Graphics Cards / Pc Advice

[Clydeside_Sheep]

Any of you hoors know owt about PCs? Graphics cards in particular?

I am looking to upgrade my graphics card.

I have been looking at this:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/components-upgrades/graphics-cards/graphics-cards/asus-hd7850-dc2t-2gd5-v2-pci-e-3-0-graphics-card-19464033-pdt.html

But I was unsure when I read this:

Power consumption: up to 150W 1 additional 6 pin PCIe power required

What does that actually mean?

How can I satisfy myself that the power supply in the PC is man enough for this new card?

Can I find out about my power supply (rating etc) from device manager or something? Bear in mind I have windows 8 (sh*te) meaning everything I previously learned about using windows is now defunct.

 

Thanks for any advice.

Its still a fairly new machine (year old) I am just wanting a decent video card, instead of the low end bundled version which came pre-installed.

 

[Ke1t]

Everything in your PC uses power, obviously. Everything that uses power requires a pin adaptor from the PSU (Power Supply Unit).

 

What this means is that if your PC has a 450 Watt PSU, and you're already using 400 Watts of power to make your PC go worky work, then adding a 150 watt device is going to mean your PC likely won't even boot past POST.

 

If you open your PC and look at the PSU... the big silver box in the corner of the PC with a fan intake on two sides... you will see a mess of cables running from it.. most of these cables will be running to a device in the PC, ie the Hard Drive, the Motherboard, etc... you require for there to be a 6 pin PCIe cable to be NOT running to a device, but rather dangling free and not supplying power to anything in order for you to plug in and power your GFX card.

 

 

 

 

You're also going to need a slot on the motherboard to attach the Graphics Card into.. In this case a 16xPCI express slot. Fairly standard.

 

Fitting a graphics card if you have the required power, free PCIe cable, and correct GFX slot on the Motherboard is a piece of piss... If you don't have sufficient power/free cable then you can go buy a more powerful PSU. If you don't have the correct slot on your MBB then you're rather fucked.

[Kilkito]

Kelts got it covered, my own tuppence worth would be that any good graphcs card is going to need you to upgrade your power supply, I haven't done anything to my PC for a few years, but you could get a 650 watt PSU for about £45 and incredibly easy to change it over.

The other thing is, for the love of god don't use PC World, theres countless great gaming suppliers online that will do it cheaper.

[daytripping]

I wouldn't ask this kind of thing in a forum called the pub, I'd most likely go to a computer shop.

 

No need to thank me.

[Ke1t]

I wouldn't ask this kind of thing in a forum called the pub, I'd most likely go to a computer shop.

 

No need to thank me.

Hmmmm... hit or miss, that.

 

some places know less than nothing about the shit they're selling, and others try to stiff you.

[caledonia]

Kelts got it covered, my own tuppence worth would be that any good graphcs card is going to need you to upgrade your power supply, I haven't done anything to my PC for a few years, but you could get a 650 watt PSU for about £45 and incredibly easy to change it over.

The other thing is, for the love of god don't use PC World, theres countless great gaming suppliers online that will do it cheaper.

 

That is a very good price for that card even if you looked on ebay you would be hard pressed to get that price +2 free games also included i see

But i agree with what you say for some stuff PC world i would normally look at..

[Kilkito]

That is a very good price for that card even if you looked on ebay you would be hard pressed to get that price +2 free games also included i see

But i agree with what you say for some stuff PC world i would normally look at..

I just did a quick post at work, hadn't checked the link

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[caledonia]

Remember that deal is only on for another 2 hours as its a deal of the day type thing

[Dietl]

What price range have you set out for yourself? If you can afford another £60, I'd go for this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-205-MS&groupid=701&catid=1914 it's one of the best mid ranged cards out atm. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-760-review-gk104,3542-23.html

[caledonia]

To be honest its no use updating your Graphics card if other components are not good enough ie PSU and even MOBO

You could try this BASIC check to see how your components rate

right click - computer- properties - windows experience index then run or rerun the assessment and you will see something like this

there are other more pro ways to do it but lets take the basic first and see where the low scores are

note my graphics are lowest because i have built a totally silent computer and the graphics is the best i could get that was passive (no fan and silent)

[Ke1t]

To be honest its no use updating your Graphics card if other components are not good enough ie PSU and even MOBO

You could try this BASIC check to see how your components rate

right click - computer- properties - windows experience index then run or rerun the assessment and you will see something like this

there are other more pro ways to do it but lets take the basic first and see where the low scores are

note my graphics are lowest because i have built a totally silent computer and the graphics is the best i could get that was passive (no fan and silent)

 

The speed of the bus on the mb will create a limit to the speed of the PC, but adding a decent graphics card will allow a pc to allocate the vast majority of graphics-oriented calculations to the graphics card, freeing up the processor/s to focus on mathematical calculations.

