HD 4670 for rubbish computer

DrkZ · 30 May 2009 at 17:00

Hi all, I want to get a better GPU for my PC because as of the moment I have an NVIDIA 7300 LE (Yes rubbish I know). I've been told that the HD 4670 is the best card I can get without buying anything else e.g. PSU. My PSU is 300 or 350W (can't remember

). Do you need anymore information? So is this right? And I'm told it will be considerably better than my current card...

Thank you

EDIT: 4670!!! not 4870....jeez.

kylew · 30 May 2009 at 17:23

I'm pretty sure your PSU would be a low quality PSU only sufficient for running the PC it was designed to run with. If it's 300-350w it won't have the right specs to run a 4870.

I'm not too sure about a 4670, I think it might work as it's powered from the PCI-E slot, but in my opinion I'd recommend you got a better PSU anyway. Bad PSUs an ruin a whole PC if they go wrong.

Rroff · 30 May 2009 at 17:28

4760 should be fine on a 300watt PSU aslong as the rest of the system isn't crazy... they aren't bad little cards either at that. Good for media PCs and light to medium gaming - a massive improvement on the 7300.

You do have a PCI-e x16 slot yeah?

Big.Wayne · 30 May 2009 at 17:34

The Radeon HD4670 is a really nice card and works fine with lower powered PSUs. It's an ideal for a 24/7 machine due to its low power design, deffo a big step up from the NVIDIA 7300 LE.

If your more serious about your FPS gaming then you should be able to pick up a used nVidia 8800GT for around £50 which makes a lot of sense to a gamer on a budget, if you can scrape a bit more cash together that will bag you a used Radeon HD4850 or a brand new Radeon HD4770.

Rroff · 30 May 2009 at 17:42

8800GT + 300watt PSU is pushing it a bit and the PSU might not even have the extra power connector (tho you can easily enough use a molex convertor).

DrkZ · 31 May 2009 at 16:42

I don't think my PC can fit a 8800 GT anyway I would need a new motherboard also (costing even more money)....Soon (hopefully) I can get the items I want for my custom build.

skippy2421 · 31 May 2009 at 18:19

DrkZ would your pc happen to be an old dell? it's just i got to upgrade the graphics on my brothers computer and coincidently he has pretty much same PSU and GPU as you. I've been having some difficulties finding a card that will work tho as it needs to be single slot and ideally require no power connector. I imagine you're in the same boat.

DrkZ · 31 May 2009 at 18:22

skippy2421 said:
DrkZ would your pc happen to be an old dell? it's just i got to upgrade the graphics on my brothers computer and coincidently he has pretty much same PSU and GPU as you. I've been having some difficulties finding a card that will work tho as it needs to be single slot and ideally require no power connector. I imagine you're in the same boat.

Nope. Mine's a HP Pavilion, Packard Bell manufacturer, model:a6115.uk.

skippy2421 · 31 May 2009 at 18:40

you had any luck finding a card to fit then? Like i said i'm pretty much in the same boat and am interested to see what you end up with.

Natima · 31 May 2009 at 21:21

I have a 4670 running on a Dell 375W PSU.
Unfortunatly the CPU is so old I saw literally no difference in performance compared to my 8600GTS that died.
your CPU might be a bottleneck in which case it aint really worth it.

DrkZ · 2 Jun 2009 at 19:02

Natima said:
I have a 4670 running on a Dell 375W PSU.
Unfortunatly the CPU is so old I saw literally no difference in performance compared to my 8600GTS that died.
your CPU might be a bottleneck in which case it aint really worth it.

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 4400 @ 2.00GHz 2.00GHz

How do I know?

DrkZ · 2 Jun 2009 at 19:03

skippy2421 said:
you had any luck finding a card to fit then? Like i said i'm pretty much in the same boat and am interested to see what you end up with.

