Little hardware upgrade help

[Luko]

Heya. I'm kind of a square when it comes to hardware, though I'm sure you hear this a lot in this forum, so we'll keep it short. I need a new vid card. Mine doesn't even support DX11 atm. I've been researching a little and I'm pretty happy with this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102908

My question is, could I simply buy this and throw it into my system without worrying about melting my system? I don't really have the money to be fixing amateur screw ups at the moment, hence the help request.

If you need to know anything else, lemme know.
Basic Nub Specs:

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 930 @2.8GHz
Memory: Installed 9GB
System: Win7 64b
Current card: ATI Radeon HD 4850

Thanks smart people.

[Keller]

wait a month for the 7000 series. DX11 isnt actually that big of a deal.

[coldfiredragon]

I've been researching a little and I'm pretty happy with this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102908

My question is, could I simply buy this and throw it into my system without worrying about melting my system? I don't really have the money to be fixing amateur screw ups at the moment, hence the help request.

Couple things. Personally I would stay way from the AMD Gfx Cards right this moment, I just RMA'd 4 6950's this month. And look at something like the GTX 550Ti like this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130625

That being said what you want to do is this:
Open Control Pannels --> Programs & Features --> Find the Catalyst Controll Center and uninstall it.

Then shut down, open the case, remove the existing card and put the new one back into the case (hook up any needed power connectors) close the case up reboot and install the new drivers.

And yes I recoomend uninstalling the Catalyst Control Center before installing the new hardware even if you get a new AMD Card.

[Luko]

That's actually very helpful, Coldfire, thanks. I've not had anything but AMD cards up to this point so it'll be good to branch out a little. Also this one is a little cheaper anyway.

Also I'll keep that in mind, Keller. I should have specified that I'm not working with a ton of cash atm, but I'll definitely keep that in mind for spring when I do a PC overhaul.

[Zxian]

@coldfireddragon - I'm quite surprised that you've had that many bad 6950's. What manufacturer were they?

I've been buying Sapphire cards almost exclusively for a year and a half (for myself and my clients) without any serious issues. I've sold everything from 5450's to 6970's and had none come back.

[Kydris]

I myself have the gigabyte HD 6850 windforce and love it 60-80fps in Org on max settings, just make sure your PSu can handle it, I got the raidmax 730w which is a bit overkill but i like the headroom and its only $60 lol