AMD Video Card Upgrade ?

[JoMac]

Ok,  I have a stock Dell OptiPlex 790 Mid-Tower Win 7 w/400 PS, i5 2400 Quad Core @3.0, AMD 7700 1GB DDR5 PCI-e Vid Card.

Thinking of upgrading to another AMD Video Card, but not sure which...I generally have little problem playing CMx2 (reinforced company size on Med-large maps), some Matrix Grand Tactical Games, and the older FPS Red Orchestra (and its DH mod) on Medium Settings...However, if I decide to venture on getting some of the more modern titles, like ARMA2/3 (WWII Mods), or something similar from Steam (Sci/Fantasy), then a little better Vid Card may be necessary.

I just did some quick searches of the higher number AMD HD 7800/7900 series, and the R7 & R9 250/350 etc 2/4GB DDR5 series type cards...What are your suggestions based on my current PC specs.

Joe

Edited November 9, 2018 by JoMc67

[Schrullenhaft]

The Dell OptiPlex 790 Mid-Tower is a bit problematic for higher performing video cards. I assume your spec of 'w/400 PS' is a 400W power supply (the default listed in most specs is 265W). The other part of this problem is that the motherboard has a 35W limitation on PCIe slots per some documentation I've read, rather than the standard 75W. You may want to check your motherboard since Dell sometimes prints this limitation near the slot. Does your power supply have a PCIe 6 or 8-pin connector for a video card ?

I'm guessing that your video driver listing in the Device Manager is mentioning the 'Radeon HD 7700 series', which is a very generic listing. Typically it would actually be a 7730, 7750, 7770 or 7790, quite possibly with it being the 7730 or 7750. Your AMD control software (Catalyst or whatever it may be called now) may give a more accurate reporting as to the exact GPU.

Generally I would have recommended a Radeon RX560 (here's one Newegg listing) in your situation, but I'm under the impression that it may draw far more than the 35W your PCIe slot may be limited to. This will cause instability and crashing while playing a 3D game, so it probably will NOT work for you. 

If your power supply has a 6 or 8-pin PCIe power connector, then you may want to look into this particular Sapphire Radeon RX 560. Radeon RX 570's & RX 580's are pretty much out for your current configuration since they seem to need an 8-pin PCIe power connector and typically require 450W or more on the power supply.

Here's some benchmarks of sorts that compares a generic Radeon HD 7770 vs a Radeon RX 560. I'm not sure how well the comparison would be in real-world terms for CM and other games you're interested in playing.

One other thing to be aware of, these newer cards do NOT support VGA displays. Typically it is either DVI-D (digital - so no VGA adapter will work), DisplayPort or HDMI. 

Basically if you have a 6-pin PCIe connector on your 400W power supply, then you can probably upgrade to the Radeon RX 560 with the PCIe power connector. If your power supply does NOT have a PCIe power connector, then you probably can't upgrade to anything more significant without upgrading your power supply (which is NOT a standard ATX type)

[chaos49]

Take a look at Nivida GTX 1050ti there are a few thats dont need power supply connector, but make sure u PCI slots gives the right power.

[Schrullenhaft]

In this case, he would probably WANT a video card that has a PCIe power connection. The motherboard in this particular Dell supports a lower-than-normal amount of wattage for a PCIe slot. Video cards that rely on the PCIe slot as the sole source of power are quite possibly looking at the entire 75W a normal slot would support. Such video cards in this particular Dell would be unstable and result in crashing and/or unexpected power shut downs.

I agree that an Nvidia GTX 1050ti would be a good video card too, but most likely he would want one with a PCIe power connector on it.

[JoMac]

13 hours ago, Schrullenhaft said:

The Dell OptiPlex 790 Mid-Tower is a bit problematic for higher performing video cards. I assume your spec of 'w/400 PS' is a 400W power supply (the default listed in most specs is 265W). The other part of this problem is that the motherboard has a 35W limitation on PCIe slots per some documentation I've read, rather than the standard 75W. You may want to check your motherboard since Dell sometimes prints this limitation near the slot. Does your power supply have a PCIe 6 or 8-pin connector for a video card ?

I'm guessing that your video driver listing in the Device Manager is mentioning the 'Radeon HD 7700 series', which is a very generic listing. Typically it would actually be a 7730, 7750, 7770 or 7790, quite possibly with it being the 7730 or 7750. Your AMD control software (Catalyst or whatever it may be called now) may give a more accurate reporting as to the exact GPU.

Generally I would have recommended a Radeon RX560 (here's one Newegg listing) in your situation, but I'm under the impression that it may draw far more than the 35W your PCIe slot may be limited to. This will cause instability and crashing while playing a 3D game, so it probably will NOT work for you. 

If your power supply has a 6 or 8-pin PCIe power connector, then you may want to look into this particular Sapphire Radeon RX 560. Radeon RX 570's & RX 580's are pretty much out for your current configuration since they seem to need an 8-pin PCIe power connector and typically require 450W or more on the power supply.

Here's some benchmarks of sorts that compares a generic Radeon HD 7770 vs a Radeon RX 560. I'm not sure how well the comparison would be in real-world terms for CM and other games you're interested in playing.

One other thing to be aware of, these newer cards do NOT support VGA displays. Typically it is either DVI-D (digital - so no VGA adapter will work), DisplayPort or HDMI. 

Basically if you have a 6-pin PCIe connector on your 400W power supply, then you can probably upgrade to the Radeon RX 560 with the PCIe power connector. If your power supply does NOT have a PCIe power connector, then you probably can't upgrade to anything more significant without upgrading your power supply (which is NOT a standard ATX type)

Thanks for info Schrullenhaft,

Ok, it's actually a 500 watt Thermaltake Power Supply (not 400 watt) and has a lot of cables (I'm sure one is 6 pin connector), and Oops, I never installed it yet (purchased last year and was just sitting in the closet) and still using stock Power Supply (which is either a 265 or 300)...I will finally install it this weekend. 

Yes, the AMD 7750 1GB has the VGA that I'm using (along with DVI & HDMI), and that 35w PCIe slot will limit newer Vid Card choices...Now, even thou that 500 watt Power Supply probably has a 6 pin connector and will work fine with your listed Video Cards I'm still debating on just getting another similar 7750 but the 2GB version that still uses VGA (thou, those benchmarks do look impressive)...Decisions, decisions.

*Side, but important note*...(as you were mentioning in your second post) Hope once I install that 500 watt Power Supply it will also end that crashing/shutdown I get from time to time playing CM (haven't played RO enough on this rig to see if same issue happens)...Either that, or it's the Shader issue some are experiencing that causes CM crashes.

Thanks again, and will let you what I end up doing...

Edited November 9, 2018 by JoMc67

[JoMac]

Ok, I want to ask a question regarding AMD Radeon Settings...

Once I set all the AMD Settings will these Settings apply to all the different game Icons located on my Desktop (ex; CMBN, Red Orchestra, etc) ...Or, should I put each Game Icon in the AMD Global Settings Tray in order for those Settings to work (and I would have to launch that Icon from the AMD Settings Tray, and not from the Desktop) ?

[Howler]

Yes. The game specific settings are optional. If a game specific profile does not exist - you're global one (i.e. AMD settings) is default and will be used.

 

[JoMac]

Ok, and thanks for the info...