 

So if you're using something like MAYA or.. what do the kids play these days... or Pacman... then the graphics card is going to massively lighten the load on the bus.

 

In effect, a graphics card is a huge plus if you're involved in graphics-intensive programs.

 

If you're only playing minesweeper then it's safe to say a graphics card isn't helping you.

 

...and turn off Aero.

[Clydeside_Sheep]

This is all excellent advice Gentlemen, many thanks to you all. I revere your knowledge of this witchcraft.

 

Update after looking into it all more:

 

I will definitely need a new power supply, my standard one is (I think) a weedy 240 W. The card manufacturers say to have at least a 500 W supply.

 

Corsair do a 600 W gaming spec power unit, its £80 in PC world - but as directed I will look for cheaper online.

 

I will go for the card in the link above, or very similar. I prefer Radeon over Nvidia - due to this and previous experience. The new card will use the PCI-E slot vacated by the old.

 

I think my system is still good enough to warrant upgrading the card. The standard card is very limited. Apparently it doesnt even have the capacity to properly exploit the 2 Gb of RAM it has. My processor is a Core i5 3350 (runs at up to 3.4 GHz) and it has 8 Gb of (DDR3 I presume) RAM.

 

The games I like are the Total War series and the like, so a good card makes all the difference to the battles.

 

I am glad I asked advice. A previous effort at computer upgrading by me =

 

Trying to change RAM modules, with a drink in me. An IT bod friend advised the RAM might be fitted in snug and so it might take a good pull to get it out of the slots. He wasnt joking, and after considerable effort I managed to remove them. Sitting in my boozy triumph, I then - bizarrely - could not find the slots where I had taken the modules out of. I then rexamined the modules to discover that I had removed not only the RAM modules, but also ripped their slots right off the motherboard. D'oh.

 

In my drunken bumbling, I had failed to undo the safety catches which hold the modules in place at each side. Hence the great resistance to my removing them. I didnt realise anything was wrong, as (i) I was boozy and (ii) had been warned it might be tough.

 

My friend obviously got the blame of that incident. Rightly, in my view

[Clydeside_Sheep]

some places know less than nothing about the shit they're selling, and others try to stiff you.

 

Wise words indeed.

 

Remember that deal is only on for another 2 hours as its a deal of the day type thing

 

Thanks for the warning but I will postpone buying for a short while, till I look for better prices online as advised. Needing a new power supply adds significantly to the cost too, all the more reason to look around.

 

Cheers!

[caledonia]

The speed of the bus on the mb will create a limit to the speed of the PC, but adding a decent graphics card will allow a pc to allocate the vast majority of graphics-oriented calculations to the graphics card, freeing up the processor/s to focus on mathematical calculations.

 

So if you're using something like MAYA or.. what do the kids play these days... or Pacman... then the graphics card is going to massively lighten the load on the bus.

 

In effect, a graphics card is a huge plus if you're involved in graphics-intensive programs.

 

If you're only playing minesweeper then it's safe to say a graphics card isn't helping you.

 

...and turn off Aero.

Was only giving him an example with it turned on so he could compare his specs

but more important was trying to get across that upgrading one component (Graphics) is no use if another (PSU) cant cope

and if he updates the PSU which he will have to as its only a 240w will a new one be compatible with his MOBO

[caledonia]

 

Wise words indeed.

 

 

Thanks for the warning but I will postpone buying for a short while, till I look for better prices online as advised. Needing a new power supply adds significantly to the cost too, all the more reason to look around.

 

Cheers!

