video card and power supply

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huffmuds9320

huffmuds9320

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I'm looking into upgrading my video card because I feel its one of the limiting factors in the overall performance of the system. I am considering the ATI Radeon 6850, according to the requirements it needs a 500 watt power supply. My power supply is 430 watts but I don't have a lot of stuff so not sure if I would need a new power supply as well. Any advice, thanks.

Here is my computer specs.
AMD Phenom 9600 quad core 2.3ghz
4gb ram
onboard sound
Nvidia GeForce 9500GT (currently using this card)
one hard drive
cd/dvd burner drive
2 case fans
Rosewill 430 watt power supply (80+ certified)
 
Unless your planning on gaming or using the card for video conversion with something like media show expresso, then theirs no point to it.

The 6850 will only be limited by the rest of that system. I know because i had a 4890 and now own a 6870. I've also owned and built a few systems with fast dual cores and mid range quad cores.

Rosewill makes a good enough power supply, but keep in mind that that is the peak load not continuous. Also with the upgrade to a 6800 series graphics card you case has to have enough ventilation. There hot running card that put out a lot of heat.

With all the information at hand i would strongly suggest either a 5770 or 6770 graphics card. It's a good match for the performance of the rest of the system.
 
I would say it should be ok. The 500W is recommended, not an exact requirement. From this chart http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2011-gaming-graphics-charts/3D-Power-Draw,2678.html power draw on a 6850 is about 132W with some brands in the 120s, with your processor at max TDP of 95W and the other stuff adding a few more, the 430W power supply should be enough.

I have a GTX 460 that recommended a 450W power supply and actually requires two 6 pin power connectors in a old dell with a 380W power supply with no problem, and my system actually has more drives and accessories than what you listed for yours. I had to use adaptors to connect accessory connectors to 6 pin for the graphic card.
 
I would just spend the 10 dollars more than it costs for the 500w and get a different 600w psu

It is like a car, it is better to put a v6 with 220hp in a 3200lb car than put a 130 hp 4 cyl in the same car. It will have to work less to run your system which leads to better power efficiency, and if you ever do need to upgrade another component you will have left yourself a nice 100w extra.
 
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Unless you are doing heavy gaming, that card is overkill. It will generate more noise and heat, and reduce airflow through the system since it is so massive.
 
Thanks for the input.

I'm not a hardcore computer gamer but I would like a decent video card for playing games every now and then. Just want something that is semi future proof so I can still run some of the new games that will come out later. Mostly I play simulator type games and some first person shooters. I also do video editing as well.

I think I'll just get a new power supply along with the video card. Even the 5770 and 6770 recommends 450 watt power supply so better piece of mind that I meet or exceed the requirement. My computer case I would say has good cooling and many places to mount extra fans. I have a medium sized tower with the newer style case where the power supply mounted on the bottom.
 
I have the 5770 1gb XFX and it doesn't generate a lot of heat, and I have yet to find a game that I cannot play or have video lagg on max settings with a 23 inch monitor.
 
the origional phenom chip was dog slow.

Can you download cpu-z and tell us what motherboard you have and what processor it says you have?

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

You might be able to plop down 80$ or so on a new processor for double the speed or more.

The org. phenom chip was well over 25% slower than a similarly clocked coreduo (or was that core2duo?)

add in the fact that its only 2.3? ghz and some programs dont use multiple cores very well.. and you get slow slow slow.

realistically the only thing a new video card will speed up is gaming.. possibly depending on the game.
 
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Go with a high end Power Supply. DO NOT EVER cut it close. For a 6850 I'd look at a XFX, Seasonic, or Corsair unit something above 600W. You want to look at the +12V output, you want it to be close to the total output of the Power supply, because almost everything uses 12V, very little +5, and +3.3, and even less use negative voltages. Also look for something that is at least 80PLUS certified, preferably Bronze or better. Look to spend about $100. Anything less, and you are not getting a strong enough power supply imo.

Granted, I run a Phenom II X4 965BE OC to 3.75Ghz, and Dual Radeon 5770s (both OC'ed), 2 Harddrives, 2 DVD-Rom Drives, an SSD, and 6 fans. But the power supply is the most important piece of equipment in the case. Don't skimp. Get a good, well known brand. (Seasonic, XFX, Corsair, OCZ, PCPower&Cooling, and Antec would be the only brands on my list)
 
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