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Please aid me in my search for a graphics card :)

434 Views 12 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  Mad_Handlez89, 
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Hey people, it's been a while...

Wellllllll im gonna start from the start, or thereabouts...

I got a Dell last year, and after browsing here, decided to overclock my 6800, lol I overclocked the bejaysus out of it, and it seemed to be running fine, but i gave up checking the temps and in the end, it blew :'(

6 days after Dells warranty expired, I dunno if they woulda replaced it...but still that was annoying. I know I deserved it. But I guess we learn from our mistakes then yeh? (the first one, I now realise after my DVD burner broke of its own accord, was getting a dell in the first place)

So yehhhhhh now theres a few things I want to know.....

1) IS it possible that damage to any other components may have occurred? The card didnt actually 'blow', it's jus stopped working, the fan still spins etc, but the Dell screen artifacts and the comp crashes before i have a chance to do anything.

2) I know my slot thing is PCI-E, but are there different types of PCI-E, like PCI-E 16 or PCI-E 12 etc? And if so, how do I find out what type it is?

Okay, now, I've been browsing ebay for some good deals, and think i may have found a couple within my xmas prezzy price range, I was considering just getting a replacement 6800, but I've seen some sweet deals on the 7900 GS, going for about 200 euro including p&p, whereas the 6800's seem to be going for about 130 euro, 7600gt's going for about 170.

how does an ELSA 7900gs 512mb ram sound? for 200 euro that is.
It's clocked at around the same as the other 7900gs's?

Thats what im considering anyway, and here are a couple of other quesitons


3) Will I need to change my power supply to support this new card? And how do I check how big my power supply is?

4) Will I need additional cooling, or will the stock cooling do? I'm not planning on overclocking any card I get for a while lol

Thank's in advance people
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E
If yoru card was dead, nothing would show up on the screen and you would get a VGA error...

Are you sure it's dead?

Boot in safe mode and uninstal the program you used to overclock

wether or not you need to upgrade your power supply depends on what make and how many watts you have currently. open the case, it should be on the power supply somewhere. Look for make and watts.

If you don't plan on overclocking, stock cooling is fine.
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T
I cant boot in safe mode, it crashes before I can do anything!

I used riva tuner to oc
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IcedEarth
Hmm well if u eventually get into windows, put it at stock speeds it may go away.

But yea a 7900gs should be fine, and they dont consume much power so your psu should be fine aslong as its atleast 400W. Iced
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T
hey which is better for a card, higher ram or higher clock speeds? I know its prob a stupid question with lots of variables lol but lets say...a 7900gs with 400 mhz and say 256 ram against a 7900 with 450 mhz and 512?
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Kramy
-Onboard Memory - 512MB - makes very little difference to performance.
-Memory Interface - 256-Bit - helps a ton for AA and lots of other demanding effects.
-Memory speed - 1.4ghz - helps whenever you're running high AA or have a lot of fog on-screen.
-Core clock - 475mhz - helps everything.

Just so you know...the few people I know here that have Dell systems have blown their cards. I would seriously consider a new PSU, or you'll probably blow that 7900GS as well.
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T
ummmmmmm okay so PSU...whats that now? lol yeh im a n00ob or newb or whatever....

any reccommendations for one?

EDIT: you said...people whove had dells hae had their cards blow........do you mean when they overclocked the card? Will i be okay if i refrain from overclocking?
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Mad_Handlez89
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Quote:


Originally Posted by thebigyellow
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ummmmmmm okay so PSU...whats that now? lol yeh im a n00ob or newb or whatever....

any reccommendations for one?

Do you have a budget?

As PSU can range in prices and performance
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T
ahhhhhhh PSU = power supply! im an idiot....

budget is gonna be pretty sparse if im getting a 200 euro graphics card, whatd you reccommend in terms of budget/performance?
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Mad_Handlez89
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Quote:


Originally Posted by thebigyellow
View Post

ahhhhhhh PSU = power supply! im an idiot....

budget is gonna be pretty sparse if im getting a 200 euro graphics card, whatd you reccommend in terms of budget/performance?


£100
OCZ GameXtreme 700W

£80
Enermax Noisetaker 600W

£60
Hiper Type R 580W

Are any of them within your budget?

Dont be fooled into buying a 700W PSU from your local pcworld for £40, they are not worth it and the 580W Hiper will be better
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T
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damnnnnnnnnn those are expenisve


you sure the PSU wont be okay if i dont plan on overclocking?

and don't worry, I may be noobiesque but i steer clear of PC world
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grunion
Hi,

Dude you got a Dell...me to

So what model do you have. Before you go slappin in a PSU, coupla questions need to be answered. Which Dell, is it ATX or BTX form factor. If you have the 6800 gs I am guessing you have a 350 -375 watt PSU with probably 28-30 amp dual 12v rails. The PSU may be sufficient depending on how much hardware you have.
If you are looking at the front of the tower...which side panel do you access the internals from? Left side =ATX, right side =BTX.
Do you have an open back chassis, if not you will have to cut a kill switch hole, that is if you get a PSU with a kill switch.
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Mad_Handlez89
4
Quote:


Originally Posted by thebigyellow
View Post

damnnnnnnnnn those are expenisve


you sure the PSU wont be okay if i dont plan on overclocking?

and don't worry, I may be noobiesque but i steer clear of PC world


If these are out of budget you could get a dedicated GPU PSU from Thermaltake
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