Graphic Card Upgrade Questions

[vpro]

Hello

I currently have ATI Radeon HD 5700 series (x2) on my computer and I'm thinking of upgrading one of them or both.

Now I'm not really familiar with graphics cards and hardware compatibility stuff and I would like to know if it's possible , for example, to replace one of my ATI 5700 with a more powerful graphic card like AMD HD 6970? Or would it be better to replace both graphic cards?

I would appreciate it if you gave me some suggestions of possible upgrades.

My budget is around $500-600.

Thanks

 

[bobkn]

If you wish to continue with Crossfire, you have to pair compatible cards. See the chart here:

AMD CrossFireX

Looks like you can't Crossfire a 6970 with any 57xx card.

With a $500+ budget, you could consider a 7950 or 7970. (Or a GTX 680, if you're willing to go over to team green.) I think that a single 7970 would give much better performance than a pair of 5770s, but I've not found a review.

 

[paulpicks21]

Hi vpro,

What Power supply do you currently have in your PC?

This might need to be factored in when upgrading your GPU.

It would be helpful to us if you could go to your profile and fill out all your system specs.


Paul.

 

[bobkn]

Hi vpro,

What Power supply do you currently have in your PC?

This might need to be factored in when upgrading your GPU.

It would be helpful to us if you could go to your profile and fill out all your system specs.


Paul.

The Inter-Tech FP 750W doesn't look like a gem. It has a single 6 pin PCI-E power connector. Is Vpro using an adapter to run two 5700 series cards? (Looks like 5750 cards each need a 6 pin PCI-E auxiliary power input.) The PSU is rated at 23A on each of its two 12V rails, which is weak for a 750W PSU.

 

[Devilz]

Get one 7870 which is far better than 5770's in xfire but do you really need to upgrade your graphic cards at this point. I got 5770's too and I don't see any reason why should I upgrade when they are doing the job fine (gaming @ 1080p).

 

[vpro]

Hi vpro,

What Power supply do you currently have in your PC?

This might need to be factored in when upgrading your GPU.

It would be helpful to us if you could go to your profile and fill out all your system specs.


Paul.

The Inter-Tech FP 750W doesn't look like a gem. It has a single 6 pin PCI-E power connector. Is Vpro using an adapter to run two 5700 series cards? (Looks like 5750 cards each need a 6 pin PCI-E auxiliary power input.) The PSU is rated at 23A on each of its two 12V rails, which is weak for a 750W PSU.

Hey

Thanks for your help but I'm not really into that hardware stuff and i didn't build this computer so I'm not sure how the power supply works.

I attached a picture so you can take a look at it.

Will i need to buy a new power supply in order to handle a better graphics card?

Thanks.

 

[bobkn]

Hey

Thanks for your help but I'm not really into that hardware stuff and i didn't build this computer so I'm not sure how the power supply works.

I attached a picture so you can take a look at it.

Will i need to buy a new power supply in order to handle a better graphics card?

Thanks.

Interesting. I can't make it out, but from what I can see it looks more like each card has a real PCI-E power connector, rather than one using a Molex to PCI-E adapter. Are you quite sure that the PSU is the Inter-Tech FP 750W? (Care to show us a picture of the label on the side of the PSU? There's a small bit of the label visible in the upper right of your snapshot.) Maybe the PSU is a better one than the one in your spec list.

If you wanted to use a Radeon 7970, you'd need one 6 pin PCI-E power connector, plus one 8 pin (often a 6+2 pin, that can be used as either 6 or 8). A GTX 680 would need two 6 pin PCI-E connectors.

Incidentally, your hard drives are SATA (3Gb/s, sometimes called SATA II). The black SATA cables don't show up well in the photo.

 

[Joshatdot]

+1 for a pic of your PSU label .. it's the black box with all the wires coming out of it. The label should look something like this

 

[vpro]

Hey

Thanks for your help but I'm not really into that hardware stuff and i didn't build this computer so I'm not sure how the power supply works.

I attached a picture so you can take a look at it.

Will i need to buy a new power supply in order to handle a better graphics card?

Thanks.

Interesting. I can't make it out, but from what I can see it looks more like each card has a real PCI-E power connector, rather than one using a Molex to PCI-E adapter. Are you quite sure that the PSU is the Inter-Tech FP 750W? (Care to show us a picture of the label on the side of the PSU? There's a small bit of the label visible in the upper right of your snapshot.) Maybe the PSU is a better one than the one in your spec list.

If you wanted to use a Radeon 7970, you'd need one 6 pin PCI-E power connector, plus one 8 pin (often a 6+2 pin, that can be used as either 6 or 8). A GTX 680 would need two 6 pin PCI-E connectors.

Incidentally, your hard drives are SATA (3Gb/s, sometimes called SATA II). The black SATA cables don't show up well in the photo.

Hi sorry for the late reply.
Yep i checked on the receipt of the PC and it says Inter-Tech FP 750W.

I also took a closer picture of the power supply.
The upper part of the label cant be seen but it's pretty much the same
as this
Inter-Tech 88882017 FP-750W - power supply units | Icecat.biz

Thanks

 

[bobkn]

Hi sorry for the late reply.
Yep i checked on the receipt of the PC and it says Inter-Tech FP 750W.

I also took a closer picture of the power supply.
The upper part of the label cant be seen but it's pretty much the same
as this
Inter-Tech 88882017 FP-750W - power supply units | Icecat.biz

Thanks

It claims 20A on each of its four +12V lines, but with a total power draw at 12V limited to 650W. That's quite respectable.

I see that I misread the specs: it has one 6 pin PCI-E power connector, plus one 6+2.

The PSU would run a Radeon HD 7970 or a GTX 680, without adapters. It doesn't have enough PCI-E connectors to SLI or Crossfire two high-end (300W) cards, but it doesn't have enough oomph for that anyway. (No 750W PSU would be adequate for that.)

 

[Manigue]

Get one 7870 which is far better than 5770's in xfire but do you really need to upgrade your graphic cards at this point. I got 5770's too and I don't see any reason why should I upgrade when they are doing the job fine (gaming @ 1080p).

Vpro;

I agree with "bobkn" 100%.

I would spend half of your money on a SSD drive and the other half on a 32" TV, if you really want to spend some cash!

You will have an awesome system either way.

 

[Zepher]

Battlefield 3 with ultra settings on a 64 player map lags a bit with a 6870/6850 crossfire setup.
I installed a 7950 yesterday in my brothers machine and with the same settings it's smooth as butter.
The 7950 looked like it was about 3" longer than the 6870.