Upgrading from 8500GTS

[Kusimeka]

Hey guys, sorry to make a new thread to ask a pretty simple question. I have built my own computer before, but it was quite a few years ago now and i'm still pretty much a noob when it comes to it.

My brother's computer has a 8500GTS which is pretty rubbish, he can't even play Fallout 3 without lag, so he's asked me to find him a new card that will run the game well. However i can't even remember what i need to look out for to make sure the new graphics card is compatible with his motherboard.

I was thinking of getting him a 8800GT (or is there better cards for the money now?) what things do i need to check to make sure everything will work together fine. Thanks!

 

[hat]

You mean 8500GT? Yeah those cards are crummy.

Well at least here in the US... an 8800gt will run you about $110-$130. I would look into an HD4850 for a little cheaper (they are better cards as well)

 

[kurosagi01]

i dunno about his psu,you should consider checking what PSU he has right now in his system,so take apart the side panel and check the specification of his psu like the voltage and amps etc,but for safe side i would buy the 4830 which is £67 which is as good as an 8800GT/9800GT if not tiny bit better depending on the games.
4830:4830
OR if the PSU is really good then buy the 4850 as said by hat. which cost £77
4850:4850
IF PSU is an issue then buy the corsair 400w which will easily power those GPUs,the psu is £38
corsair 400w: corsair 400w
so in total it be around £100ish pound

 

[Kusimeka]

Hey thanks guys, this is the new PSU my bro has http://www.shopwiki.co.uk/_FSP+ATX-350PNF+PSU

Would this be enough to run one of those cards you suggested? hes currently running a quad core, 2 hardrives, 2gigs of ram. Enough to run a 4830 / 8800gt?

 

[human_error]

Hey thanks guys, this is the new PSU my bro has http://www.shopwiki.co.uk/_FSP+ATX-350PNF+PSU

Would this be enough to run one of those cards you suggested? hes currently running a quad core, 2 hardrives, 2gigs of ram. Enough to run a 4830 / 8800gt?

ewwww

I really hate to put a downer on this but a £25 no-name PSU which doesn't have its wattage listed in the specs (i guess 350w from the product name) can't be trusted to run any decent pc kit.

To run anything decent without the risk of the psu killing half your kit 6 months later i'd go with a decent brand PSU - corsair and enermax being the best 2 brands out there at the moment.

If you want to run any decent card i'd throw that PSU away and get a 400w+ (minimum 400w - personally i'd go 550w, but a 400w from one of the brands i mentioned would be fine for the kind of setup you want). Only after doing that would i get a new GPU. That's gonna cost you around £50-£60 for a ~500w unit, so i'd go for the £38 corsair kurosagi listed above which is money which could be spent on the gpu - but it's better than spending £80-£100 on a decent GPU only to have your psu blow up taking half your computer with it (hdd's, cpu, motherboard, gpu, ram all at risk).

hate to have such a negative tone on my 500th post, but you just can't trust poor quality cheap PSUs.

Plus the product page for that psu gives a 404 error with what looks like chinese writing - so it's a cheap, crappy chinese psu with no official support page running - i'd be shocked if it even has half the features it's listed as having - i'd say you will already be maxing out the power it has available with a quad core and a couple of hdds, let alone a graphics card.

 

[hat]

FSP is a good brand, but 350w just doesn't look like it would be enough for a 4850 or 8800gt. Maybe a 9600GT low power edition, or spring for a good power supply AND graphics card?

 

[nafets]

Yeah, FSP is fairly solid. Definetly cutting it close with regards to upgrading to a newer video card. It limits your possible GPU choices.

You could probably squeak by with an ATI HD4670 or a NVIDIA 9600GSO. Both are fairly comparable in power usage and performance.

If you spring for a new PSU, then there's a much larger wealth of possibilities...

 

[Kusimeka]

Alright thanks guys, i think the best option looks to go with the new PSU. (that corsair one looks like the best choice) however i was wondering if its as easy as just connecting up the new PSU. Everything will run fine with the motherboard ect right? When i built my comp i remember looking up that everything would work ok together. Cheers!

 

[BarbaricSoul]

as long as the motherboard has a 24 pin power connection, and not a 20 pin power connection, yes it just as easy as taking out the old and putting in the new.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

actually, that PSU has the 20+4 pin connection, it will work on either 20 pin or 24 pin motherboards.

Yes, it will just as easy as taking out the old and putting in the new.

 

[Kusimeka]

actually, that PSU has the 20+4 pin connection, it will work on either 20 pin or 24 pin motherboards.

Yes, it will just as easy as taking out the old and putting in the new.

Awesome, that's great news, i think that will be the best option then. Thanks alot everyone! much appreciated!

Oh and one more question, is the extra £20 for the 4870 worth it over the 4850? would the 4870 run on the 400w corsair? thanks.

 

[Darren]

Awesome, that's great news, i think that will be the best option then. Thanks alot everyone! much appreciated!

Oh and one more question, is the extra £20 for the 4870 worth it over the 4850? would the 4870 run on the 400w corsair? thanks.

