gaw Posted February 4, 2011 Posted February 4, 2011 Gents.....I'm utterly at a a loss to know whether I can bung a new graphics card into my system or what I'd need to change. DX Diag gives me the attached info and I'd be very grateful if any of you who know about these things might help......Thanks...gaw DxDiag.txt Quote
Parky Posted February 4, 2011 Posted February 4, 2011 Hi Gaw, According to your info, you do have a PCIe slot, so you're good to go in that regard. Next step is to pull the side off your tower and see if the card will actually fit. The 5870 is 28cm (11 inches) in length. Run your tape measure along your existing card and extend it to 11 inches. Make sure you have clearance without running into existing hard drives or hard drive bays. Easy to relocate an existing drive, but it's a pain in the arse if you have to start actually butchering the HD bays. If it looks like it'll fit, all we have to worry about now is PSU requirements. The 5870 requires two 6 Pin PCIe plugs from the power supply. If you don't have those, you can always use 4 pin molex to PCIe adapters, but I'ver never been a big fan of that approach. Probably better to install an entirely new PSU. Ideally, you want to go with 600 watts or greater for that specific card, although AMD claim you can get away with a very good 500 watter. I would't take the chance. Go with a minimum of 600 watts. Great upgrade path there. It'll run circles around what you already have. Cheers, Parky Quote
Von Paulus Posted February 4, 2011 Posted February 4, 2011 Yes, no problem with that board. Follow Parky's precious instructions. Quote
gaw Posted February 4, 2011 Author Posted February 4, 2011 Parky................many, many thanks for the advise. Seems there's plenty of room in there. Any thought s on which 5870 to go with....there seem to be several? Again...thanks for taking the time....you too VP. Cheers....GAW Quote
Parky Posted February 4, 2011 Posted February 4, 2011 Always my pleasure... You could go with a cheaper version of this card and save about 40 bucks, but the one here in the link has a vastly improved cooling solution over most of the others I've looked at. Nobody seems to be complaining about heat or noise issues with this specific card as they do with a number of the others. Based on that alone, it might be your best bet. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102872&cm_re=5870-_-14-102-872-_-Product Cheers, Parky Quote
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