Gaming Am I able to upgrade video card?

[ShadowSoldier]

So Batman Arkham City is almost here, and I want to get the best experience out of it. And I was thinking of buying a GeForce GTX 460 card. But to be honest, I'm not sure if it would work in my computer. And by that, I don't know if other things get taken into account, or if I can just plug it in. I know I need a power supply that can do it, but is that all?

Right now I have a
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @3.00GHz
4GB RAM

 

[The_Dragons_Mast]

Well other than the power supply which you will need to replace you also need to make sure that your motherboard supports an external graphic card & make sure weather the graphic card will find inside your case or you need a new one .

 

[shadowmanwkp]

We need to know a few things before we can say whether or not it will work on your pc:
1. What kind of power supply do you use?
Most important one, because a heavier graphics card equals more power usage.

2. What do you have in your computer? List all components
So that we now what the total power usage of your pc is.

3. What is your motherboard?
Not all motherboards support every graphics card.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

I actually couldn't tell you at this point. All I know is that the power supply can run a 9800GT, which is what I have.

 

[shadowmanwkp]

I actually couldn't tell you at this point. All I know is that the power supply can run a 9800GT, which is what I have.

Ah well fair enough, we can always see whether or not you can swap the two... Here's what I could dig up from the nvidia site.

9800GT

Maximum Graphics Card Power (W) 105 W
Minimum Recommended System Power (W) 400 W
Supplementary Power Connectors 6-pin x2
-------------------------------------
GTX460 (highest end model)

Maximum Graphics Card Power (W) 160 W
Minimum Recommended System Power (W) 450 W
Supplementary Power Connectors 6-pin & 6-pin
-------------------------------------

As you can see you need to have a power supply that has AT LEAST 450W is you want to use a GTX460, that's about 50W more than your current graphics card uses. So we really need to know what kind of power supply you use. We also need to know what kind of motherboard you have, because it might be slower than the GTX460, which might cause bottlenecking.

It just came to mind that you might've purchased a standard computer from the store, if so, we can look up the specs if you can provide us the computer's model.

 

[Zetta_x]

I threw a GTX 460 in an HP case and the graphics card was going to burn on fire due to the lack of ventilation and cooling.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

I actually couldn't tell you at this point. All I know is that the power supply can run a 9800GT, which is what I have.

Ah well fair enough, we can always see whether or not you can swap the two... Here's what I could dig up from the nvidia site.

9800GT

Maximum Graphics Card Power (W) 105 W
Minimum Recommended System Power (W) 400 W
Supplementary Power Connectors 6-pin x2
-------------------------------------
GTX460 (highest end model)

Maximum Graphics Card Power (W) 160 W
Minimum Recommended System Power (W) 450 W
Supplementary Power Connectors 6-pin & 6-pin
-------------------------------------

As you can see you need to have a power supply that has AT LEAST 450W is you want to use a GTX460, that's about 50W more than your current graphics card uses. So we really need to know what kind of power supply you use. We also need to know what kind of motherboard you have, because it might be slower than the GTX460, which might cause bottlenecking.

It just came to mind that you might've purchased a standard computer from the store, if so, we can look up the specs if you can provide us the computer's model.

No it was custom made.

 

[The_Dragons_Mast]

Use speccy to identify your motherboard or if you can't then just post a link to a snapshot .

 

[marcus134]

If you don't mind going on the amd side, the 6850, which is as powerful than the 460 consume 30w less and will be less taxing on your psu and dissipate less heat in your case.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fastest-graphics-card-radeon-geforce,3067-3.html

without looking at your psu however you should be able to use a gtx 550Ti (116w) or a 6770 (108w).
You should keep in mind that all those cards are dual slot, compared to the 9800 which may be single slot (there were a lot of variant on the market), so you have to make sure that the next slot is free. (some 460 use 3 slot)
Also, some of these cards can be long, the reference 9800gt design was 9 inches(some were a bit shorter), and some of these cards may be a bit longer which can cause some problems with cases where the hdd cage is too close to the mobo.

 

[junkerde]

hmmm.......make sure your pci-e lane (2.0/x16) has nothing blocking it after it, for example on my old computer there was a capacitor in the way so i couldnt put in a higher end GPU, so i have a new computer now all custom. just make sure it can fit AND that your power supply is powerful enough. you wont be experienceing ALL the power of the card due to your processor.

 

[Originality]

I've never encountered a capacitor that got in the way of a graphics card.

In addition, the E8400 (which I have) is good enough to make full use out of any current graphics card. CPU strength doesn't determine how much the GPU can handle, it just determines how well it handles CPU-related tasks (such as AI patterns). Also, the E8400 can easily be over clocked by 500Mhz on a stock cooler and up to 4.5Ghz with a third party cooler. Since I've never had problems with it, I keep it on 3.3Ghz all the time.

For the OP, if you cannot find the wattage of the power supply by looking at the stickers on it, it's probably time to upgrade to a power supply from a good brand like Antec or Corsair.

 

[spotanjo3]

So Batman Arkham City is almost here, and I want to get the best experience out of it. And I was thinking of buying a GeForce GTX 460 card. But to be honest, I'm not sure if it would work in my computer. And by that, I don't know if other things get taken into account, or if I can just plug it in. I know I need a power supply that can do it, but is that all?

Right now I have a
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @3.00GHz
4GB RAM

Check this one:

http://www.systemrequirements.in/system-requirements-for-batman-arkham-city.html