A few questions for GPU upgrade

H

hitech0101

Posts: 450   +36
Here are my specs:
Intel C2D 2.8GHz
Mobo Intel DG31PR
4 Gb RAM DDR2
1x250gb seagate HDD
1x1TB seagate HDD

I want to upgrade to HD 7770 for gaming purposes
Q.1.)Can a Antec VP450W handle the card smoothly?
Q.2.)Is the HD 7770 worth the extra buck or should I settle for HD 7750?
Q.3)How much difference does the brand make I am thinking between saphire and asus (I heard negative things about gigabyte & xfx).
Q.4)Asus card mentions it is factory overclocked how much difference in performance does that make?

Thanks.
 
1. Yes, it should be fine
2. Depends on what the price difference is
3. There's no difference except the warranty period, I wouldn't pay a premium for a "better" brand
4. Don't get a factory overclocked card unless it's the same price as a stock one, you can easily overclock the stock cards yourself.
 
One more question will this card fit into my cabinet currently 8400 gs fits correctly I believe the hd 7770 is much wider hence am worried it might not fit into the case.The distance between one end and where the hole for the screw is about 125 mm the card mentions width of 140mm.
The total width of the cabinet is 160mm.
 
The card I looked at was 223.52mm long by 111.76mm tall by 38.1mm wide. The card has a dual slot cooler (double wide) solution. That means it will take up the extra space to the left of the of the PCI-E slot it resides in. As long as you don't have an add in card immediately to the left of the PCI-E slot you should be fine, and if you do have an extra card there you should uninstall its driver and put that card in a different slot further to the left and then reinstall that card's driver.

I have my doubts about your power supply. AMD lists the minimum power rating for the power supply at 500 watts, and you're 50 watts below that. Your power supply may work for a while but it will eventually die because of the extra stress created by the new video card. You don't want to just meet the minimums, it would be a bit safer if you added a quality 650 watt power supply, so you're not always stressing your equipment. The power supply will last longer and you'll have fewer oopsies (BSODs) because your PSU couldn't keep up while under stress.
 
I'm going to second the post above about the power supply. You may have issues at mid to high power draw, consider a better psu.
 
I read on the review that hd 7770 is more power efficient than other cards and draws much less power even on max settings so I thought 450W should be enough will a corsair cx 500W be enough thats all I can afford right now.Also the manufacturers weebsite mentions 450W psu.
About the width do all gpu cards have same width for the metal plate in which connectors are located?
Thanks for helping.
 
All of the 7770 I looked at had a dual slot cooling solution. A few of the 7750's use a single slot cooling solution, and you will not need to upgrade your PSU.
 
So I am ok with hd 7770 and antec 450 combo and also I am fine with the card taking the extra slot, just the thing I want to clarify is the vertical height on this image will this fit this in the case the measurement I took kind of made it tight.asus-hd-7770-direct-cu-400x400-imad7hq9gr6pzv6z.jpeg Thanks a lot for helping.
 
There's only two possible heights: normal height (which almost all retail cards are) and low profile. If you have an OEM slimline case or similar then you probably need a low profile card. If you have a "normal" size case then almost certainly you can fit that 7770. The height difference is pretty obvious between the two.

To be honest a decent 450W PSU will be fine, it doesn't look like you're overclocking and you've only got a couple of hard drives.
 
"The total width of the cabinet is 160mm" OK, I get it now. Yes, that card will fit inside your case. You can try the Antec 450 watt power supply as long as it has a plug that will fit into the socket on the video card.
 
I'm making a tonne of assumptions here, but this is what was calculated:

[FONT=Times New Roman][FONT=Verdana]System Type:[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]1 physical CPU[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]Motherboard:[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Regular - Desktop[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]CPU Socket:[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Socket LGA 775[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]CPU:[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 2800 MHz Wolfdale-3M[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]CPU Utilization (TDP):[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]90% TDP[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]RAM:[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]2 Sticks DDR2 SDRAM[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]Video Card 1:[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]AMD Radeon HD 6850[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]

Regular SATA:[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]2 HDDs[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]DVD-RW/DVD+RW Drive:[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]1 Drive[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]Fans[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]Regular:[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]2 Fans 120mm; 1 Fan 140mm; [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]Keyboard and mouse:[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Yes[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]System Load:[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]90 %[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]Minimum PSU Wattage:[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]258 Watts[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]Recommended Wattage:[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]308 Watts[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
 
Thanls a lot for helping guyz

@PC nerd I found the rates of the hd 6850 and hd 7770 to be same here,in our currency very little difference but the hd 6850 requires a 500W psu listed on all websites and corsair cx 500W is gonna cost me atleast 700 of my currency more than that of antec 450. Your calculations are exact but still worried about whether the antec vp 450 will handle hd 6850 smoothly hence I went with the 7770.
 
In reality, 500W is a massive overestimate.

The most my computer has ever taken is 370W from the wall when running furmark and Prime95 simultaneously, which is pushing the system unrealistically hard anyway. My specs:

Phenom X4 955 @3.8GHz/1.375V
4x2GB DDR3 1600MHz RAM
M4A88TD V-EVO Motherboard
Samsung 830 64GB SSD
Maxtor 250GB HDD
6850 1GB Overclocked to 960MHz core/4600MHz memory @1.150V
Many fans + blue cathodes + front temperature display
All running from a Corsair 650W power supply

My computer really eats the watts. Yours won't. 2.8GHz Core2Duo barely uses any power, as Intel have always been very efficient.

Just saying, 450W will be alright.
 
Guyz need a little help I went to the local vendor he offered me three brands xfx,sapphire,powercolor. xfx was the cheapest and sapphire most expensive which one to buy I really don't mind spending a bit extra but I want the card to perform nicely for atleast a few years after warranty period.
 
Choose the card with the longest warranty. If they all have the same warranty then choose the card with the lowest price.
 
They're all good manufacturers.

Sapphire is my particular favourite. But XFX is also a solid company.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

theaussieguy
Upgrade GPU for Dell XPS 7100 (4K Compatible)
Replies
0
Views
3K
theaussieguy
theaussieguy
Shawn Knight
Asus launches the VivoBook S510, an Ultrabook for those on a budget
Replies
3
Views
1K
hexDb
H
Ivan Franco
Zotac Magnus EK71080 Mini PC Review
Replies
4
Views
2K
Stark
Stark

Latest posts

Back