Need advise on Graphic Card upgrade

[ronstar111]

Hi all,

My PC is an I3 2.93 Ghz, with an intel 5 series /3400 series chipset and 4GB of RAM. OS is Win7 home edition.

I have a lousy graphic card. its the radeon 5450, and would like ot upgrade. I use the PC for work and gaming, but gaming is the motivation behind the upgrade.

I don't want to overkill and make the PC the bottleneck, so my question is what is the best Graphic Card for this PC?

Appreciate your advice
Cheer
R.

 

[Maziar]

Hello and welcome to the forums
What is your power supply and what resolution do you play at ?

 

[ronstar111]

Hi,

I play on 1920x1080 resolution

The Power supply is 300W

These are the specs of the actual machine:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c02094738&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&site=null&key=null&product=4154995

Thank you
R

 

[ronstar111]

Do I need to get a stronger power supply, or would that just bottleneck the CPU and motehrboard?

 

[jaguarskx]

I wouldn't go with anything better than the HD 5670 without upgrading the power supply.

 

[Maziar]

Right^
The best GPU you can get with your current PSU would be 5670 which is a huge upgrade over your current card but don't expect to max out games on 1080p with it.

 

[ronstar111]

If I upgraded the power supply, then what is the best power supply for this system (where I wouldn't be overkilling it), and then what graphic card would be the best one with this new power supply all else equal.

thanks again
Ron

 

[wannaturnuptheheat]

If I upgraded the power supply, then what is the best power supply for this system (where I wouldn't be overkilling it), and then what graphic card would be the best one with this new power supply all else equal.

thanks again
Ron

Depends on your budget.

If you've got a few hundred bucks, I'll be the first to tell you to grab a ~550W PSU and a 5700 or 5800 series GPU.

But first, how much are you willing to spend?

 

[Wallie911]

I would say look at a cheap 550w or 585w from gigabyte and then you can look at any 200 or 400 series cards in the nvidia series Im not that familiar with ATI.

 

[ronstar111]

Is there a point where my CPU becomes the bottle neck?

I suppose I can invest max 250 dollars on this, but would rather stay at around 150.

thanks again

 

[ronstar111]

another question. regardng the graphic card. if later I wanted to add monitors could the graphic card you recommended cope with say a total of 2 or 3 monitors (even at a lower res would be fine, as the extra monitors would be for work)?

 

[wannaturnuptheheat]

Most modern Radeon cards support Eyefinity (multi-display output) natively, so assuming you spend about $150... consider the Radeon 5770. Should run on your stock PSU, if you're feeling nervous, spend 45 bucks to upgrade to this decent 380W Antec PSU; but it shouldn't be necessary. However, that 380W PSU will be able to handle the more power-efficient Radeon cards (according to the PSU calculator, a 6870 in your system would only cause a 325W draw), so if you're thinking about keeping that computer for a while....

I'm the ATI/AMD guy, though, so I'm not sure how Nvidia products natively handle multi-display output...

 

[ronstar111]

I live in Europe now ans it seems like the the 5670 costs about $88, 5770 costs $120, 5850 costs about $205, and the 6870 cost about $214.

From my understanding 6870 is faster than 5850 costs the same and requires a smaller power supply (strange, so i must be missing something).

the 5770 seems to be twice as powerful as the 5670 in terms of processing architucture, and doesnt cost twice as much so I guess the question is spending $120 on a 5670 or 260 on a 6870 + power supply.

seems like the 6870 is about twice as powerful as 5770. Would you say that I understand correctly and that bank for buck the options are equivallent? or is there something that the I really wont be able to do wit hthe 5770?

thanks
Ron

however,

 

[ronstar111]

Hi again, just a quick note...

I must be missunderstanding something, cause i looked at the system reuirements from the 5770 and 6870 and the powersupplys metioned are 450W and 500W respectively. does that mean I wll haveto buy a bigger powersupply?

 

[ronstar111]

I entered all the specs into the PSU calculator you sent me, and it seems from that, that I'll need 500W anywise. actially even when I set it with my current 5450 card the calculator shows that the PSU is too weak. The calculator figures I needa 386W PSU with the Radeon 5450 card

 

[Wallie911]

Almost any card's today can handle more than one display.

 

[ronstar111]

Most modern Radeon cards support Eyefinity (multi-display output) natively, so assuming you spend about $150... consider the Radeon 5770. Should run on your stock PSU, if you're feeling nervous, spend 45 bucks to upgrade to this decent 380W Antec PSU; but it shouldn't be necessary. However, that 380W PSU will be able to handle the more power-efficient Radeon cards (according to the PSU calculator, a 6870 in your system would only cause a 325W draw), so if you're thinking about keeping that computer for a while....

