Buying New Graphics Card and Need Advice

[gijeff85]

Hello all! I'm going to purchase a new graphics card for my Dell Inspiron XPS 710 and I'm not too familiar with how it all works.. if I get a newer one, is it just plug and play? Or are there compatibility concerns? I believe what I currently have is the GEForce 8800.. but I've had this desktop for a couple of years (5 years maybe?). I'm primarily a gamer so I'm looking for a good card for gaming, and also run dual monitors. I was thinking maybe the GEForce GT 610? Thank you all in advance.

 

[Sohaltang]

Whats your psu? Your processor is also gonna limit you some. 7850 7870 650ti

 

[Face2Face]

He probably has a C2D or a C2Q. His PSU is either a 750w or 1000w Dell Delta made PSU. His motherboard is a BTX, so he has limited cooling options for overclocking his current CPU if he was too. I think what we need to know is what resolution he plans at playing at? And what his budget is?

I converted mine to ATX and now it's a Phenom II X6 Server. Couldn't part with it... :wub:

 

[TridenT]

Hello all! I'm going to purchase a new graphics card for my Dell Inspiron XPS 710 and I'm not too familiar with how it all works.. if I get a newer one, is it just plug and play? Or are there compatibility concerns? I believe what I currently have is the GEForce 8800.. but I've had this desktop for a couple of years (5 years maybe?). I'm primarily a gamer so I'm looking for a good card for gaming, and also run dual monitors. I was thinking maybe the GEForce GT 610? Thank you all in advance.

Probably is, if you have a 8800.

A good upgrade would be at least a 650ti boost 2gb ($160). I'd go with a 760 ($250) or 770 ($400) though. A GT 610 ($45) is a terrible choice... You'll likely hit a CPU bottleneck with the 760 or 770. Depending on the game, same can be said for the 650 but it'll happen far less often.

The 8800 was in the $140-$175 range back in 2008. Budget the same amount now and you'll be in that same bracket but with much better performance.

 

[gijeff85]

Thanks for all of the responses! I'll be honest.. all the tech and specs aren't my strong point. I do have a 1000w power supply. I don't know how to tell what CPU I have - something is wrong with my desktop at the moment and I think it is the video card. It won't display anything at all when I turn it on. Regardless, I need a new one, so I'm hoping the replacement fixes that problem. I think it has the quad core processor.

Budget-wise I'd prefer to not go over $100 by very much. Maybe $120. My current card may have been a bit more but I'd think it wouldn't take something that much nowadays. I don't need anything too extreme.. I believe my card had 768mb? So anything a step up from that would work. I'll have to replace my entire computer sometime so I don't think I want to spend too much upgrading it. ....or do I? Not all that familiar with this stuff.

Thanks again!

 

[TridenT]

Thanks for all of the responses! I'll be honest.. all the tech and specs aren't my strong point. I do have a 1000w power supply. I don't know how to tell what CPU I have - something is wrong with my desktop at the moment and I think it is the video card. It won't display anything at all when I turn it on. Regardless, I need a new one, so I'm hoping the replacement fixes that problem. I think it has the quad core processor.

Budget-wise I'd prefer to not go over $100 by very much. Maybe $120. My current card may have been a bit more but I'd think it wouldn't take something that much nowadays. I don't need anything too extreme.. I believe my card had 768mb? So anything a step up from that would work. I'll have to replace my entire computer sometime so I don't think I want to spend too much upgrading it. ....or do I? Not all that familiar with this stuff.

Thanks again!

It's a very dated system at this point... If your display isn't showing anything, it could be MANY THINGS. Your videocard might actually be perfectly fine! You should troubleshoot the problem before going out and buying a videocard.


I had a similar problem that you did. I bought a new videocard and it DID NOT FIX THE PROBLEM. Beware of that shit. It could be that your motherboard is actually bad OR ANY OTHER NUMBER OF THINGS. You should troubleshoot it with the help of this forum.

 

[vanillatech]

Probably is, if you have a 8800.

A good upgrade would be at least a 650ti boost 2gb ($160). I'd go with a 760 ($250) or 770 ($400) though. A GT 610 ($45) is a terrible choice... You'll likely hit a CPU bottleneck with the 760 or 770. Depending on the game, same can be said for the 650 but it'll happen far less often.

The 8800 was in the $140-$175 range back in 2008. Budget the same amount now and you'll be in that same bracket but with much better performance.

Putting a 760 or 770 GTX in a C2D/C2Q machine is like installing 16GB DDR3 and running Windows 98se.

Presuming you have indeed a C2D or C2Q in that PC, and coming from an 8800 GT or Ultra, i'd say go for something like a 650GTX or 7790 AMD. Both of those cards will be bottlenecked, unless you have a Q9xx series quad 775, but spend any more than that on a card and you're totally wasting money.

 

[TridenT]

Putting a 760 or 770 GTX in a C2D/C2Q machine is like installing 16GB DDR3 and running Windows 98se.