 

You wont get a better price for that card online as of now

[paddy]

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

[Ke1t]

If your PSU is only a 240 W then the chances of your MOBO supporting that card are slim

 

 

Was only giving him an example with it turned on so he could compare his specs

but more important was trying to get across that upgrading one component (Graphics) is no use if another (PSU) cant cope

 

 

The size of the psu is unrelated to the capabilities of the motherboard, except inasmuch as the psu need only be powerful enough to power the components inside the box.

 

The manufacturer of CSs pc have clearly fitted the absolute minimum required power supply in order to save cash, on the understanding that most people never upgrade.

 

The size of the PSU will therefore have no bearing on the form factor or the upgradability or the available slots on the motherboard...

 

PSU is only there to supply power, nothing else (well, aside from circulating air)... it has no bearing on whether his motherboard will have a compatible PCIe slot, which it almost certainly will unless it was one of those 10 pound PCs that were meant to go to Africa.

[Clydeside_Sheep]

 

 

a compatible PCIe slot, which it almost certainly will unless it was one of those 10 pound PCs that were meant to go to Africa.

 

I got one - the current graphics card is in it and will be swapped out.

 

Caledonia says will the new PSU be compatible with the motherboard - I thought PSUs were pretty much a standard size/fit?

 

What do you / everyone think of over-clocked graphics cards? is it not a false economy as do they not have a shorter life due to the higher speed / temps?

[Ke1t]

 

I got one - the current graphics card is in it and will be swapped out.

 

Caledonia says will the new PSU be compatible with the motherboard - I thought PSUs were pretty much a standard size/fit?

 

What do you / everyone think of over-clocked graphics cards? is it not a false economy as do they not have a shorter life due to the higher speed / temps?

 

PSU is generally standard fit, just unscrew the old one, screw in the new one, good to go. Of course there's always some bam manufacturer who will make something 'non-standard' size, but unless yo go with some exotic Alienware shit you should be able to just pick up a PSU and bang it in no problems. Compatibility isn't a problem, since all it's doing is supplying power.

 

Overclocking is something I've done, in fact many gaming cards come with instructions to overclock, and in fact I've seen pre-overclocked cards sold... and I was all, like, dude, whatever

 

Problems with overclocking can be increased power requirements, increased heat (which is a problem that might manifest itself in overheating the inside of the PC, and that can be a serious, serious problem), and I guess a shorter life on the card theoretically, given it's working x% above prime. Personally I wouldn't worry about longevity as much as I worried about overheating.

 

I'd try the card at factory settings and only overclock if needed.

 

It's like jailbreaking an iPhone... you have to ask, "sounds cool, but at the risk of fucking shit up... do I really need to do it?"

 

9 times out of 10 the answer to that question is no.

[caledonia]

 

I got one - the current graphics card is in it and will be swapped out.

 

Caledonia says will the new PSU be compatible with the motherboard - I thought PSUs were pretty much a standard size/fit?

 

What do you / everyone think of over-clocked graphics cards? is it not a false economy as do they not have a shorter life due to the higher speed / temps?

 

I was thinking 20 or 24 pin main plug and perhaps a 4,6 or 8 pin second power slot (there is a few other things but i do not want to bore you with them)

also is your computer components ie cd rom hard drives sata or the old molex (make sure your new psu supports what you have (although adapters are cheap)

kelt is more or less correct with saying the size of the psu is unrelated to the capabilities of the motherboard as long as its powerful enough (that's what i meant but it did not sound like it so i took it out before kelt posted)

 

It would be a lot easer if you downloaded this and posted what you have that way we would know exactly what you have and advise what you could get.

remember not to post your windows serial number

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

[caledonia]

should have also said most new PSU,s are backward compatible with most older MOBO,s and as kelt says they are all standard fit (that i know of)

[Bluto10]

I wouldn't ask this kind of thing in a forum called the pub, I'd most likely go to a computer shop.

 

No need to thank me.

 

I wouldn't ask this kind of nerdy shite full stop.

you buy a computer; you surf the web. it breaks; you buy a new one.

anymore than that and youre a complete and utter fuckin geek

[ChutneyLove]

Where's the +1 button when you need it?!

[johnstrac]

Once overheard a guy in PC World being told that an I5 processor was better than an I7 as it could do 7 things at once as opposed to 5.