Looking for an upgrade

S

SzymonS92

New Member
Hi.

So About a year and a half ago a bought a very nice Alienware.
I know I overpaid, but I do like the quality, support was great and all the little things they do just give that company a bit more advantage.

I am currently running a spec as follows:

Intel Core i7 920 2.67GHZ
6 GB DDR3 RAM
ATI Radeon HD 5700 DUAL 1GB (so 2 of them)
I dont know what motherboard I have. Its an Alienware Aurora so maybe you can figure out what model it is.
And Im not too sure on the hard drive either.

I want a little upgrade so my games and photo editing as well as 3D modelling tools run a little smoother.

Now dont get me wrong my PC can run every game on maxed out settings as far as I know. Havent played one that hasnt yet.

Im not sure if I want an upgrade but if I decide to go for it Id want to know what you guys think.

So my main objective is to run every game at 60 FPS on maxed out settings and to have a 3D modelling software handle a huge amount of polygons at the same time. Im talking HD models of entire cities. A huge amount of processing power is needed for that. At the moment as I said its handling it pretty well. There are some long loading times sometimes but usually its ok.

So what do you guys think? I want a Nvidia graphics card and an Intel processor. I trust them and I only feel very comfortable with them in my machine. Nothing against other brands but I just know these have always worked for me.

Please leave me some links to products. And remember, below £600:)

Cheers
Simon
 
How much you want to spend? Alittle dated but everything is ok, easiest way would be to get rid of those 5700 in crossfire and get a better video card. Plus depending on what power supply you have, would probably need to upgrade it too.
 
I agree with Strangle. The processor and the RAM you have there are both still more than adequate, but the graphics cards are a little old. You could get something like a GTX 670 or a 680 or a 7950 or 7970 if you prefer Radeons and a new power supply and then be done with it for a few more years definitely.
 
vistakid10 said:
I agree with Strangle. The processor and the RAM you have there are both still more than adequate, but the graphics cards are a little old. You could get something like a GTX 670 or a 680 or a 7950 or 7970 if you prefer Radeons and a new power supply and then be done with it for a few more years definitely.
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would 750 watt be enough?

I dont know anything about power supplies at all.

If you would recommend one thatd be great.
 
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750W would be fine for any of the cards I mentioned. You only buy from power supplies are reputable brands such as Corsair, Seasonic, Antec, Silverstone, XFX, PC Power & Cooling, OCZ etc.

The Corsair TX 750 or the XFX ProSeries 750W would be great choices.
 
vistakid10 said:
750W would be fine for any of the cards I mentioned. You only buy from power supplies are reputable brands such as Corsair, Seasonic, Antec, Silverstone, XFX, PC Power & Cooling, OCZ etc.

The Corsair TX 750 or the XFX ProSeries 750W would be great choices.
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So I see I am looking at about £380 for those 2 things... Ahhh the technology these days!:)
 
You get a Radeon 7850 or 7870 and save money on the graphics card.

£380 for a new GPU and power supply is a lot cheaper than a whole new system is going to cost.
 
vistakid10 said:
You get a Radeon 7850 or 7870 and save money on the graphics card.

£380 for a new GPU and power supply is a lot cheaper than a whole new system is going to cost.
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Well on a few sites I saw people preferring the 670. And Im the kind of person who prefers to spend a little more money and get better quality.

One more question... I dont know what power supply I have. Would anything bad happen if I just chucked the video card in there without doing anything to the power supply?
 
Can you open up the case and tell me what PSU you have? As it's a pre-built system, I bet it's a poor quality unit and would it would likely die and take most of your system out with it if you put a new PSU in there.

The 670 is faster than a 7870. I'd say the 670 would be a good card to get. :)
 
vistakid10 said:
Can you open up the case and tell me what PSU you have? As it's a pre-built system, I bet it's a poor quality unit and would it would likely die and take most of your system out with it if you put a new PSU in there.

The 670 is faster than a 7870. I'd say the 670 would be a good card to get. :)
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All it says on the side of it is this.
CN-0GM34R-64535-08C-3FO0-A00
and
DP/N 0GM34R

This alienware case is very packed so getting things out mean taking everything out unfortunately.

There is a guy on a forum saying the same model number and that its 875W.
But Im really not sure.
 
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vistakid10 said:
Can you open up the case and tell me what PSU you have? As it's a pre-built system, I bet it's a poor quality unit and would it would likely die and take most of your system out with it if you put a new PSU in there.

The 670 is faster than a 7870. I'd say the 670 would be a good card to get. :)
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Well Ive phoned up dell and they said I either have the 875w or some 1100w or something along those lines and that there would be no problem upgrading to a gtx 670.

Think I might go for it :)
 
It's not the watts that matter, it's the quality of the power and the amps on the +12V rail which matter as computers are so +12V dependant these days. You could have a poor quality 1100W PSU and although it *may* run a 670, it may not be able to run one for very long as the unit would die.

As a 'victim' of a power supply failure myself caused by a generic/cheap/plain useless '650W' PSU I cannot stress how important it is to get a decent power supply. If you're running stuff as good as a 670, you want a good power supply. If need be, drop the 670 and get a 7870 to save yourself some money. The 7870 is still a fantastic card.
 
vistakid10 said:
It's not the watts that matter, it's the quality of the power and the amps on the +12V rail which matter as computers are so +12V dependant these days. You could have a poor quality 1100W PSU and although it *may* run a 670, it may not be able to run one for very long as the unit would die.

As a 'victim' of a power supply failure myself caused by a generic/cheap/plain useless '650W' PSU I cannot stress how important it is to get a decent power supply. If you're running stuff as good as a 670, you want a good power supply. If need be, drop the 670 and get a 7870 to save yourself some money. The 7870 is still a fantastic card.
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I get where you are coming from and I completely agree with you but Im gonna try it with the PSU I currently have. Sure it may seem reckless to do so but im a stubborn idiot and I want that 670 :) I dont have financial problems. Im only 19, live with my parents and have a full time job.
So Im sure after a month after Ill get over the fact that I just spend £300 on a GPU Ill finally come around to buying a new PSU also :)

Thanks very much for your help.
Ill go for that 670.

By the way just out of pure curiosity. Is there a big difference between 670 and the 680? And if so how significant is it?
 
OK you can try it on your current PSU, but defo get a new PSU as soon as you can.

There's not much difference between the 670 and the 680. A 670 is going to be able to max out games for quite a long while yet. I think there's something like a 10% difference? Can't remember off the top of my head now.

No problems regarding the help by the way. Any time.
 
vistakid10 said:
OK you can try it on your current PSU, but defo get a new PSU as soon as you can.

There's not much difference between the 670 and the 680. A 670 is going to be able to max out games for quite a long while yet. I think there's something like a 10% difference? Can't remember off the top of my head now.

No problems regarding the help by the way. Any time.
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Are there any signs I can look out for when the PSU starts acting up on the card?
 
SzymonS92 said:
Are there any signs I can look out for when the PSU starts acting up on the card?
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Random shut downs, artifacting, intermittent loss of monitor signal, random driver crashes, that's whart happened when my PSU was dying. :/
 
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