Upgrading my Graphics Card and PSU

[jot]

I currently have an Acer Aspire X3400-E3182

Specs:

AMD Athlon II X4, 2.6GHz
8GB RAM
1TB hard drive
Windows 7 x64 Home Premium
ATI Radeon 5570 1024 MB
Measly 220w psu

I was looking to upgrade my graphics card and my psu. What would u guys recommend if I had a budget of around $200 in total for both of them? I understand I need to get a computer case as well, because a new power supply would not fit on this tiny acer case. Are you able to recommend a decent case as well? nothing too fancy. Just something that I can fit my current components into. Would any case do the job? or does it have to be atx, mini-atx? not quite sure.


Thank you in advance


ps. Im located in Canada, just in case the suggested supplier doesn't ship there

[ShyguyXPC]

would be nice to add the additional details in your thread like you did in your Toms Hardware thread...

Acer aspire x3400 PSU Upgrade - Power-Supplies-PC-Cases-Case-Mods - CPU-Components


as well as other sites:

Acer Aspire x3400 PSU and Computer Case

google comes in handy https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF...re+X3400-E3182




Newegg doesn't have sh*t for cases in Canada, at least not with out getting raped on the shipping.

NCIX will probably have better shipping rates than Newegg, since their based out of Canada, where as Newegg is US based like Tigerdirect.

Bitfenix Merc Beta Steel Black ATX Mid Tower Case 3X5.25 7X3.25 1X2.5 *No PS* Top USB2.0 Audio - BitFenix - BFC-MRC-100-KKX2-RP

Otherwise this case which is $20 off until tomorrow,

Corsair Carbide Series 300R Black Gaming Case ATX 3X5.25 4X3.5 Front USB Audio No PSU - Corsair - CC-9011014-WW

its bigger than you need, but down the road if you should need a full size case for a new system (full size Motherboard), then you can easily use it, has nice options for all sorts of custom parts, installation, etc (for example the open motherboard tray underside, for mounting heatsinks that need to be fastened to the board via a back plate, you can install them with out taking the entire system out of the case).


otherwise, the Bit Fenix case is really all you need with the current system.


if the card you get isn't too large, which it won't be, for your budget, then this Fractal Design case is even better choice.

Fractal Design Core 1000 mATX Computer Case - Fractal Design - FD-CA-CORE-1000-BL



GRAB this PSU, its on sale until tomorrow as well, its Well worth it.

Antec Neo Eco 450C Power Supply ATX 12V Active PFC 80PLUS 120MM Fan - Antec - NEO-ECO450C

not including shipping costs, that Case is $40 or less, the PSU is $40, and this Video card, the best you can get for your budget, $120.

MSI Radeon HD 7770 1000MHZ 1GB 4.5GHZ GDDR5 DVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Video Card - MSI/MicroStar - R7770-PMD1GD5

would be your entire $200 budget.

7770 should easily be 3 times or more better than your 5570 you have now, in performance.

and the card only uses about 80 or 90W of power max, so the PSU above is over kill still, but with that PSU, you can run cards twice as powerful as the 7770 in your current system as well.

the motherboard should fit in the case, it will have excess room due to its small size, the Video card will work in the PCIe slot you have now, but it will cover up the x1 slot due to its dual slot design, and the PSU will mount fine in either of the cases (Bit Fenix or the Fractal Design).

[ShyguyXPC]

but considering the savings that end tomorrow, I'd go with the Fractal design case, Antec PSU and MSI Radeon 7770 listed above. then send out the rebates on the items for the ones that have those, hope and pray the rebates come back, and maybe end up with a bit more in savings.

[jot]

haha google ftw :P

Thank you for your help,

I will probably order the Corsair Case tonight.

I was also looking at some benchmarks for the 7770 and I noticed that theres a 6850 that does better than the 7770 and it only cost a bit more. Is there much of a performance increase?

benchmark
PassMark - Radeon HD 7770 - Price performance comparison

HD 6850s

MSI Radeon HD 6850 Cyclone PE/OC 860MHZ 1GB 4.2GHZ GDDR5 2xDVI DisplayPort HDMI PCI-E Video Card - MSI/MicroStar - R6850 Cyclone PE/OC

Gigabyte Radeon HD 6850 Windforce 820MHZ 1GB 4.2GHZ GDDR5 2xDVI HDMI Display Port PCI-E Video Card - Gigabyte - GV-R685OC-1GD

XFX Radeon HD 6850 Fansink 775MHZ 1GB 4.0GHZ GDDR5 2XDVI Display Port HDMI PCI-E Video Card - XFX - HD685XZCFC

Heres a list of the 6850s on ncix. Not really sure which one would be best, or if the PSU you suggested can run the card.