You haven't really posted your brothers system specification its all well and good recommending video cards but without knowing how much ram he has and the CPU we can not take into consideration of the bottlenecks.

It depends what your brothers budget is, the 4870 is so cheap now it makes little sense getting anything less if the budget permits it. For example the Power Colour 4870 is only £91.99 and the XFX 4870 is only £92.27, ebuyer do free super saver delivery too.

I believe a 400w corsair would be fine, if your mate needs a cheap PSU there is the Artic Power 500w for £27.54 and the Artic power 700w for £42.99, but I'm not up to date on PSUs so someone else might offer better advice in that department.

 

[hat]

Even if the psu has a solid, 24-pin only connection and the mobo has a 20, it would still work, you would just have 4 pins hanging over... unless, of course, there was somthing in the way...

 

[Kusimeka]

You haven't really posted your brothers system specification its all well and good recommending video cards but without knowing how much ram he has and the CPU we can not take into consideration of the bottlenecks.

It depends what your brothers budget is, the 4870 is so cheap now it makes little sense getting anything less if the budget permits it. For example the Power Colour 4870 is only £91.99 and the XFX 4870 is only £92.27, ebuyer do free super saver delivery too.

I believe a 400w corsair would be fine, if your mate needs a cheap PSU there is the Artic Power 500w for £27.54 and the Artic power 700w for £42.99, but I'm not up to date on PSUs so someone else might offer better advice in that department.

Sorry, well my brother has 2 gb's of ram, a Q6600 @ 2.4 ghz. A fatality sound card, 2 hardrives (500gb's) not sure what motherboard he has though. But yeah from what you said i think the 4870 seems best, it shouldn't be bottlenecked should it? i know he could do with some more ram though.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

at stock speeds, the q6600 will bottle neck a 4870 some, but OC the q6600 to 3000mhz or higher and you'll be fine

 

[HiddenStupid]

8500 gts dont exist. 8500 gt do.

8600 gts combine with 4gb ram play anything smoothly.

get 9800 gtx+

 

[HiddenStupid]

FSP is a good brand, but 350w just doesn't look like it would be enough for a 4850 or 8800gt. Maybe a 9600GT low power edition, or spring for a good power supply AND graphics card?

FSP good brand? i dont know about that. an emachines came stock with FSP psu and fried up less than 2 months of purchase. never trust FSP ever since.

burnt plastic smell and white smoke start to apear. seriously no joke.

 

[Frick]

Bad day at the factory?

I would trust FSP, I think I've never heard of them failing before..

 

[AltecV1]

my comp is running on a FSP Blue storm II 500w and is very solid PSU!dont know why people think FSP is a bad brand

anyway i would buy him a new PSU(500W atleast) and a new gfx card(would not go lower then GTS250 or HD4850)

 

[mosheen]

Hd 4770

 

[goldfries]

whether it's 9600GT / 9800GT / HD4830 / HD4770 - TS can't go wrong with any of these cards.

 

[hat]

FSP good brand? i dont know about that. an emachines came stock with FSP psu and fried up less than 2 months of purchase. never trust FSP ever since.

burnt plastic smell and white smoke start to apear. seriously no joke.

Just because one power supply was bad doesn't mean FSP makes crappy power supplies.

 

[Kusimeka]

Hey guys, i finnaly went with the XFX 4870 and a 700w PSU. I've got everything here now and i've began to install it, everythings gone fine untill i've come to the power connectors. I'm sure its not a big deal i'm just worried about powering up and the thing short circuits or something lol .

Bascialy, my PSU has an 4PIN connector and a 6 PIN connector for the graphics card, the power supply requires atleast two 6 pin connectors according to the manual. I then realised two converters came with the graphics card as seen here:

http://i717.photobucket.com/albums/ww179/Kusimeka/17082009140.jpg

I have two of these that came with the GPU. There are two white connectors for each of the converters. However i only have 3 power connectors meaning that if it requires 2 for each that i will be 1 short. So im wondering if it does indeed require 4 or i will get away with just connecting one power cable to each of the converters.

Also i wanted to clarify that the converters that came with the GPU are indeed 6 pin, however there only actualy seems to be 5 pins in them, but since they came with the GPU i'm sure they should be fine. Some help would be greatly apprecicated, Thanks!

 

[nafets]

What PSU do you have? This would help figure out your wiring situation.

Just off the top of my head you would probably wire it like so.

PSU -> 6-PIN PCI-E connector -> 6-PIN PCI-E PLUG #1 on HD4870
+
PSU -> MOLEX 4-PIN #1 + MOLEX 4-PIN #2 -> 4-PIN to 6-PIN PCI-E connector - 6-PIN PCI-E PLUG #2 on HD4870

You must ensure that both 6-PIN PCI-E PLUGS on the HD4870 are connected for that card to work...

 

[HossHuge]

Just because one power supply was bad doesn't mean FSP makes crappy power supplies.

So true, an ex of mine works for them here in Taiwan. They are quite innovative in the industry.

And go with the Hd4870!!