Asus M4a78 Plus want to upgrade video card gtx 590

[tangji]

Hello,
I was wondering if my Asus M4a78 plus motherboard is compatible with the graphics card ge force gtx 590? Im new to upgrading stuff decided want to give it a try. I have the cooler masters 600w. Giving the research I did I think I need to upgrade my power supplies to 750w + any suggestions on which power supplies is good? The main concern about it is the motherboard. Do I need to upgrade my motherboard to get the full access ability of the gtx 590 video card?

 

[andrewcarr]

Why would you want a 590? If you wait a bit you can get the 680 or the 7970 now which are cheaper and perform better in the 680's favor and about equal to the 7970 or a bit under.

 

[tangji]

ok thanks. Do I need to upgrade the motherboard or it has nothing to do with it?

 

[andrewcarr]

Well your motherboard would be fine for holding the GPU. Problem is that it holds an AMD CPU which depending on the model might bottleneck the GPU you upgrade to. The PSU should be fine though wattage wise, not one of the PSU brands I would buy from though.

 

[tangji]

Awesome thanks! What can I do to prevent it from bottleneck?

 

[andrewcarr]

Well what chip is it? If it is a phenom ll, you can overclock it a bit and be fine.

 

[tangji]

amd phenom ii x3 720 processor 3cpu ~2.8 ghz. how do i overclock it? yea sorry im such a noob.

 

[andrewcarr]

You have to go into the bios and change settings, consult this guide.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-overclock-athlon,2161.html
Although another option would be to upgrade.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103893
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103924
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103935

With either option you would need this.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

 

[tangji]

Im currently using this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029R for my cooling system. Do I still need to get the one you listed for upgrade? Also Is that the Best Processor - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103935
I can get for the Asus M4A78 Plus motherboard? Or If I upgrade higher it wouldn't noticed that big of a difference?

 

[andrewcarr]

Since you do already have an aftermarket CPU cooler you will be fine reusing that. Only thing you would have to buy to reuse it is thermal paste. It just helps the transfer of heat between the CPU and CPU cooler. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

The Phenom ll X4 980 was the fastest factory clocked CPU AMD made. So yes the best, for AMD and your current motherboard. I just want to warn you that if you do have a problem with the listed CPU after the first 30 days it doesn't have a warranty. But if you leave it at stock clock and voltages (don't overclock) it will be fine. That will allow you to run a better GPU with little to no bottleneck (most likely none) .

 

[andrewcarr]

You may want to check this out. This test was performed with the second fastest single chip GPU on the market (fastest at the time). It has the Phenom ll X4 980 that you are looking at getting to shot its performance in comparison to other chips. Your current chip would most likely fall between the A4 and A8 FM1 socket CPU's. If you did want to overclock to get a bit more performance, you could easily get a stable overclock at 4.0GHz (higher if you wanted too) and the CPU wouldn't be worse off (life not decreased). http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120.html

 

[tangji]

I just did a power supply calculator is at 577 watts when I added the gtx 680 vs my gtx260. The watts was just had a little increase like 30 something watts. Fill up as much as I know in there http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine Well My power supply is at 600! Do I need to upgrade my PSU too? My god is one thing after the other lol. I owe you a dinner or something for answer all my questions thanks bro!

 

[andrewcarr]

Well when I did the calculator (that is the one I use too) I only had it at about 500W. Although I probably didn't add everything in because you know everything in your computer more than I would. But Was the 577W you got the recommended or the minimum? Because the calculator already adds in about a 50W buffer. If the recommended is 577W then you will be fine if the minimum is 577W you will want to upgrade the PSU. Also what model/brand is the PSU if it is a known bad brand you will have to upgrade it regardless. Lastly, I don't mind answering your questions, glad I could help.

 

[tangji]

it was on the recommended. Most of the stuff I fill up seems correct just not sure what some of those options are. Such as the Physical Processing Unit. Also some fans I'm not sure what type are those. I just put 1x 120mm fan on there from the heatsink. Got the rams 2x ddr2. And forgot what my 2 hard drive rpm is at. The hardrive is wdc wd1001fals-00j7b1 ata device and wd7501aals-00j7b0 ata device. I tried to put the 2x hard drive device on the high rpm sata section now the recommended added up to 600w just at the borderline. Maybe I should just get a 750w PSU too just in case.

