Upgrading gpu question

[walshy]

Hello,I need a bit of advice I have a dell xps8500 and was thinking of upgrading my gpu(currently a hd 7570) problem is I hear that dells sometimes use non standard conections?Id like to be able to play most games mainly fps on semi decent settings at 60ish frames.I dont need a top of the range card or anything as will eventualy be building my own so not worried about future games.Price doesnt realy matter as long as its not crazy but the cheaper the better because as i said ill be building fresh in the future! Thanks in advance for your help

Specs:
core i7 3770,8gb ram, 1tb hdd,running windows 7 anything else you need to know just ask and ill try and help

 

[bgunner]

the non-standard connections that dell uses are on the motherboard and not the GPU. you are safe to change it. the Radeon 7870's and the 670's would be a nice paring for your rig IMO.

 

[blazorthon]

Dell stopped using their non-standard connectors (which were only for the mobo anyway) several years ago AFAIK. You'll probably need a PSU upgrade to deal with the higher power consumption of a decent graphics card, but that's not because of non-standard connectors; Dell's current OEM PSUs just aren't built to power more than the default hardware or hardware with similar power consumption.

 

[walshy]

Oh ok thank you fellas,would i deffinatly need a psu upgrade im guessing 460w isnt nearly enough?Another thing I should have added my mobo only has one pcie slot would that make any difference?

 

[blazorthon]

Only having one PCIe slot (so long as it's a PCIe x16 slot) doesn't matter. You don't need more than one.

460W in a Dell is probably one of their nicer PSUs. Does it have a PCIe power connector and can you give it's specs for +12V power delivery (they should be on the sticker on the side of the PSU)?

 

[bgunner]

the wattage needed will depend on the GPU you get. No, the single PCI-e x16 slot is all you need for a single GPU setup. The only thing is the most cards now days are what they call duel slot cards. this means you need the PCI-e slot and the next slot below it to be clear so the the card can fit.

 

[walshy]

385w max,is that what you would be looking for?If by power conector you mean the 6pin conectors then yes it has two,sorry im a complete noob when it comes to the insides of a pc. @bgunner Ah i see i always tought when i saw duel slots it needed two slots litteraly :/ so yeah i have loads of room.and yes to answer both of ye it is a pci-e x16.there is also 3 pciex1 slots im guessing there not much good for anything?

 

[blazorthon]

PCIe x1 is generally not used for graphics cards, but instead of other adapters such as USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s adapters or some new sound cards.

If it has a six pin PCIe power connector or two and it can deliver 385W max on +12V, then it should be adequate for some of the lower power graphics cards such as a Radeon 7770 to a Radeon 7850 from AMD or a GTX 650 Ti to a GTX 660 from Nvidia. It's specs sound like a Delta unit and those are often praised for their quality.

 

[walshy]

So what you're telling me is my pc isnt the huge pile of stinking *** I was lead to believe by people (with a grudge against dell im guessing)?Altho i did overpay compared to a custom build.Anyway back on topic m guessing any of them would be a big improvement on my current card?

 

[blazorthon]

Even a Radeon 7750, a card that doesn't use nearly enough power to need a PCIe power connector, is something like twice as fast as your current card, maybe three times as fast. The Radeon 7770 is a good 20-40% faster and the Radeon 7850 is about twice as fast as the Radeon 7750. The GTX 650 is comparable to the Radeon 7750 and the GTX 650 Ti is between a Radeon 7770 and Radeon 7850 with the GTX 660 being a little faster than the RAdeon 7850.

Factoring in pricing, the Radeon 7770 and Radeon 7850 generally stand out as the best options with the GTX 650 Ti occasionally being found cheap enough to consider too.

From what you've told me, yes, anyone saying that youd system was crap was greatly overreacting. At worst, even if you had to upgrade your PSU, a GTX 660 or Radeon 7850 and below will work great even on some $30-50 PSUs such as the very nice Antec VP-450.

 

[walshy]

Cool time to go shopping I think One last thing if I was to buy a new case and mobo could i transfer most of what i have in this?Like the cpu,gpu ram etc until i could afford new more powerfull stuff.good way to get my hands dirty with my first build if i could.At least if i mess something up it ouldnt be something brand new

 

[blazorthon]

The CPU should be transferable and so should the RAM and graphics card. Every distinct component in the system should be transferable AFAIK.

 

[walshy]

Ok thank you very much for your help its much appreciated.I would have been stuck on google forever trying to figure stuff out

 

[blazorthon]

Glad to help