Is this graphics card compatible?

Benjolia

Benjolia

Benjolia

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Joined
18 Apr 2012
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4
My current graphics card has had 5 years of solid use and has developed a gradually worsening overheating problem; any semi-demanding game doesn't last a minute now. It's been recommended to me that I should upgrade it; a welcome recommendation in my eyes as I'd love to be able to play Portal 2 again!

I have been pointed to a graphics card, but unfortunately I am ignorant when it comes to this kind of stuff. Don't get me wrong, I can put a computer together if somebody gives me the necessary parts, but knowing which parts to pick is not my forte!

My current setup is as follows (copied directly from the invoice, so please excuse any irrelevant info):
- Trust PW-5500 570W ATX Power Supply (PCI-E & SATA)
- Asus Skt AM3 M4A88TD Full ATX Motherboard DDR3
- AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 645 Processor 3.10 GHz
- 4GB DDR3 1600MHz RAM
- 300GB Harddrive
- 64-bit Operating System (Windows 7 Home Premium Service Pack 1)
- NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX/9800 GTX+ 512MB DDR3 (<- here's the trouble causer! I've loved it for 5 years, but it's time to move on!)

The graphics card that I have been pointed to can be found here:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-175-OK

Now it's not that I don't trust the recommendation, I just want another set of eyes to look over this as I don't know what I'm looking at. If I bought this, would it be as simple as whipping out my old graphics card and plugging this one in? Would I potentially face any issues? Anything in particular to look out for? Would it even work at all? Can you tell I'm a worrier?

Thank you in advance for any advice. If any further information is required, please do let me know!
 
It's definitely overheating correct? As in, you've monitored the temperatures? Does it just stop working or are their artifacts on the display before this happens?

First port of call would be to make sure your drivers are up to date for the card if not. Have you cleaned the card out at all? (not sure what your level of pc knowledge is). You can buy a can of compressed air and blow through the card to dislodg dust that's built up. I don't see why a card would fail with overheating unless it was driver-related, the cooler was blocked, the fan was broken or the TIM needed re-doing.

As for the 560 ti:
Firstly, I'm not sure about the ability of the system you have (processor in particular) to keep up with the card. If it can't keep up, the card could be work at a lower rate (for example - 60%) with the processor pinned at maximum. Getting 60% of the performance for the money wouldn't be too good. But I'm not very clued up on processors etc so wait for further input on that from someone more knowledgeable.

Now I do know for a fact that you have a cheap power supply because Dell use it in some of their machines. I had one from the same range that decided to destroy my machine out of warranty which was charming of it. At going on 5 years I would not risk a £200 graphics card on it.
The psu specs says it "Includes PCI Express 6-pin VGA connector for powering your power consuming PCI card(s) (meets high-end PCI exp.150W req.)" Firstly, that means to power it you will need to use the 1 6 pin and the the second6 pin it needs will have to come from a 2x 4pin molex to 6 pin adapter (will likely come with the card, pretty much always does.). Secondly, the 560ti has a max tdp of 170w. So not even considering the amperage yet we're over the psu's capabilities.

Depending on budget and requirements I would be looking at: Upgrade platform(motherboard,cpu,ram,psu) and graphics card.
or
buy a new pc pre-built if you can't do that (a proper pre-built like sold here, not like a dell or hp or w/e lol)
or
find a cheap second-hand 8800GTX or 9800GTX (same card) or ATI equivalent
or
replace the TIM on the card and give the cooler a good blast with compressed air. (Assuming it's overheating)
 
Thank you for your input OptimaLnrg.

The temperature has been monitored and I am assured it is an overheating issue. The whole system shuts down after a game has been played for about a minute.

The drivers are indeed up to date, the card has been blasted a few times with compressed air along with the rest of the system. The cooler is not blocked, that I assume as nothing has changed in there since the days when it was working fine. The fans are not broken.
The last point however, I have not cleaned up and reapplied the TIM. That's something I have experience with on a CPU, but I didn't think to do it to the GPU. I'm definitely going to give that a go before buying anything else, of course I want to explore any options like this before forking out any cash!

In regards to upgrading, thank you for your input again, I will wait for further opinion on this. It's shifted towards the back of my mind now that I know there is a cheaper option to try first!
 
Worth a try anyway. It's bound to be out of warranty already so removing the cooler doesn't matter. Just be sure to use TIM that isn't electrically conductive or it will be a short-lived success, lol.
 
the 560ti 2GB is a good card, this one is good too (it's the Palit version). And I would pick a 2GB card.

However I would strongly recommend you look at the 7850's, notably the Sapphire with custom cooler and the MSI Twin Frozr III. They are in the same price region, the 7850 has better performance, but more importantly imo uses less juice (given your PSU). And probably less juice than your current system.

Look up reviews to see what would suit you best.
 
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