Ghotimeal
07-12-10, 03:14 AM
I'm putting this together for anyone interested in upgrading their GPUs (video cards) and if they have any concerns of what will work in their system. This is gonna run a little long but it may serve as a reference point to those of you who may be timid at looking under the hood of your PC.
Disclaimer: I am not a professional!
I'm just a guy who learned how to build a PC about 7 years ago and have been hook on it ever since. I also love FPS and even though I'm not as good as I wish I was, I love to play the lateset and greatest with HIGH SETTINGS!
SO here we go.
One of the first things to consider is the wattage on your power supply. This could be found in one of several locations. The most common is a label on the PSU itself. It will list the maximim wattage that it will supply as well as other technical info. If you have a store bought system Dell, Sony, eMachine, etc. the information would be listed in the owner manual under specifivations. Another option is google. Search for your PC by Manufacturer, make and model and you should find the tech data or a PDF of your manual there.
Most mid range to high end cards require 400 watts of power or better. Although 400 is recommended a PSU of 350 to 375 should handle most mid range cards. If your looking for a 2 card solution then the value increases to about 600 watts. More cards equal more juice. I'm including a link to a power requirement calculator here (http://www.antec.outervision.com/) to give you an idea of how much power your current system uses and if a power supply unit upgrade may be necessary.
Asumming that you dont need to upgrade your PSU the next question is the availability of an expansion slot for the card to go into. The most common types are PCI and those range from PCI, PCI Express, PCIEX x1/x4/x8/x16 which come in variants followed by 1.0/2.0/3.0. Not sure about 3.0 but 1 and 2 cards and boards have no compatability issues. There is also the Ancient AGP x1/x4/x8 which may be in your pc if its 4 years old or older.
AGP
http://www.servipc365.com/informatica/diccionario/agp.jpg
PCI types vary in name and size this image shows:
PCIEx4
PCIex16
PCIEx1
PCIEx16
PCI/PCIEx
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/PCIExpress.jpg
This image has:
x4
x8
PCI
PCI
http://www.gigabyte.eu/FileList/Image/server_productimage_ga-8icmt_big.jpg
This will give you an idea on size comparison to a PCI slot which I would argue that 99.999999998% of store bought PCs have.
On to the next thing and back a bit to that PSU. Even for whats considered a low end card now a days a direct 12 volt connection to the power supply is necessary. I wont go into too much detail but you should see a +12volt rail or something similar on the PSU label, this is the power to your vid card. Most card connet to the PSU with a 4 or 6 pin connector. If you only have molex connectors their are adapters available to convert to what you need.
Current connection types:
http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/cputopiaonline/mp3atx40.jpg
More on the PSU, should you have or choose to upgrade the key is your ability to disconnect the power supply from the motherboard. Some premanufatured systems are hardwired to the board making in difficult to upgrade since the connecttions are soldered into place. I can solder pipe but I don't do electronics. So I cant help you there. There are 2 main connections to the mobo from the power supply and the are:
24 or 20+4 pin which provide power to the board for any drives, PCIEx, USB, SATA, fans, ram, etc. These are low voltage items which do not need a direct connection to the PSU.
The 20+4 looks like this:
http://i1.tinypic.com/ncxcf5.jpg
On the board the connection look like this:
http://img.hexus.net/v2/internationalevents/computex2006/Tarinder/MotherboardB.jpg
It's the black rectangle in the lower right corner of the board.
Sometimes the 20+4 will ship and look like just a 24 pin but you should be able to "pull apart" the 4 from the 20.
The second device that requires a direct connection from the PSU is the CPU. One if not both of these are often hardwired in making a PSU upgrade more difficult on mass produced PCs. The connection to the CPU look just like the +4 and would be located next to the CPU. They aren't hard to find as they are likely the only to cables from the PSU directly to the board. The image above has an 8 pin connection for the cpu, black rectangle top right above the aluminum fins, but todays CPUs will run just fine with the +4. My set up is similar and I only have a 4 pin connected.
Back to the good stuff Once youve determined that you got the juice and what slot type you have chose your card. Ive had Nvidias and ATIs and don't particularly favor one over the other.
I have had issues with some cards from particular manufacturers but those may just have been flukes as many of my friends use cards I've sworn against and they've had no problems. The real issue for many people is $$$$$, So on that my opinion is that prce vs performance ATI takes the lead, but in raw performance Nvidia has held a slight edge most of the time. Here is an article (http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2336249,00.asp) testing cards that are mid and high range. The choice is ultimately up to you to decide what fits your budget.
