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Gilgalad_24
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Hmm have i made a boo boo...?
Ive just purchased a Sapphire HD3870 512MB GDDR4 PCIE Dual DVI
I am running a Pentium 4 HT which does have a PCI Express connection...
Im now having doubts as too whether this new card will work...
Will i need a Dual Core Processor and therefore a more meaty motherboard?
This pc is over 2 years old...
Ive read this card has big power supply requirements but then other conflicting statements that it can run on more standard PSU's.
A slightly worried Gil
 
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General RAAM
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I believe that card utilizes PCI-Express 2.0 and if your PC is 2 years old your board won't support that standard. That's not to say that it won't work, I believe they are backwards compatible, but you won't be taking full advantage of your new card's potential.
I wouldn't say that you require a Dual Core processor, but I would certainly recommend you get one. Heck, for the price you can get a Quad Core for under $300.00 (the Q6600).
Now your Pentium 4 HT is very similar to a Pentium D (Dual Core), but with Hyper Threading when you run 2 simultaneous threads they won't run completely in parallel and that will result in a performance lag in one of the threads.
For Power Supply requirements, you are correct. Higher end cards require a lot of juice. Typically 500 WATTS for a really high end single card set up, but then you need to consider your other components as well and any possible upgrades you might want in the future.
Personally, I would have waited on purchasing this card until you were ready to build a system(or purchase a pre-built system) that complimented it. Those cards are very popular in Crossfire set ups because of their extremely reasonable price and great performance. I'm not saying you made a bad decision, but I thought I'd give you a brief reply on the first thought that came to me when I read this post.
Cheers.
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Gilgalad_24
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Yes it is indeed PCI Express 2...as long as it works and gives me better FPS in games than i get now i wont worry too much about the more technical aspects of the card.
Someone said that as im only playing EQ2 the quadcore pc thing isnt necessary, or even dual core for that matter..
Problem will be if i open it and try to use it.I wont be able to return it...
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General RAAM
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Quote:
Yes it is indeed PCI Express 2...as long as it works and gives me better FPS in games than i get now i wont worry too much about the more technical aspects of the card.
Someone said that as im only playing EQ2 the quadcore pc thing isnt necessary, or even dual core for that matter..
Problem will be if i open it and try to use it.I wont be able to return it...
Certain games like Assassin's Creed require mass amounts of CPU power, but you're right, that game does not. You'll most definitely get better FPS than you were getting, that's for certain. 
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Baird: Well, there's a bunch of assholes with guns up here, and they're trying to kill us. Baird out! - Gears of War
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bingobango
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I've just checked the spec and it says this:
"450Watt or greater power supply with 75 Watt 6-pin PCI Express power connector recommended."
I recommend you get the best power supply you can afford from a good brand like Enermax because its a really important component. If you get a decent one not only is there less chance of it destroying all of your gear but you shouldn't have to upgrade it again when/if you do get a more powerful CPU & RAM at a later date. It recommends 450w or greater but I would go 600w+ to future proof it a bit more. Whatever one you get just make sure it comes with a '6 pin PCI-Express VGA Connector' for your card.
If you want a recommendation I bought one of these 2 years ago which has worked perfectly;
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduc...123&subcat=
Its modular as well so instead of having a huge bundle of wires that are doing nothing hanging out of it you just plug in the ones you need and leave the rest in the box.
If you are only playing Everquest 2 you wont need to upgrade anything else to get a decent performance boost.
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Madonion007
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what are the rest of your pc specs?
Imo as well as needing a new psu as stated above (any decent brand will do. i.e enermax, zalman, hiper, ocz etc), but adding that with a power supply it isn't just the amount of watts, but the amperage supplied on the 12v rail. According to amd-ati a 22amp 12volt rail is recommended.
Also, your current setup will severely bottleneck your new graphics card. Meaning that the graphics card is too powerful for a 2 yr old pentium 4, and you 'may' get some slowdowns in newer games, because the cpu cannot keep up with the graphics card.
