I was looking to buy the GTX 660 Ti 2gb Video Card, but I'm newb with computers and wouldn't know how to tell if it's compatible. Most of my PC information is displayed on my profile, if there's any additional information needed I can find it(Was too lazy to open up my PC to find out my PSU, but I can if needed). If the card isn't compatible, could you recommend something compatible with the same(Or better) performance for around the same price?
Duh... What's your PSU? If PSU is good enough, GTX 660 Ti would work, but would be severely bottlenecked by your CPU. Not really worth buying, unless you're planning to upgrade CPU/MB/RAM in the near future.
Well, that's lower than I expected... Only 230 watts :l. Have any suggestions on an upgrade to the CPU for a good price? I'm on a bit of a budget and upgrading is currently my cheaper alternative to just selling my PC and building a completely new one.
I think you're looking at voltage, not wattage. Is it 230W or 230V? Also look for manufacturer and exact model. Could be possible to upgrade to some Core 2 Quad, depending on your motherboard. But it's not worth investing on old LGA775 platform. What's your budget? And current specs (motherboard, RAM and PSU)?
Budget is between 400-600$, not much to build a brand new PC but I think I can get some decent upgrades in. RAM is at about 3.6GB. Motherboard name seems to be... Unknown, according to this program, though it says Motherboard ID:C55-MCP51-P5N-ESLI-00 You'll have to give me a bit to post PSU... This tower is a monster to open up and the PSU is almost impossible to get to, but that's what I have for now.
Your motherboard is ASUS P5N-E SLI, RAM is DDR2. Find out what PSU you have. Also what connector your HDD and ODD have (SATA or IDE)? For 600$ you could get a decent upgrade to i5 and GTX 660/HD 7870 if you can reuse your HDD/ODD/case.
Just double checked on the PSU and the wattage is definitely at 230. I couldn't get a good look at a model or manufacturer, as I'd have to disconnect every bit of wiring to get a good look at the sticker, but at 230 I might want to just upgrade anyway. How could I find that Hard Drive info?
If you can reuse your HDD, ODD and case, but can't reuse PSU: Intel Core i5 3470 ASRock Z75 Pro3 Galaxy GeForce GTX 660 2GB GC OR Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 2GB OC Crucial Ballistix Sport 2x4GB DDR3 1600MHz Seasonic M12II 520W Subtotal: $599.95. i5 3470 can be overclocked to around 4GHz. If you want more OC, there's i5 3570K for extra $20. Through system information software, HDD model or simply by looking at its cable. SATA is a thin (usually red) cable while IDE is a wide flat ribbon cable.
Alright, HDD seems to be SATA. Would it be possible to simply replace the Video Card, CPU & PSU without having to purchase a new motherboard & other components? 600$ is probably my high limit, so I'm trying to get as low as possible without getting any dirt-quality cheap parts.
Sure but you would get much less performance per $.. With a rig as dated as that it is by far best to replace all the core components at once rather then upgrade as little as you can. Getting a i5 quad + 660/7870 now should last several years at least at 1080p highish settings.
Possible, could put a Core 2 Quad, but it's simply not worth investing in an old LGA775/DDR2 platform. If you need something cheaper: Intel Core i3 3220 ASRock B75 Pro3 VisionTek Radeon HD 7850 2GB Crucial Ballistix 2x4GB DDR3 Seasonic S12II 430W Subtotal: $442.95. I'd pay extra $5 for Z75 Pro3 tho, because it has Lucid Virtu MVP. Gives a nice boost in some popular games. If you can spend about $500, get either i5 3470 or GTX 660/HD 7870.
Thank you for all of the suggestions . I've got a pretty good idea of what I can make out of this money now. Would you recommend coughing up the extra 10$ for the M12 over the B12 PSU?
Hi The PSU choice is up to you, though I would recommend a HD7850 with a nice cooler, as you should be able to overclock one of them to HD7950 performace (a $300 card). http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125451 And a 520w should be fine even with a OC
What B12? You mean S12II? If so, difference between M12II and S12II is that M12II is modular while S12II isn't. Another difference between posted models is wattage. For system with i3 3220 and single HD 7850 S12II 430W is more than enough, but M12II 520W is well worth extra $10, in case you want to upgrade to a faster video card or drop in an overclockable i5. Or both. Additionally, modular design will help with improve airflow in case.
It appears he is running a 32-bit OS, so RAM limitations MUST be taken into account. If you go to a 1GB video card, you will lost another half a gigabyte of system RAM. If you go to a 2GB card, you will effectively cripple your system. Since the GTX 660 Ti is a 2GB video card, I would say it is NOT compatible with your system. To summarise, it will work, but not only will be it be bottlenecked by the CPU, it will limit your system RAM to the point where it will severely detriment performance. The minimum upgrade you can do to have it so performance isn't severely compromised is to get a second hand (for instance) Q9400 CPU (run it at 400FSB), and purchase Windows 7 or 8 x64.