Want to upgrade my graphics card. Help wanted.

Hi,
I want to upgrade my system but my budget only allows for a few hundred dollars so I thought I'd look at my video card.

Compaq Presario SR2170NX
P4 3.0GHz
2GB RAM (upgraded from 1; maxed)
GeForce 7300GT

Simply looking for a better gaming experience with what I have to work with.

It was suggested that I get an EVGA 7800GS. I'm curious, my currect card is PCIe but this card is AGP. Will my mobo support it?

Any thoughts or alternatives?

Thanks.

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nope the motherboard wont 7800GS , if u want to upgrade , then go for x1950pro/x1950xt , they are very good cards, however your CPU will hold them back

------------------------------ Q6600@3.4+ TT V1 Cooler,SAPPHIRE HD 4870X2,ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA,4GB OCZ DDR2 800,LG W2452V 1920x1200
Reply to Maziar

LShapedAmbush wrote :

Hi,
I want to upgrade my system but my budget only allows for a few hundred dollars so I thought I'd look at my video card.

Compaq Presario SR2170NX
P4 3.0GHz
2GB RAM (upgraded from 1; maxed)
GeForce 7300GT

Simply looking for a better gaming experience with what I have to work with.

It was suggested that I get an EVGA 7800GS. I'm curious, my currect card is PCIe but this card is AGP. Will my mobo support it?

Any thoughts or alternatives?

Thanks.

My only thought is that whoever recommended that card meant the EVGA 7900GS. The AGP card will not work in your system.

Do you know the strength of your power supply?

Thanks for the replies. My comp is in getting a new HDD because it **** the bed so I don't know what the power supply is. I can't seem to get the FULL specs from online but maybe I'm missing it.

Reply to LShapedAmbush

Well, it looks like the unit is only 300 watts which may limit the type of upgrade you can do unless you are also willing to replace that as well. I can't find the full specs on it though, so I'm not entirely sure what it might be able to handle. On the plus side, it looks like it's a standard ATX unit so replacing it shouldn't be too difficult. When are you supposed to get the machine back?

It should be ready on monday.

Reply to LShapedAmbush

Ok, when you get it on monday, post back with the specifics of the PSU. If you don't know what I mean look at this for reference: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Show [...] wer+Supply

Look at the sticker on the unit and report back with the total watts (I want to make sure the one I found is the right one), amps on the +12v rail(s), and if it lists the watts supplied to the +12v, that too.

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Thanks, I will.

Reply to LShapedAmbush

lostandwandering wrote :

Ok, when you get it on monday, post back with the specifics of the PSU. If you don't know what I mean look at this for reference: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Show [...] wer+Supply

Look at the sticker on the unit and report back with the total watts (I want to make sure the one I found is the right one), amps on the +12v rail(s), and if it lists the watts supplied to the +12v, that too.

Not sure if I'm reading all of this correctly but:
Max Power 300W
+12V/19A
-12V/0.8A
+5V&12V Total Power Output Can't Exceed 268W

I have it open now...

Reply to LShapedAmbush

Er....... I think you may be pushing it a bit. The recommended for the GS is 350 watts and 20 amps on the +12v rail, which mean that you are 50watts and 1 amp short of the recommended. You could give it a shot and see if the card will work. Your system should shut down or restart if it can't power it. The other option is to replace the PSU with something like this which *should* fit in your case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817104954

Thank you for helping, I appreciate it. They couldn't find another 160GB HDD so they got me a 320GB. I don't use that much but it's still nice.

Doesn't the power consumption increase if I put more workload onto the card? So even if it powers up I might not find out for sure until it's being worked?

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Reply to LShapedAmbush

LShapedAmbush wrote :

Thank you for helping, I appreciate it. They couldn't find another 160GB HDD so they got me a 320GB. I don't use that much but it's still nice.

Doesn't the power consumption increase if I put more workload onto the card? So even if it powers up I might not find out for sure until it's being worked?

No problem.

Yes, when your card is idle, it uses very little power. When you play a game, the amount of power it uses increases. What you could do, is buy the card, install it, run a game and see if your system restarts or shuts down. Again, those recommendations are for loaded systems, so you may or may not be ok. I put what I estimated to be your system into a PSU calculator and it came up with 270watts with the 7900GS. You are cutting it close.

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

I think I only have one more thought. If I get the graphics card and it turns out I need more power and I get that PSU and it doesn't fit that would suck. Is there a way to get the exact dimensions for the PSU?

Reply to LShapedAmbush

Hmmmm. you got me there. I don't know how big it is and the demensions aren't listed on FSP's website. Anyone else got input here?

I used the power supply calculator and came up with 218W.

Reply to LShapedAmbush

What did you put in as your configuration?

System Type: Single Processor
Motherboard: Regular - Desktop
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 631 3000 MHz Cedar Mill
CPU Utilization (TDP): 85% TDP

RAM: 2 Sticks DDR2 SDRAM
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
Video Type: Single Card

SATA HDD: 1 HDD

DVD/CDRW Combo Drive: 1 Drive

Fans
Regular: 1 Fan 80mm; 2 Fans 120mm;

Keyboard and mouse: Yes

System Load: 100 %

Recommended Wattage: 217 Watts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not 100% sure about the fans and USB devices. Also, when I run Windows Experience Rating I get
Processor: 4.2
RAM: 4.8
Graphics: 4.3
Gaming Graphics: 4.1
HDD: 5.8

Is my processor going to be the bottleneck if I get a video card and is it worth it because my base score will be 4.2 or should I not put much into these ratings?

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Message edited by LShapedAmbush on 09-25-2007 at 08:02:31 PM

Reply to LShapedAmbush

The 7900GS should work just fine.

Windows Experience Rating. It's just another ploy to get you to blow more money on your PC for a bloated OS that so far hasn't given much reason to migrate to.

------------------------------ I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates who said, "I drank what?"[/Chris Knight]
You know what ole Jack Burton says at a time like this? Ole Jack says...what the hell[/Jack Burton]

This forum format sucks. Bring back the old one.
Reply to Anoobis

LShapedAmbush wrote :

RAM: 2 Sticks DDR2 SDRAM
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
Video Type: Single Card

Is my processor going to be the bottleneck if I get a video card and is it worth it because my base score will be 4.2 or should I not put much into these ratings?

Okay, there's the difference in our ratings. I had the 7900GS on the list since that's what you are upgrading to (add like 40 more watts). And I agree with Anoobis, ignore the Windows rating. The 7900GS will work well with the rest of your system. I think you will be ok with your current PSU, just don't expect to add much more to it in the future.

Thanks for the help the past few days, Lost, you've really helped me out. I'm going to order a video card... I'll leave a follow-up post to let you know how everything worked out. Take care.

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Reply to LShapedAmbush

LShapedAmbush wrote :

Thanks for the help the past few days, Lost, you've really helped me out. I'm going to order a video card... I'll leave a follow-up post to let you know how everything worked out. Take care.

No problem. Good luck with the new toy!

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