Looking to upgrade a system...can you confirm my suspicions?

[bcorz]

Hello,

My dad recently a computer and has expressed his desire to upgrade to a Radeon 5770 graphics card. When I was in high school (about 7 years ago) I did a ton with computers but now I am a bit rusty. After doing some research, I would just like you guys to confirm my thoughts before I go and purchase stuff for the upgrade.

Some of his specs are:
Intel® Core™ i7-2600 Processor (3.40GHz)
Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
16GB DDR3 Memory
2TB SATA II Hard Drive
22X DVD±R/RW
Integrated Intel® HD Graphics
10 (7.1+2) channel Intel® High Definition Audio
ATX 12V 350W Power Supply
If you need more… http://www.ztsystems.com/default.aspx?tabid=1239&productid=28067

Most importantly, his motherboard is this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128475&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Motherboards+-+Intel-_-GIGABYTE-_-13128475

My question is, can we use a two slot graphics card on this computer? For example, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121363 .

My concern is that the card will be over an extra slot. Will the card fit there? I have no problem sacrificing the slot (what would he really use it for anyway), but I don’t want to get the card and realize the card will not fit.

I also know that I will need a new power supply. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817170017 will work with this, correct?

Thank you guys for the help…I just want to be sure I am 100% sure I have things right.

 

[kajabla]

Yes, dual-slot will be fine.
Why in the world did he get a 2600...no K? The whole point of that thing is to overclock like crazy!
If you can afford a 2600 (which is ridiculous, by the way...a 2500K would have been just about as good and much cheaper) then you can afford better than a 5770, which is pretty low-end.
A decent 500W PSU should do you fine, such as http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027&cm_re=corsair_500-_-17-139-027-_-Product

What is this thing used for? I'm assuming gaming isn't the answer. What takes that much RAM and such an expensive processor, but no discreet GPU?

 

[bcorz]

Basically, he needed to buy a new computer and that one was on sale at costco. He likes to get the newest things and that computer was relativly cheap. Frankly, he would probably be fine with the onboard graphics but wants to upgrade. He might play Flight Simulator or I might try to convince him to play Portal, but he doesn't need to ramp up every graphics setting. Without going up significantly and price, is there another graphics card you would suggest?

 

[eightdrunkengods]

Dual slot is fine. That case seems big enough.

I would get a better PSU than that Logisys. Spend $50-60 on a good 500 - 600W.

 

[ram1009]

Get the biggest quality PSU you can afford and get an Nvidia GPU instead of ATI/AMD.

 

[Stardude82]

How about just get a 5670 and don't worry about the power source?

 

[hunter315]

You sure thats his motherboard? Looking at the specs for the system it says
Expansion Slots (Total) (2) PCI Express*2.0 x1

Which indicates to me that its a different board and may not have any PCI-E 16x slots which would be very problematic, just confirm that he does have a 16x slot first, would be disappointing to discover he didnt. If he does you dont need to worry about the dual slot card covering up another slot, its going to be high enough up that its not going to conflict with most things on the motherboard since most boards now have short heatsinks of the chipsets which avoids colliding with the cards.


For the power supply definitely do better than a logisys unit, its actually a 450W unit rated with a peak of 575W, it cant even do 450W sustained in most cases, so i would defintely get a better unit, something like the EA500D would be a significant set up and much better suited to handle a 2600K plus GPU than any logisys unit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035&Tpk=EA%20500

@ram1009 - whats the rational behind that advice? In particular why nVidia over AMD?

 

[bcorz]

You sure thats his motherboard? Looking at the specs for the system it says
Expansion Slots (Total) (2) PCI Express*2.0 x1

Which indicates to me that its a different board and may not have any PCI-E 16x slots which would be very problematic, just confirm that he does have a 16x slot first, would be disappointing to discover he didnt. If he does you dont need to worry about the dual slot card covering up another slot, its going to be high enough up that its not going to conflict with most things on the motherboard since most boards now have short heatsinks of the chipsets which avoids colliding with the cards.


For the power supply definitely do better than a logisys unit, its actually a 450W unit rated with a peak of 575W, it cant even do 450W sustained in most cases, so i would defintely get a better unit, something like the EA500D would be a significant set up and much better suited to handle a 2600K plus GPU than any logisys unit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035&Tpk=EA%20500

@ram1009 - whats the rational behind that advice? In particular why nVidia over AMD?

You are correct. It is not the same motherboard, but it is very similar. Like you figured out, I was worried about the clearance issue. He for sure has a PCIEx16 slot though. Nice catch though.

 

[bcorz]

How about just get a 5670 and don't worry about the power source?

I like this idea, in theory. The problem is that every 5670 I find says that I should have a minimum of a 400w power supply. While I am sure that the 350w one would work fine, I really don't want to chance blowing up the computer for something he doesn't really need. What would you guys do about this?

 

[eightdrunkengods]

I like this idea, in theory. The problem is that every 5670 I find says that I should have a minimum of a 400w power supply. While I am sure that the 350w one would work fine, I really don't want to chance blowing up the computer for something he doesn't really need. What would you guys do about this?

I guess you can try it with his current PSU. If the system ends up being unstable, that's probably your culprit. You won't damage or blow up the computer if you get a ridiculously powerful PSU. (I don't know whether or not you mean "blow up his computer" literally...) The system will only draw what it needs. Too little power is probably actually more risky than too much since, if the PSU is inadequate or barely adequate, the PSU will be constantly operating at its max. You could get a 1200W PSU and it would be fine... it would just be a waste of money.

 

[bcorz]

I guess you can try it with his current PSU. If the system ends up being unstable, that's probably your culprit. You won't damage or blow up the computer if you get a ridiculously powerful PSU. (I don't know whether or not you mean "blow up his computer" literally...) The system will only draw what it needs. Too little power is probably actually more risky than too much since, if the PSU is inadequate or barely adequate, the PSU will be constantly operating at its max. You could get a 1200W PSU and it would be fine... it would just be a waste of money.

Sorry I wasn't more clear. I am actually more worried about underpowering the computer. I think I will post over at the graphics cards section and see what people think I should get for a 350w power supply...

 

[bcorz]

Best answer selected by bcorz.