What's the best sub £150 graphics card on the Market?

[555BUK]

I'd like a difinative answer if the 6850 will would work before I buy

According to the ***** (rhymes with nexus but beigns with H) review a 6850 requires about the same power as your 5770. The 6850 should be safe, but the only way to really find out will be to try it or ask Dell (who will probably not be able to give an answer).

If I was in your situation I would go for the 6850, without hesistation. The 460 becomes much more expensive if you have to buy a new PSU.

 

[C64]

^850 gets dumped on by 460 and 5850 i thought ?

 

[Marine-RX179]

Depending on the model of the 6850...but it is roughly around 15-17W higher in power consumption than the 5770 at max:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6850/26.html

So whether or not your 350W PSU would handle it with a little bit higher power consumption than your 5770, it's up to you to decide.

The problem here is if it was a quality 350W PSU, it would absolutely be fine for the 6850, but the quality of the PSU that you got from the Dell build is a bit of unknown...

 

[bru]

go to the dell website and go through the process of customizing your machine as if you was buying it new and see if it will let you select the gtx460, if it will then the PSU will handle it.

 

[Marine-RX179]

go to the dell website and go through the process of customizing your machine as if you was buying it new and see if it will let you select the gtx460, if it will then the PSU will handle it.

But the thing is if the GTX460 was installed by Dell, it will be covered by their warranty if anything does go wrong; if he change the graphic card himself and anything goes wrong, not sure if it is still covered, especially if they have some sort of label sealing on the panel of the case and have something like the warranty is void if the seal is broken. Not sure if OP's Dell is still under warranty of not, and if warranty already expired, he would be on his own if his Dell's PSU does go kaboom and taking the rest of his rig with it either way.

 

[555BUK]

There is nothing to say that Dell would not upgrade the PSU if the GTX 460 upgrade option was ticked.

As far as using a 6850 is concerned the only way to know for sure is to try it. The absolute worst thing that will happen is that your PSU will cut out. I think the 6850 will be fine, but the 460 (especially the 1GB version) will be very tight. As you have a Dell, the i7 will use little power because it cannot be overclocked. 6850 is the only real option if you want to upgrade without changing the PSU.

If the card does not work you are entitled to return it within 10days for ANY reason and get a full refund.

 

[bru]

... especially if they have some sort of label sealing on the panel of the case and have something like the warranty is void if the seal is broken.

well if this is the case then any upgrade is off of the cards.

 

[Marine-RX179]

well if this is the case then any upgrade is off of the cards.

Just saying it's a possibility...don't know if they put a seal on the case or not. But if they do, upgrading the parts would void warranty...kinda like removing the the cooler from a graphic card...but the broken seal would be must more obvious.

To be honest, if his 5770 worked not problem with the current PSU, then the chances are the 6850 would be fine too. But the risk is there, as 6850 IS higher power consumption then the 5770, even if it's only higher by 15-17W...

 

[mogbat]

emailed ocuk they did not recommend i try it

 

[Peter450]

I had a dell 2 years ago, before i took the plunge and did a build it myself PC buying all the parts from OCUK mainly

Differance in quality & performance is night and day, and funnily enough it did not cost a huge amount more than i paid for my dell (£200.00 more for the system)

My Dell did not have a seal on the back, however i bought it from there outlet (returned PC's) so got it a bit cheaper, the HD failed exactly 1 year after i bought it, no surprises who had to pay for a replacement....

There famed helpful tech support went down the toilet the second they outsourced it to India (The only decent thing they had going for them), nothing against Indians, but the way these call centres are run, they have them lined up like robots and they literally read all there answers from a script resulting in zero help for anything that does not fall into problem A, you answer with responce B, ask an off script question and the poor buggers dont know what to do

Tip for the future dont buy Dell again, or any other brand make for that matter, build you own, or buy a pre built system that use's decent non proprietry parts, like system from OCUK