750ti Compatible With This Piece of Junk?

[uyMammoth]

Hey there,

I have my hand me down PC that'll I'll be handing down to my brother. It's a 2008 a "HP Pavilion a6652f Desktop PC" (yuck). I was wondering if this model of the 750 ti (ZT-70605-10M) will be compatible with it? On newegg.ca it says it's PCI-Ex16 which is what the mobo in that piece of junk can support, but looking around for some places to actually buy that model of the 750 ti it saying it's PCI-E 3? Is it still compatible?

If it's not can someone recommend another GPU I could get instead?

Thanks for any help.

[Ssateneth]

pci-e 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, and 3.0 are all backwards and forwards compatible. they all work together. the device and the slot will negotiate to the lowest common version and use that version's speed (1.0 = 2.5gbps, 2.0 and 2.1 = 5.0gbps, 3.0 = 8.0gbps)

short answer, yes

[uyMammoth]

pci-e 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, and 3.0 are all backwards and forwards compatible. they all work together. the device and the slot will negotiate to the lowest common version and use that version's speed (1.0 = 2.5gbps, 2.0 and 2.1 = 5.0gbps, 3.0 = 8.0gbps)

short answer, yes

Perfect, thanks for the quick reply!

[Lathais]

Just to second that it will work, it will. It's compatible with PCI-E 3.0, but is completely backwards compatible. The 750ti is not even capable of filling the lanes on 2.0 though, so you are more than ok putting it in there if it fits in the case. That is what I would be more concerned about as sometimes those pre-fabs that are not really meant as gaming machines do not have room for larger GPUs. Luckily, the 750ti is not that big so you should not have an issue.

[uyMammoth]

Just to second that it will work, it will. It's compatible with PCI-E 3.0, but is completely backwards compatible. The 750ti is not even capable of filling the lanes on 2.0 though, so you are more than ok putting it in there if it fits in the case. That is what I would be more concerned about as sometimes those pre-fabs that are not really meant as gaming machines do not have room for larger GPUs. Luckily, the 750ti is not that big so you should not have an issue.

Thanks for the second opinion and confirmation! Definitely appreciate it!

One other thing I'm now a little concerned about is the PSU in the PC; it's the stock one and is only 300W. For that model of 750ti it's being recommended to go with a 400W PSU. Should I considering upgrading the PSU along for the GPU? Or is not needed? Was looking at one between 400W and 450W if I need to upgrade.

[Lathais]

Thanks for the second opinion and confirmation! Definitely appreciate it!

One other thing I'm now a little concerned about is the PSU in the PC; it's the stock one and is only 300W. For that model of 750ti it's being recommended to go with a 400W PSU. Should I considering upgrading the PSU along for the GPU? Or is not needed? Was looking at one between 400W and 450W if I need to upgrade.

That kinda depends on the brand/model of the PSU. The GPU is recommending far more than it actually needs just due to the fact that there are a lot of PSUs out there that do not actually put out the wattage they advertise. I just did a quick calc and even running a OCed i5 with an SSD, HDD and a 750ti, the system should draw right around 300W. You want some headroom so the PSU degrades slower and works more efficiently though, so I would certainly recommend at least a 450W.

[uyMammoth]

That kinda depends on the brand/model of the PSU. The GPU is recommending far more than it actually needs just due to the fact that there are a lot of PSUs out there that do not actually put out the wattage they advertise. I just did a quick calc and even running a OCed i5 with an SSD, HDD and a 750ti, the system should draw right around 300W. You want some headroom so the PSU degrades slower and works more efficiently though, so I would certainly recommend at least a 450W.

Thanks again for the reply!

Well the system I'm handing down has stock everything since it was bought, with the exception of the GPU that's shot. Right now it only has a 640GB HDD and an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200, lol. So maybe in that case I wouldn't need a new PSU? But I'm always one for saying "better safe than sorry".

[Lathais]

Thanks again for the reply!

Well the system I'm handing down has stock everything since it was bought, with the exception of the GPU that's shot. Right now it only has a 640GB HDD and an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200, lol. So maybe in that case I wouldn't need a new PSU? But I'm always one for saying "better safe than sorry".

If it was a pre-built system, I am betting on an el-cheapo no-name brand PSU that has likely degraded by this point in time. I would not risk it. Get a good quality 450W and put it in there, they are not that expensive and as you say, "better safe than sorry."

[Ssateneth]

Your existing power supply should work fine with the 750ti. I don't see the need to buy a new one. I have a 1250 watt myself for a sub-zero cooled 5960x and 2 gtx 980 and I know it is overkill. With absolute worst case scenario and unrealistic loads, I'd use, at the most, 950 watts (~450W for the CPU and RAM under a multi-threaded AVX stress such as linpack or prime95, and 250W each for GTX 980 OC'd with increased power limit BIOS under furmark or OCCT), but under maybe WoW, thats more like 350-400 watts.

A system like yours, right now, is probably using 75 watts inside WoW. If you add in the 750ti, it'd be around 100-150 watts. The 750ti is really low power and does not have an extra power connector; it pulls all its power through the PCI-E slot.

I have a device called a kill-a-watt that shows how much power a device is pulling at the wall socket. Factoring in power supply inefficiencies based on it's 80plus rating (or lack of), I can get a very close idea of how much juice the PSU is actually delivering.

[Nellah]

The only computer in my house that pulls more than 300 watts under load is my main desktop PC, which pulls about 380W with an R9 290, overclocked i5, two hard drives... 300W should be fine.

Should.

It's a budget-ish HP that's going on eight years old now, so the power supply may not be in the best condition. If you're looking to build a new PC anytime soon, even a budget build (that would in all likelihood still destroy a Core 2 Quad machine) I'd budget in a new power supply. A quality 450-watt unit will power even most gaming PCs in the world today, so long as you're not going extravagant with overclocked hexa- or octa-core machines or SLI/Crossfire GPUs.

[Lathais]

Your existing power supply should work fine with the 750ti. I don't see the need to buy a new one. I have a 1250 watt myself for a sub-zero cooled 5960x and 2 gtx 980 and I know it is overkill. With absolute worst case scenario and unrealistic loads, I'd use, at the most, 950 watts (~450W for the CPU and RAM under a multi-threaded AVX stress such as linpack or prime95, and 250W each for GTX 980 OC'd with increased power limit BIOS under furmark or OCCT), but under maybe WoW, thats more like 350-400 watts.

A system like yours, right now, is probably using 75 watts inside WoW. If you add in the 750ti, it'd be around 100-150 watts. The 750ti is really low power and does not have an extra power connector; it pulls all its power through the PCI-E slot.

I have a device called a kill-a-watt that shows how much power a device is pulling at the wall socket. Factoring in power supply inefficiencies based on it's 80plus rating (or lack of), I can get a very close idea of how much juice the PSU is actually delivering.

PCPartPickers calculator had it sitting at somewhere around 260-280 when I looked it up IIRC. A no-name 300W 8 year old PSU is not going to be enough. Sure, a brand new high quality one would be enough, but you also don't want to run your PSU that close to capacity. Recommending he keep an 8 year old unknown PSU is pretty absurd.

[uyMammoth]

Hey guys!

Thanks for all the advice on this! I ended up purchasing a 450W PSU (only $45 Canadian) to accompany the 750ti. Just to be on the safe side. I do appreciate all the replies! If there's one thing I struggled with on my first build and now on this little upgrade it's choosing the right PSU. When asking for advice on it I get a slew of different responses. So it's nice to get some more insight on how much a system actually takes.

Parts should be arriving today after work. I'll be back if I run into any issues (*knocks on wood*)!

Thanks again!