Dell 755 SFF desktop + Radeon 6670

Thank you very much for your replies.

My PSU is 275 watts, but I will take a picture of the inside of the computer to show you guys what I am working with.

As for the 9800GT, I would very much prefer that card over the Radeon solely because when I had my gaming rig I had two SLI'd 9600GT's and they were absolutely fantastic and I could run any game I wanted on max settings and the picture was phenomenal. If I could fit that 9800GT in the 755 I would be most pleased.

My only concern is the space issue and the PSU. If the PSU is not enough to power the card, do you guys have any recommendations as to which PSU is stronger and will fit in my SFF case? Also, if the 9800GT doesn't fit, couldn't I just go with a rise cage?

If so, could someone shed a little light on the rise cages and how those work?

I'm going to post pictures of my rig in just a sec.

Thanks!

Alright, so here are the pictures as promised and it pretty much gives you a general idea of how much space I have for everything. The current graphics card that is installed is the Radeon HD 2400 XT. Unfortunately the hard drive case does take up a lot of retail space even though the hard drive is generally pretty small.

I was thinking that maybe to get more space for a graphics card I could replace the 3.5" hard drive with a 2.5" hard drive. Would that be possible? Would I even need it?

I also saw that the Radeon 6670 had a higher benchmark then the 9800GT so I was wondering if it was still wise to go with the 9800GT even though... But still, the benchmark wasn't much higher then the 9800GT so if space is going to make or break which card I get.. obviously I'll get the 9800GT. No complaints there.



You can see that there is a lot of room for a graphics card length wise.. but width wise the hard drive case really takes up a lot of space.

Full rig shot:
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And here's the power supply:


I'm thinking the PSU is going to need to be upgraded for the better of the computer in general since I want to upgrade to a Core 2 Quad and 8GB of ram in the near future. Do you guys have any suggestions for a good PSU that provides more power and will fit my rig?



I am very grateful for all of your help guys. I'm actually great with computers so hopefully I can start helping out around here as well. I'm currently in an IT internship for a high school near me. I've just never worked with a computer so dang small before lol.

Not sure.. could you recommend a better power supply that will fit? I'll buy a better one if necessary..

I really just don't want to get a larger computer. I've had a larger computer before, and while it was a pretty high powered computer.. it was also large and produced lots of heat because of all the crazy aftermarket stuff I put in to it.

I just want a small desktop PC that can play a few games and be fast when I need it to be.

Besides, both cards we are talking about go for around 50-100 bucks on ebay/tigerdirect/amazon and that's not that much money to spend.

About the quad and the 8gb of ram.. who knows, maybe by then I'll have a larger computer. But for now, I just want to stick with what I got and upgrade this machines graphics card. I got this entire rig for 140 bucks so I really want to drop some money in to it and make it better. Even though it's pretty cramped in there..  

I'd agree maybe making an update in the future. Let's focus on the GPU for now.
A 9800GT is going to draw too much power, most likely. I seem to remember they require 22a on the 12v rail, of which you have only 17a, which a 6670 should be fine on.
A 6670 (GDDR5) is without a doubt superior to a 9800GT in every aspect I can think of. It's far newer architecture, it should be better.

Yup, the Sapphire low profile card I linked should fit in there pretty easy.

Great. I think I might buy that card then.

But to be completely honest.. malmental is seriously peer pressuring me haha. I'm looking at all the nice 50 dollar cases at tigerdirect and I am seriously just itching to buy one I like and start building again.   I'm thinking maybe I should buy this graphics card and the case of my choice, and just switch everything over to the new case when it gets here and then start upgrading from there.

The Core 2 Duo I have right now should be compatible with most Intel boards right? I forgot what socket type it is but I believe it's 775 right? Meh.. going to have to look at that because I'll definitely be wanting to upgrade the motherboard.

Unfortunately.. no one sells that sapphire card anymore.   Newegg is out of stock. Booo

Remember if you upgrade the mobo, you gotta install windows with a new copy. It's linked to the mobo.

Next, Moto's gonna get in here and preach about cable management. Talk about peer pressure...

I love cable management lol. It was lots of fun on my last rig. And yeah I know about the OS.

Is a 500w PSU enough to power any card? I'm thinking like dual 9800GT's.

Not ANY card. I'd like to see you run a 6990 on a 500w, haha. It will run most cards, including a pair of 9800GT's.
Dual 9800GT's isn't really the ideal place to start a new rig. Are you looking to build a new rig?

Kinda.. I'm really itching to do so.. but I doubt I would have enough money to finish the build. I was thinking more a long the lines of buying a new case, installing the parts from this 755 in it and then working my way up from there. That way I didn't just waste my money on this cool desktop.

Know what I mean?

And yeah, I didn't mean ANY card lol, I just meant like consumer grade cards and not like a quadro 4000 or something.

Realistically, what do you think I should do? Is my idea of transferring this stuff into a new case a good place to start?

See, I want to keep the case really sleek and simple, but still be able to fit a nice graphics card in there, so I figure I could get a case like this: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/ite... and then be able to move out the stupid hard drive case and get a smaller more efficient heatsink for the CPU, therefore freeing up room for a bigger better graphics card.

Maybe SLI'ing will have to wait for the future.. it's not like I'm in a rush to spend double the dough on two graphic cards when one will get the job done nicely.

You guys think that case I linked to will give me more room then this 755's stock case?

Best answer selected by h2l.

Well, that's still a half height HTPC case. You might consider getting a microATX case, short and fat.

Why short and fat? And what do you mean by half height HTPC case? Do you think it's just a waste of money? Would it still give me space issues? I thought that because the hard drive and some other components will be moved around more efficiently, it would give me better access to the motherboard and more room for the graphics card?

Am i wrong to assume that with the case I linked too?

This is another pretty sexy case. What do you think? And it comes with a 500w PSU. I'm sure it's nothing special.. but it's sure as heck better then 275w lol.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/ite...

Well, see how skinny the case you linked is? That's half height. You need standard ATX size.
No, that Apevia isn't too good. The PSU isn't quality. Look at the Antec 300 and the HAF 912.

It's a little bigger and wider, and a little less sleek then the last case I linked to and doesn't include a PSU, but it's 40 bucks, and looks pretty cool and looks like it might have a better layout and more space for the motherboard.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/ite...

What do you guys think?

But those are both mid tower cases you linked to. I'm really trying to get a case that isn't gigantic. Do you know if the mobo in my 755 is a micro ATX or ATX?

It'll be MicroATX. Yeah sorry, forgot you like microATX. Check out the NZXT Vulcan!

I think I understand now what you mean.

So instead of those smaller cases, what about this one? My last rig was in a NZXT M59 and I thought it was an incredible case. This one is smaller, and white.  

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/ite...

Hhahaha I did check that one out. It looks pretty dang cool but it looks like my stuff would be really cramped in there lol. And what's with that handle? I don't dig that all too well lol.

It's a MicroATX case. All cases will be like that.

True that. But I think I have made up my mind. Not 100% positive yet and I'm definitely going to sleep on it, but I think I'm going to get the white NZXT Source 210 Elite Mid tower.

I think getting this case will allow me to have more room to work with stuff while still not being that huge of a case. It's only 19" in depth, 7" wide, and 14" tall. I think that really fits the bill for me.

It's sleek, it's not gaudy, doesn't have those giant see through windows and doesn't have any odd curves or ledges on it that will collect inane amounts of dust like my last M59. Also, it gives me the option to upgrade to a larger motherboard in the future, should I choose to do so.

Also, my walls are white and the furniture in my room is black so I think this case will fit in really well.