Noob question regarding Graphics card upgrade

[Crimefighter]

About 4 years ago my friend bought what was (at the time) a state of the art gaming PC.

He is going to email me the details of what he has shortly, but in the meantime Im wondering if I can get an answer to a question.

He needs an upgrade just to play SWTOR, which the graphics card is currently struggling with. The CPU is a 1st gen quad core Intel, overclocked to 3.4GHz.

He went in to the store he bought it from, and they ended up recommending him £700 worth of upgrades.

This doesnt sound right to me. He has an 620W PSU, but apparently the guy in the store said that modern video cards are powered directly from the PSU (rather than the mobo), and his PSU doesnt have the correct plugs for that.

I havent been in the desktop game for a while now, having been forced to use laptops for a few years. As such, I cant tell if what he has been told is true or not.

It seems to me that he just needs a basic graphics card upgrade to a 6770 or 550Ti/460GTX (Ill update later with details of what he has now), to get SWTOR going at an acceptable frame rate.

Is what he has been told true, or are they just trying to upsell him? Would he have any issues with a 4yr old mobo? (Im pretty sure it has PCIe slots but Ill check when he sends through the specs).

Any assistance appreciated.

Edit: 620W psu, not 800W

 

[wazza300]

all graphic cards come with molex adaptor plugs,so you can get power from any psu dvd power plug ect,i would just buy the card first,test it and if any problems think about mb/ram/psu upgrade,might be worth upgrading around the current quadcore,

 

[Sasahara]

As long as the 800 W PSU is a decent make you can use adaptors to power any graphics card.

 

[Crimefighter]

Thanks guys, he just mailed me some more details - Mobo is an Asus P5K Premium, socket 775. Lots of PCIe slots.

CPU is Quad core Q6600.

I dont think he needs to upgrade that mobo for what he wants to play.

 

[TheMorningStar]

Thanks guys, he just mailed me some more details - Mobo is an Asus P5K Premium, socket 775. Lots of PCIe slots.

I dont think he needs to upgrade that mobo for what he wants to play.

No he doesn't. If the PSU is only 4 years old it could well some 6pin PCI-E cables tucked away in some corner, so if he hasn't already, check

£100-£200 on a gfx card and he's flying

 

[Horse3000]

Evening All,

The friend Crimfighter is referring to is me. Firstly many thanks for your help on this issue its been very informative. To assist in the decision making on Gfx purchase listed below are current Box Spec's

Quad Core Q6600 - 2.6GHz overclocked to 3.4Ghz
RAM - DDR2 800Mhz
Motherboard - P5K Black Pearl Premium Edition
Power Unit - Cooler Master 620w with a 6 pin PCI-E slot (found the cable as well)
Graphics Card - ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT DDR3 512mb
Case - Cooler Master ATX midi

The GFX will manly be used for playing Star Wars the Old Republic and at the moment i'm thinking of getting the Asus GeForce GTX 560 Ti 900MHz PCI-Express HDMI, but would like to hear your opinion on the matter.

Any further help would be appreciated

Regards

Horse

 

[ReAPeR101]

You should be fine with a GTX560 Ti with a 620w PSU, my son has a i5 750 @ 3.7Ghz setup with a 560 Ti and a 600w OCZ PSU, the GPU works really well, plays skyrim on Ultra settings and also plays BF3 on high settings with reasonable FPS.

Cracking GPUs are the GTX560 Tis, i managed to overclock his one which is a MSI TwinFroza ii up to 990 core 1980 shader, kept the memory stock.

All you will need are 2 6pin PCI connector cables from your PSU. Download the latest WHQL or beta drivers and off you go

 

[Meaker]

I'm afraid it was decidedly mid range in the graphics department when he bought it lol. But with a 620W PSU you can pretty much go for any decent bang for the buck card.

 

[ShakeNBake]

maybe try a GTX 460.
they run quite cool and quiet at stock settings, overclock quite nicely, and cost a lot less than the 500 series cards, which are only slightly better..!
560 is still a good choice though.
msi ones have sick cooling.

 

[TheMorningStar]

6850 will offer staggering performance over his existing card, use the least power of anything in the £100-£200 price range, requires just 1 6pin power cable. The 6870/560ti/6950 are all more powerful but notably more expensive.

 

[Crimefighter]

Just want to thank everyone who contributed here, he went with the 560Ti and is experiencing great performance in SWTOR. No power issues and managed to save him self a lot of money by not taking the store persons advice!