Hope this helps its not too technical and is designed for beginners. Please feel free to add to this if I have omitted anything as well as ask questions. I'm always willing to help.
Ghoti
Disclaimer: I am not a professional!
I'm just a guy who learned how to build a PC about 7 years ago and have been hook on it ever since. I also love FPS and even though I'm not as good as I wish I was, I love to play the lateset and greatest with HIGH SETTINGS!
SO here we go.
One of the first things to consider is the wattage on your power supply. This could be found in one of several locations. The most common is a label on the PSU itself. It will list the maximim wattage that it will supply as well as other technical info. If you have a store bought system Dell, Sony, eMachine, etc. the information would be listed in the owner manual under specifivations. Another option is google. Search for your PC by Manufacturer, make and model and you should find the tech data or a PDF of your manual there.
Most mid range to high end cards require 400 watts of power or better. Although 400 is recommended a PSU of 350 to 375 should handle most mid range cards. If your looking for a 2 card solution then the value increases to about 600 watts. More cards equal more juice. I'm including a link to a power requirement calculator here (http://www.antec.outervision.com/) to give you an idea of how much power your current system uses and if a power supply unit upgrade may be necessary.
Asumming that you dont need to upgrade your PSU the next question is the availability of an expansion slot for the card to go into. The most common types are PCI and those range from PCI, PCI Express, PCIEX x1/x4/x8/x16 which come in variants followed by 1.0/2.0/3.0. Not sure about 3.0 but 1 and 2 cards and boards have no compatability issues. There is also the Ancient AGP x1/x4/x8 which may be in your pc if its 4 years old or older.
AGP
http://www.servipc365.com/informatica/diccionario/agp.jpg
PCI types vary in name and size this image shows:
PCIEx4
PCIex16
PCIEx1
PCIEx16
PCI/PCIEx
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/PCIExpress.jpg
This image has:
x4
x8
PCI
PCI
http://www.gigabyte.eu/FileList/Image/server_productimage_ga-8icmt_big.jpg
This will give you an idea on size comparison to a PCI slot which I would argue that 99.999999998% of store bought PCs have.
On to the next thing and back a bit to that PSU. Even for whats considered a low end card now a days a direct 12 volt connection to the power supply is necessary. I wont go into too much detail but you should see a +12volt rail or something similar on the PSU label, this is the power to your vid card. Most card connet to the PSU with a 4 or 6 pin connector. If you only have molex connectors their are adapters available to convert to what you need.
Current connection types:
http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/cputopiaonline/mp3atx40.jpg
More on the PSU, should you have or choose to upgrade the key is your ability to disconnect the power supply from the motherboard. Some premanufatured systems are hardwired to the board making in difficult to upgrade since the connecttions are soldered into place. I can solder pipe but I don't do electronics. So I cant help you there. There are 2 main connections to the mobo from the power supply and the are:
24 or 20+4 pin which provide power to the board for any drives, PCIEx, USB, SATA, fans, ram, etc. These are low voltage items which do not need a direct connection to the PSU.
The 20+4 looks like this:
http://i1.tinypic.com/ncxcf5.jpg
On the board the connection look like this:
http://img.hexus.net/v2/internationalevents/computex2006/Tarinder/MotherboardB.jpg
It's the black rectangle in the lower right corner of the board.
Sometimes the 20+4 will ship and look like just a 24 pin but you should be able to "pull apart" the 4 from the 20.
The second device that requires a direct connection from the PSU is the CPU. One if not both of these are often hardwired in making a PSU upgrade more difficult on mass produced PCs. The connection to the CPU look just like the +4 and would be located next to the CPU. They aren't hard to find as they are likely the only to cables from the PSU directly to the board. The image above has an 8 pin connection for the cpu, black rectangle top right above the aluminum fins, but todays CPUs will run just fine with the +4. My set up is similar and I only have a 4 pin connected.
Back to the good stuff Once youve determined that you got the juice and what slot type you have chose your card. Ive had Nvidias and ATIs and don't particularly favor one over the other.
I have had issues with some cards from particular manufacturers but those may just have been flukes as many of my friends use cards I've sworn against and they've had no problems. The real issue for many people is $$$$$, So on that my opinion is that prce vs performance ATI takes the lead, but in raw performance Nvidia has held a slight edge most of the time. Here is an article (http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2336249,00.asp) testing cards that are mid and high range. The choice is ultimately up to you to decide what fits your budget.
Hope this helps its not too technical and is designed for beginners. Please feel free to add to this if I have omitted anything as well as ask questions. I'm always willing to help.
Ghoti