I'm the ATI/AMD guy, though, so I'm not sure how Nvidia products natively handle multi-display output...

I'm a bit confused, based on the calculator the 6870 would draw about 114W more than the 5450 (210W vs 96W). doesnt that mean that I would have to buy a 410W PSU instead of the 300PSU in my system right now?

 

[ronstar111]

Most modern Radeon cards support Eyefinity (multi-display output) natively, so assuming you spend about $150... consider the Radeon 5770. Should run on your stock PSU, if you're feeling nervous, spend 45 bucks to upgrade to this decent 380W Antec PSU; but it shouldn't be necessary. However, that 380W PSU will be able to handle the more power-efficient Radeon cards (according to the PSU calculator, a 6870 in your system would only cause a 325W draw), so if you're thinking about keeping that computer for a while....

I'm the ATI/AMD guy, though, so I'm not sure how Nvidia products natively handle multi-display output...

Hi Again,

Are you referring to Saphire or XFX cards. what's teh difference btw?

thanks again
R

 

[wannaturnuptheheat]

I'm not telling you to upgrade to a 6870 now; I'm saying, if you get a PSU that's a bit beefier now, you could upgrade to a card like the 6870 in the future because it's efficient enough.

 

[ronstar111]

I'm not telling you to upgrade to a 6870 now; I'm saying, if you get a PSU that's a bit beefier now, you could upgrade to a card like the 6870 in the future because it's efficient enough.

but assuming I wanted teh 6870 then according to the PSU calculator I need another 110W (since it seems t odraw that much more than the 5450). However the system requirements from this card on the AMD site say 500W. You metioned 325W or a 380W PSU. So I am just trying to understand which is it as I assume you had a reason to suggest a smaller PSU. If I can get away with spanding less on a PSU I don't mind, but I rather have the right PSU so that I can benefit from the card.

Can you explain which one I should get then please?

p.s. the 4850 also seems to require 450W in the system requirements. is this a better card than the 6870?

 

[wannaturnuptheheat]

but assuming I wanted teh 6870 then according to the PSU calculator I need another 110W (since it seems t odraw that much more than the 5450). However the system requirements from this card on the AMD site say 500W. You metioned 325W or a 380W PSU. So I am just trying to understand which is it as I assume you had a reason to suggest a smaller PSU. If I can get away with spanding less on a PSU I don't mind, but I rather have the right PSU so that I can benefit from the card.

Can you explain which one I should get then please?

p.s. the 4850 also seems to require 450W in the system requirements. is this a better card than the 6870?

AMD says 500W?

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-crossfirex-review/4

These charts are the full power consumption of a system containing the 6870. As you can see:

Radeon HD 6870 1024MB 173 295

It doesn't pass 300W at max usage. Keep in mind that this is a system with a Core i7 overclocked significantly. To use their own words:

On average we are using roughly 50 to 100 Watts more than a standard PC due to higher CPU clock settings, cooling, additional cold cathode lights etc.

Ignore the legal talk on AMD's page.

 

[ronstar111]

AMD says 500W?

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-crossfirex-review/4

These charts are the full power consumption of a system containing the 6870. As you can see:

Radeon HD 6870 1024MB 173 295

It doesn't pass 300W at max usage. Keep in mind that this is a system with a Core i7 overclocked significantly. To use their own words:

On average we are using roughly 50 to 100 Watts more than a standard PC due to higher CPU clock settings, cooling, additional cold cathode lights etc.

Ignore the legal talk on AMD's page.

OK, but unless i misunderstand then the measurement (141W)on top seems to be just the PSU ussage. on the bottom of the page they make the recomendation for the whole system, and suggest a 500W PSU. Am i missing something?

 

[wannaturnuptheheat]

OK, but unless i misunderstand then the measurement (141W)on top seems to be just the PSU ussage. on the bottom of the page they make the recomendation for the whole system, and suggest a 500W PSU. Am i missing something?

Look:

If you get a low-efficiency PSU, yes, you will need a 500W PSU. If you get one that's energy-saving certified (such as the 380W I showed you, it is Bronze-Certified), you will not need AMD's recommendation, or what Guru3d said; both are erring on the assumption that you are looking at typical consumer PSUs.

 

[ronstar111]

ok cool. thanks a lot ofr your help

 

[ronstar111]

Hi again,

ok I bought the ATI radeon HD 6870 and a 430 Antec Green PSU (rather than a 380 since the price was almost the same). I installed both of them, and installed the drivers.

Problem is that not my entire display is being used now. there is about 1/2 an inch not used on all sides. Can you advise please

thanks
Ron