Upgrading my gcard, will it work?

Faze1

So I bought HP Pavilion Media Center m7755.uk desktop about to years ago and in the last few months Ive gotten into gaming on my pc. I have now come to realise my graphics card is not good enough to play any games on high settings and resolutions. Here are the specs on my PC: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00864249&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

Im using a nVidia Geforce 7500 LE at the moment because it came with it but i am thinking of buying a Sapphire Radeon 4850 HD. I was looking at my pc's specs and it says I have 1 PCI Express x16 slot. The Radeon 4850 has an interface type of PCI Express 2.0 x16. Will this still work on my pc? I was thinking of buying the card because it is cheap and powerful and looks like it will suit my needs... Im not that great at computers so a bit of advice from a pro would be great

uberpixie

Faze1 wrote: »

So I bought HP Pavilion Media Center m7755.uk desktop about to years ago and in the last few months Ive gotten into gaming on my pc. I have now come to realise my graphics card is not good enough to play any games on high settings and resolutions.

Im using a nVidia Geforce 7500 LE at the moment because it came with it but i am thinking of buying a Sapphire Radeon 4850 HD. I was looking at my pc's specs and it says I have 1 PCI Express x16 slot. The Radeon 4850 has an interface type of PCI Express 2.0 x16. Will this still work on my pc? I was thinking of buying the card because it is cheap and powerful and looks like it will suit my needs... Im not that great at computers so a bit of advice from a pro would be great

Your power supply will be the limiting factor. You woauld a good quality 400W PSU e.g Corsair/seasonic and not some bargin basement slag heap brand "X" PSU form a crap PC store.

You should have a pci express x16 slot so that should be fine. (pci express 2.0 is backward compatible with 1.0)

How big is the case , will it take a standard size PSU? If so you can pick up a cheap corsair 400W for €46
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=404885

But you will def need a new PSU to power the card, you prob only have a cheap 300W PSU which is not going to do the trick.

jonny72

Faze1 wrote: »

So I bought HP Pavilion Media Center m7755.uk desktop about to years ago and in the last few months Ive gotten into gaming on my pc. I have now come to realise my graphics card is not good enough to play any games on high settings and resolutions. Here are the specs on my PC: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00864249&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

Im using a nVidia Geforce 7500 LE at the moment because it came with it but i am thinking of buying a Sapphire Radeon 4850 HD. I was looking at my pc's specs and it says I have 1 PCI Express x16 slot. The Radeon 4850 has an interface type of PCI Express 2.0 x16. Will this still work on my pc? I was thinking of buying the card because it is cheap and powerful and looks like it will suit my needs... Im not that great at computers so a bit of advice from a pro would be great

I had almost the exact same PC

The power supply is very weak, not sure it can support a 4850. I put an ATI 4670 (about 70 euros now), its about the most powerful card you can get that doesn't need to be attached to the power supply unit (nearly all decent cards now need a special plug to power them directly from the PSU)

Its alright, will run most games, just not on high res with high settings, but playable, eh except GTA4, the card couldn't handle that.

If its not too daunting, your best bet is to get a better power supply (about 50 euros), put it in, then add the 4850.

Faze1

So you guys are 100% sure I will need a new power supply? Also what are your thoughts on this card?

marco_polo

Faze1 wrote: »

So you guys are 100% sure I will need a new power supply? Also what are your thoughts on this card?

Presuming the monitor you have is not full HD the card is absolutely excellent and great value for money to boot. As I recall the peak draw for that card is somthing like 110w under full load, so if there is a cheap 300-350W PSU in there you couldn't really trust it at all. The corsair is a really solid PSU and excellent value at only 40 Euros or so.

If only there were some quality 440 -550 W units in a similarly reasonable price range (Not for you, just a general moan )

uberpixie

Faze1 wrote: »

So you guys are 100% sure I will need a new power supply? Also what are your thoughts on this card?

IF....

1) you want this card to work....

2) you do not want to run the risk of damaging any parts in your pc....

3) You want your PC to be able to start up correctly.
Then YES you are getting a new power supply.

I remember one bloke in college who built his new pc, decided to use a tiny old power supply from so absolute sh it box PC: he ended up killing a hard drive and wondered why his CPU wouldn't run at full speed and was underclocked and why his PC felt "slow".

Spend the €46 and get a 400W corsair PSU: not getting it will cost you a lot more than €46 in the long term replacing burnt out parts.

OEM PCs such as HP always have low power PSUs as most folk that buy their PCs will never upgrade them bar a little ram or maybe an extra harddrive or a tv card which do not use a lot of power.

A GFX card uses a lot of power: you need to upgrade the PSU. Simple as.

Buying or trying to get by on an old, crap underpowered cheap PSU is a classic noob mistake, one I have made myself for my first build which luckily didn't fry anything. Seriously €46 will avoid a lot of future tears and fitting a power supply to a pc is not hard, the worst you will do is forget to lug one power cavble in for something which is is fixed by plugging the power cable in.

The only possilbe snag you might have is that your PC uses a non standard power supply that means an off the shelf PSU will not work.

Faze1

Thanks guys, really helpful stuff! Gonna buy that corsair one soon. But If my current power supply cant be removed for whatever reason, is it possible to just have both power units going at the same but just use the corsair unit for the card?

Faze1

Faze1 wrote: »

Thanks guys, really helpful stuff! Gonna buy that corsair one soon. But If my current power supply cant be removed for whatever reason, is it possible to just have both power units going at the same but just use the corsair unit for the card?

Also do they sell the corsair in places like PC World? I live in Galway and im going to Dublin to pick up my card but I didnt place the order for the corsair and the card so will either have to get it delivered or buy it in Galway

marco_polo

Faze1 wrote: »

Also do they sell the corsair in places like PC World? I live in Galway and im going to Dublin to pick up my card but I didnt place the order for the corsair and the card so will either have to get it delivered or buy it in Galway

Could be wrong but I wouldn't think so. I you ordered today then perrhaps you could place a second order for the Corsair and pickup both together?