FPS lag

mickey megabyte said:

the 5870 card has a certain chip made by ati/amd. card manufacturers buy these chips from ati and stick them onto their cards.

it's a bit like searching for a quad-core intel machine, and finding lots of companies making them.

the 7/8 cards you see will be pretty much alike, although some may have a bit more onboard memory, or quieter fans, or maybe other features.

as far as the power rating for your psu, i don't know how you're going to find out apart from opening up your case and looking for a sticker on the psu itself, or consulting the paperwork/manual that came with your pc when you bought it. i would be very surprised if it wasn't at least 500w - but it's always a good idea to make sure before you spend money on a new graphics card.

Ok, Thank you for your help.

Edit: Is there anything else i need to consider like compatability with my motherboard? I have no clue about graphic cards so sorry if this is completely stupid.

no problem, that's what we're here for. :)

you know where the forum is if you have any more questions.

mickey megabyte said:

as far as the power rating for your psu, i don't know how you're going to find out apart from opening up your case and looking for a sticker on the psu itself, or consulting the paperwork/manual that came with your pc when you bought it. i would be very surprised if it wasn't at least 500w - but it's always a good idea to make sure before you spend money on a new graphics card.

400W tops,

http://www.acersupport.com/acerpanam...M7711_BOOK.pdf

well done stormy - how did you know he had that machine?

flawless, in that case (sorry for the pun), you will have to budget for a new psu as well - welcome to the wonderful world of upgrading!

He has the model number for his Acer shown as the case in his specs.

A new power supply shouldn't be a problem fit-wise as it looks like it uses a normal ATX PSU. The one thing I would be looking at it if something like a 5870 (or any Nvidia card of the same size) will fit front to back, as from the few inside images I have seen the drive cage could be in the way.

By the way, as we're talking about 5850 and such, now that GTX 460 is released it's very good choice as it's cheaper than 5850 but 1GB version comes very close, especially if overclocked, plus its silent, cool and it has the power too.

So consider that as an option too, 5870 is in different scale though, it's high end.

edit: if you're unsure which to pick, you can dig up some reviews on the cards.

mickey megabyte said:

well done stormy - how did you know he had that machine?

flawless, in that case (sorry for the pun), you will have to budget for a new psu as well - welcome to the wonderful world of upgrading!

around how much will a new psu be?

stormy13 said:

He has the model number for his Acer shown as the case in his specs.

A new power supply shouldn't be a problem fit-wise as it looks like it uses a normal ATX PSU. The one thing I would be looking at it if something like a 5870 (or any Nvidia card of the same size) will fit front to back, as from the few inside images I have seen the drive cage could be in the way.

Ok i will look into it. thanks.

Nikkeli said:

By the way, as we're talking about 5850 and such, now that GTX 460 is released it's very good choice as it's cheaper than 5850 but 1GB version comes very close, especially if overclocked, plus its silent, cool and it has the power too.

So consider that as an option too, 5870 is in different scale though, it's high end.

edit: if you're unsure which to pick, you can dig up some reviews on the cards.

Yeh i'm not really sure which one to pick because i really don't know much about grapics cards. I just want one that is good enough to run most games on the highest settings.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB & GTX 460 768MB Review

Here's review on 768mb and 1GB versions of GTX 460 5830 and 5850 and few others.
What you should look at is the game tests, not just 1 game or the game you like or play, but few of em to get wider picture what the card is capable of.
Then overclocking if you're into that, and power consumption if you care about that and conclusion, to me it looks best choice.

there's always a lot of debate about which is the better of amd/ati or nvidia graphics cards.

you've already got an ati card and drivers installed, making it a bit simpler to stick with ati, if you ask me. others may disagree :)

of course, it's your money and buy whichever you like. you won't be dissatisfied whichever you chose.

as far as a 500w psu, about $50? i'm not sure, as i'm in england.

you may need to ask for some help installing it though, have you a friend or neighbour who is knowledgable in this area? installing the card is pretty simple, but the psu will be a bit trickier,as there are more plugs/leads to deal with.