I'm thinking about upgrading my computer because my computer is a few years old. I have a ATI Radeon HD 5700, Dell Studio XPS 7100, Rosewill RXC-ZAIO-92 (Don't like this fan big loud and barely keeps my computer cool, cheap fan for casual use but not for gaming) I'm looking to upgrade my video card and fan. I'm looking for a strong video card and preferably a fan that doesn't sound like a plane taking off when i'm playing games. Any recommendations?
upgrades
- Thread starter aznm0nkie
- Start date
The very first thing you need to do is look at the power supply specs for your computer. Most general purpose O.E.M. machines use a PSU around 300 watts, and that's not enough to support any decent graphics card.
Assuming that you have at least a 500 watt PSU, the next thing you need to do is see just how much physical room you have inside the case. Most after market vid cards these days are fairly large and won't even fit in a small OEM case.
Find out about those issues, and then come back.
Assuming that you have at least a 500 watt PSU, the next thing you need to do is see just how much physical room you have inside the case. Most after market vid cards these days are fairly large and won't even fit in a small OEM case.
Find out about those issues, and then come back.
I have a new power supply 550 watt but yeah the case is the original one and it is pretty small
OK, great! You're good to go on the PSU.
I'm not familiar with the physical characteristics of the 5700 series cards.
All you need to do is measure the length of your current card, and see how much additional room you do, or do not have, and look for one that will physically fit in that case.
I would go with Nvidia if I were you, their drivers are less problematic.
the card i have in now is 21.9 X 12 X 4 cm but theres this useless metal frame around it that almost doubles the length of it because im too lazy to take it off. length for my tower is no problem but the height of it might be because the tower is not that wide.
