What Video Card?

[Helian27909]

I have a Gateway GT5692 and I would like to upgrade the video card. Currently it has an integrated ATI Radeon 3200. I would like to purchase an actual video card that will make my system give me more than 20 framerates in Stalker and WoW. However, I don't really know much about computer hardware. So, can anyone give me a recommendation for what card I can buy that will work with my system? Below are the specs for my system, copy and pasted from the Gateway website. If you would like to go to the website yourself, here is the link: http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/1015553R/1015553Rsp3.shtml

Processor AMD Phenom™ 8450 Processor, 64-bit Triple Core Processor
■Each core operates at 2.10 GHz
■2 MB shared L3 cache
■3600 MHz HT 3.0 system bus

Chipset AMD RS780 consisting of:
■Northbridge: RS780
■Southbridge: SB700

Memory •Installed: 4096 MB DDR2 667 MHz (PC-5300) dual channel SDRAM (two 2048 MB modules)
•Expandable to: 8 GB (4 DIMM slots)

Hard Drive 500 GB 7200 RPM SATA II hard drive
Support for up to two hard drives
Optical Drive 18X DVD ±R/RW super multi format drive featuring Labelflash™ technology (up to 8.5 GB)
Supports Labelflash on disc printing (requires Labelflash media)
Media Card Reader 15-in-1 high speed digital media manager with Smart Copy button supporting the following:
■Compact Flash™ (CF) I, II
■IBM Microdrive™ (MD)
■SmartMedia™ Card (SMC)
■Memory Stick™ (MS)
■Memory Stick Duo™ (MS Duo)
■Memory Stick PRO™ (MS PRO)
■Memory Stick PRO Duo™ (MS PRO Duo)
■Secure Digital™ (SD)
■Mini Secure Digital (MiniSD)
■Multi Media Card (MMC)
■RS Multi Media Card (RS-MMC) (need adapter)
■Multi Media Plus Card (MMC Plus)
■Multi Media Mobile Card (MMC Mobile)
■xD-Picture Card™ (xD)

Video Integrated ATI® Radeon™ HD 3200 graphics
Up to 256 MB shared video memory
Audio Integrated 8-Channel (7.1) High Definition Audio
Network Support Integrated 10/100/1000 Mbps Marvell 8071 / 8075 Ethernet LAN
Modem 56K ITU V.92 ready Fax/Modem
Power Supply 300 watt
Add-in Card Slots •One PCI Express ×16 (graphics interface)
•One PCI Express ×1
•Two PCI conventional

External Connectors •One PS/2 keyboard port
•One PS/2 mouse port
•One VGA monitor port
•One HDMI port
•Six USB ports (four rear, two front)
•One IEEE 1394a ports (rear)
•One RJ-45 Ethernet LAN port
•Eight audio jacks (six rear, two front)

Drive Bays •Two external 5.25-inch
•One external 3.5-inch (with a docking bay for optional Gateway 2.5-inch removable USB hard drive)
•Two internal 3.5-inch (hard drive)

Physical Dimensions
(H × W × D) 15.6 × 7.2 × 16.1 inches
Weight (Unpackaged) Minimum 23.4 lbs. (varies with configuration)

 

[purple stain]

Do you know how many amps are on the 12/v rail with your PSU? Should be a chart located on the back of the PSU.Post what you see.

If all you do is play WoW and Stalker then a 5670 should be suffient enough.Those games aren't demanding so you coudl easily max those games out with a 5670.By only concern is your PSU.It might be to weak to support a 5670.

 

[Helian27909]

It says 18a next to the 12v.

Thanks for the help.

 

[purple stain]

Does it say anywhere what the max wattage is on the 12/v rail?

 

[Helian27909]

Here is what it says on my power supply:

output +12v1 18a +12v2 18a -12v .3a
Max power: 300 Watts +3.3v 17a +5v 22a +5vfb 2a
Combined Power on +3.3v and +5v total 150w Max
+3.3v and +5v 150 watts
Combined Power on +3.3v +5v +12va +12v2 total 285 watts max

I hope that answers your question and again, thanks for you help.

 

[purple stain]

Well thats strange.Are you sure you read it right? You have x2 12/v rails with 18amps on each.Thats about 400+ watts.Which doesn't make sense because you have a 300 watt PSU.I believe the 285 watts though.And thats proabably what you have.

So with all of that I beleive it's safe for you to get a 5670.

 

[Helian27909]

THanks a lot for your help. Here's another question. Is it just my power supply that is limiting what video card I can buy? Does the MoBo also limit my choices, or does the cpu? I'm thinking about upgrading my power supply anyway, so if it's just the power supply that is limiting me, then perhaps I can get a more powerful video card. Unless that's really not necessary given the type of games I play.

