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Upgrade Dell XPS 420 w/ Radeon 5830/5850?

R

ROMIL2010

Junior Member
Edit: after reading another post about the epic failure that is the 5830...let's just talk 5850.

Hello,

I am thinking of upgrading my nearly 2-year old Dell XPS 420 with a new video card. Here are the specs:

XPS 420 Intel Core2 processor Q6600(2.4Ghz 1066FSB) w/QuadCore Tech and 8MB cache 425W power supply
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
4GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
24” LCD
Win7


First off, will a Radeon 5850 give me a significant performance gain? Is the 425W power supply enough? Will the card fit in the case?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.
 
Last edited:
Welcome to the forums. 🙂

I would think your PSU should be fine, but can't tell you whether it will fit in your case or not. It should definately give you a performance jump from your 8800 GT especially at higher resolutions.
 
Your Dell PS should be fine (they are rated at sustained, not maximum capacity), and if you have room for a double slot card you should be fine. The HD 5850 really isn't that large.

Your machine might be better suited to an HD 5770 though.
 
Also make sure that you have 2 6 pin connectors to power the card. You probably only have 1 though but most cards come with an adapter that you can use 2 of the power plugs that go into optical drives and the like to make 1 6 pin connector.
 
Your machine might be better suited to an HD 5770 though.

Just curious why you think that? The 5770 doesn't have DX11 support correct? Not that my computer can handle DX11 anyways...

Thanks.
 
All the 5XXX cards have DX11 support. The HD5770 is a pretty good card (I have one on the way). Your computer is pretty good by the way. Don't let the Core i7 Extreme/5970 elitist types convince you that anything less is unacceptable.
 
ROMIL2010 said:
Edit: after reading another post about the epic failure that is the 5830...let's just talk 5850.

Hello,

I am thinking of upgrading my nearly 2-year old Dell XPS 420 with a new video card. Here are the specs:

XPS 420 Intel Core2 processor Q6600(2.4Ghz 1066FSB) w/QuadCore Tech and 8MB cache 425W power supply
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
4GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
24” LCD
Win7


First off, will a Radeon 5850 give me a significant performance gain? Is the 425W power supply enough? Will the card fit in the case?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.
Click to expand...

5850 for this res.
 
happy medium said:
5850 for this res.
Click to expand...
What res? 24" LCD is not a Resolution, its a size.

Which begs the question, what resolution are you running on that LCD? Assuming its 1920x1200 then Happy Medium is correct in that you really need a 5850 for that resolution.
 
lifeblood said:
What res? 24" LCD is not a Resolution, its a size.

Which begs the question, what resolution are you running on that LCD? Assuming its 1920x1200 then Happy Medium is correct in that you really need a 5850 for that resolution.
Click to expand...

I never heard of a Lcd thats 24 inches that uses less then 1920x1080.
If you have, let me know, I want one.
 
lifeblood said:
What res? 24" LCD is not a Resolution, its a size.

Which begs the question, what resolution are you running on that LCD? Assuming its 1920x1200 then Happy Medium is correct in that you really need a 5850 for that resolution.
Click to expand...

I use 1920x1200 in normal apps. Games I do not because it gets too choppy with my 8800GT. I don't necessarily need to run games at that high of a resolution, 1600x1200 is fine. Will the 5770 work for that or do I really need a 5850?

Thanks for all the advice.
 
ROMIL2010 said:
I use 1920x1200 in normal apps. Games I do not because it gets too choppy with my 8800GT. I don't necessarily need to run games at that high of a resolution, 1600x1200 is fine. Will the 5770 work for that or do I really need a 5850?

Thanks for all the advice.
Click to expand...

5770 should be fine for that res. They overclock real well also.
 
Agreed, at 1600x1200 a 5770 will be just fine. If you look at the recent 5830 article you'll see that at 1680x1050 (similar to your resolution) the 5770 was above 30fps for everything except Crysis.

How does running games on less than the native resolution look on your LCD? When I use a lesser resolution on my monitor it look blurry so I'm forced to run everything at native.
 
lifeblood said:
Agreed, at 1600x1200 a 5770 will be just fine. If you look at the recent 5830 article you'll see that at 1680x1050 (similar to your resolution) the 5770 was above 30fps for everything except Crysis.

How does running games on less than the native resolution look on your LCD? When I use a lesser resolution on my monitor it look blurry so I'm forced to run everything at native.
Click to expand...


I haven't had any issues with it...I have the lower end Dell 24" LCD and it seems fine with my 8800GT.
 
ROMIL2010 said:
I use 1920x1200 in normal apps. Games I do not because it gets too choppy with my 8800GT. I don't necessarily need to run games at that high of a resolution, 1600x1200 is fine. Will the 5770 work for that or do I really need a 5850?

Thanks for all the advice.
Click to expand...

I'm running a 5770 with an i5 750 on a Dell 2407 WFP. Let's just say, right now, it can run games at 1920x1200 without a hiccup on high/highest depending on the game. The only exception is Crysis, but I'm even running that at 1680x1050 high (one down from max) with very very few hiccups; haven't gotten to the ice levels yet though. Then again, Crysis isn't the best gauge of how "regular" (read: console ports) will do.

So, I will say that a 5770 is fine if you want to save $100, but the 5850 really is the better choice, especially if you're in the US and not being raped as badly as in Canada.
 
ROMIL2010 said:
Your machine might be better suited to an HD 5770 though.

Just curious why you think that? The 5770 doesn't have DX11 support correct? Not that my computer can handle DX11 anyways...

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I was just thinking along the lines of your CPU at stock speeds, smaller size of the card, 40-50W less power draw at load, tiny bit less heat (might suit a pre-built PC's case better). An HD 5770 just struck me as a little better fit for an several year old Dell (and it would be head and shoulders above the 8800 GT).
 
Without knowing more about that PSU (namely, the amperage), i would NOT be putting a 5800 series card in there w/o upgrading that PSU...

5700 series doesn't need as much power if you don't want to also upgrade PSU.
 
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