Presuming you have indeed a C2D or C2Q in that PC, and coming from an 8800 GT or Ultra, i'd say go for something like a 650GTX or 7790 AMD. Both of those cards will be bottlenecked, unless you have a Q9xx series quad 775, but spend any more than that on a card and you're totally wasting money.

As someone who runs on a C2D and has run multiple video cards through it... I'm going to disagree. Biggest improvements I ever saw were through videocard upgrades. Only the 760/770 would bottleneck me to a point where I'd buy a new CPU first. I found far more GPU bottlenecks than CPU. If the OP is planning on playing a shitty implementation of GTA IV or V on the PC then yeah... maybe he should upgrade his CPU first.

 

[bononos]

Thanks for all of the responses! I'll be honest.. all the tech and specs aren't my strong point. I do have a 1000w power supply. I don't know how to tell what CPU I have - something is wrong with my desktop at the moment and I think it is the video card. It won't display anything at all when I turn it on. Regardless, I need a new one, so I'm hoping the replacement fixes that problem. I think it has the quad core processor.

Budget-wise I'd prefer to not go over $100 by very much. Maybe $120. My current card may have been a bit more but I'd think it wouldn't take something that much nowadays. I don't need anything too extreme.. I believe my card had 768mb? So anything a step up from that would work. I'll have to replace my entire computer sometime so I don't think I want to spend too much upgrading it. ....or do I? Not all that familiar with this stuff.

Thanks again!

You might want to confirm if its the video card that is the problem unless you don't mind shelling out for a redundant card. A low end gaming card 7770/650ti would about double or triple the performance of the 8800. The 610 is not recommended, its just too slow to be worth it.

 

[vanillatech]

As someone who runs on a C2D and has run multiple video cards through it... I'm going to disagree. Biggest improvements I ever saw were through videocard upgrades. Only the 760/770 would bottleneck me to a point where I'd buy a new CPU first. I found far more GPU bottlenecks than CPU. If the OP is planning on playing a shitty implementation of GTA IV or V on the PC then yeah... maybe he should upgrade his CPU first.

Was just my 2 cents. I'm currently running a stock e8400 at 3.0ghz and for it's age, even at stock, it still gets things done (at least, what I require). But I've had numerous cards in this PC from (wait for it) .. an X1950XTX, 4770, 6870 and lately a 5970. If the OP does have a super fast Q9xx quad series then yeah go for it, those CPU's can compete even with early gen i5 quads (which are still valid gaming CPU's). But seriously... you're talking GTX760's or 770's on a CPU that might be potentially 1/3 the power of a current mid range gaming CPU, which would themselves bottleneck a 770.

775 was a great platform and I'll be keeping this PC when I build a new one next week, and even buying a new 23" 1080p screen to use it as a League of Legends / Quake Live machine, but I won't be upgrading the GFX card as this 5970 can't even start to stretch it's legs on this CPU.

 

[gijeff85]

Awesome advice everyone, thank you.

I'll mention this here since you suggested troubleshooting the problem first, but I'll move this to another thread if necessary. My problem started initially where 1 out of 5 times or so when I'd power on my PC (it would freeze occasionally when left sitting overnight instead of going on standby/sleep. I often just shut it down.) it wouldn't start up - the PC would make a much louder noise than usual (fans kicking on and staying on?) and nothing would display. Power down, power up - works fine. The pc would freeze occasionally while playing games and I'd have to restart. Then one day, it decides to just not display anything at all. No loud fan noise, just normal startup sound but no display.

Any thoughts?

I originally posted here http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=35112586#post35112586 and the person suggested it may be the video card among other things, but then I got busy and never followed up on it, then moved and all my belongings sat in storage for two months while I was stuck in a hotel waiting on my house to close... No fun!! Now I'm ready to tackle this problem.

Thanks all, and if this isn't the right place for this, I can move it back to the previous thread and go from there.

 

[Blue_Max]

I had to chuckle... the GeForce 610 is SO much slower than the old 8800 he already has.

That's evil marketing for you... they'll throw 2 or 3 gigabytes on there, luring in suckers thinking "more RAM is gooder fast yes!"

 

[Face2Face]

Awesome advice everyone, thank you.

I'll mention this here since you suggested troubleshooting the problem first, but I'll move this to another thread if necessary. My problem started initially where 1 out of 5 times or so when I'd power on my PC (it would freeze occasionally when left sitting overnight instead of going on standby/sleep. I often just shut it down.) it wouldn't start up - the PC would make a much louder noise than usual (fans kicking on and staying on?) and nothing would display. Power down, power up - works fine. The pc would freeze occasionally while playing games and I'd have to restart. Then one day, it decides to just not display anything at all. No loud fan noise, just normal startup sound but no display.

Any thoughts?

I originally posted here http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=35112586#post35112586 and the person suggested it may be the video card among other things, but then I got busy and never followed up on it, then moved and all my belongings sat in storage for two months while I was stuck in a hotel waiting on my house to close... No fun!! Now I'm ready to tackle this problem.

