Upgrading my GeForce 8200 to a GTS 450

[tonybruce]

So I am currently sporting a GeForce 8200 and want to upgrade to a GTS 450. I have been doing research and found that the 8200 is an mGPU. So if I get a GTS 450 would I be able to install it in a PCI normally or will that interfere with the GPU. I am just getting started in my computer nerdiness so I appreciate the help thanks!

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5800+
Graphics: GeForce 8200
PSU: ATX Switching 450W, 12V, 25A
Memory: 4 GB DDR2

 

[ps3hacker12]

whats your current mobo BTW?

 

[nforce4max]

That psu has me worried, a stock gts 450 at full load uses 109w while overclocked models use slightly more power. That psu seams to be a generic or a oem unit and I suggest that you should invest in a new unit in the future so there is one less thing to hold you back.

 

[tonybruce]

Ok I will upgrade my PSU asap. Is Corsair a solid brand to go with?

Also i have a XFX MI-A78S-8209 Mobo

 

[nforce4max]

Corsair is ok so go for it if you want.

 

[ps3hacker12]

just saying but you could upgrade your processor to a phenom 720 (AM3) or a phenom 910 (AM3) if you wanted:
http://xfxforce.com/en-us/products/motherboards/nvidia%20geforceseries/~/ecms.ashx/XFXCPUCompatibilityList-AMD.pdf

and yes corsair, XFX, seasonic, Antec, OCZ and some others are all good brands, things to look for are good PSU reviews (if the PSU doesn't have a review normally thats a bad sign in itself!).

[EDIT]: make sure you uninstall all old drivers (the geforce 8200 drivers) before installing your GTS 450! i would reccommend a 6770 instead for around the same price it has better performance but its up to you really and what games you play (i went with a gts450 due to Nvidia PhysX).

 

[tonybruce]

Would suggest upgrading my CPU and GPU then before I worry too much about the PSU? I noticed that on the site it says the 8200 supports AM2+ sockets http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_8200_mgpu_us.html so am I still able to use the phenom 910?

just saying but you could upgrade your processor to a phenom 720 (AM3) or a phenom 910 (AM3) if you wanted:
http://xfxforce.com/en-us/products/motherboards/nvidia%20geforceseries/~/ecms.ashx/XFXCPUCompatibilityList-AMD.pdf

and yes corsair, XFX, seasonic, Antec, OCZ and some others are all good brands, things to look for are good PSU reviews (if the PSU doesn't have a review normally thats a bad sign in itself!).

[EDIT]: make sure you uninstall all old drivers (the geforce 8200 drivers) before installing your GTS 450! i would reccommend a 6770 instead for around the same price it has better performance but its up to you really and what games you play (i went with a gts450 due to Nvidia PhysX).

 

[ps3hacker12]

Would suggest upgrading my CPU and GPU then before I worry too much about the PSU? I noticed that on the site it says the 8200 supports AM2+ sockets http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_8200_mgpu_us.html so am I still able to use the phenom 910?

yes you will. i would reccommend the 720 over the phenom 910 tho it will be able to clock higher and may have a chance of unlocking into a quad core.

 

[ps3hacker12]

yes.
PSU can wait.
any BIOS update is huge to allow wider CPU compatibility..
phenom ii x3 720 - or better (unlocking abilities)
athlon ii x3 440 - or better (unlocking abilities)
phenom ii x4 820 - or better - (good overclocking abilities)
phenom ii x4 955/965 BE's - ideal and will hold you over for now..

yep this ^ too bad his mobo doesn't support higher end phenoms :/ his board doesn't support athlon II's either and the phenom 820 doesn't seem to be on his CPU support list either :/

phenom 720 combos i would reccommend:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.710744
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.710760

or this graphics card/processor combo (you will still need to buy a cooler):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.717171

 

[tonybruce]

Ill make a mobo upgrade as soon as I am out of college I just need something to run my games at a decent enough quality to tie me over. I understand overclocking but what do you guys mean by unlocking capabilities?

yep this ^ too bad his mobo doesn't support higher end phenoms :/ his board doesn't support athlon II's either and the phenom 820 doesn't seem to be on his CPU support list either :/

 

[ps3hacker12]

Ill make a mobo upgrade as soon as I am out of college I just need something to run my games at a decent enough quality to tie me over. I understand overclocking but what do you guys mean by unlocking capabilities?

unlocking meaning the processor has a chance of unlocking a fourth core so it has a chance of turning from a tri-core into a quad-core.