 

[purple stain]

Actually it's both the PSU and CPU.Anything higher than the 5670 and it will get bottlenecked by your CPU as well as your PSU not being able to power it.

 

[Helian27909]

When you say "5670", are you referring to the ATI Radeon HD 5670, listed here: http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/ati-radeon-hd-5670-overview/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5670-overview.aspx#3

Will either the 512 or 1 gig card work?

 

[rockyjohn]

You motherboard can limit you if it does not have the right video slot. Yours has a PCIe slot, probably 1.0, so it will handle most low to medium power video cards.

Either 512MB or 1 GB of memory will work, but the 1 GB works better, particularly in higher resolution monitors and might facilitate higher game settings. More important is the speed of the memory - DD5 is much faster than DDR3. Here is a good card with an excellent brand and warranty and 1 GB of DDR5 memory for $70 after rebate:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150467

Note on the "Details" tab that the minimum power supply requirement is 400w while you apparently only have 285w. This could be an issues, however I would go ahead with it, assuming you haven't added other power hungry components to you system, since the THG review of that card showed a total system draw of only 135w.

That review has a lot of other information you might find helpful, including some idea of what to expect if you purchase one, but you probably will not achieve their results since their system was selected to ensure none of the components hampered the video card and is faster than yours.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6570-radeon-hd-6670-turks,2925.html

That card was also selected by THG on its list of the best gaming cards at different budget levels as the best gaming card for $75

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2964-2.html

If you want more information on upgrading or to consider other cards, or for directions on installing video cards, you can find a good guide on how to upgrade video cards at upgradevideocards.com:

http://www.upgradevideocards.com/

 

[purple stain]

Yes I mean to say the Radeon 5670.
I would reccomend the 1G model.It's always better to go for the full 1G even if your not going to use it all,futureproof.

As rockyjohn said your mobo has a 1.0 PCI-express x16 slot.Although what he forgot to mention is that 2.1 cards are known to have problems with 1.0 slots.They are supposed to be backwards compatible but their is a lot of bugs with it for some reason.I would suggest you stick to 2.0 cards.

What is your budget?

 

[rockyjohn]

Although what he forgot to mention is that 2.1 cards are known to have problems with 1.0 slots.They are supposed to be backwards compatible but their is a lot of bugs with it for some reason.

I did not forget, I just don't know that for a fact. I have seen a lot of posts where that rumored was passed on, but never an actual case of someone having that problem. And even a couple of anecdotal cases from users experiencing that problems is not adequate, especially if they are not computer savy, since the problems could reflect issues other than real issues between the card and mobo.

Have you personally read multiple cases of that happening, or read it at an authoritative source? I would really like to know because I wll gladly pass on the warning if I know it is fact, but don't want to join a rumor mill.

 

[purple stain]

2.1 cards aren't exactly directly compatible with 1.0 boards out of the box.Most of the time the 1.0 boards require a BIOS update to run the 2.1 cards but companies discontinue support for the older 1.0 slots mobo's so it makes it really difficult to get it to work.

I ran into that exact problem when I was trying to install a 5570 2.1 card on my old HP PC.
HP like many other companies discontinue the BIOS support for that generation of mobo's or they don't even bother to provide a BIOS update at all.

 

[Helian27909]

My budget is around $100.00 so I bought the first card that rockyjohn recommended. It'll be here tomorrow so we'll see how things go. Thank you to both of you for your help and expert advice.

 

[purple stain]

Goodluck.

I suggest you leave the thread open just in case it doesn't work.

 

[Helian27909]

This is the card I purchased: XFX HD-567X-ZNF3 Radeon HD 5670 1GB . I also upgraded to a 650W power supply since there was some concern that my old one was insufficient. I had mixed results. When playing WoW the frame rate skyrocketed up to 70+ on minimal settings and 50+ with maxed settings. However, with Stalker at max settings the game still feels slow (not sure how to get the number of framerates) but when I lower the settings the game smooths out. All in all it is a good increase in gaming potential.

Thanks to rockyjohn and purple stank for their help.

 

[purple stain]

It's your processor.

 

[rockyjohn]

Glad to hear the PCIe 2.1 card seems to work fine, Purple had me a little worried.

Although I know this one acecdotal case does not prove it works in all instances.

Don't forget to download and load the latest drivers for the card. The ones that came with it might not be the latest and video card makers frequently update drivers to improve performance - a lot different situation than with you mobo driver set.

 

[Helian27909]

Best answer selected by Helian27909.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey