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Best Graphics Card for 375w PSU

Liamb2005

Liamb2005

Liamb2005

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Joined
13 Jul 2005
Posts
501
Hi guys I need some advice please. I passed down my Dell XPS 420 to my son when I got a new rig over a year ago and it has a. 375w PSU I believe. Its currently got a 5770 radeon card installed but he's complaining it slows down on a lot of games so is wanting to buy a new graphics card for xmas ...around the £100 mark. What I want to know is what card will give him the biggest power increase for his comp that will run on that PSU and will it be considerably faster than his 5770.


Would appreciate any advice thanks.
 
Do you know the rest of the spec such as the cpu? Also we need to know some details on the psu. If its a decent 375w with a high rating on the 12v rail then it could power a pretty good card such as a 670/7950 . If its not a decent one then you are likely limited to a 7850 but this would still be a nice upgrade.
 
If it's a good PSU it should be able to take on an R280X/770/7970/680.

If it's not then you're looking at an R270X/760/7870/660.
 
Tute said:
If it's a good PSU it should be able to take on an R280X/770/7970/680.

If it's not then you're looking at an R270X/760/7870/660.
Click to expand...

I would say your pushing it there even with a good PSU.

Most of those cards are easily pulling well over 200w under load.
 
I recently upgraded my Dads XPS 420 with my old 6950 GPU. The Stock Dell 375w PSU did not have the available power connectors in order to power the card (2 x 6 PIN PCIE). I also did some research and it is not recommended to use this PSU with such a card. I bought an OCZ 500w for ~£30, built that in and it works perfectly.

Bare in mind that the XPS 420 is a BTX model, not the standard ATX form as usual. Also, if you want to change the PSU, you have to detach the CPU heatsink, because the PSU cables run on the side behind it. So I also needed to apply new thermal paste.

Additionally, depending on the size and how many fans the GPU card has got, the XPS CPU cooler can get quite in the way. Here is a picture of what it looked like with my 6950 with the CPU Heatsink blocking one of the fans:

1398646_602249616508385_814388522_o.jpg

It worked okay, but I was sure that this could not be very healthy for the card :) So on top of that, I also had to buy a new 'smaller' Heatsink for the CPU.

All in all it was worth it and my dad can happily enjoy his CSGO with nice fps :)

Hope this helped!
 
You'll be fine with a 7950 GPU if your PSU is a good brand.

I had a 7950 Crossfire with a 2600k at 4.6Ghz pulling ~550w from the wall which at 82% efficiently that my PSU is rated gives an actual power draw for my PC of 451w

So with a single 7950 I would be around the 320w mark.
 
dfarrall said:
I would say your pushing it there even with a good PSU.

Most of those cards are easily pulling well over 200w under load.
Click to expand...

If I can get an R290 running stable on a good 450W PSU then I think an R280X will be fine on a good 375W. :)
 
The psu has decent specs with a pair of 18A 12v rails limited to a max of 360w. It only has a single 6 pin pci-e cable though. Specs here. Wow, what a ridiculous price for a refurbished 375w psu!! :eek:
 
svensonbanks said:
I recently upgraded my Dads XPS 420 with my old 6950 GPU. The Stock Dell 375w PSU did not have the available power connectors in order to power the card (2 x 6 PIN PCIE). I also did some research and it is not recommended to use this PSU with such a card. I bought an OCZ 500w for ~£30, built that in and it works perfectly.

Bare in mind that the XPS 420 is a BTX model, not the standard ATX form as usual. Also, if you want to change the PSU, you have to detach the CPU heatsink, because the PSU cables run on the side behind it. So I also needed to apply new thermal paste.

Additionally, depending on the size and how many fans the GPU card has got, the XPS CPU cooler can get quite in the way. Here is a picture of what it looked like with my 6950 with the CPU Heatsink blocking one of the fans:

1398646_602249616508385_814388522_o.jpg

It worked okay, but I was sure that this could not be very healthy for the card :) So on top of that, I also had to buy a new 'smaller' Heatsink for the CPU.

All in all it was worth it and my dad can happily enjoy his CSGO with nice fps :)

Hope this helped!
Click to expand...

I'd listen to him he upgraded the same rig. Go with a cheap (decent) psu like him and possibly get a 2nd hand gpu i'd say.
Anything in the range of 580, 7850, 7870 2nd hand would be v good.

Should come close to £100 or slightly higher
 
There's no bigger sense to buy PSU & graphic card only as Q6600@stock is not powerful for nowadays games (1066 FSB in s775 matters.... for worse). You'd get better performance buying a bit cheaper card than 7950 (like minimum GTX650Ti Boost 2GB, GTX 580 second hand would be preferably fine), but together with Q9550 second hand CPU for about 75 quids = and overclock it a bit, if Dell's BIOS would allow it.
Remember - if are going to swap CPU (selling Q6600 is about 25 pounds only), upgrade BIOS version first.
 
Last edited:
I'm running a (overclocked) Q6600 with an ATI 7850 @ 1920x1200.

The ATI 7850 I have only needs one 6 pin power connector, and will take it easy on your power supply.

It also not a bad setup, I can play most of the latest games on varying quality settings from medium to high depending on the game.

Anything above a 7850 would probably be bottle-necked by the Q6600 depending on the game.

I'm sticking with this setup for a while longer, as i'm curious if mantle ends up taking the pressure off the CPU and giving games a boost. Would eek this setup out a little longer if so.
 
biuro74 said:
There's no bigger sense to buy PSU & graphic card only as Q6600@stock is not powerful for nowadays games (1066 FSB in s775 matters.... for worse). You'd get better performance buying a bit cheaper card than 7950 (like minimum GTX650Ti Boost 2GB, GTX 580 second hand would be preferably fine), but together with Q9550 second hand CPU for about 75 quids = and overclock it a bit, if Dell's BIOS would allow it.
Remember - if are going to swap CPU (selling Q6600 is about 25 pounds only), upgrade BIOS version first.
Click to expand...

I would not even advise anyone spend even £1 on 775 hardware...
 
Hi guys I'm going to take your advice and order this for my son for Xmas can could you possibly suggest the best ones from the overclockers store plz pref with links from cheapest to best recommended that only require one 6 pin connector. I'd really appreciate it

Liam
 
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