hey,
I want to upgrade my videocard for a dell e520. Right now I have a radeon x1300pro, but I would like to upgrade to a Visiontek Radeon HD 4850. But I'm not sure if my PSU will support this card. The PSU that came with my pc has 305 watts. Do you guys recommend anything???
get a bigger psu
can i get like a really cheap one?? like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817709012
what's your cpu? my e521 already bottlenecks the 8600gt. if i were you, i'd get a whole new cheap build with a better cpu, so that your 4850 won't get bottlenecked by the cpu and thus, be wasting your money.
I think I have a Intel Pentium D 945, 3.4 GHz Dual Core Processor
Get like a 400 watt or higher and dont buy a cheap one. Spend at least 50 on it
Guarantee you your shit will fail if you get a cheap PSU
what about this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023
you can get a cheep one if u want, it might fail but u can always return it, assuming nothing else is damaged by it.
since ur looking at really cheep ones make sure its at least 500 watts and has more that 30 amps on the 12v rail. 35 and up would be nice.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371004
that should work. 500 watts 36 amps.
pentium D? sounds like you're in for some bottlenecking. trust me, i got a LITTLE boost from the 8600gt, but your 4850 is going to be really angry at you if you're not using at least a true dual core cpu. even if you get a psu good enough, your processor is going to be your downfall.
you can still purchase the 4850 and psu to see what happens.. but trust me, it's time for a cpu upgrade or an entire overhaul.
ya get a new cpu. Pentium D i dont think thats even socket 775. You need a new mobo if im correct
Pentium D's are socket 775, but ya he might need a new motherboard anyway.. idk whats in that dell and if it supports core2's
yea it's hard to find out what cpus a computer like dell can utilize, despite knowing what socket your cpu is..
you're safer just getting a nice $400-600 build like me and otaku..
basically what needs to be done is you save up for about 3 months and build a cheap good computer.
^exactly, it's going to be much better than wasting money on a cheap psu and a gpu that's going to be bottlenecked anyway.
thanks for all the help guys,
Could anyone recommend the best videocard i can get for my pc, without bottlenecking anything?
maybe an 8600 gt? your system still might bottleneck that though.. herm. what resolution will you be playing your games at mostly?
id get a 3850 or like an 8800gs, sure ur likely to still end up with some bottlenecking but it should still perform better than an 8600gt and if u get a new processor your card wont be a piece of junk. i mean even an 8800gt or 3870 would be a decent buy, 8800gt being better because you can always take it out an throw it in a newer computer, i mean 8600gts are like 50-80 dollars, its not worth it to get the 8600.
you also need to make sure your dell even has a pci-e POWER CONNECTOR. my e521 does NOT, and so i couldn't use anything like an 8800gt, unless i bought a new psu.
so make sure whatever you're getting didn't require a power connector, or else you either don't have the connector for it, OR you possibly don't have the minimum wattage required to power the card.
don't the video card usually come with 2x4pin to pci-e power connector?5
molex adapters? bleh, i don't really understand how that works.
your cheap dell psu most likely has no pci-e connectors. so if it comes with the molex adapters and you understand how that works, go for it.
plus gpus only use 6 or 4+2(8pin) pci-e connectors