Upgrading an Insprion 570

[BoldTitan]

I am upgrading my Inspiron 570. It has an AMD Athlon II X2 245, 4gb of ddr3 ram, a Radeon HD 4650, a 300w PSU. I am looking to get this as a PSU and I was looking at a 6670 for a graphics card. I'm looking to play games like Borderlands, Just Cause 2, Fallout, and the such on High or so and last me a little while. I have a low budget but I have heard the 6670 can handle it. What is the difference between the gddr5 and the ddr3 versions? What about the HIS, XFX, and Sapphire? Do I need to just abandon the 6670 and go higher? Thanks

[chaud]

That PSU is junk.

The main problem with this power supply is that it can’t deliver its labeled power. It is, in fact, a 350 W power supply.

The 6670 is not worth spending money on. It is not a gaming card. At the very least, you want a 6770. You failed to tell us your resolution, so there is no way to know how high you can run those games. HIS and Sapphire are generally not as good as XFX.

[BoldTitan]

1920x 1080 is the resolution. What about this PSU? I'm not really up on the technology.

[chaud]

Yeah, even a 6770 will have trouble maxing some of those games. Your CPU is also going to limit you in Just Cause 2, some of which can be mitigated by overclocking it. It also takes a ~7850 to comfortably max it, but you would be CPU bound.

This PSU is a better choice and is on sale for $50AR. If you want something cheaper, this one is $30 and okay.

[Deleted]

Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W (seaSonic OEM)

SeaSonic M12II 520W (semi-modular, helps if the space is tight, not using any extra cables)

Along with the ones already mentioned by Chaud.

[BoldTitan]

What about this PSU? It was recommended by a friend. Also with the 6770 this looks nice. but will my Pci express slots work with it? I have the original mobo.

[Deleted]

What about this PSU? It was recommended by a friend. Also with the 6770 this looks nice. but will my Pci express slots work with it? I have the original mobo.

I'd use the PSU advice you're given here, the unit is made from a brand I would avoid like the plague. You don't wanna cheap out on the PSU.

The 7750 is a really low end GPU.

If you're sticking to the lower end this card is much better:

MSI OC Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition - $110 after MIR

A (small) step up would be any of these:

GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 460 - $120 after MIR
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 - $135 after MIR

Best option (besides the more expensive 7850) would be a 6870 like this one:

XFX Double D Radeon HD 6870 - $150 after MIR

[BoldTitan]

How would my non-quad core processor effect all this?

[n0cturnal]

How would my non-quad core processor effect all this?

That depends on the game and what kind of GPU you are getting. In a lot of games your CPU will be able to push enough info for a pretty powerful card, but some games require a more powerful CPU as well.

[demonskies]

That PSU is junk.



The 6670 is not worth spending money on. It is not a gaming card. At the very least, you want a 6770. You failed to tell us your resolution, so there is no way to know how high you can run those games. HIS and Sapphire are generally not as good as XFX.

Do you have any evidence or proof that "HIS and Sapphire are generally not as good as XFX". XFX is great for the lifetime warranty thats about it I had to RMA 2 XFX cards last year for my buddys build that "had to have XFX". I've been running an OC'ed HD 5870 by HIS since day 1 of its 5xxx series release and never once had a problem. Also have had many Sapphire Cards that were only replaced due to age. Put a Sapphire 6870 in my wifes build and its phenomenal for what she does. WoW, D3, Skyrim and just regular BS. I even googled your claim and couldnt find anything stating that. Secondly you can find as many 5 star ratings on all 3 brands.

[chaud]

You want to RMA a Sapphire card? $15 fee. Your card gets sent far away, takes a long time, and all of the RMA process is outsourced to another company, so support is awful. Not that their support is any better.

HIS also outsources their RMA and has long turnaround times. They are cheaper cards not because they are making less profit or getting materials cheaper, but because they cut corners.