If your looking to do a full upgrade this would make a good pc
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 £62.26
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB) £29.36
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.53GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £86.94
Hiper 580W HPU-4M580 SLi Certified ATX2.2 PSU £46.99
total = £225.55inc vat
(@OcUk)
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Gilgalad_24
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hmmm didnt realise id need a new PSU...the spec on the pc isnt too bad..
Heres what i have at present
Intel® Pentium® 4 processor 630 with Hyper-Threading Technology
* Operates at 3.0 GHz, 800 MHz FSB
* 2 MB L2 cache
Chipset Intel® 945G
2.5GB of DDR2 533mhz Ram
# Add-In Card Slots
# One PCI-E ×1
# Two PCI Conventional
# One PCI-Express ×16
One of these PSU's is present at the mo
- Bestec 300 Watt Dual 12V Power Supply
- 300 Watt Power Supply
Will it really blow my system if i dont upgrade my PSU too?
Im looking to build a new PC in the near future so will get the most out of my new Card at some point..
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bingobango
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Quote:
hmmm didnt realise id need a new PSU
Will it really blow my system if i dont upgrade my PSU too?
I'm looking to build a new PC in the near future so will get the most out of my new Card at some point..
It wont blow your system it will freeze, switch off or not even start up.
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groovesection
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you willl need a new psu thats for sure, 300w is paltry,
the gfx card alone will probably use 80-100w of that,add that to the dvd/cd drive,the hard drives and MB power then you are going to be cutting it very very fine,
i would suggest at least a 450w for the spec of your machine [assuming you have 2 hard drives and 1 dvd drive] but if you canafford it go with a 650w as you will be able to retain this when you do upgrade your MB
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Gilgalad_24
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Thanks for everyones input..
I got my card today and a new PSU , 600watt.
Ill be putting it in the PC on Thursday as its my day off work.
Fingers crossed it all goes ok
Thanks again really appreciate it
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bingobango
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Cool, I hope it goes well
I would recommend sticking the PSU in first with the old card to make sure it all works and then install the new card.
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Madonion007
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excellent, hope it goes well, and you enjoy your new graphics card
btw. which 600W psu did you get in the end?
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bingobango
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I wonder how Gilgalad got on?
In completely unrelated news I ordered a new motherboard, 4GB PC2 9200 RAM and a Q9450 Quad Core today to replace the guts in my old 3.6ghz P4 rig 
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Madonion007
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Quote:
I wonder how Gilgalad got on?
In completely unrelated news I ordered a new motherboard, 4GB PC2 9200 RAM and a Q9450 Quad Core today to replace the guts in my old 3.6ghz P4 rig
His last post was last thursday, the day he was going to put the new stuff in. Hopefully that's not a bad sign.......
Looks like a good choice of upgraded there bingobango.
I've been upgrading mine is small parts since jan this year.
Gone from a gigabyte p965ds3, e6400 (2.1Ghz), radeon x1900xt & 2Gb pc5300 ram, to a gigabyte p35 ds3, same cpu (but o/c'ed to 3.2Ghz), Nvidia 8800GT 512Mb & 4Gb pc6400.
Finally complete, and working fine
(may upgrade to either a quad core, or new monitor later this year if I can get the funds..)
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bingobango
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Quote:
His last post was last thursday, the day he was going to put the new stuff in. Hopefully that's not a bad sign.......
Thats what I was thinking  
My new gear all worked 
Well apart from the fact that after I had assembled it all I discovered my new motherboard (Asus P5K-E) only supports USB keyboard & mouse not what I had (USB & PS2) so I had to buy another keyboard & mouse combo 
Its all up and rocking though. The CPU is 2.66ghz stock but I've currently got it running at 3.5ghz with just air cooling (arctic cooling freezer 7 pro) and its actually still running cooler than my P4 did
I've stuck with my old graphics card for now which is a X1900XTX that I've had for a few years. Its still plays most games at the quality I want (except Crysis lol) and the new RAM & CPU have given it a new lease of life.
Edited by bingobango (Sat May 24 2008 03:42 PM)
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