Upgrade to 6850 or 6950 & PSU

[anonyboy]

current system:
Athlon II x4 635 2.9Ghz
AMD760 Motherboard (M4A78LT-M/LE)
4gb DDR3 1333Mhz
Sapphire 5670 512mb
500gb WD Caviar Blue HDD
500w PSU (PSIV-500-2)
Bought this customized build from Lucomputers.com btw. Great for people in Canada who are specific about specs but don't want to build it themselves or pay too much. They don't charge for assembly.

I gathered up some money to buy exercise equipment and got a good deal on something used. So I've got money now to spend on something anti-exercise. Lying back in bed playing video games.

I found a snag in that I'm going to need a new Power supply as well. Mine has sufficient wattage but it has no 6 pin PCI-E connectors. For a new PSU I'm looking at this 700w Apevia. For the Graphics I'm looking at either the HIS 6850 or the HIS 6950 1gb. I chose that power supply because it has 2 6pin PCI-E connectors in case I want the 6950, and it's just $90. If you could find one that's a better fit for around the same price or lower that would be great.

Another issue I have is space. I moved my hard drive up a bit to make room but I'm still worried the 6950 might be a tight fit, especially with all the cords. At least the 6950 gets plugged in the side though instead of the back... It's kind of hard to find card dimensions for some cards though. Any Sapphire card I've looked at only has box/shipping dimensions available.

 

[FrozenGpu]

I would reccommend extreme caution with that Apevia unit, 696 watts from the 12v rail, I seriosuly doubt it.

Try this Seasonic unit instead

I know it's only a 620w, but it's 12v rating seems far more believable at about 48 amps on the 12v rail. Where as that Apevia unit just says 12v (16+14+14+14), which equals 58 amps and would come out to a peak of maybe 696 watts. Extremly suspect, but the shiny psu casing and flashy lights do distract me as well.

As for the 6850 you gave a link for or the 6950, it depends on what is your native resolution. Both of the HIS cards you shared were reference design coolers so you can expect from the 6850 ~ 9.25" x 4.4" x 1.5" about 9.5" clearance would be good, 9.25" clearance might be a bit snug, since we don't know what case you have.
For the 6950 expect ~ 11.3" x 4.38" x 1.5" about 11.5" clearance would be good, anything less might be a bit too snug, again it depends on the case you have.

Edit: I meant to say that 16+14+14+14=58, but that is not how you find the total amps on the 12v rail, you need know what the max. watts on the 12v. rails/rail can handle then divide that by 12, if I remember correctly.

 

[anonyboy]

thanks for the suggested power supply. The Apevia has lots of good reviews but I'll take your suspicions seriously since I don't know about this stuff very much.

I got this cheap mid-tower case...
8197 Deluxe ATX Mid Tower Case 16-3/4"x7-1/2"x17-3/8"
Really not much clearance room...

As for native resolution, I have 2. Most of the time I'm using my 32" 720p TV, but I occasionally switch it over to my 20" desk monitor. I keep the TV's resolution at 1280 x 720 because anything higher just doesn't look right (and it would make everything too hard to read from lying in bed). The monitor has a native resolution of 1920 x 1080.

I know what the dimensions are for the 2 HIS cards. 23.2 cm long for the 6850 and 25.5 cm long for the 6950. My current sapphire card is about 19 cm long and fits just fine. I just find it annoying when I'm looking at the other cards and can't find the damn dimensions. I keep finding box/shipping dimensions...

 

[FrozenGpu]

Measure the clearance room for the gfx card you want to put in there, now oyu know the dimensions you're good. Since your desktop 20" can do a nice healthy 1920*1080 I'd say throw down for the 6950 if you got the cash.

The Apevia unit might work fine, but I deal in worst case scenario's though. I believe that you should get the best possible bang for your buck and for me that means stability and reliability first and foremost.

Most users probably never really stressed that Apevia unit like johnnyguru does or any other legitimate reviewer, that's why I said extreme caution on the Apevia unit.

 

[anonyboy]

alright, well for the gfx card I'm thinking of switching to the XFX 6950 instead of the HIS. The reviews are saying the HIS one has a really loud fan.

what do you think about this 650w Corsair? It's got over 1,500 reviews and lots are saying that it handles well under heavy load (it also has free shipping, huzzah).

I checked my case and between the gfx card bay and the hard drive bay there's 10.5" clearance. The hard drive bay gives an extra 4.75" clearance (but obviously that's just breathing room since the gfx card can't fit into the hard drive bay). I moved my hard drive so it and all the cords aren't in the way. The gfx card is 10.2" long (25.9 cm), so it should fit and have lots of breathing room, right?

 

[FrozenGpu]

Go w/ the xfx double lifetime warrenty is awesome when you wnat to resell it b/c it will actually protect the next pruchaser from manufacturing defects which is a huge plus and makes it easier to sell and get more back when it comes time to upgrade.

That corsair 650-tx is an excellent unit, don't know why I didn't see it in the 89.99 range before...but go for it. Plus it has a $10 MIR...so yes.

You should be okay, but b/c I cannot physically see how much clearance you have this part is up to you to ensure it'll work. But if what you say is true, then yes a 10.2" card will work perfectly in a 10.5" space, eh?

 

[anonyboy]

Best answer selected by anonyboy.