 

[tonybruce]

Is this dangerous to the cpu at all? Also is this something I would have to do in the BIOS or would this occur on its own?

unlocking meaning the processor has a chance of unlocking a fourth core so it has a chance of turning from a tri-core into a quad-core.

 

[tonybruce]

thanks for all of your help guys

 

[photonboy]

*Tech answer:

I believe you have a "Socket 939" motherboard?

If so, there are no CPU's available anymore for this motherboard.

Your current CPU would bottleneck most graphics cards on the market. This CPU can would bottleneck anything beyond an HD4770 which would be equivalent to no more than a $50 graphics card today.

It's nice to think you can spend $200 and get a half-decent gaming system but that's not going to happen.

Summary:
I advise you to forget about upgrading this system, but if you still intend to squeeze a little more out of it then I'll help you. I only require to know:
a) your motherboard model
b) how much RAM you have and what frequency it is (i.e. 2GB at 800MHz)
c) your budget
d) what games you intend to play

 

[tonybruce]

my mobo has ddr2 RAM and has AM2+

 

[tonybruce]

Well i really appreciate you stepping in and saving me before I got all confused

you know me greghome, I have a hard time telling people they are wrong..

 

[ps3hacker12]

*Tech answer:

I believe you have a "Socket 939" motherboard?

If so, there are no CPU's available anymore for this motherboard.

Your current CPU would bottleneck most graphics cards on the market. This CPU can would bottleneck anything beyond an HD4770 which would be equivalent to no more than a $50 graphics card today.

It's nice to think you can spend $200 and get a half-decent gaming system but that's not going to happen.

Summary:
I advise you to forget about upgrading this system, but if you still intend to squeeze a little more out of it then I'll help you. I only require to know:
a) your motherboard model
b) how much RAM you have and what frequency it is (i.e. 2GB at 800MHz)
c) your budget
d) what games you intend to play

why bother when his motherboard supports the latest AM3 processors?? his current CPU would bottleneck but a phenom 720 tri-core (maybe OCed and unlocked) would easily keep up with the GTS 450.

 

[otinen]

A quad core is overkill for a gts 450. The Really I used to have the 5800+, and that cpu is very very good even now a days. Your PSU is good enough its got a solid 25 amps so it should be more than adecuate.

Performance wise, your current cpu and the gts450 matchup well. neither will bottleneck the other. Pay attention to what resolutions you are playing at, tis all.

 

[ps3hacker12]

one, you spelled adequate incorrectly...
second, you have no clue what you speak of either.
quad core overkill for GTS 450 - asinine statement
5800+ good nowadays - for what an HTPC maybe that's about it.
thirdly - just move on and do not come back to this thread, 'The Really'.

over the last week or so it seems the ignorance is becoming plague like blanketing the internet.
what the hell is going on.?!

what he said ^ and also

fourthly who said quad core its a tri-core phenom...

 

[photonboy]

ps3hacker12:

Don't be such a jerk.

First of all, I accidentally missed his answer to what motherboard he had. I had an X2-4800+ on an S939. Obviously if I had seen his answer I would have Google'd it and found out it was not an S939.

Second of all, I said I wasn't sure and that I would help him if it wasn't S939.

People can make misteaks but a jerk is a jerk and the following comment from you is simply rude:

"in either case any info from you here on out is null and void."