 

[andrewcarr]

You probably has regular SATA drives high rpm sata are velociraptors at 10000 RPM green sata is 5400 RPM.
What is the PSU brand and model as I asked before if it is a good brand they can normally run 100+watts over rated, just to give you the peace of mind.

 

[tangji]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=-1&isNodeId=1&Description=cooler+master+600w&x=0&y=0

I think is the cooler master 600w silent pro from either one of those. Have to go home and check to be sure. But yea is either one of those thats on that link. Is pretty good. My comp is not that loud from the fans that I used to have on my previous old comp. Trying to get things that are quiet too so it dont drive me crazy from the spinning noise.

 

[tangji]

Right now the summary of the parts upgrade are:

Processors

Currently installed: AMD Phenom ii x3 720 Processor 3cpu ~2.8 ghz

Upgrade to: AMD Phenom ii x4 980 black edition deneb 3.7 ghz - $149.99

Heat Sink

Currently installed: Xigmatek Dark Knight SD 1283 Night Hawk Editon 120mm long life bearing CPU Cooler

Upgrade to: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO RR - 212 E - 20 PK - R2 Continous Direct Conduct 120 mm sleeve cpu cooler - $ 34.99

PSU

Currently installed: Cooler Master 600w Silent Pro

Upgrade to: ?? or stay the same

Graphic Card

Currently Installed: GTX 260

Upgrade to: GTX 680 - around $500 +

Price roughly about: $680 +

Also do I need to get the Arctic thermal paste to get those crap off my old processor and install those paste with the new one? or the paste that comes with the heat sink are just as good?

 

[andrewcarr]

You could stay the same on the CPU cooler that current one is fine.
For the Graphics another to consider is the 7970 since you can actually buy it. The 680's are out of stock and supplies aren't coming around anytime soon (or at least it seems). Instead of buying a 680 that is about $150+ overpriced I would get this.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102982
It is still a great GPU.

Now regarding the PSU you should upgrade it. The cooler master one's aren't very good quality sometimes a 600W will only supply 450W. Take a look at these they are all great.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341051
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151095
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371059
I would probably buy the OCZ because it is cheaper and fully modular. But the other two are also great.

 

[tangji]

Should I get a higher watts power supply in case for future upgrades or thats not necessary? Also the pci-e slot i have is 2.0, those card are 3.0 will there be any conflict or the performance wont be as good with the 3.0 card in a 2.0 slot?

 

[andrewcarr]

Well the 7970 uses the most wattage of the new GPU. As the next ones come out they should get more and more efficient. Due to this as long as you motherboard only supports one GPU (as it does) you will be fine with any current or future GPU.

Regarding PCI-E 3.0 or 2.0 there is no benefit of 3.0. No conflict either and performance will be the same. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-680-review-benchmark,3161-5.html

 

[tangji]

Im pretty sure those 2 card can play anything that throws at you but which of the video card Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 vs. AMD Radeon HD 7970 will have an edge in terms of gaming or there wont be a difference? I dont mind waiting for the gtx 680 if that is better I'll just try to upgrade the other parts first.

 

[andrewcarr]

There will be a slight difference. If it was me I would just buy the 7970 and overclock it (if you use MSI afterburner you should be able to get it up to at least 1200 but probably into the 1300's). Even with the linked PSU they would still supply enough watts.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-680-review-benchmark,3161.html
and
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-680-sli-overclock-surround,3162.html

 

[tangji]

Awesome thanks for the help bro! Going to get the parts right now. Is there any program to check how good my processors or my video card? Just want to compare the difference after I'm done upgrading. Appreciate all the time you spend helping bud.

 

[andrewcarr]

If you download MSI afterburner (a nice program for overclocking) it comes with MSI Kombustor which has both GPU benchmarks (ratings) and stress tests to verify a solid overclock.
download http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm
different benchmarks http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/benchmark.htm

 

[tangji]

Do I have to stop the test if it gets to certain temperature? What tempurature would be hazardous for the card. I just stopped when it got to 70c. Usually what temperature will the card usually starts to fry?