Can I swap in a GTX 690?

banjoted

banjoted

banjoted

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Greetings

I recently built my first self-built PC. It's been a great learning experience. However, I'm already looking at upgrading. This is my rig. Do you think I'd be OK to stick a GTX 690 in here?

Shinobi ATX Mid Tower
Corsair 500w PSU
AMD FX 6300 3.5Ghz 6 Core
XFX Radeon HD 7950
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 mobo

I'm aware my PSU is a little lightweight. Do you think it would hold up? Any more potential issues?

Thanks very much folks
 
banjoted said:
Greetings

I recently built my first self-built PC. It's been a great learning experience. However, I'm already looking at upgrading. This is my rig. Do you think I'd be OK to stick a GTX 690 in here?

Shinobi ATX Mid Tower
Corsair 500w PSU
AMD FX 6300 3.5Ghz 6 Core
XFX Radeon HD 7950
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 mobo

I'm aware my PSU is a little lightweight. Do you think it would hold up? Any more potential issues?

Thanks very much folks
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I don't know if that PSU is enough tbh.
 
I remember reading somewhere it was something like 320 at stock and 360-380 when OC. Personally I would have a 650w psu in there, aren't AMD cpu's already a little power hungry?
 
That's a £900 GPU fella. To be honest your CPU choice hardly compliments it

Just to put it in perspective......

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £269.99
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £251.99
1 x MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure £149.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
2 x Avexir MPower Yellow Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CM) £40.00 (£80.00)
1 x Thermalright Macho 120 CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
Total : £893.93 (includes shipping : £10.00).



You could Xfire with the 7950 you have with that setup
 
What are you expecting to gain over what you have now ?, spending so much on a graphics card when the rest of your system isn't up to scratch is just going to hold the graphics card back.

Id upgrade the rest of your system first and leave the graphics card for a while as there isn't anything wrong with the 7950 and if you want more just overclock it.

For the money you want to spend you could have an i7 CPU decent motherboard, ram and new PSU and just use your 7950 and probably have quite a bit of change left.


Damn honosuseri and his ninja fast typing :)
 
Well, yeah, that's what I was asking - is there much value in upgrading to a GTX 690 with the build I described? You think the GPU would be held back, then?
 
honosuseri said:
That's a £900 GPU fella. To be honest your CPU choice hardly compliments it

Just to put it in perspective......

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £269.99
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £251.99
1 x MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure £149.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
2 x Avexir MPower Yellow Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CM) £40.00 (£80.00)
1 x Thermalright Macho 120 CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
Total : £893.93 (includes shipping : £10.00).



You could Xfire with the 7950 you have with that setup
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You think an Xfire setup is worth considering? I'm still learning, of course, but had been given the impression that they're more hassle than they're worth?
 
Crossfire 7950s will outclass a 690 in most games and also it is cheaper. Crossfire has improved vastly since the 6xxx cards, a lot of people run Xfire 7950s and are very happy with the results. The only think I would be aware of is the slots on the motherboard - you want enough space to run the cards with a gap in the middle if possible.
 
Rooster212 said:
Crossfire 7950s will outclass a 690 in most games and also it is cheaper. Crossfire has improved vastly since the 6xxx cards, a lot of people run Xfire 7950s and are very happy with the results. The only think I would be aware of is the slots on the motherboard - you want enough space to run the cards with a gap in the middle if possible.
Click to expand...

Due to heat?
 
banjoted said:
You think an Xfire setup is worth considering? I'm still learning, of course, but had been given the impression that they're more hassle than they're worth?
Click to expand...

If your budget allows it, it's nice to have the option. As Attu said you could just use the 7950 you have and upgrade the core of your system for now. Having a 750/850W PSU would be needed to Xfire the 7950.

The mobo I suggested does Xfire/SLi properly, there is plenty of room between the PCI-E slots for the GPUs to breathe (spacing is more of an issue on m-ATX mobos). It also has wifi and bluetooth inc. with some nice freebies thrown in to help justify the price.

My point was for what you wanted to pay on a 690 there are better alternatives. Your description of your rig is vague at best, you should list everything really including the rez of the panel you have. The more you help us the easier it is to help you ;)
 
honosuseri said:
If your budget allows it, it's nice to have the option. As Attu said you could just use the 7950 you have and upgrade the core of your system for now. Having a 750/850W PSU would be needed to Xfire the 7950.

The mobo I suggested does Xfire/SLi properly, there is plenty of room between the PCI-E slots for the GPUs to breathe (spacing is more of an issue on m-ATX mobos). It also has wifi and bluetooth inc. with some nice freebies thrown in to help justify the price.

My point was for what you wanted to pay on a 690 there are better alternatives. Your description of your rig is vague at best, you should list everything really including the rez of the panel you have. The more you help us the easier it is to help you ;)
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It's just something I'm pondering at the moment but I'll certainly come back when I have a firmer idea. You've been really helpful mate, thanks very much.
 
Just spend the money on a better psu (650-850w should do nicely) and another 7950 and away you go :) So for £550 LESS than the cheapest GTX690 you should get close to the same performance ;)

with the cash you saved you could upgrade mobo cpu and memory. :D
 
ZXSpectrum said:
Just spend the money on a better psu (650-850w should do nicely) and another 7950 and away you go :) So for £550 LESS than the cheapest GTX690 you should get close to the same performance ;)

with the cash you saved you could upgrade mobo cpu and memory. :D
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I'm fairly certain his current mobo doesn't run the lanes in sync so upping the PSU and getting another 7950 isn't really a sensible option.

Probably best to get an Xfire/SLi capable mobo bundle upgrade and use his 7950 with the 500W PSU and flog off his old kit. If he wants to get another 7950 for Xfire then buy a 750/850W PSU at the same time.
 
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