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advice on upgrading gpu + psu

peter tron

peter tron

peter tron

Associate
Joined
6 Oct 2012
Posts
277
Location
(do-or-die) Wye, Ashford, Kent, UK.
hi guys,

my gpu is acting up, so i want to replace it.
my psu is quite old, so i want to replace that at the same time.

specs:
OS: Windows Vista HP 32-bit SP2
CPU: i3-2130 @ 3.40GHz
RAM: 2x2GB Unknown Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 1333MHz (9-9-9-24)
Mobo: Gigabyte H61MA-D3V
Monitor: Standard Monitor (1280x800@1Hz)
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 460
PSU: evolabs 750u (700w)
HDD1: 160GB Seagate ST3160316CS
HDD2: 1TB WD Ext HDD 1021 USB
Optical: LG DVD GE20LU10 USB
Case: eclipse computers
Audio: Realtek ALC887 HD Audio

i was looking at the gtx 660 and 670.
i wanted to keep within the £100 mark, as i have spotted quite a few of the above on ebay for under this amount.

the current card [gtx 460] measures 210mm with another 90mm spare until the hard drive carriage.

the there's the psu:
again, i want to keep 'frugal' i'm hoping to get a really good one for around £50 max.
of course, i'll welcome all suggestions!

i've been looking at cards generally on ebay [uk only], but i will not totally restricted myself to that.
amazonuk too, although there seem to be better prices on ebay.

i can also supply pictures of the pc inside and out if needed.

i'm looking forwards to brainstorming a quality build with a competitive, thoughtful price range ;)

baz
 
i want to stick with nividia.
the 700 series are out of my price range.
i'm looking at the 600 series, maybe the 500 series too, but i can cough up for 600 series stuff on ebay.
 
i tried looking on ebay for the following as 'buy it now':

7870s:
i could only find 7870k? and they were all around £100 or so.

270xs:

couldn't find any xs, but 'x', i could. again, too expensive.

7950s:
too expensive. over £100

280s:
again. too expensive.

i must refer back to my op, £100 max.
 
there are some good deals on gumtree, cheers for that!

unfortunately i cannot post competitor links here :(

can people look on gumtree and type gtx 660 and weigh in about which 660 looks like a good deal?

there were a few in the uk for about £50 or £60 but i need some futher once over opinions from people before i commit.
 
i've settled on either:

gtx 660
7950

there's a gtx 660 on ebay for £65
and there's a 7950 on ebay for £90 [cheers fx!]

the form factor had me worried, as the 7950 is 11.2"s [285mm].
i have a space for 300mm max. it should fit.
 
Wucked said:
I often see PSU's last for over a decade in 24/7 operation, so if you aren't having any problems with it then I really wouldn't worry about it too much. Use that money to bump up the budget for the graphics card, or use it for something else.
Click to expand...

i was speaking recently to member of the nvidia forum [greybear], and he told me that my psu readings in my bios were not brilliant.

5v - 5.000
12v - 12.024

apparently the above readings would be fine under load, but i was getting these readings idle.

i still do not know for sure if my 460 is truly knackered or not, as i can't try it out in my friends pc, as his psu is not powerful enough, and i don't know anyone else. he indicated to me that a psu that isn't in good health can affect the performance of a gpu.

once i choose the gpu, i was going to grab a new psu, as the one in my pc is quite old, and it ius the only piece that i have upgraded along with everything else.
 
P.B said:
the 7950 would walk over a 660 and has much better memory size and bandwidth if you can squeeze in an ssd like mentioned that should do wonders with a fresh install of windows 7, ssd's are cheap second hand especially the 1st gen even if there not the fastest will still make a joke out of a mechanical hdd
Click to expand...

this is the general feedback i seem to be getting about the 7950.
certainly with a fresh install of windows 7 and an upgrade from 4gb to 8gb, this would be great.

i was worried about bottle necking with i3 and the 7950, but i've read around that i shouldn't have too many issues, apart from playing gpu intensive games etc.

after i buy the 7950. it's on to the choice of psu, then, maybe an ssd?
two threads for the next week to get stuck into ;)
 
P.B said:
the 7950 would walk over a 660 and has much better memory size and bandwidth if you can squeeze in an ssd like mentioned that should do wonders with a fresh install of windows 7, ssd's are cheap second hand especially the 1st gen even if there not the fastest will still make ajoke out of a mechanical hdd
Click to expand...

i can't find out if my mobo is sata III compatible [googling is the Gigabyte H61MA-D3V sata III compatible? doesn't come up with anything very clear, but i could be missing it.]
 
fx63007850 said:
hope he won it as its a cracker of a card, which should overclock to at least 1100/1500
Click to expand...


no, didn't get it :(

partly due to me pontificating (money's a bit tight).
it was there in the morning, 2 hours later when i was ready to pay...gone.

i'm looking at this on ebay:

AMD HD7950 Sapphire HD 7950 Flex Edition PN 299-1E219-001SA Dual-X 100352FLEX-2

£51 (£18 p+p?)

the seller mentions: Works perfectly, fans may need repair. (Fans still work-they just may wobble or not be as fast as others)?
 
i managed to grab a MSI GTX Geforce GTX 660 (OC edition), 1 year old for £60 [total].

another member of another forum said that i should "now it is a matter of how well it works.

do not try this card until the new PSU is in place?

earlier in this thread, it was mentioned that there was nothing wrong with the voltages of my psu when they were idle.
atm, i'm running my integrated Intel HD Graphics 2000 / 3000 off the mobo no problems/visual anomalies.
 
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