith Hapmouche said:

You misunderstood. The RAM sticks will make up for for the GPU.

Ah yes, I forgot. Well then its best they splurge for some super fast DDR-4000 then! That will definitely make that Intel integrated UHD 630 scream!

**satire!!! DO NOT BUY FOR THIS**

Edited February 15, 2021 by MarissaOrloff

[Jackson Redstar]

TBH for now Id forget about graphics card upgrades. The bit coin miners are buying up everything they can get right now

16g ram will help for a win 10 machine, but overall, not SL specific. and a cheap way to make your older machine much more snappy would be put in a new SATA SSD hard drive

As far as SL, keep your drawing distance low, keep off the shaders and especially the shadows except maybe when you want to do a photo. 

But in reality sounds like your machine could use an update at some point Id be saving for a new (used) computer - probably at least a i5, 16 gig ram, a SSD drive and probably a 9x series Nvidia card

 

[arabellajones]

Ok, an nVidia 750 is old, and there have been a lot of fakes around from China, but it's not a bad card. But 9xx cards and later do NOT have a VGA connection.

I currently run a 960 card. A 1050 is close on benchmarks and uses less power. Looking at a better PSU is still a good idea.

There was a long gap before the 10xx series was replaced, and later models are still new and expensive. It's not just about bitcoin.

nVidia 750   benchmark = 1055       Power = 55W

nVidia 1050 benchmark = 2345      Power = 50W

An nVidia 1650 is about twice that again; but that is feeling on the high side for price. There are tradeoffs in the choices.

You need to check the power connectors and the video connectors.

My machine is old, but it was high-powered when new. Second Life doesn't need a lot of cores. I find 4 cores and 8 threads rarely reaches 50% CPU load.

 

 

[Crim Mip]

You'd be better off increasing your memory to 16 gigs for right now. It makes almost no sense for you to upgrade the graphics card in that. It should handle SL mostly ok. Your best bet would be to go to 16 gigs of ram and add a small SSD. Graphics cards are in such short supply right now that even a low to mid tier 1000 series card would cost more than your computer is worth by a fair amount.

[rasterscan]

SSD hard drive was the best swop out I ever did. Used Aomei backerupper free to clone the old mech drive. There was an 'adjust for ssd' tick box in the clone dialog. SSD hard drives are like as fast as RAM what a dif. 

Edited February 19, 2021 by rasterscan

[oOJoselinOo]

hope you checked if your computer has two free ram banks. otherwise you will end up exchanging 8 gig for 8 gig