Thanks all, and if this isn't the right place for this, I can move it back to the previous thread and go from there.

It's either your Video card or your motherboard.

It would help if you had a cheap video card laying around to test and see if that was it. I will say the Dell motherboards used in the XPS 700 series don't have a long life span (5-6 years) I have a couple dead ones sitting in a closet somewhere. I have read many stories when I was converting my XPS to ATX.
One other thought is you could try moving your 8800 GTX to the other PCI-E slot, it may be worth a try?



If it's your motherboard that's dead, you have three options IMO.

Buy a stock replacement motherboard for $$$
Build a new system complete
Replace motherboard with a cheap or used socket 775 MB and mod the Dell XPS case

If you were ever interested in doing the conversion John T. and myself have two threads showing how it's done.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2240071

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2293137

 

[Leyawiin]

As others have said, an HD 7770 or GTX 650 Ti would be about a perfect match and give you much better performance. The HD 7770 is a lot cheaper at the moment and more in line with your budget.

 

[gijeff85]

I took it to a local computer tech and it turns out it is the motherboard. The tech is telling me that you can only by OEM Dell motherboards from Dell.. and they're pricey. Is this true? Or is there another place I can get the OEM mobo, or should I buy an aftermarket mobo? He was saying something about Dell modifies all of their mobos so the power cord fits properly or somethin like that.. Idk..

 

[gijeff85]

Any suggestions? Should I just go w/ a stock OEM replacement, or can I buy another mobo that would be better?

 

[UNhooked]

Hmm my vote be for aftermarket. Although I am not sure if the PSU connector is proprietary, might want to check that. Also for Gfx card. I would look at a 7850 if you can swing it.

 

[Face2Face]

Any suggestions? Should I just go w/ a stock OEM replacement, or can I buy another mobo that would be better?

You don't have any other options but the stock replacement. I know these PC's very well, and unless you plan on converting your case and PSU to accept ATX, then you may want to start looking for another PC. The price you will pay for a stock replacement is not worth the cost, as most are $300 or more.

Hmm my vote be for aftermarket. Although I am not sure if the PSU connector is proprietary, might want to check that. Also for Gfx card. I would look at a 7850 if you can swing it.

They are. They use a 24pin and a 20pin connector. I had to rewire the 20 pin to an 8 pin EPS and added some 6 and 8 pin PEG connectors while I was at it. Converting this case and PSU to accept ATX was a lot of work... but worth it for me because I love the case.

 

[UNhooked]

Based on F2F's input, I'd say get a new pc.

 

[seitur]

If you can afford then buy new PC.
Do NOT buy another branded (Dell, HP, etc) PC because you will again run in similar problems because of their uncompatibility and propiretary standards.

Just get a DYI (Do It Yourself) PC based on standard ATX. You can buy parts in many PC stores, both online and street retail. I think in US - places like newegg.com or microcenter are wide-spread and have ok prices. If you're afraid to assemble yourself, (it's not hard nowadays!) then you can pay a small fee for someone else (like local tech) to assemble it for you.

 

[KingFatty]

Hey I bet you can salvage lots of parts, like the power supply, the hard drive, the memory, etc., and use those on a replacement motherboard. I mean, you are forced to get a new motherboard, so it's not a loss really.

Don't feel bad about sacrificing the Dell case, because you can walk into a Microcenter store and walk out with a new case for under $20 (though you may want to get a fancier one for more money).

Then just swap everything into the new case and motherboard. So maybe you can get away with spending less than the cost of a replacement dell motherboard. Sometimes there are combo deals where you can get a motherboard and CPU combo very cheap.

 

[Face2Face]

KingFatty is right if you want to save some money.

You will need.

Socket 775 motherboard ( I would grab a P35 or P45 chipset)
ATX Power Supply
ATX Case
Heatsink and fan for you CPU

If you buy used, you can save a lot of money.

 

[seitur]

KingFatty is right if you want to save some money.

You will need.

Socket 775 motherboard ( I would grab a P35 or P45 chipset)
ATX Power Supply
ATX Case
Heatsink and fan for you CPU

If you buy used, you can save a lot of money.

If he has enough funds and want to spend them, imho it would be better to sell working parts : like memory, CPU, PSU on ebay, craigslist or whatever people use nowadays to sell used stuff and use that money to buy new platform instead.

Even few hundread dollars worth PC based on new platform will be leagues ahead in performance than his current one and he can shave some bucks off a cost by selling his old parts.

 

[Face2Face]

If he has enough funds and want to spend them, imho it would be better to sell working parts : like memory, CPU, PSU on ebay, craigslist or whatever people use nowadays to sell used stuff and use that money to buy new platform instead.

Even few hundread dollars worth PC based on new platform will be leagues ahead in performance than his current one and he can shave some bucks off a cost by selling his old parts.

Also a good point :thumbsup: All in all it's not worth buying a replacement motherboard for $300+ for an older platform.

 

[UNhooked]

7850 for cheap!!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687