Radeon HD 7770 or 7750

[Nate Smith]

I recently bought a pre-built Dell Inspiron i660-5030BK Desktop, and I am looking for a graphics card in the $100-150 range. I am not extremely knowledgeable about computer internals, and what is or is not compatible. I can find no information about the motherboard specs online, so i am unable to figure out if either of these cards will work. I know I have a 400 watt power supply, and that there is an open slot where a card could go. Beyond that i'm unsure of these cards compatibility.

I look forward to any replies and will provide as much additional information as i can.

 

[mohit9206]

7770 if your power supply has a 6 pin pcie connector if not then the 7750

 

[toyftw]

I recently bought a pre-built Dell Inspiron i660-5030BK Desktop, and I am looking for a graphics card in the $100-150 range. I am not extremely knowledgeable about computer internals, and what is or is not compatible. I can find no information about the motherboard specs online, so i am unable to figure out if either of these cards will work. I know I have a 400 watt power supply, and that there is an open slot where a card could go. Beyond that i'm unsure of these cards compatibility.

I look forward to any replies and will provide as much additional information as i can.

Hi - somewhere in you documentation(might even be printed next to the slot) it'll tell
you if the slot is pci express. If it is then you can run either card. You will need
a pci e connector from your psu to run the 7770. I f you don't have it, but there
is an empty molex plug, that'll work if you purch and adapter (some gpu's include one)

Tom

 

[Nate Smith]

Okay, first off I was incorrect about the PSU watt rating it's actually 300. Will that make a difference? Also I believe it's a PCI express, but there was very basic documentation included, no detailed specs. But from pictures I have looked up my slot looks like an express. It has 3-ish inch area and then a plastic piece creating a gap and then another half inch or so. Does that sound right?

 

[emperor piehead]

300w you might want to get a 7750 as it only needs to be plugged into the motherboard no power connectors

 

[toyftw]

Okay, first off I was incorrect about the PSU watt rating it's actually 300. Will that make a difference? Also I believe it's a PCI express, but there was very basic documentation included, no detailed specs. But from pictures I have looked up my slot looks like an express. It has 3-ish inch area and then a plastic piece creating a gap and then another half inch or so. Does that sound right?

Yeah, the psu being 300w & not 400w makes a big diff.
Your tot sys power draw with a 7770 would be approx 245-250w.

Many prebuilt computer power supplies don't perform up
to their specs(and that's the trepidation with only 50w diff). I don't know if that's the case here.
If you could look at the psu and describe make,model,
wattage label, etc, anything to help figure out if
it'll run the 7770. It should run a 7750 regardless.

Tom

 

[hytecgowthaman]

Upgrading branded system is waste of time and money.

 

[bucknutty]

If your dell has the pci express slot as shown in the manual here. Then most any gpu will work with the board.
ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_desktop/esuprt_inspiron_desktop/inspiron-660_Owner%27s%20Manual_en-us.pdf

The challenge is to make sure the PSU can stand up to the extra electricity draw.
The HD 7770 has a max draw of 80 watts.
The i5-2320 has a max draw of 95 watts.
Thats 175 watts.
Lets say the mobo ram drives fans all together pull another 50 watts your at a max draw of around 225. Keep in mind it would only be this high if every single part of the computer was working as hard as it possibly could using as much power as possible. In reality the draw will be more like 150-175.
Check out this article. A very similar system test with a 7770 a 7750 and an nvidia card. Check the max draw during game benchmarks.
http://www.custompcreview.com/reviews/sapphire-hd7770-ghz-edition-vapor-x-review/9381/3/

I would just install the 7770 and not think twice about it.

 

[Nate Smith]

The model number is L300NM-00. Online manual, smart move, I didn't think of that.

Also is the 7770 a decent card? The benchmarks ive seen put it at average which is basically what I want. Due to school and life I dont really want to drop too much into a computer.

 

[bucknutty]

The price to perfomance ratio of the 7770 is amazing. So is the power draw and heat output.

That card in your system will run most any game at 1920x1080 on medium-ish settings. Older games like MW2 or WoW, or SC2, Borderlands will run well on high-ish settings. You will have to keep AA and AF low like 2x or off but for the most part you wont even notice that. If your looking for a cheap well rounded upgrade that will allow an average PC to play most games I can not think of a better card.

 

[Nate Smith]

Sounds great, thanks everyone for your help!