Need Advice On New Video Card For PC

I

Idrya

Geek Trainee
Hi all I'm looking for some advice with replacing my old video card into new one.

If anyone is interested in giving me some advice read on :)

After year in a half now my old ATI 3850 is just not doing the job with modern games for me so I'm looking to replace it in few weeks or so.

I'm looking into buying GIGABYTE Radeon HD 6850 Overclock - 1 GB GDDR5 - PCI-Express 2.1 (GV-R685OC-1GD) or SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY Radeon HD 5850 Vapor-X - 1 GB GDDR5 - PCI-Express 2.1 (11162-03-40R) what would you guys recommend are they even compatible with my motherboard and is my PSU good enough?

Here are my current PC specs (Please feel free to ask for more info if you need)

My motherboard is K9A2 Platinum from what i understand those cards are PCI express my motherboard supports Quad PCI express x16 slots. It says ''Supports 4PCIe x16 slots, runs crossfire X16 or Quad Crossfire x8mode''

My PSU is only 500 watts which is worrying with those cards probably needing more than that I'm not sure.

BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+ (2 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 4096MB RAM

and i got Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit version.

Any advice would my PC be able to handle one of those cards at this time?

Thanks in advance!
 
Hi,

Either of those cards should work for your current system. I found that the gigabyte card they recommend at least a 450 watt power supply, and the sapphire one you need a 500watt power supply, but if you plan to do crossfire they recommend 600watt power supply. Your motherboard has 2.0 pci express slots so it should work fine for either of the 2 cards as well.
 
Hi Wildcard thank you for the help and info :)

I checked my PSU and it's a crappy 500 watt with only one 6pin connector and i talked to a guy who owns sapphire 5850 he told me it needs 2x 6 pin connectors.

So i just made an order on new PSU hopefully it's good enough.

OCZ 750W Fatal1ty Series Modular Power Supply

750W Continuous @45C
Maximum power distribution
Low-profile flat EZMod modular cabling
150 x 160 x 86mm (W x L x H)
ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V
Typical load 85% Efficiency
80+ Bronze Certified
Overvoltage/OverPower/Short-Circuit protection
Premium Sag &Surge Protection (.98 PFC)
MTBF: 100,000 hours
135mm double ball-bearing fan with red LED lighting
SLI™ Ready (Dual GPU) .

* 1 x 20/24-pin ATX
* 1 x 8-pin CPU
* 1 x 4+4-pin CPU

Modular
* 4 x 6+2-pin PCI-E
* 6 x Peripheral
* 2 x Floppy
* 6 x SATA

Still not sure which card to get both seem good.
 
I will probably go with SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY Radeon HD 5850 - 1 GB GDDR5 i will browse some more and see what i can find but that card seems powerful enough for me :) My new PSU should be able to handle either if those cards even in crossfire from what i read so now i just have to wait till it arrives and see how it goes.

Thanks for the help again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top