Looking to upgrade video card

[Gix7Fifty]

I am currently running a ATI Radeon HD5570 1GB, I would like to stick to ATI. I really dont want to upgrade my power supply, it's 400w. Any recommendations?

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Do you have more information on the power supply like the brand name or model?

 

[nick09]

What is your system specifications and amperage on the 12V rail on your power supply?

 

[Gix7Fifty]

Actually its smaller than I thought, I may have to upgrade it, 300W power supply (100-127V/220-240V ~ 7/3.5A, 50/60Hz)

 

[bergauk]

Another thing worth finding out is the size of your case. What length dimensions do you have?

Also note, if your PSU has no PCIe Power cable, you'll need one if you plan on getting one of the better cards.

So, two things we'll need are:
1. How long a card can you fit
2. PSU needs a PCIe power cable if it does not have one already.

 

[eSZee]

Power supplies aren't all that expensive. For $50 you can get a good/great 400-550w unit that will run a single card no problem.
Depending on what card you want, you could get away with running a ~$30 FSP that would easily run a single card, like a 6850 and last you a decade or two.
So, how much do you have to spend on this combo?

Another thing worth finding out is the size of your case. What length dimensions do you have?

Also note, if your PSU has no PCIe Power cable, you'll need one if you plan on getting one of the better cards.

So, two things we'll need are:
1. How long a card can you fit
2. PSU needs a PCIe power cable if it does not have one already.

A $2 adapter will take care of that and likely comes with the card/PSU.

 

[nick09]

We'll also need to know how wide of a space you have in the case(from motherboard to the side panel). Have you still not checked the 12V rail for the amperage? The rating would be on the same sticker where you found the 300w label.

 

[Gix7Fifty]

14 A
Gateway DX case

 

[sesselpupser]

Personally I'd recommend upgrading the PSU as far as you can go. I recently built a PC and the PSU went from 500 to 600 to 750 and ended on 850W simply because it was less than £7 more than the 750W supply (but cost me £140). The PSU is pretty much the only part that you could get away with never upgrading if you spec it high enough, so buying a cheaper PSU is kind of a false economy if you have to upgrade it every time you want to get a new graphics card or add a second one.

Also, generally speaking, the higher power the PSU is capable of, the more efficient it is at a certain power output compared to a less powerful PSU and is therefore cheaper to run.

So even if you could get away with 600W to run whichever card you choose, I'd still recommend going higher than that if you can. I hope to be able to run a second GTX 580 if I ever suffer a blow to the head savage enough to convince me I need to.