Mass Effect 3 for PC - graphics card

So I'd like to play Mass Effect 3 for PC and see these are the recommended specs:

OS – Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1, Win 7
CPU – 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (equivalent AMD CPU)
RAM – 2GB for XP / 4GB RAM for Vista/Win 7
Disc Drive – 1x speed
Hard Drive – 15 GB of free space
Video – AMD/ATI Radeon HD 4850 512 MB or greater, NVidia GeForce 9800 GT 512 MB or greater
Sound – DirectX 9.0c compatible

My PC is Win 7, 3.30 Ghz, 4GB Ram but no graphics card (just an intel one on the motherboard), so I would like to buy one for around £40 or less which will play Mass Effect 3 well. I looked into the Geforce 9800 but that seems really old now.

Thanks for your time :)

Comments

  • emptyboxemptybox Posts: 13,917
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    TBH any modernish card from AMD or Nvidia would beat the minimum spec.
    You could certainly get a card for £40 anyway.

    Look at this list, and the figure in the first column.
    http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 69
    Forum Member
    Thanks for the reply, how about the recommended spec cards? My power supply is only 300w.
  • MigsterMigster Posts: 4,204
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    Your 300w PSU will not be up to the job with most cards. The HD 7750 is probably your best bet as it doesn't require a lot of power. It will cost you closer to £70 though and there's no guarantee that your PSU will cope.
  • emptyboxemptybox Posts: 13,917
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    Here's another chart with the real life power consumption of various cards.

    http://forums.atomicmpc.com.au/index.php?showtopic=264

    All you have to do is match up the performance with the power consumption, and then find the price on Amazon (or wherever). :D

    I may have misled you with my first post as I thought I had a Radeon HD 5750 in one of my computers, which I paid about £20 for.
    However it turns out to be an HD 5450, which a lot lower powered and cheaper, so you will probably have to pay more than your £40 afterall. :o

    Something like this Radeon HD 6670 is approx £60 on Amazon, is just over the minimum specs as far as performance, and uses about 60w at peak, so might fit the bill?

    But as Migster says, the HD 7750 would give you a bit better than the minimum spec performance, with about the same power consumption for another tenner.
  • flagpoleflagpole Posts: 44,641
    Forum Member
    yeah the 300W should not be a problem.

    there is a reasonably good psu calculator here: http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

    you will probably need a card that doesn't require a separate power connector though.

    maybe a second hand HD 5670 should be able to get that for £40 easily.
  • fmradiotuner1fmradiotuner1 Posts: 20,476
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    I bought this card

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/VTX3D-Radeon-7870-Tahiti-Graphics/dp/B00AM3A7JY/ref=cm_cr-mr-title

    Its really powerful will run any game but had to also change my motherboard and PSU for it to go so in the end spent over £300 but at least its future prof for more and I changed my case to.
  • alan1302alan1302 Posts: 6,336
    Forum Member
    I bought this card

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/VTX3D-Radeon-7870-Tahiti-Graphics/dp/B00AM3A7JY/ref=cm_cr-mr-title

    Its really powerful will run any game but had to also change my motherboard and PSU for it to go so in the end spent over £300 but at least its future prof for more and I changed my case to.

    I think you may have missed the original mention of the around £40 mention :D
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