New graphics card?

alexanderwe6 · Aug 21, 2017

I want to upgrade my graphics, im a little new at this whole thing, I bought my first gaming computer and quickly found out that it has a built in GPU, im looking at buying a new GPU and im not sure what to get, or how to go about the whole thing

Barty1884 · Aug 21, 2017

Please post your full system spec, including PSU make/model/wattage.

What resolution do you want to play at?

alexanderwe6 · Aug 21, 2017

I have an
Windows 10 64 bit
AMD A10-7850K Radeon R7 12 Compute Cores
4C+8G 3.70 GHz

and 16.0 GB of Ram

and the resolution, I'm really not sure, I mainly play League of Legends, and Heroes of the Storm (which requires more) and i can run them on MEDIUM graphics and get around 60 frames, which League caps at, while on heroes, running low, i get about 30, I'd like to get over 100 if possible, but again, I am completely clueless.

Barty1884 · Aug 21, 2017

The main benefit of the APU (what AMD calls their CPUs with onboard graphics), is the onboard graphics.
They're not the strongest CPUs in the world, but the CPU aspect should be fine for LoL etc (don't know much about Heroes).

I would suspect dropping a GTX 1050 in there should be more than sufficient.

What speed is your RAM? AMD chips do benefit from faster RAM, although I believe that's moreso for the GPU 'portion' of an APU.

alexanderwe6 · Aug 21, 2017

How do I tell the Speed of my ram, I have downloaded CPU-Z, just not sure which part you're asking for

Barty1884 · Aug 21, 2017

On the "memory" tab, you'll see a speed.
The "DDR" aspect of DDR3 (or any other DDR) stands for "Double Data Rate", so you multiply it by two.
For example. if you see 667mhz, x2 = 1333 MHz RAM.

If you're unsure, post screenshots.

alexanderwe6 · Aug 21, 2017

the DRAM Frequency is 804.1 MHz, so 1608.2 MHz
(it bounces from 800 to 810)

Barty1884 · Aug 21, 2017

Yeah, that's commonly known as 1600MHz., Not exactly blazing fast DDR3 (1333MHz is the 'base').

While faster RAM could improve the iGPU aspect of the A10, a discreet GPU is going to do much, much better.

While I wouldn't normally recommend adding a discreet GPU to an A10, working with what you have, a GTX 1050 would be a pretty solid option.

alexanderwe6 · Aug 21, 2017

I can't thank you enough, I really appreciate all the help you've been, I have no idea what im doing, if you couldn't tell!

Barty1884 · Aug 21, 2017

Actually, before you do anything, we never did get back to the PSU question.

Can you take the side panel off your system and look at the label on the side of the power supply? (should be at the bottom).

Can oyu list the details there? Any make/model etc.

While the GTX 1050 is a fairly low powered card, if the system you ended up with has a very low wattage, or poor quality PSU, it may not work as intended.

alexanderwe6 · Aug 21, 2017

it's a COOLMAX I-500, it says its max outputs is 500W and its input is 115V-230V and its frequency is 50/60Hz and the current part says 12A 6A

alexanderwe6 · Aug 21, 2017

also, after looking at it, the GeForce is Nvidia, will that conflict with my current GPU being Radeon?

Barty1884 · Aug 21, 2017

Ok, the Coolmanx I-500 is junk.
There's a supposed 34A on the 12V Rail (=408W)

I wouldn't trust it to run much, but considering your CPU is ~95W and a 1050 is 75W.... and you'd be unlikely to max out either, you should be fine with an approx 200W load on that PSU...... although, if you could replace it., that would be a smart idea for long-term no hassle.

A quality PSU doesn't have to break the bank either.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Power Supply: SeaSonic - S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($30.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $30.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-08-21 15:46 EDT-0400

As for the drivers, no, not exactly. You should uninstall your AMD GPU drivers (if any are installed for an APU, I'm not 100% sure) before installing an nVidia card.

DDU is very helpful. Download/install and run, it'll ask you if you want to reboot into safe mode to remove (say yes), reboot, run it - it'll then remove your AMD GPU drivers and shut down. At that point, install your new nVidia card and start up. You'll then go to nVidia's website and download/install the drivers for the 1050. http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

alexanderwe6 · Aug 21, 2017

okay, thanks so much.

alexanderwe6 · Aug 21, 2017

will I need to get any new cords with this?

Barty1884 · Aug 21, 2017

The GPU? No. It doesn't need any additional power. It drops right into the x16 slot on the motherboard and is powered from there.
Remember to connect the monitor to the GPU once it's installed, and not back to the APU where it's attached now.

alexanderwe6 · Aug 21, 2017

I meant for the PSU, I'm not entirely sure how they work.

Barty1884 · Aug 21, 2017

The PSU comes with all the cables you need.

All that you'd need in your case would be the 24pin ATX to the motherboard, the 4+4pin to the CPU and likely some SATA power cables to your HDD/SSD etc.

It's fairly straightforward, and those would just replace the cables currently connected in those places.

New graphics card?

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