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Help with video card upgrade

Hav0k99

Hav0k99

Platinum Member
Here are my specs:

Q9950 2.83ghz
8 GB ram
Raedon HD 5770 (single slot)

I have been looking for a single slot video card replacement to boost my perfomance. I have a Dell Optiplex 780 and don't want to spend the money to buy more equipment. All I'd like to do is upgrade the video card. I found today on Newegg a Raedon AX7770 Video card that is single slot and reviewers have commented that it would fit in my case.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131477

Will I get any performance boost or is my cpu a bottle neck (and no I can not OC it)

Game I play:

BF3, CO:BO2, Borderlands 2, Crysis 3 and GW2

Thanks in advance!
 
You'll be heavily bottlenecked in any modern game. Clock for clock IVB/Haswell is 50% faster at least, and your minimum FPS's will thank you.
 
Checking GPU bench, a Radeon 7770 would be a nice upgrade from a 5770.

But like escrow4 said, your CPU is going to be limiting your performance, so you won't get the full benefit from the video card upgrade.

I'm sure you'll still see a performance boost, but not as much as you'd think despite the two generation leap due to your CPU bottleneck.
 
I'm restricted to a single slot video card because of the crappy Dell case design. The Powercolor AX7770 is the best single slot card I can find.
 
Hav0k99 said:
I'm restricted to a single slot video card because of the crappy Dell case design. The Powercolor AX7770 is the best single slot card I can find.
Click to expand...

I dont think so.......

I work at Dell (in the IT department) and I have an Optiplex 780 right in front of me and a dual slot card should fit fine. Unless you have a card directly under the PCIe slot, but thats not a crappy case design, thats just not having the right motherboard.
 
Don't worry too much about the naysayers. Your q9550 isn't that fast, but it won't bottleneck an HD7770. I used an equivalent card with an e8400 dual-core, and it was terrible, but having four cores will make all the difference to you. The HD7770 is not a fast card - it won't outrun your CPU.

The bigger problem is that the 7770 is only about 20% faster than the 5770. In other words, it's not a worthy upgrade. I'd recommend you just stick with what you have until you can upgrade the whole system.
 
Smoblikat said:
I dont think so.......

I work at Dell (in the IT department) and I have an Optiplex 780 right in front of me and a dual slot card should fit fine. Unless you have a card directly under the PCIe slot, but thats not a crappy case design, thats just not having the right motherboard.
Click to expand...

If you look at the back of an Optiplex 780 tower and lay it down so the board is parallel to floor / desk, the PCI-E is the far right slot. On a regular PC the PCI-E would be all the way to the left meaning having all the spare slots to the right.

780Tower_2.jpg


In that pic it's clear where the PCI-E slot is.
 
^ yup, that's a crazy layout. Dell does it again.

So your problem will be bumping up against the oddly huge CPU cooler (is that passive?!?). If you could find a very short double-slot card, that might work too. Like this HD7790: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150667

Unlike the 7770, the 7790 would actually be a worthy upgrade from the 5770, and would perform well in your system, even if it's slightly bottlenecked in some circumstances.
 
Termie said:
Don't worry too much about the naysayers. Your q9550 isn't that fast, but it won't bottleneck an HD7770. I used an equivalent card with an e8400 dual-core, and it was terrible, but having four cores will make all the difference to you. The HD7770 is not a fast card - it won't outrun your CPU.

The bigger problem is that the 7770 is only about 20% faster than the 5770. In other words, it's not a worthy upgrade. I'd recommend you just stick with what you have until you can upgrade the whole system.
Click to expand...

This is good advice. I had a q9550 that ran a gtx295 for years and then a gtx 670 for a while before I built a new computer. It wasn't terrible. Obviously it was a big jump once I upgraded the whole thing but everything felt fine before.
 
Hav0k99 said:
If you look at the back of an Optiplex 780 tower and lay it down so the board is parallel to floor / desk, the PCI-E is the far right slot. On a regular PC the PCI-E would be all the way to the left meaning having all the spare slots to the right.

780Tower_2.jpg


In that pic it's clear where the PCI-E slot is.
Click to expand...

I know I posted that early in the day (before my first cigarette and cup of coffee) but how could I have overlooked something THAT obvious..............
 
Hav0k99 said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131477
Click to expand...

Yes, that HD7770 should work. It's not a true single-slot design, but you actually don't need that for your system. You just need it to clear the CPU heatsink. I'd measure the space between the heatsink and the back of the case just to be sure. Newegg lists that card at 6.7", which is very short.

By the way, in terms of the rebate, you'd have to place the order July 10th (today) - it can ship the next day and you'd still be ok. They go by the invoice date.
 
m.newegg.com works...so I ordered the card. It comes too $72 after rebate and promo code. Not bad.... If I can get BF3 to run a tad smoother I'll be happy. If I can get like $20 for my 5770 and that would be cool too.
 
So I want to report back that I got my 7770 on Friday. BF3, Borderlands 2 and Diablo 3 run better. This should keep my 2nd gaming rig good until I decide to upgrade my main and recreate my 2nd rig from its parts.

Thanks everyone!
 
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