Upgrading my PC HELP!!

[Serena Gearz]

So I'm wanting to upgrade my PC with a new Graphics Card and a better PSU as mine is only about 300 Watts.

I've been looking at a few different these products to be used together, will they be powerful enough to run Second Life and have shadows running without lagging in a mid to empty sim. I'm mostly not going to have shadows on 24/7 but I'd like to be able to use them.

This is my build so far:

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3330 CPU @ 3.00GHz (2993.25 MHz)
Memory: 8087 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit Service Pack 1 (Build 7601)
Graphics Card Vendor: Intel
Graphics Card: Intel(R) HD Graphics 2500

 

These are what I was looking at:

Graphics Card: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-evga-gtx-560-ti-40nm-4008mhz-gddr5-gpu-880mhz-shader-1760mhz-384-cores-mhdmi-dvi

Graphics Card: http://www.ebuyer.com/500954-zotac-gtx-650-synergy-edition-1gb-graphics-card-zt-61012-10m (Or this if the above isn't able to purchase)

PSU: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-cooler-master-thunder-b500-b-series-85-eff-120mm-silent-pwm-fan-green-erp-psu

 

I'd love some opinions on what you guys think of these, will they work well?

Thanks!

[TristanMercer]

I personally would go with the 650 graphics card, but if you can spare the extra...get a 2gb model as you will have more wiggle room. Take a look at this one: MSI GTX 650 2GB

As for the power supply, it might not be enough. Try to get a 750w PSU. Perhaps this? Powercool PSU

[Serena Gearz]

Oh so you think a 650 would be better, I've been reading on these forums and alot say the 560ti would be better so I'll think on that.

Now regarding going 2gb I didn't really want to go more than a 1gb for now. Don't really need more than that as I typically only play Second Life on here and a couple of others but they are not graphic hogs by any stretch of the imagination.

Also the PSU you suggested I just googled the brand and a lot of people are saying they are rubbish. I got told the CoolerMaster or a Corsair would be good and I wouldn't need more than 500 watts?

 

[Madelaine McMasters]

Hi Serena,

Here's a page showing benchmark results for a lot of graphics cards.

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php

You can enter a card name in the search box at the top of the list. By their numbers, the GTX 560ti (3535) is considerably faster than the GTX 650 (1829). Those benchmark results do not directly apply to SL, but they're a start.

Good luck with your upgrades!

[TristanMercer]

My apologies that I haven't really kept up to date on these. I personally have a 650ti 2GB card and it has not let me down at all. FPS averages anywhere from 30 to over 100.

One thing you have to look at for a PSU is the amps on a single 12v rail. A lot of 12v rails are 16 or 18 amp. Some video cards require 20 amp(my gtx 650ti requires 20 amp). This is why I suggested a larger watt psu. The psu that you linked does not show any amperage on any rail. There is no way to be certain if said psu will handle the video card.

I should get back into reading over these things as I am due for an upgrade on my vid card next year.

 

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

I'd go with a GTX560Ti or save up for a GTX660 (Ti). To get the most out of a 6-series card you will need a PCi3.0 slot on your motherboard, so make sure about that if you decide to go for one of those.

There are plenty of pages on the net that will calculate the minimum and required wattage for your system. I used this page and a bit of guesswork and it came up with 489W minimum and 539W recommended for the system specs you posted in combination with the 560Ti. With the 650 it's considerably less, 401W and 451W.

There's no need for a whole lot of overhead, but do make sure it's powerful enough. Failing power supplies are a real pain since they will give you a whole range of errors, making it very hard to determine what the issue is. I've been through that a couple of years ago, first it looked like a failing memory stick, then motherboard, graphics card, etc. (I got a nice mix of blue screens, black screens and rainbow screens). Luckily I didn't replace any of those components before I figured out it was the power supply, but you can imagine troubleshooting can get very expensive.

[Qie Niangao]

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Kwakkelde Kwak wrote:

There are plenty of pages on the net that will calculate the minimum and required wattage for your system. I used

this page

and a bit of guesswork and it came up with 489W minimum and 539W recommended for the system specs you posted in combination with the 560Ti. With the 650 it's considerably less, 401W and 451W.

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I'm glad you made that point: with each new generation, these cards use substantially less power for the same performance. Usually can't save quite enough on a lesser power supply to completely cover the higher cost of the newer generation graphics card, but factoring-in noise and heat, the newer card is often a win anyway.

[Serena Gearz]

Hi thanks for all the advice guys.

I've ended up choosing the gtx 560ti because it seemed to be the best offer within my price range.

I'm not quite sure exactly my PCI Express but it's this motherboard in the PC I have: http://uk.msi.com/product/mb/H61M-P31--G3-.html

It's a prebuilt system bought from Amazon about 6 months ago I'm just looking to upgrade parts of it finally. I chose this PSU in the end as I was told a 500 watt would be enough and Corsair were the best: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-Builder-Series-Bronze-Supply/dp/B009RMP2VE/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

So do you think this will not be good enough to power the 560ti??