Graphics Cards

[SamSpade]

As I've moved away from playing games on PCs, I'm woefully underinformed as to how to do anything with them anymore. To give an idea, I had no idea that most games kids still play on PCs are either downloaded or played inside another framework, such as Steam (or Origin).

So my son's cheap ass computer won't play most of the games he buys -

What's a cheap card I can get to upgrade the ancient card that came with his old PC? From what I read, there's like two kinds out there (and I don't even know if this refers to the chipset) - Radeon and nVidia. I realize this isn't much information - but I'm afraid I don't know much about his old computer. And I don't know how to know what slots are even IN the damned thing without opening it up first.

 

[stgislander]

As I've moved away from playing games on PCs, I'm woefully underinformed as to how to do anything with them anymore. To give an idea, I had no idea that most games kids still play on PCs are either downloaded or played inside another framework, such as Steam (or Origin).

So my son's cheap ass computer won't play most of the games he buys -

What's a cheap card I can get to upgrade the ancient card that came with his old PC? From what I read, there's like two kinds out there (and I don't even know if this refers to the chipset) - Radeon and nVidia. I realize this isn't much information - but I'm afraid I don't know much about his old computer. And I don't know how to know what slots are even IN the damned thing without opening it up first.

I installed an MSI NVidia GeForce GPU in an older Gateway DX4320 server PC when I upgraded it for home use. I'm pretty happy with it.

If it is a brand name PC, you should be able to download the motherboard specs to see the number and types of slots are available. Otherwise you are stuck opening up the PC.

But then you probably already knew all of this. Good luck.

 

[GURPS]

Best Budget Graphics Card 2019 - Top 6 GPUs For The Money

We're going to tackle 6 picks for best budget graphics card in 2019. Which one is right for you?

www.pcguide.com

 

[SamSpade]

Yikes. Their idea of "cheap" is 250 bucks. Hell no. Especially for a USED one.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

Be careful there are a few types of slots now and many cards require an external connection to the power supply they use so much power. Last graphics card I purchased also forced me to upgrade my otherwise perfectly good power supply.

There is a chance it will be cheaper for you to just buy a new computer.

Graphics chips are very price inflated now because they are being used for bitcoin mining.

Best Graphics Cards for Gaming in 2025

Here are the best graphics cards for gaming, from high-end to budget solutions.

www.tomshardware.com

 

[SamSpade]

Be careful there are a few types of slots now and many cards require an external connection to the power supply they use so much power. Last graphics card I purchased also forced me to upgrade my otherwise perfectly good power supply.

There is a chance it will be cheaper for you to just buy a new computer.

Graphics chips are very price inflated now because they are being used for bitcoin mining.

Best Graphics Cards for Gaming in 2025

Here are the best graphics cards for gaming, from high-end to budget solutions.

www.tomshardware.com

Yeah I think some of this might be a lost cause.

See. since our kids use cell phones and tablets - desktops tend to be just Internet machines. If they play games at all, they're on the Internet.
Hence, not terribly demanding of their computer resources.

So I usually buy cheap, refurbished computers from places like Newegg. Cheap ENOUGH, and I upgrade the memory a bit. But when it comes to graphic cards, they're usually using the one it comes with - which is pretty low end if there's a card at all.

Well I can't find anything on the Net that's going to work. There's just a couple PCI slots and they're the 32 bit 5v variety. Almost nothing I can find used or new is going in there, at least not for anything resembling a reasonable price. No stores I could visit in the area even sold anything like that. And if he wants a computer to game on - well, I will have to spend money on ANOTHER computer just so's he can play a game. Screw that - it's not like he doesn't spend a ton of time playing games already.

So - too damned bad.

 

[SamSpade]

Hmm. MAY have given up a bit too early. While I was looking at the motherboard, I was too busy looking at the dated PCI 5v slots to notice that there's words on the board describing the two OTHER slots - one is a tiny PCIe x 1, and the other wasn't white but it still says PCIe 2 x 16.

Now I may have to ask Dell - because it's still an old PC. But I can actually find cards that will fit and do the job.
Ugh. I have to think if it's worth doing this for my son, who is just as likely to totally lose interest quickly.

 

[GURPS]

PCIe 2 x 16 <---- Standard PCIe Slot .... what you need to know is the revision

you could try a

GTX 280 [ really old ]
GTX 780 not as old
GTX 980 <--- still kind of usable depending on the game

GTX 780 for sale | eBay

Get the best deals for GTX 780 at eBay.com. We have a great online selection at the lowest prices with Fast & Free shipping on many items!

www.ebay.com

 

[PeoplesElbow]

Hmm. MAY have given up a bit too early. While I was looking at the motherboard, I was too busy looking at the dated PCI 5v slots to notice that there's words on the board describing the two OTHER slots - one is a tiny PCIe x 1, and the other wasn't white but it still says PCIe 2 x 16.

Now I may have to ask Dell - because it's still an old PC. But I can actually find cards that will fit and do the job.
Ugh. I have to think if it's worth doing this for my son, who is just as likely to totally lose interest quickly.

Well probably more than you want to spend, but a couple years ago my mom wanted to buy me a new laptop but I did t want her to spend too much and I wanted something I could do some light gaming on at low settings. I found a Lenovo that had a moderate dedicated graphics processor for $600, it worked well, I swapped out the HD for a SDD and it's a pretty good gaming machine for a total of $700.

I could build a pretty good gaming desktop for $600.

I believe there are AMD chips with good integrated graphics, they call the APUs instead of CPUs. Intel integrated video is garbage by comparison.

 

[SamSpade]

Well probably more than you want to spend, but a couple years ago my mom wanted to buy me a new laptop but I did t want her to spend too much and I wanted something I could do some light gaming on at low settings. I found a Lenovo that had a moderate dedicated graphics processor for $600, it worked well, I swapped out the HD for a SDD and it's a pretty good gaming machine for a total of $700.

I could build a pretty good gaming desktop for $600.

I believe there are AMD chips with good integrated graphics, they call the APUs instead of CPUs. Intel integrated video is garbage by comparison.

Yeah I got a really good Acer laptop last year and did what you did - upgraded the HDD and memory and it is awesome. Best computer in the house.
All for around 400. All of the kids more or less have - old desktops WE had - desktops their uncle bought for them years back - or they use their own laptops they've received as presents later on. I think most of them ran about a 100 which is why I am not keen on spending much to upgrade a card -

AND I have a son who either sleeps too much or spends every waking hour listening to music or glued to video games. I am debating doing this for him. I just feel guilty urging him to buy his own games - and finding out he can't play them.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

Yeah I got a really good Acer laptop last year and did what you did - upgraded the HDD and memory and it is awesome. Best computer in the house.
All for around 400. All of the kids more or less have - old desktops WE had - desktops their uncle bought for them years back - or they use their own laptops they've received as presents later on. I think most of them ran about a 100 which is why I am not keen on spending much to upgrade a card -

AND I have a son who either sleeps too much or spends every waking hour listening to music or glued to video games. I am debating doing this for him. I just feel guilty urging him to buy his own games - and finding out he can't play them.

You could build a cheap desktop with a Ryzen 3 2200G and have a nice little gaming machine. No graphics card required. Also with a TDP of only 65W it won't generate too much heat.

Best Budget CPUs of 2025, Benchmarked and Ranked

You can get a high-quality processor for less than $60. We've tested several cheap budget CPUs to help you find the right one for your needs and budget.

www.tomshardware.com