graphic card replacement help required......

Yungstar 2006 · 10 Jul 2011 at 14:08

dont know the 1st thing about graphic cards, but my pc (i3 intel with 4GB RAM) has a GeForce 310 512MB graphic card.

is there a graphic card for about £100 that would improve on the one i have or would any difference not be worth spending the £100?

tia

BriT · 10 Jul 2011 at 14:27

yeah id get one of these http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-140-OK £10 over budget but worth it.

Yungstar 2006 · 10 Jul 2011 at 14:35

BriT said:
yeah id get one of these http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-140-OK £10 over budget but worth it.

many thanks, does that just fit into the slot i take the 310 out of?

BriT · 10 Jul 2011 at 14:42

What your motherboard?

Yungstar 2006 · 10 Jul 2011 at 15:12

BriT said:
What your motherboard?

i dont know what mother board is in it, but its a Medion AKOYA p4207d that i was given.

Freakbro · 10 Jul 2011 at 15:17

Might be a silly question, but is this a laptop?

Edit: Ahh I've found the GF310 now, I thought it was just a 310M for laptops, obviously not, andI couldnt find that model number on the Medion site

Yungstar 2006 · 10 Jul 2011 at 15:23

Freakbro said:
Might be a silly question, but is this a laptop?

no, its a desktop.

Freakbro · 10 Jul 2011 at 15:28

Yes it will just go into the same place as the old one, check it physically fits in the case by size.

One thing to check though, it looks like the GF460 needs 2 x 6 pin pcie power connectors - will the PSU in the Medion have those or can you use an adapter off molex?

It looks like those adapters use 2 molex connection for 1 x 6 pin pcie, so you would need 4 spare molex connections if your PSU didn't have any pcie connectors

Yungstar 2006 · 10 Jul 2011 at 17:29

right, thanks for the help guys. took a small vid of pc with my phone.

i'm thinking the power supply is not big enough so no extra leads?
that being the case, is there a card i can replace mine with that does not need the extra power?

regards.

Freakbro · 11 Jul 2011 at 08:00

It looks like you have to drop to the Geforce 430 before they don't use any extra power cables, and I have no idea how good/bad that card is in comparison to what you have.

Hopefully someone can advise a decent ATI card that doesn't need extra.

I looked at your video, are there no spare molex (flat white 4 pin) connectors tucked away anywhere?

robbieshanks · 11 Jul 2011 at 13:03

You need an ATI Radeon HD 5670. Performance will be massive improvement on your current card. (Passmark scores: GT 310 = 275, HD 5670 = 1244).

This is the highest spec ATI card that doesn't require additional power cables from you PSU - takes all it's power from the PCI-E slot.

Unfortunately OCUK don't seen to stock this card any more. You should be able to pick one up for £60-£70 if you have a look around.

Yungstar 2006 · 11 Jul 2011 at 13:17

Freakbro said:
It looks like you have to drop to the Geforce 430 before they don't use any extra power cables, and I have no idea how good/bad that card is in comparison to what you have.

Hopefully someone can advise a decent ATI card that doesn't need extra.

I looked at your video, are there no spare molex (flat white 4 pin) connectors tucked away anywhere?

there are none spare, then again there are none at all.

the only white connectors are the very wide one pluged into the motherboard just to the left of the grafix card. and another smaller square one (also into the motherboard) just above that big fan tube.

the dvd and hd have black power connectors with a spare on each lead, i guess for more drives.

Yungstar 2006 · 11 Jul 2011 at 13:18

robbieshanks said:
You need an ATI Radeon HD 5670. Performance will be massive improvement on your current card. (Passmark scores: GT 310 = 275, HD 5670 = 1244).

This is the highest spec ATI card that doesn't require additional power cables from you PSU - takes all it's power from the PCI-E slot.

Unfortunately OCUK don't seen to stock this card any more. You should be able to pick one up for £60-£70 if you have a look around.

thanks for the help.

robbieshanks · 11 Jul 2011 at 13:57

You're welcome - good luck.

Marine-RX179 · 11 Jul 2011 at 14:28

The 5670 would still be quite underpowered for gaming.

The PSU in your PC is probably some cheap generic PSU (would be good if you can confirm what PSU it is), so you might as well replace the PSU along with the graphic card. With just around £100 budget, you can get this and this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-185-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1515
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-059-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084

Yungstar 2006 · 11 Jul 2011 at 14:41

psu....

FSP GROUP INC.
MODEL :ATX-250PA (1PF)
AC INPUT:220-240V-,3.15A,50Hz
DC OUTPUT:250W(+3.3V & +5V=110W Max)

Freakbro · 11 Jul 2011 at 14:43

You'll have a whole new pc by the time we have finished with you!

Marine-RX179 · 11 Jul 2011 at 14:46

Freakbro said:
You'll have a whole new pc by the time we have finished with you!

Well, he got a Core i3 so that's pretty good. Wonder if it is the 1st gen 1156 i3 or the 2nd gen 1155 i3 though...

To be honest I think he's just need to toss in a new PSU and a Sapphire 5850 Extreme and he'd be laughing, but then that would cost around £160 in total

robbieshanks · 11 Jul 2011 at 14:47

Ouch - I agree completely - get rid of that PSU if you are planning on upgrading anything inside your PC!

The Corsair PSU / 5770 Graphics card combination suggested above is a much better suggestion than the 5670 I suggested.

Phenomenologica · 11 Jul 2011 at 14:48

I'd second (Third?) the suggestion to get a good future proof PSU first. No sense upgrading the graphics card if your power supply isn't up to the job.