Gateway FX 6840-15e

[MosleyP4P]

Hello,

I recently purchased the Gateway FX 6840-15e after the Holidays at a local Best Buy outlet. I am far from a serious pc-gamer ( I play 2 current mmo's (EQ2/WoW)) however, I would like to upgrade the graphics card on this unit along with the power supply. I was wondering if anyone could help me select compatible upgrade options for my PC. I know crossfire and SLI is not an option with this computer, so I am limited to a solid single card choice. In addition, I have a 24" HD Gateway monitor (1920x1200 resolution) that I play the above mentioned games on. While my current card handles my current two mmo's fine, I am planning on playing Rift soon (already pre-ordered and participated in beta). With Rift in mind, I would like a performance boost to play on higher settings. During the past Beta event, I was able to play on low setting at 45-70 fps, Medium at 20-40 fps, and high setting at 15-30 fps. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

*Edited to add additional information*

 

[mister g]

Not sure if your PC supports PCI-e 2 so really the 5850 is the ceiling in terms of bandwith.

 

[MosleyP4P]

The mobo is Intel H57 Express I guess. So, I would not be able to put much of an upgrade in this PC in terms of better graphic cards? Forgive my ignorance, but I had thought since it was released in October of 2010, that it could support the graphic cards coming out. However, my knowledge is very limited when it comes to hardware compatibility... I guess I may have made a bad decision purchasing this PC

 

[mister g]

Technically the motherboard would support all graphics cards, it's just that the PCI-e bus might slow down the faster cards (>5850/6870). I say you can upgrade the card it's just that anything faster than the cards I listed above would be limited by the bus. However I would ask Gateway whether or not the PCI-e bus is really version 1 since modern such chipsets come with 16 lanes of PCI-e v.2 not v.1.

 

[MosleyP4P]

Hey Mister g,

I did a little research on the Intel H57 Express:

http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/chipsets/h57/h57-overview.htm

And I am not sure, but it does mention having a 2.0 PCI, unless I am looking at the wrong specs. Once again, I apologize for my ignorance, and I would love to learn more about this. I just do not want to go out and buy a new video card and PSU for no performance gain. I also noticed Gateway announced the new version of the model computer I bought... So, if all else fails, I have only had this pc for about four days and have up to fourteen to return it to the store.

I guess for me, its a balance between a capable gaming rig for World of Warcraft, EQ2, Rift and at an affordable price. As much as Id like a custom built machine, I am not sure if I am willing to spend that kind of money at once. This PC I just bought has run smoothly so far, but Id like a little more performance with Rift... So an upgraded Graphic Card could help with that. Regardless, I appreciate you taking the time to comment on my post and I will continue to do some research.