Which graphics card should I get?

artantaaa · 10-09-2011, 02:18 AM #1

Hello. I'm finally thinking about upgrading from my 8400gs. I'm not going to spend much on the new card, about $50. I'm not sure what to get though. Which of these would give me the best performance in Dolphin: GT240, GT430, or GT520? I was looking at this list, and I'm leaning toward the GT240 because it has the most processing power. I would feel better if someone who knows all about graphics cards could confirm that this is the best choice.

glan20 · 10-09-2011, 02:26 AM #2

What do you mean by "processing power"? If you meant clock rate, then don't buy the GT240. If I remember correctly, Nvidia graphics card are sorted like so:

There are three numbers (for recent cards; honestly I dunno why there were four), with the first one being the series number, the second one determining if it's a high-end, mid-end, or low-end card, and the third one, I don't know.

For example: GT240
2 -> GeForce 200 Series
4 -> (Kind of) Mid-end card of the series

GT520
5 -> GeForce 500 Series
2 -> Low-end card of the series.

And of course, newer series are generally better, so if you can grab yourself the GT520, I say go for it.

**admin89** · (This post was last modified: 10-09-2011, 02:45 AM by admin89.)

GT 520 is no difference from 8400GTS .Don't be fool because of the 5xx series , 1Gb ....
Just grab the GT 440 for god sake ,you won't regret it
Or this

**NaturalViolence** · (This post was last modified: 10-09-2011, 12:03 PM by NaturalViolence.)

Quote:What do you mean by "processing power"?

He means shader throughput (measured in floating point operations per second).

I agree with admin89s advice.

artantaaa · 10-09-2011, 12:06 PM #5

Quote:What do you mean by "processing power"?

That list I linked to listed the processing power of each card in GFLOPs

8400GS = 33
GT520 = 155.5
GT430 = 268.8
GT440 = 311.04
GT240 = 385.9

This seems like the best way to compare them to me, but I'm likely wrong, as I'm not too familiar with gpu specs. I know the newer cards will have better directx and opengl support, but how useful would that be? Isn't d3d9 faster in most cases?

YouHaveRROD · 10-09-2011, 12:08 PM #6

(10-09-2011, 12:06 PM)artantaaa Wrote:
Quote:What do you mean by "processing power"?

That list I linked to listed the processing power of each card in GFLOPs

8400GS = 33
GT520 = 155.5
GT430 = 268.8
GT440 = 311.04
GT240 = 385.9

This seems like the best way to compare them to me, but I'm likely wrong, as I'm not too familiar with gpu specs. I know the newer cards will have better directx and opengl support, but how useful would that be? Isn't d3d9 faster in most cases?

Lol @ the pathetic 8400GS.

**NaturalViolence** · (This post was last modified: 10-09-2011, 12:43 PM by NaturalViolence.)

Quote:This seems like the best way to compare them to me, but I'm likely wrong, as I'm not too familiar with gpu specs. I know the newer cards will have better directx and opengl support, but how useful would that be? Isn't d3d9 faster in most cases?

You cannot assess the performance of a GPU based on peak throughput alone. It's like comparing apples to oranges, every GPU architecture is different.

Memory bandwidth, pixel throughput, texture fillrate, amount of video ram, APIs supported, power consumption, noise, TDP and temperatures, size, OS support, output ports, hardware/driver features, price, and utilization of resources are just some examples of other things you might want to consider when picking a graphics card.

Texture fillrate and amount of video ram have become almost irrelevant in modern times. Pixel throughput still matters to some degree but memory bandwidth, shader throughput, and utilization are far more important as far as performance is concerned. Real world benchmarks have always been and will continue to be the best way to asses graphics card performance.

Here is some real world data collected on dolphin graphics card performance for you: http://forums.dolphin-emu.org/showthread.php?tid=14201

**admin89** · 10-09-2011, 12:53 PM #8

And please don't get the GT 240 .Why ?
Google "GT 240 dolphin"

**Starscream** · (This post was last modified: 10-09-2011, 12:57 PM by Starscream.)

(10-09-2011, 12:39 PM)NaturalViolence Wrote: Here is some real world data collected on dolphin graphics card performance for you: http://forums.dolphin-emu.org/showthread.php?tid=14201

Yeah, that's real world data, but none of his video card choices are listed. The GT440 is best if it's the GDDR5 card. Personally I wouldn't get any of them.

GodRays · 10-09-2011, 02:45 PM **#10**

These are low budget cards, not suitable for gaming. on't be fooled by the naming, Nvidia routinely rebrands old models and sells them as low-end cards in its new series. Try to get something like a GTS450