If you're going to be a jerk, why don't you read through the entire article and flame the guys who are making idiotic comments that don't even help like "columbian coke" or even this comment made about YOU:

"bro, it's already been decided that he is an idiot...
that's why he hasn't been back."

I've never been anything but professional, and your comment is far from the worst I've seen but I am getting fed up with people being so quick to criticize.

There is a code of conduct for Internet posting and chatting that states that we should never type anything on the Internet that we wouldn't say in a polite conversation.

I'd like people to adhere to this code (this includes "malmental" who was more rude, just not to me.)

 

[photonboy]

tonybruce,

If you still want help I'd be happy to open up a dialogue and discuss your options. As you may have read above, I missed your comment about which motherboard you had.

Anyway, I do happen to know a great deal about computers such as where bottlenecks occur, power supplies and the costs of upgrading.

It is important to note that new graphics cards are coming out soon which I suggest be taken into consideration.

 

[photonboy]

To really help him we need to nail down which games he plays.. I didn't see that.

I don't think that's really been discussed, and if he just wanted to play a few games that weren't nearly as demanding as say "Fallout" then maybe upgrading is the way to go.

Anyway, like I said he needs to be more specific about his needs, expectations and budget.

 

[photonboy]

no, that was intended for you...

Thanks for clearing that up.

Anyway, the point of this thread is to help the guy that started it and not flame people for simple mistakes.

 

[photonboy]

Tonybruce,

After reading this thread through again, I thought I should make some points:

1) There is always a bottleneck in a system. For games, it's mainly the CPU or Graphics card.

2) An older CPU like you have now would bottleneck most gaming video cards, so you'd really need to upgrade it.

3) Next, you'd have to decide on how much to spend on the graphics card. If the CPU could support, say, a GTX560Ti which cost $230 you'd have to decide if that was too much.

4) Games vary in the amount of CPU they use.

5) To restate, if you spend too much on the CPU and not enough on the graphics card you'll be bottlenecked by the graphics card. The reverse is true. A $200 graphics card would be severely bottlenecked by your CPU.

Summary:
The goal of upgrading a system for the intention of gaming starts in general, with the graphics card. We look at gaming benchmarks for games we will play at the quality, resolution and frame rate we would play them at.

We next look for a CPU that's good enough to not be a bottleneck to the graphics card.

We next look for a Power Supply, if the present one is inadequate to handle the upgrade. We look both at overall WATTAGE, but also the AMPS for the graphics card. We want at least 1.25x the rating of the graphics cards. For example, a GTX570 might use 38Amps so I'd maybe recommend a 48Amps or more PSU (Amps on the +12V rail or rails. Often printed right on the side of the PSU.)

Finally, we add up the total cost and decide on one of the following:
1) Yes, it's worth the money to me to upgrade.
2) No, it's too much I'll keep my current system for now.
3) No, I think I'm better off building a new system.

 

[ps3hacker12]

ps3hacker12:

Don't be such a jerk.

First of all, I accidentally missed his answer to what motherboard he had. I had an X2-4800+ on an S939. Obviously if I had seen his answer I would have Google'd it and found out it was not an S939.

Second of all, I said I wasn't sure and that I would help him if it wasn't S939.

People can make misteaks but a jerk is a jerk and the following comment from you is simply rude:

"in either case any info from you here on out is null and void."

If you're going to be a jerk, why don't you read through the entire article and flame the guys who are making idiotic comments that don't even help like "columbian coke" or even this comment made about YOU:

"bro, it's already been decided that he is an idiot...
that's why he hasn't been back."

I've never been anything but professional, and your comment is far from the worst I've seen but I am getting fed up with people being so quick to criticize.

There is a code of conduct for Internet posting and chatting that states that we should never type anything on the Internet that we wouldn't say in a polite conversation.

I'd like people to adhere to this code (this includes "malmental" who was more rude, just not to me.)

lol what? those qoutes are from malmental/greghome