Need Video Adapter for Home Theater Use

mike1

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Jul 1, 2004
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Hi, I'm looking for a video adapter will significantly boost the video score for my new PC.
The OS is Windows 7 64bit premium. ( don't understand the 3D element of Win7 Areo buy I assume it taxes the video adapter. I hope to get a video card that doesn't require me upgrade the power supply. The PC has a 300 watt power supply .Not a gamer at this time but it's probably in the future.


Windows7 64bit premium
ZY Affinity, AMD Phenom™ II X4 Processor 965 (3.4GHz)
AMD 760G / SB710 chipset
8GB DDR3 SDRAM memory, 16GB MAX
ATI Radeon HD 5450 Video Card w/1GB VRAM, VGA/DVI/HDMI ports, DX11 Support
2TB SATA Hard Drive
8x DVD±RW / Blu-Ray Combo Drive
Power Supply: 300W
 

Wolfshadw

Titan
Moderator
Is there something that your current graphics card is having trouble with or is it just the Windows score that bothers you? If it's the latter, forget it. As long as your system does what you need it to do, there no point in upgrading.

On the other hand, if your system is having problems and having deduced it is caused by the graphics card, then upgrade both your graphics card and power supply to a gaming level units (as you apparently intend to use this system for gaming eventually). Also, if this is the case, please provide a budget range.

-Wolf sends
 

flyinfinni

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Honestly, your GPU is not gonna get much better without upgrading the PSU- what brand is it anyway? If you are even considering gaming on that machine, you WILL want to upgrade the PSU AND get a decent GPU. like wolf said- a budget range would be nice.
You'll probably want a bare minimum of a Radeon HD 5670 GPU if you are going to be gaming at all, and a 5770 would probably be better for you. for a PSU, you'll probably want at least a good quality 400W+ (corsair maybe) PSU.
 

mike1

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Thanks for the replies. So far, I'm not gaming. However, if I buy a new GPU & PSU I'll have spent $1,300.00 - $1,400.00 total.
\Which has me rethinking keeping this PC.

I'm having a spontaneous reboot problem but I attribute it to a halfway installed Win7.

Which PC would you buy for occasional gaming, browsing, MS Office use?

I've got a nice 26" Samsung monitor.
 

Wolfshadw

Titan
Moderator
There shouldn't be anything wrong with your current system save for possibly the power supply. Since the 760G series motherboards have on-board graphics, uninstall the HD5450 and try a fresh install of Windows 7. Get a stable install before you go any further.

-Wolf sends
 

flyinfinni

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+1 to Wolf. Try the IGP and see if you can get a good install. If a good install fixes your rebooting problems, throw the 5450 back in there and enjoy. Otherwise, I would say your PSU may be causing the rebooting problem as 300W is pretty underpowered for a modern system like what you have.
 

mike1

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With taxes I paid $1,049.99 for this system. After adding a 450 watt PSU and a good video adapter (5770) I'll have invested $1,300.00 which I believe is a bit much. As soon as I got it I was dl/installing MS patches when I accidently hit the power button which resulted in a corrupt patch install. No problem I'm thinking because I created a restore point as soon as I got it. I didn't know the restore point "aged off" because it wasn't there when I went to restore the system a few weeks after the corrupt install occurred.

I suspect I can get a good PC w/ Win7 64bit, 8GB RAM. DVD burner, etc for a $1,000.00