If everything is ok with my CPU then I will most likely get this card. I have a 350W PSU so I should be ok and my system isn't crazy as stated in another post...Hopefully everything will be fine!

james.miller · 2 Jun 2009 at 19:05

its the psu you need to be checking. whats it say on the side of it?

DrkZ · 2 Jun 2009 at 19:07

My motherboard - Video graphics:

Integrated graphics using Intel GMA 950,
Up to 256MB (with 512MB or more PC memory),
Also supports PCI Express x16 graphics cards.

Would it fit (based on technical specs)? Also, I know there is enough room for it to fit as I have checked with a friend.

DrkZ · 2 Jun 2009 at 19:08

james.miller said:
its the psu you need to be checking. whats it say on the side of it?

My PSU is 350W...Pretty sure of that.

james.miller · 2 Jun 2009 at 19:12

you need to know the rating on each of its rails, unfortunaly the overall rating will tell you very little about whats its capable of. this is especially important on older psus - graphics card suck all their power from the 12v rail, and older (especially cheap) psu's are normally more geared towards power on the 3.3v and 5v rail. it could be a psu thats rated at 500w but still not be sufficiant enough to run a gpu. now the 4670 happens to only need about 50w - 4a on the 12v rail - so it wont require a lot. but even so, you have to check first!

DrkZ · 2 Jun 2009 at 19:15

james.miller said:
you need to know the rating on each of its rails, unfortunaly the overall rating will tell you very little about whats its capable of. this is especially important on older psus - graphics card suck all their power from the 12v rail, and older (especially cheap) psu's are normally more geared towards power on the 3.3v and 5v rail. it could be a psu thats rated at 500w but still not be sufficiant enough to run a gpu. now the 4670 happens to only need about 50w - 4a on the 12v rail - so it wont require a lot. but even so, you have to check first!

Right, I'm on it mate! Checking now 1 minute!
Damn! I'm wrong, I only see something saying 300W!

Input: 100-127V
200-240V
Output: +5v -----25A Max
+3.3v -------- 18A Max
+5vsb --------- 2A Max

Combined power on +5v and +3.3v rails not exceed 175W Max
Combined power on +12v and +5v rails not exceed 286W Max

Need anymore? Just say

james.miller · 2 Jun 2009 at 19:27

if thats everything written on the side of the psu then it doesnt mention the aperage on the 12v rail at all...which is concerning. however, doesnt a bit a guess work id say you have about 11amps available on the 12v - 132w. assuming you are going to be using 30-50w of that for the rest of the hardware (cpu, motherboard, drives ect) that would leave you with about 70w to play with - cutting it far too fine for my liking.

Sorry to say this, but i wouldnt stick a card in their without changing that psu.

There's every possibility it'll be fine....oooor it wont work. or go bang and take the rest of the hardware out with it. i wouldnt be chancing it!

DrkZ · 2 Jun 2009 at 19:30

james.miller said:
if thats everything written on the side of the psu then it doesnt mention the aperage on the 12v rail at all...which is concerning. however, doesnt a bit a guess work id say you have about 11amps available on the 12v - 132w. assuming you are going to be using 30-50w of that for the rest of the hardware (cpu, motherboard, drives ect) that would leave you with about 70w to play with - cutting it far too fine for my liking.

Sorry to say this, but i wouldnt stick a card in their without changing that psu.

There's every possibility it'll be fine....oooor it wont work. or go bang and take the rest of the hardware out with it. i wouldnt be chancing it!

Right ok, thanks man! I guess I'll have to stick with this system atm until I can afford my custom build

This is my motherboard specifications http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...68&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3463943. Could you tell me what CPU I can get to run the HD 4670? ( I just realised they're listed, but idk what they mean

)

Thanks in advance.

DrkZ · 2 Jun 2009 at 19:37

I found this James:
Output: +5v -----25A Max +12v 19A MAX
+3.3v -------- 18A Max -12V 0.8A MAX
+5vsb --------- 2A Max
All of this is under the 'output' heading.