Graphics card recommendations?

[Skelly Man]

I want to install a whole bunch of graphical enhancment mods for Skyrim, though when I went to download them and play the game, there was almost no difference and my game was more laggy. I've been told in a previous thread I did about why I couldn't play Sleeping Dogs that my graphics/video card was an absolute piece o' crap (AMD A4-5300 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics). So anyway, I need a recomendation on what type of equipment I should get. I only want to spend $100-$150. Also, I am a computer noob so I have absolutely no clue on what brand or model is the best (P.S. I do have a gaming PC, my dad built it though.) so if someone could point me in the right direction and just give me a rundown of what's good and what's not, that would be great! Thanks. :)

[SilentHorizon]

First off, you NEED a better cpu. If you can't afford a new motherboard, go with athlon 760K or 750K cpu. Then get a cheaper graphics card like gtx 750

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

To run Skyrim with all the graphics mods you would need GTX 770 card 4 Gb VRAM version or R9 280X. And with your old and weak APU there is no point buying cards like this since they would really bottleneck the hell out of it.
If you want to play Sleeping Dogs and other newest games and older games with great graphics you need to get a new gaming PC and not some cheap $500-600 starter rig either but at least $1000 rig like this:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3uZif

[Warrior2023]

Go to www.newegg.com and look at graphics cards in your budget. I have a old 7770 VisionTek that I don't use anymore, that served me pretty well on skyrim on max settings at 1080p. If your resolution is 720p, I HIGHLY recommend a 7770, they're around $100-125. Can play any game on max settings at 720p with 30FPS minimum. In GTA IV i ran at 1080p all high settings with view distance at 50, detail 50, vehicle density 100. Very good card, and I don't regret choosing it in my first build (it was a custom prebuild).

Go with a 7770 or a 7850. Good luck.

If you don't mind used stuff, EBAY is the way to go. a 7770 runs around $60 on there. a 7870 around $150. Go with the 7870 if you have 150 bucks, it's way better than the 7770, and I already explained the performance of the 7770.

Again, good luck to you.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

To just run Skyrim decent enough without graphics mods the cheaper 128-bit cards would work.
HD 7770, HD 7790, R7 260X, GTX 650, GTX 650 Ti, GTX 750, GTX 750 Ti.
You need to check your power supply though, only GTX 750 and 750 Ti will run fine with small 300W power supplies and dont need additional power cable to provide power, for others you need 400-500W power supply.

[76561198133892746]

RADEON HD 7850 is best choice, low price, best performance, for 99% games play on max settings

[time goblin]

Rumpelcrutchskin님이 먼저 게시:

To run Skyrim with all the graphics mods you would need GTX 770 card 4 Gb VRAM version or R9 280X. And with your old and weak APU there is no point buying cards like this since they would really bottleneck the hell out of it.
If you want to play Sleeping Dogs and other newest games and older games with great graphics you need to get a new gaming PC and not some cheap $500-600 starter rig either but at least $1000 rig like this:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3uZif

if you dont mind me saying so, that is one terrible build. over specced psu, bad gb/£ ratio hdd, overpriced gpu (thank you miners).

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

time goblin님이 먼저 게시:

if you dont mind me saying so, that is one terrible build. over specced psu, bad gb/£ ratio hdd, overpriced gpu (thank you miners).

Over specced PSU - it's currently cheap with rebate and leaves you with more options with different cards and configurations in future then just some borderline 500-600W PSU.
Bad Gb/$ ratio HDD - it's good quality and fast access for PC without SSD, instead of some cheap Seagate that falls appart in 6 months or overheats.
Overpriced GPU - lol, try to find same performance GPU for this price currently, for $300 it's damn good deal. It's R9 280X, 384-bit card with 3 Gb VRAM, not just some cheap GTX 660 or HD 7870.
Equal performance GTX 770 4 Gb version will currently cost lot more.
Usually I would go with GTX 770 2 Gb version but specificly for Skyrim with all graphics mods the 2 Gb VRAM is not really enough.
2 Gb GTX 770 is usually enough performance for most games though on one 1920x1080 monitor.

[EbonHawk]

Just remember a jump from something like an A4-5300 to something like an Athlon 760k is about a 35W extra draw in power. Not a huge increase by numbers, but you're increasing the power required by about half again (46%) so it could be a factor. Hopefully your PSU is sufficient enough to handle the increase with no problem. I would think most PSUs could handle it, but they often get overlooked when everyone's eyes are focused on CPUs and GPUs. ;-)

[Seseorang]

If I remember correctly, Skyrim was more CPU bound, although graphics cards can help.