Graphics Card Upgrade on 520W Power Supply?

xlzqwerty1

Honorable
Jul 19, 2012
18
0
10,520
Hey guys!

So, I plan on upgrading my system from a Gigabyte Radeon HD 6850 to something better than this current card.
My question here is: what kind of graphics cards can I upgrade to under my current 520W power supply and budget (see below)?

My system right now is as of follows:


  • ■ Zalman Z9 Plus Case (Supports gfxcards up to 11.4" / 290 mm)
    ■ Intel Core i5-3570K Quadcore 3.4GHz - OC @ 4.1 GHz
    ■ ^Cooled with Coolermaster Hyper212+ air cooling
    ■ Gigabyte Radeon HD 6850 - 1GB VRAM OC @ 860 / 1150 MHz
    ■ Antec HCG-520M Modular PSU 80PLUSBronze - 520 Watts
    ■ 1x Western Digital Caviar Blue HDD - 1 TB
    ■ 8GB Kingston RAM
    ■ 1x Samsung SSD 250GB
    ■ 3 stock system fans from my case
    ■ Generic USB Mouse and PS/2 Keyboard

I currently have around $410 CAD (Canadian Dollars) as budget, but I can probably get up to around $450 max. Since my tax here is 13% (super high :fou:), I can afford a single graphics card that's advertised at a price of around $350 to $390 Canadian.

I am just wondering what kind of card (and from which brand) you guys would recommend that could fit in my system and under my budget. I am also not sure if my power supply is good enough to support the top cards under my budget, so please do tell me if I also need to upgrade my power supply (I would like to overclock the card if possible). As a person who is not too familiar with power supplies and graphics card brands, I would really like the input of the community to help me out here.

Thank you very much in advance! :wahoo:

~Xlz
 
Solution


Hi - usually the amd & nvidia websites overstate the wattage their gpu's require
for full system. In this instance I would opt for realhardtechx suggestion of
a quality 550w unit(hd7970 sys), and agree with blackbird that if you are going to OC
(why else have an intel "k" processor) then go for a little xtra & get
a 650w unit.

 
Solution