About a month ago, I just got a new Dell Desktop. AMD Athlon X2 5000+, 2 gb RAM, Vista, and a 7600gt which I was pretty excited about. It's running all the games I'm playing now (Source titles, Oblivion, FEAR) at high settings at respectable resolutions. All for about $900.
However, as some may know, with Dell, you get what you pay for: The system is built on a BTX mobo and though it has a single PCIe slot, which is really all I need, it's facing the wrong way. This meant that any card that took up two slots would not work. My dreams of upgrading to a DX10 card were dashed and for a while, since 8800 and the r600 both have dual slot coolers, I thought I had made a pretty dumb investment. I mean, getting games i have no problem doing (ahem...) but lets just say, you can't download hardware off the internet.
Now tho, there's news of an 8600 gt and gts coming out, which is single slot so I think it'll fit in the case without me having to physically cut parts of my CPU's heat sink off. And, I think it's shorter than the 8800, so it shouldn't be too long either.
Even though it's a bit early and there's not that much info out there yet, I'd just like a few of my questions answered:
1.) People have been saying they could run 7900s and x1900s on the stock Dell PSU. the 7600 gt I have asks for a 400w pSU, but the DELL is rated at 305w, and so far i've had no problems. The general consensus seems to be that it's severely under-rated. I'm running only 1 SATA HD and 16x DVD +/- RW, so basically nothing else is drawing power from the thing. My question is whether I should get a new PSU for the card and if i should, how powerful should it be. I'm not looking for 750w monsters, just somthing that will run the computer and the card without problems.
BTW - could I use a PSU from an old computer as a standalone external for the graphics card? I'm not sure yet how I'll get the wiring into the case, but if it's a plasuible solution...
2.) Just a verification that this card WILL fit in my case. Anything at all would be helpful although it seems to me it should be fine.
3.) Should I perhaps wait for the midrange ATi DX10 cards and see if they offer better performance and still only take up a single slot. Price probably won't be a major factor, but ATi's realease could also force nvidia to lower their prices.
4.) Should I get a new cooling unit or is the Stock Fan fine?
5.) Will my X2 5000+ be a bottleneck to the card? I want a significant performance boost in games I play, probably nothing above 1280x960 res, but high-MAX settings generally. It'd be pointless to buy the card if my CPU can't keep up.
Thanks for any help possible!
However, as some may know, with Dell, you get what you pay for: The system is built on a BTX mobo and though it has a single PCIe slot, which is really all I need, it's facing the wrong way. This meant that any card that took up two slots would not work. My dreams of upgrading to a DX10 card were dashed and for a while, since 8800 and the r600 both have dual slot coolers, I thought I had made a pretty dumb investment. I mean, getting games i have no problem doing (ahem...) but lets just say, you can't download hardware off the internet.
Now tho, there's news of an 8600 gt and gts coming out, which is single slot so I think it'll fit in the case without me having to physically cut parts of my CPU's heat sink off. And, I think it's shorter than the 8800, so it shouldn't be too long either.
Even though it's a bit early and there's not that much info out there yet, I'd just like a few of my questions answered:
1.) People have been saying they could run 7900s and x1900s on the stock Dell PSU. the 7600 gt I have asks for a 400w pSU, but the DELL is rated at 305w, and so far i've had no problems. The general consensus seems to be that it's severely under-rated. I'm running only 1 SATA HD and 16x DVD +/- RW, so basically nothing else is drawing power from the thing. My question is whether I should get a new PSU for the card and if i should, how powerful should it be. I'm not looking for 750w monsters, just somthing that will run the computer and the card without problems.
BTW - could I use a PSU from an old computer as a standalone external for the graphics card? I'm not sure yet how I'll get the wiring into the case, but if it's a plasuible solution...
2.) Just a verification that this card WILL fit in my case. Anything at all would be helpful although it seems to me it should be fine.
3.) Should I perhaps wait for the midrange ATi DX10 cards and see if they offer better performance and still only take up a single slot. Price probably won't be a major factor, but ATi's realease could also force nvidia to lower their prices.
4.) Should I get a new cooling unit or is the Stock Fan fine?
5.) Will my X2 5000+ be a bottleneck to the card? I want a significant performance boost in games I play, probably nothing above 1280x960 res, but high-MAX settings generally. It'd be pointless to buy the card if my CPU can't keep up.
Thanks for any help possible!
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