Thank you again

[ShyguyXPC]

there's a significant power increase, but the PSU can handle it with out a problem.

The 7770 performs almost as good as the 6850, the only places it doesn't is usually in situations where Anti Aliasing is used or enabled, since the 6850 has a 256-bit memory bus, and the 7770 is only 128-bit bus.

also ignore Passmark, its notoriously off on its benchmark scores many times, its fine for a very general score listing, but its not even close for more detailed info many times.

though the MSI 6850 is clocked faster, the other 2 are closer to your budget and cooler design is better, covers more of the card, the MSI one is nice, and works, has a bigger fan, but covers less of the rest of the card.

the XFX has the best warranty, Gigabyte has the best cooler design, and MSI has the higher clock speed. I'd probably go for the Gigabyte since its between the other two in features.

(higher stock clock speed, and better fan design)

[ShyguyXPC]

otherwise, if you can stretch the budget beyond your $200 range, and were thinking about that MSI as an option, since that $157 is at check out price, Mail in rebates, you don't factor into final price, since its after check out and like any MIR its a crap shoot whether you get the rebate back. Online Shopping 101, NEVER factor a Mail in Rebate into checkout or final check out price. all they are is incentives to buy the items, or get rid of excess stock.

Instant rebates that are deducted at check out, are fine.


Anyways, if you can stretch the budget and get a GTX 460 1GB with 256-bit memory, or GTX 560, or Radeon 6870, either one of these 3 would be a better deal. the 256-bit memory will help with Anti Aliasing, HDR, Shadows, Higher resolutions, etc, more than 128 or even 192-bit bus based cards.

otherwise the 6850's are about the best you can do for the budget range right now.

NCIX has a 192-bit based GTX 460 with factory Overclock, that would come close to the 6850 or at least match it in performance, for $130 out of pocket cost, so that might be an option as well.

[jot]

Ohh lots of options :P so if I was to spend a little extra on the graphics card, lets say the from the three you mentions there. Would you recommend the GTX 460? I tried to look for the GTX 460 on NCIX, but all I could find was the one for 144.99.

EVGA GeForce GTX 460 823MHZ 1024MB 4GHZ GDDR5 SLI Ready 2DVI Mini HDMI PCI-E Video Card - eVGA - 01G-P3-1361-KR

Lets say, I spend 150 on a graphics card at ncix.. which one would you choose? :P

Also does it matter what interface the cards are? Cause some of the cards are PCI Express x16 3.0 or PCI Express 2.0 x16. Would they fit into my Motherboard?

Sorry for having too many questions haha

Thank you for all the advice

[ShyguyXPC]

no, PCI express is backwards compatible with all versions. The only limitations you would have is running top end 2.0 cards in 1.0 slots, or 3.0 mid range to top end ones in 1.0 slots.

Mainly because these cards exceed the performance bandwidth limitations of 1st generation PCIe.

but they will work, they just won't perform to their max potential.

but then again, we're talking $250-400+ range cards, so not a problem.


And you have a 2.0 slot, so your not going to have any problems unless your running Dual GPU PCIe 3.0 card.

Or if your Slot was running at a reduced bandwidth version (some x16 slots run at x8 or x4 speeds). But thats not the case here.

but for the $150 budget the Gigabyte Windforce listed above would still be the better deal, its factory Overclocked from 775MHz to 820MHz, which would still be better than the GTX 460 above.

if you were able to bump the budget to $170 range, you could get a Radeon 6870 or Geforce GTX 560, which are both really good cards, the GTX 460 (one linked above, is actually based on the same GPU as the 560, and a reduced spec chip basically, and the 6850 is a reduced spec version of the 6870).

but the Gigabyte 6850 is probably the best bet.

[jot]

Wow, thanks for all your help!

I went for the Gigabyte 6850 and they said I can pick up everything at NCIX in a couple of days.

I will give you an update when I get everything working. Hopefully I won't have a problem transferring over everything. I've never really taken apart a computer before , only simple installations. I have another computer that I'll play around with before trying it on my main one.

Thanks again

[jot]

ty

[ShyguyXPC]

I've never used AMD's overclocking software, so I can't say really what to do with fixing it, but its possible you fried the GPU, which is always possible, and given you mentioned you didn't test the custom clocks, and got discoloration (also if you were running some games you would of got what is called Artifacting in the game), sounds like a fried GPU.

If you have another PC you can test in, a friends, or a local Computer shop or something, I'd consider that, otherwise you might want to see if you can get the card RMA'd or returned to NCIX, and see if it can be replaced, or contact Gigabyte and see if it can be replaced under warranty if the card is indeed dead. (Just because the fan is running doesn't mean the GPU or GPU memory or even Voltage Regulators on the card aren't fried.